Moving Rocks-Boulders?

Hmm...I guess I should pull out Webster's to see what the difference is between a rock, stone, and boulder, but I'm taking this time to make a post instead.

A couple of days ago, I spent two days moving two very large rocks--uphill! I found that by using a lever bar and placing cinder blocks underneath, I was able to move it somewhat "easily" (really rather difficult, slow moving, and requiring a lot of muscle.). After moving the heavier of the two (the large flat one) a few feet, I left it propped on the cinder blocks and decided to tackle it again the next day.

Remembering how much I struggled the day before, the second day I decided I should just hit it with a sledge hammer--something I apparently don't have. I thought breaking it into two or three rocks would allow me to move it more easily and I'd bury the rough edges, but instead, I took two hammers down and got the idea to try to split it along a crack. Using one hammer's claws as a wedge, I hit it at different points until I took off a thin, yet still heavy layer of rock. Because it had a slight depression that will collect water, I carried it up the hill to use in the streambed/glorified birdbath.

Although I did take pictures to document prying the layer off, they were lost due to a problem with my memory card. This is after the layer was removed...unfortunately I was not able to remove a second layer.

The thin layer with the depression now at the top of the hill.


After taking off the maybe 50 lb. layer, the rock seemed to move a little easier. I moved it a bit more, then, deciding I needed to flip it over, I asked Jeff to help me...again. Thanks to my blog, I found out we flipped it over the first time on May 1st: "With the first two rocks, we only got them out of the ground and flipped over. They are ready to be moved into place the next time I get the urge." ...Boy, it took a long time to get the urge again!


Before
After


I found moving the second rock, labeled B in the photos a lot easier than the large flatter one (A). "C" was moved into place back in May. "B" is barely visible in the before picture.



A view from above shows that the rock (B) is now visible from above--including the living room window. This helps tie in the (planned) upper pool to the (planned) streambed and pond.