So. We arrived in Arizona in mid-January 1997. Favorite # 1 Daughter is 10, Favorite # 2 Daughter is 8 and Boy Genius/Baby Brother is 5.
When we left Tacoma there had just been a major snow and ice storm. As we traveled down I-5 we hit flooding across the freeway and chill temperatures. Arizona, at 85 degrees, was like summer. The immediate request of the young-uns was to go into the back yard and play in water. We said yes. In retrospect, not the best idea. The yard area was a large patch of caliche soil. This is a red clay-like soil that sticks to and stains everything it touches. We quickly had 3 reddish brown but very happy children. They, of course, wanted to share their enthusiasm with us — inside the house. The house has white carpet and gray tile. We were saved by Main Man’s quick thinking. He had them rinse their feet and made an entry mat of a moving box. This helped but there were still mud patches on the tile.
A priority becomes getting some sort of groundcover installed. While Main Man is spending his work week in California finalizing a company buy-out I am left to unpack, organize, and interview landscapers. We are trying to economize so the beautiful plans that the would-be contractors proposed were not something we could comfortably afford. An independent contractor stops by the house in an effort to drum up some business. Her personality and forthrightness draws me and she offers good ideas that are not outrageous.
My vision was a Xeriscaped front yard with a dry creek. We also wanted a tree for shade and some desert plantings. Simple, clean and low maintenance. We had a large laurel hedge in Washington and wanted something similar on the property line. This is all do-able. The backyard needed to have a small area of grass — enough for an abbreviated croquet course. There is also a pool going in so nothing else would be needed but a few more trees.
An agreement is made and dates are established. Now we have to decide on rock. Who knew there were so many choices. First we have to determine size. Most people choose 1/2 inch. We decide on 3/4 inch so it won’t be tracked into the house and/or blown around. So far so good. On to color. Color ?? Aren’t pebbles all the same color ? Apparently not. I am tasked with walking around the neighborhood and studying the surface rock located in other front yards. We finally decide on Aztec Gold which will have to be trucked up from Tucson, Okie Dokie. For the dry creek we will need river rock. We won’t need a lot but the minimum order is 3 yards. We order more cuz, hey, we might be able to use it elsewhere. We let the contractor decide on a complementary color because I can’t wrap my head around any more colors of rock. We also decide that we need a few large rocks to create height and interest. We agree on 8 large rocks.
Early one morning we awaken to the sound of a truck dumping rock in front of the house. So much rock. The 3/4 inch forms a pile about 4 feet long by 2 feet high. The river rock is easily 4 feet long by 3 feet high. The full-sized rock looks like a fort. Again, so much rock. The work crew arrives at 6:00 AM and starts the laying and raking of the 3/4 inch rock. This takes them a few hours. They have also dug a trench for the dry creek and spent the next several hours laying rock and building the sides. As an extra touch they place a semi-large rock mid stream just for fun. At the end of the day we have a landscaped front yard and lots of residual rock.
Happening at the same time, a section of the front block wall has been removed to allow a Bobcat to come in to dig out the pool area. In addition, we have ordered sod for the lawn area. With the Caliche soil we can’t wait for grass to grow; three children 10 and under won’t allow for this time intensive task.
Main Man is still commuting back and forth to California. He leaves early Monday morning and returns on Thursday evening. In addition to unpacking, organizing, getting children to and from school, supervising pool construction and meeting with other contractors I also have the very large pile of river rock in front of the house. Just looking at me. Taunting me.
A decision is made to move the excess rock to the back yard. I move buckets of rock during the day and create a rock border at the edge of the patio slab. After this is completed there is still so much rock. Time to call in the troops. After school and after dinner I load rock into a small bucket for Boy Genius/Baby Brother, a half-full 5 gallon bucket for Favorite # 2 Daughter and a Radio Flyer Wagon for Favorite # 1 Daughter. They trundle through the downed wall and dump rock next to the back and side block walls. I help out with a disgusting broken down wheel barrow (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle). On one memorable trip, Favorite # 2 Daughter comes, literally, flying through the wall area waving her bucket and screaming ” SNAKE !!” . Yep. We had an uninvited visitor in the rock. It turned out it was non-poisonous but it was enough to stop the rock assembly line for the day.
My new neighbors found it amusing to see me moving rock at various time of the day and I had a new nick-name — Rock Woman. I am not sure if they were impressed that I was doing this myself or felt sorry for me as Main Man was not taking on this responsibility. Don’t ask, don’t tell. Eventually, I had all the rock in the back and a curb appeal in the front.
Flash Forward 17 years. I buy a condo that has a small garden area at the back of the patio. The previous owner had covered the ground with — you guessed it — river rock. So. Much. Rock. Thus begins another adventure for Rock Woman.
a