Trimming Grass and Weed Around Old New England Property (Antique) Granite Landscape Fixtures - Part Nine - "The Indolence"

Trimming Grass and Weeds Around

Old New England Property

(Antique) Landscape Fixtures

Part Nine

"The Indolence"

            The indolence of the... old chair... turning out to be “THOSE BOLDERS” scattered.... or are they very carefully... positioned... upon an old New England property... as... (antique) granite landscape fixtures...:

            They (the original settlers) could have ‘moved’, ‘broken up’, or vanquished in MANY ways... “THOSE BOLDERS”... IF... they... ‘wanted to’.  They had the time... and the task was, to their scale-of-task, nominal.  Therefore their sit-on-them solution... equals the old colonial era... braced back with continuing arms... vase and ring turned ... New York style... Windsor chair... that a colonial homestead’s old attic yielded to my flashlight now SO many years ago...?  They (“THOSE BOLDERS”) are... authentic colonial New England... seating furniture?  Too?  I ...found them... in the ATTIC of the LANDSCAPE of the... old New England property...

            “UPON”.

            Upon it I did.

            Didn’t I.

            And I sit on those ‘sit on’ rocks.... just like I sit

            In the old Windsor chair.

            “Are not we ALL good FRIENDS now that we UNDERSTAND” what an old New England “chair”

            May be.

            I’ll keep “THOSE BOLDERS”

            I’ll keep the Windsor chair.

            I’ll continue down through the old ...forest

            To check my “I’ll keep” of the old

            Cellar hole.

            Scrambled over a (stone) wall you say?

            No...:  No ...old stone wall... yet.

            Went past the bottom of the old... cranberry bog.

            (How quickly now... we... identify THAT as landscape fixture)

            Then around the side of the old colonial property’s granite quarry.

            Then ‘straight across’ the level ‘old pasture’ to be

            Suddenly

            ‘Wading in’ to the  “I SEE IT” old poke-up of the fore corner’s cap stone bold

            GRANITE GRAY (the color) monument-ing UP above the “GOLLY” dense green of differential green

            Growing

            That is NOT the same as the other overgrowing green differential growings.  Wading through I

            TO the cap stone corner.

            Then looking down in...

            The jungle... an old New England jungle...

            Ruins.

            Hole.

            Pit.

            I see DOWN INTO THE BOTTOM of it TOO:  GREEN JUNGLE GROWING

            Hiding

            It?

            Not to my eye.  Beautiful... this green growing

            Displays it; the pit

            With field stone fitted (puzzled out) walls and snakes

            Of growing...

            THEY ARE NOT WEEDS.

            A human hand.  NO... human hands.  Many years ago for many years

            Ago to never be forest again for THAT HUMAN HANDS

            ‘Soiled it”.  IN FACT:

            The soil is (HUMAN) different “THERE” so THERE grow THAT

            Human Hands STILL.

            Who cares for I do not see any “YOU” wading in.  No... I never see anyone.

            I do see that SAME old two... cap stones that “SOME KIDS (?)” “kicked” in...

            To the bottom of the... pit.... years ago.  Always I look at them... and then at the

            Where from they ‘fell’.  It is at the ONLY PLACE where a KID could ‘sit down’ and have just his FEET in front of him with them having nothing to do

            BUT PUSH

            Those two cap stones ‘in’.

            WHO would ever ‘get them back out’

            They are in the very BOTTOM

            Of... THEIR... pit;

            The cellar hole.

            Anyway I see them all the time and nothing changes.  So I look around after scrambling down into the pit ‘like always’ and I just six feet myself can see above the capstone mostly for the ...cellar hole... is but a hand dug four footer ‘mostly’ ‘cept for a here... and over here where... it’s... ‘almost five

            And one half feet... with a beautiful on its top

            Eight foot long quarried granite capstone.

            “Just beautiful” that one... and flanked by six footers too

            That were ‘quarried’ RIGHT OVER THERE.  Fitted

            PERFECT.

            “OH how about in 1752”... of an AFTERNOON they... ‘capped’ the last

            Cap stone ‘in place’ and

            Stood back to ‘admiral’ before they ‘tunk’ the sills ‘in place’ ‘on top’ ‘before dark’.

            A day’s work.

            Tim came up beside me while I was looking down in one; an old cellar hole... that I had just been shown.  He... he said quickly... would have long ago ‘snaked those’ cap stones on THAT old cellar hole’s cap... “If I KNEW THEY WERE THERE”.  He “WAS SURPRISED” he “hadn’t seen ‘em BEFORE:  DRIVE BY HERE ALL THE TIME.  The well was still capped too “DID YOU SEE THAT?” he asked me.  So I’m at the crossroads.

            That son of bitch is gonna BUY THOSE in the next fifteen minutes.  The well’s full of water.  “THE TREES” in and around the cellar hole are “GONNA HAVE TO BE CUT” to “get a RIG in there”.

            “BEEP, BEEP, BEEP” “YEAH THEY MAKE US DO THAT.  You can shut it OFF.  If I’d ah been SNAKING these you’d NEVER HEAR ME.  Course.. those TREES.  I’d have to... WELL... if I’d GET IN at that BACK CORNER.  None of the (valuable old hand made antique) BRICKS are there.  LONG GONE HUH.”

            There is a pause as we stand together looking down into the cellar hole’s pit.

            “NOT ANY chance YOU want any of THOSE COULD I...” he trails off and turns his head to, hopefully, turn MY head and ‘catch me’.

            “Don’t want ‘em.” I say.

            “That’s ah... NOT THE SAME THE WAY it was a FEW YEARS BACK.  You know that.”

            “I never did any of it.  Don’t like the people and they won’t pay enough.”

            “WELL... I’ll give ‘em to HARBOR BOB and let him DICK ‘EM.  I’ll be home for dinner if I DO IT RIGHT.  WET by that WELL.  I’ll PLANK IT FIRST.”

            Two days later the site was a mud hole, the trees were cut and hauled, whole, to one side, the well site was just a pond now and

            All the cap stones on the top of the cellar hole’s old hand dug and field stone lined ...pit

            Were gone.

Trimming Grass and Weeds Around Old New England Property (Antique) Granite Landscape Fixtures - Part Eight - "A Sit On Rock"

Trimming Grass and Weeds Around

Old New England Property

(Antique) Granite Landscape Fixtures

Part Eight

"A Sit On Rock"

            “WHERE... do YOU go...” she says to me after first noting

            The “traffic” is “backed up” through “both” (Camden and Wiscasset).  That the “LINE” for the decision of a “That’s a BETTER DEAL” “TWO HOT DOGS” or...

            The six dollar and ninety-nine cent “LOBSTER ROLL”.

            “The price of THAT is warning enough.” I explain.

            “Enough?”

            “IF a ‘LOBSTER ROLL’ is HALF the price of a... lobster roll... THAT should be a warning.”

            “Warning?”

            “Ah...:  Don’t worry about it”.

            “When we finish shopping WE...:

            (No... that’s not going to happen)

            “BUT THE PARKING THERE IS JAMMED”

            “Jammed?”

            “NOT THOSE JARS:  I bought those for my SISTER”.

            (Pause)

            “Your really not coming with us?”

            “Yes I’m really not coming with you.”

            “I”

            “No... YOU like doing that.  I do not like doing that.”

            (Pause).

            “I CAN see why you like it here.”

            “See?  What do you see?”

            “No... I UNDERSTAND... why you like it here.

            (Pause)

            “I could never live here this way; the way you do.  It’s... like... I don’t know... .

            “That’s right:  You don’t.

            “Don’t’?

            “Live here and don’t know.”

            “I do know this is the real Maine.  When I’m here.  I know that.”

            “But it’s not for you.  Is it.  You can’t have it.”

            “Have it?”

            “It’s too real.  It’s easier to just go shopping.”

            “But it is really NICE; the way you guys live.”

            “We’re not the only ones who live like this.  And it’s not about nice.”

            After I got rid of them... I walked down the ...driveway... that was originally the ‘road’ ‘up from the water’.  I veered off before the bend above the spring and ...ducking through the ‘invasive’ honeysuckle ‘broke’ into the clearing beneath the mature spruce trees that have ...been left uncut... for a long... long century.  Right there is where the “oldest barn” (colonial era) joined the ‘old barn’ that was built ‘ONTO’ “IT”.  The... ‘foundation’ is still right there.  All the foundation IS (‘was’)... is a few large (field stone granite) rocks ‘sitting on ledge’.  Colonial barns were not that big.  Nor were the second (‘old barn’) barns big... either.  Or were the plethora of ‘sheds’ and ‘outbuildings” ‘big either’.  So... ‘everything’ was ‘hung on ledge’.  Too.

            Right there... on the old oldest barn foundation... is a big round bolder ‘sit on’ rock.  I ‘sit on’ it.  Just like... a quarter of a millennium of men have... sat on... it.  OK SO LIKE I have a... stupid little jar of old busted clay tobacco pipe bowls I’ve... “found” ... “back there” (about the ‘sit-on’ rock).

I sat on the ‘sit on’ rock while

            They were out.

            Or... wait:  I was out... on the sit on rock... while

            They were... IN.

            The car.

            The stores.

            The restaurant.

            The “we need to get some” at the... grocery (box) store.

            I was the one...

            Who was out

            On an old New England property... sitting on... a ‘sit on rock’.  That rock, among the ‘those other’ sit on rocks ‘placed’ on the property by ... a quarter of a millennium of ‘sit on rock’ men...  are too...

            (Antique) granite landscape fixtures... ON this old New England property.  Too.

            Then I walked down to the cellar hole.

            Right away I came upon another ‘sit on’ rock.  This one... over looks the pond and original pasture (Native American cleared field) ‘above the (salt) water’; ‘the river’... from... its delightfully central vista poise of ‘UP” on the old ‘upper pasture’ ‘above the wall’.  It is so high up in the old upper pasture that one cannot ‘see the (stone) wall’ ‘below’.

            I’ve never found any old broken clay pipe bowls here.  Probably that’s because there is no soil (not dirt... SOIL) right here for this sit on rock sits on ‘exposed’ ledge so... any busted pipe bowl would be

            ‘Prone to perish’.  (ground into dust by the ‘rocks’).

            It’s ok; I sat on the rock for a few minutes anyway.  I always do... whenever I feel like it.  It’s the same way I go shopping in Camden; “whenever I feel like it”.

            “WHO CARES if they buy the worse lobster roll on the coast of Maine while I walk down to the old cellar hole ‘on the (old New England) property’.

(From this one... one 'sights' the back door of the homestead.)

            Who cares?  NOBODY CARES.

            That I know every sit on rock on this old New England property.

            That I have and continue to ...sit on... every sit on rock on...

            That I cherish the sit on rock as a singular form of

            (Antique) granite landscape fixture

            On the old New England property.

            Don’t... you want to... sit on... a sit on rock... too?

            “You care?”

Trimming Grass and Weeds Around Old New England Property (Antique) Granite Landscape Fixtures - Part Seven - "An... Absolute Jewel"

Trimming Grass and Weeds Around

Old New England Property

(Antique) Granite Landscape Fixtures

Part Seven

"An... Absolute Jewel"

            Within the concise... of less than one half mile wide diameter...  circle... that... easily encloses my... residential neighborhood... there stand SIX colonial era (1740-1760) ‘dug cellars’.  There is an additional 1790 ...primitive... ‘Federal Style’ ‘dug cellar’ homestead too that... is more correctly denoted to be modeled on the, for example, Portsmouth, NH colonial waterfront ‘in anticipation of’ (Federal style) HOMESTEAD (emphasizing that last word in opposition to any FANCY Federal style... thoughts).  Of the seven ‘sites’... FIVE of the homesteads, including the ‘late’ one, have their original ‘house’ on top of their original ‘dug cellar’.  TWO of the colonial homestead sites are... cellar... holes.  Both of these cellar... holes... are ‘hidden’ and ‘undisturbed’ as I write (2014).

All five of the actual houses are, for the most part, ‘original’ with only modest ‘changes’.  ALL are of their original (primitive small low square box-around-large-center-brick fireplace kitchen chimney) ‘Cape Style’ form with no... no... disturbance to the trained eye on this precept.  All other homes within this circle... and for a few miles away too... were built after... and ‘well after’... World War II.  MOST additional homes were built WELL less than twenty years ago.  What that means is that from the Colonial era until ‘now’... no additional ‘antique’ homes (Greek Revival, Victorian, Civil War era, etc.) were built.  This is NOT a unique setting.  One may travel two miles further “out” (the coastal Maine land finger) to ‘come upon’ another EQUAL if not slightly earlier (1738) ‘settlement’... for example.  These... ‘sheltered’ ‘settlements’ from the colonial era prospered by ‘taking’ the (sheltered) ‘best land’ next to the (sheltered) ‘best cove’ (salt water access) and... as family, never letting go of it.  There was no need to ‘let go’ to ‘improve’ for these lands and their access to the sea... were... and are still... perfection... of... old New England property.  It was not until the

            CAR...

            CHANGED

            Everything... (1950-ish)

            That... “land”

            “Was sold” (for ‘people’ to ‘build houses’ “ON”).

            KEEPING a steady hand on this... pleasing... evolution of this sort of residential community development... to this day... is the... pleasing...  partnership of historic preservation and

            Poverty.

            There is no historic preservation ‘around here’ but LACK OF (any) MONEY has, after the (“waterfront”) “LAND” “WAS SOLD”, preserved the ‘original undisturbed state’ of the clusters of ‘colonial settlements’.  “OTHER PLACES” where there is found “MORE MONEY” have ...NOT... ‘survived’.  This includes those “other places” “cellar holes” too.

            Get the message:  Poverty preserves... MONEY destroys.

            Example?

            “WE HAD THE HOUSE RAISED AND PUT A (poured cement eight to twelve foot high) BASEMENT UNDER IT and are BUILDING THE ADDITION ON THE BACK TOO”.

            So much for that colonial hand dug ‘crawl space’ and ‘cellar hole’.

            “WE RESTORED IT

            OURSELVES”

            (Using money):

            “IT COSTS A LOT TO DO THIS (‘restore’ a ‘colonial’) “CAPE”.

            But what about the ‘property’?

            “WE DIDN’T NEED ALL THAT... LAND.  WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO WITH IT.  THEY SUB-DIVIDED IT.”

            “Oh... there used to be a (colonial era) house on it (that land).”

            “IT WAS JUST A CELLAR HOLE.  THEY FILLED IT IN”.

            “Oh.”

            “YOU’D NEVER KNOW IT WAS THERE.  THEY BUILT A HOUSE BEHIND WHERE IT WAS”.

            Where

            It was.

            Get it?

            The way it used to be done, the bulldozer (the machine making the backup beeping noise) would approach the cellar hole from around the four sides and... “bump”... the cut granite (foundation) cap stones... into...

The cellar hole

            First.

            Once rid of these stones as upward protrusions, the ...dozer... would... ‘fill in’ and ‘level’ “THE SITE” by religiously ‘pushing in’ the ‘field stone lined walls’ of the ‘hole’ while ‘pushing additional material (gardens, landscape) “INTO” “THE HOLE”

            Too.

            Completion... of the ‘filling in the cellar hole’ project was... celebrated... by the bulldozer hurriedly driving back and forth on top (“BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP”) of the filed hole to ‘pack it down’ ‘flush’ so ‘you wouldn’t even know’ that a cellar hole... or colonial homestead... ‘had been there.

            This ‘be done’ changed passionately, religiously and... commercially by the mid 1970’s.  “PEOPLE” “DISCOVERED” the ...foundation cap “stones” and “WANT THOSE” so had the ‘bumping’ ‘into’ stopped and

            The cap stones are now gathered up (usually by something going “BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP” too)

To be ‘loaded’ and ‘hauled away’ (includes more beeping) to become...

            Commercially valuable

            Granite landscape fixtures.

            Often they became... “WALL” along “THE EDGE” of... they (house lots) are not really a “PROPERTY” even though the “THEY” called them “THAT”:  “MY PROPERTY

            Property is theft?******

            OR... they ‘are used as’ “STEPS” (to the front door of “MY HOUSE”).

            OK:  Stopping right here we must take a.... slash and burn... side trip WITHIN the wonderland of old New England property (antique) granite landscape fixtures.  For the ‘own good’.

            A “step” and the “STEPS” are... like troughs, millstones, colonial quarries, ‘sits on ledge’ and... cellar holes... a true old New England property (antique) granite landscape fixture.  A true ‘step’ has true form, true age, true placement, true wear and true... true... TRUTH of true... to the effort of ‘knowing about’ ... old New England property (antique) granite landscape fixtures.

            Reversed, to no surprise (to the reader by now?), if one places or stacks up old New England cellar hole ‘cap stones’ and ‘uses them’ as “STEPS” and... therefore... purveys them to all comers as “NICE” “MY” “STEPS”

            God damn you... for you have God damned yourself before him.  What one actually ‘has’... is a “cut (granite) stone being used as a step”.  This is because a true ‘step’ IS a true STEP... and is easily discerned as ‘being that’.

            The step form... is a long-ish ‘squared’ rectangle that... closely resembles a, for example, ‘foundation cap stone’ BUT

            It is ‘finished’ (‘made to be a step’).

            Characteristically the TOP of the “STONE” is... ‘chiseled down’ about one half to three fourths of an inch ‘all the way across’ the top in visible lines that make the surface look like a... nail file... texture... TWO THIRDS of the ‘way back’ leaving the BACK THIRD at the original height and ‘unfinished’.  This ...distinctive crafting... is for ‘ice in winter’ and ‘drainage’ of moisture (rain) “OFF” the step that... in fact only works sort of due to the winter time ‘bridge freezes first (step freezes first) condition BUT IS DONE (by a lone man and hand chisel working ‘on it’ ‘for days’) IN ‘good effort’ intention and... MUST BE THERE.. to be a true antique granite “step” because that is the “WAY THEY DID IT” ‘back then’.  THIS cut into the granite... traction ribbing...

            IS THEN

            Required... too... to be of “LONG USAGE WORN”... “smoothed down” from CENTURIES of FOOT WEAR...:  “WORN” on the top surface, the ribbing, the ‘all exposed edges... including the

            NOT WORN

            And not worn edges...

            Where “NO ONE WALKS”.

            That is a step; an old New England property front door step CLASSIC .

            “Do not accept an imitation”.

            A foundation cap stone ‘placed’ and ‘used’ as a “MY STEPS”... ‘is not’

            One.  It is, again, a ‘cut (granite) stone being used as a step’.

            Know the difference.

            I know the difference... in one quarter second of a glance.

            Once one ‘SEES’ “THIS” ... one does not forget ‘it’.

            WHAT premium does one think a ‘real’ ‘step’ “COMMANDS” ‘in the market’?

            Or... when “THEY” take the “STONES” (foundation cap stones), why do they always very, very carefully take the ‘steps’ ‘first’?

            Do you have a real step?  Go out and LOOK.

            Now that I have assisted one in discerning an... absolute jewel... of a TRUE old New England property (antique) granite landscape fixture... we may go back to

            Fretting

            The ‘filled in’

            Of the... old... New England... cellar hole.

            “Brimstone and Hellfire

            You say?"

---

****** “P. J. Proudhon; “What is property?  Property is theft”.