Trying Times
On Trying Times: This is iteration #2 of a drystack stone wall (no mortar), around our compost pile. I hate it, and I hope you do, too. So, down it comes, and I'll try an iteration #3, which should reflect some additional learning since #2, after even more hours spent poring over obscure British websites. Mind you, it takes at least a few minutes to find one rock and test it up to seven ways before either accepting it or rejecting it, for a spot. So the failures add up to a great deal of time. Drystack walls are best built by stonemasons who have years of experience. The problem with rough rocks is that there are very few ways they can fit together into a pile which looks both finished and stable. There is no user guide telling you how to assemble the wall. You must invent a way, over and over, knowing there might be no way that works. This would be a great sermon topic: How often do we try and fail, and then learn more about how to "try better," and then try again, b...