Well, it's been a while since I've updated this thread. A lot has happened in the interim, including work on the bog, the unexpected discovery of an Aquascape centipede and aquablocks here in Israel, many trials and tribulations getting the bog rebuilt to fit the centipede, much sorting of rock to go in the bog... But I won't bore you with all of that; I'll just upload a few pics later on. For now, I want to relate something that warmed my heart and restored my faith in our future...
Two months back we bought a few tons of river rock for the garden, but the truck driver wasn't able to deliver it to our yard. The slope was too far down and the hazard of power lines was too great. So I had him drop the bags off at the top of the slope of the empty plot next to ours. But of course that raised the problem of how to get all that rock down the slope and over to our yard. I put together two lengths of sewage pipe and an elbow that allowed us to shovel the rocks in and slide it down a bit lower on the slope. But still, that's a lot of rock to move!
And then, yesterday afternoon, I heard a couple of kids in the vacant lot next door. "Hey guys!" I yelled at them, "Be careful of snakes over there!"
Well, they wanted to know what kind of snakes. And what's this sewage pipe for? And what's with this big pile of rocks?
So I told them the story of the truck driver and the rocks and how I was building a Japanese style garden and was slowly moving the rocks down the pipe and over to the garden one bucket at a time. I showed them the pond and the fish and the paths where the rock would one day go.
"We can help!" said Nadav. "Sure!" said Ilay. "Tomorrow, we'll bring our friends and start moving rocks!"
And sure enough, today at 13:30, as the 2nd grade kids started home from school, there were Ilay and Nadav and two friends--Emma and Ido--ready to start moving rock.
And move rock they did! They worked together to pour river rock into the pipe, shovel it into a wheelbarrow at the bottom of the slope, and then sort it into buckets in the yard. They figured out how to tie the pipe so it would stay in place and how to rig up an empty bag so that the rocks would flow into it just so. In short, they set up an assembly line!
By the end of the day, they'd reduced a 1-ton bag by half, sorted about four large buckets of rock, finished the Shabbat leftovers (including a basket of cherry tomatoes and a plate of cookies), and made themselves completely at home.
If this is what these kids are like at 9 years old, well, I feel that our future is assured!
This thread is definitely a nice pick-me-up during the dreary days of January. What a great story with the kids.
