Wall Stone Run

Stone cleared from the fields is dumped on ground not suitable for cultivation.  Walking here is a real challenge as the ground is unevenly littered with weed covered stones.  One must test for secure footing before putting full weight on the foot.  The resulting halting gait looks really strange but it is necessary to cross uneven ground.  Avoiding blackberry cane scratches adds to the task.  There is enough good wall stone here to make the effort worthwhile.

Avoiding injury is an absolute if wall building is to continue.  Any large stone has the potential to be a career ender.  Walking large stones up a ramp allows harvesting of beauties that never could be safely lifted.  Splitting large flat stones into pieces is another technique frequently used.  This stone being walked up the ramp was previously split from a real monster.

This stone shows its history of interaction with farm machinery. All of these plow strikes failed to break the stone.  I wonder if the plow remained unbroken.  The marked surface will be on top of the wall when this stone finds its next resting place. This piece of farm machinery sculpture  will likely be used as a seat.
 

The strings have been moved to the top of the wall and leveled.  Filling the center gap is time consuming fussy work but the job is almost finished.  The large out of place stones on top of the wall were moved there from the bed of the pickup truck.  No need to lift them to the wall's top.  A stress test was applied to the wall when I stood on its unfinished top surface to move these monsters from the truck to the wall.  My footing was rock solid.