Borderland

While wildfires burn hundreds of thousands of acres near here, and we choke on the smoke, I’ve been out cutting winter firewood. It makes sense, in a way, since it has to be done before winter, and the smoke makes every other kind of outdoor activity a lot less fun. It’s hot, heavy, work.

While I was out in the woods working, I was thinking about this video that John Connell posted in which the narrator and chief engineer of a monumental stone-moving project, Wally Wallington, declared, “I try to do this without any mechanical machinery at all. I use mostly sticks and stones for my equipment; no pulleys, no hoists, no metal levers – just try to use gravity, too – I believe it’s my favorite tool.”

Building Stonehenge – This Man can Move Anything

Wallington is a retired carpenter. And now, thanks to the internet, he’s a physics teacher. He has his own website, The Forgotten Technology, where he shares some of the theory behind his project idea. He claims to have moved a 30′ X 40′ barn 200 feet, by hand.

Watching him lift and move those heavy concrete blocks made my woodpile seem small, even though my sore back and tired legs tell me otherwise.