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New Old Path

http://theglutengal.com/2009/02/09/ A new slate walk is going in… there was one here before, but it was only two feet across and was sunk below grade, turning into a long muddy puddle in rain and a luge run during the winter. It was so unusable we had to walk on the muddy grass in bad weather. This one will be the right size, designed to shed water, and of the right stuff: the plan is to double up some of the 2′ stones, use a few large old flagstones that are sitting on the property already, and add a few more bought from old Decker’s quarry up in the Gunks. Decker’s quarry is one of the crazy places in the area, a pretty mountain ridge which is now several hundred acres of broken rocks run by a very cool old grouch. I had been there once to pick up stone for a landscaping job and I was kind of amazed by it: we were surrounded by heaps of rocks in all directions, and just had to pick out any cool rocks we wanted. The old guy told us some rather off-color stories, as you might expect. He now seems to be kind of retired, but he couldn’t sell all that stone in a lifetime of trying. Now it just sits there, rain or shine; that’s all right, it’s not going bad. When I went to scout out stone this time around I brought the gemini.  We had to park at the locked gate and walk in. They jumped from stone to stone for about three quarters of a mile and we never found the house or anyone to talk to. But there was plenty of stone, none of it any kind of normal. All were broken and oddly shaped but they can be cut to size and they’re all good old handquarried stone.

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