Sometimes size does matter

J has been whining dreaming about moving his fireplace out of the dog yard for some time now. For some reason he does not find it relaxing to sit by a "fine fire" (his description of satisfaction with a blaze) with dogs leaping over and on him.

We have relocated our fireplace so many times as we worked on our yard that it's become a family joke. The picture above was 2 moves ago, I think. We had a lot of fun over the years with friends and family, cooking hot dogs, roasting marshmallows and melting army men. 

What, you never did that?  Balance plastic army men, or cowboys and Indians on a thin board over the flames, and watch them melt and fall?  Don't knock it until you try it.

Anyway, yesterday an opportunity was seized. My youngest sister, #5 and her husband were out at camp with friends and had borrowed some bottle jacks to level the building which had slipped a bit in the winters. When they returned the jacks, we asked them if they would help us move some granite blocks, since they had a full-size truck with 4 wheel drive. (The blocks were originally part of the old barn foundation, and a friend had helped us move them years ago. J and I tried to move one a year ago, but his little S10 just couldn't haul a 5 foot slab more than a foot.) They were willing and even had a chain to use!  

The bigger truck had no problem at all- J was jealous, but I assured him that his truck was much more fuel efficient, and cute. (But that machine was impressive!)

After the first one was moved, it got a little trickier to get the big truck as close as possible while leaving room for it to get out again. Pry bars, small rocks for leverage, and using ultimately rolling them on poles did the trick.

    Ameranth was helping too. After we fed #5 and spouse, they went back to camp to relax and enjoy the rest of their vacation, and we dismantled the old fireplace and built the new one.

It was too windy for a fire last night, so J had to wait to try out his Stonehenge. Don't worry- there will be no sacrifices, just gazing into leaping flames. 

And maybe a melting army man or two, for old times sake.