Sketches of Rancho Tranquilo Entrance

As you can see, I'm no artist. However, I woke up at three a.m. last night with this image in my mind. I grabbed my daughter's sketch pad and colored pencils and scribbled this down, so I could go back to sleep. I've been mulling over the design for the entrance to the property. This has been the second biggest issue for me. (A close second behind paying off the property) Not only is the entrance aesthetically important, influencing first impressions, etc. , it's also my first engineering challenge because the property's entire road frontage is a rather steep incline. This is going to require some handy bulldozer work right off the bat. It's a good thing Jose, my trusted confidant, views his bulldozer the same way a painter would view a brush. In fact, Jose ( a true Renaissance man) has been "sculpting" roads around the Santa Fe area for a few years now and has become known as the Michelangelo of Latin America.

Due to my limitation as an artist these drawings do not accurately reflect the angle at which we will need to cut into the hillside. We will need to create a grade that slopes up to the level portion of the property. Retaining walls on both sides will be necessary, so I plan to make good use of the multitude of smooth river rock for this purpose. I just haven't figured out how to transport the rock from the river to the building site. Perhaps the solution will also present itself as predawn inspiration.

When it comes to building stone walls, John Vivian wrote the bible on the subject. I ordered this book on Amazon.com for just a few bucks. A real bargain! I guess there just aren't that many people these days interested in the ancient art of masonry. I never imagined I would become fascinated with the subject. If you think about it, this knowledge is as old as civilization itself. There's an elemental kind of kinship with the artisans and masons of the ancient world to be experienced when building a stone structure. In John Vivian's own words from the book's introduction, he writes about the Egyptian Pyramids, the Great Wall of China, the Peruvian Temples, etc. being "mankind's most enduring monuments to creativity and hard work". Fascinating stuff...I'm going to need to translate this into Spanish and incorporate this into my pep talk when I assemble my team of workers to complete this monumental job. (no pun intended)