Rocks are what usually keeps a vegetable or flower garden from being built -- unless you haul in some dirt and build it ABOVE the rocks.

Rocks seem to grow in this area. I have one area in my yard that no matter how many years I have spent picking up and raking rocks, they always reappear.

I'm sure I am just one of many, many parents who have used rocks -- or the picking up of rocks -- as a great form of punishment and discipline. I think it was used very effectively as my 3 sons grew up. They got exercise, had time to reflect on whatever they were being punished for, and today, I have a BEAUTIFUL country yard to show for it.

My boys "swore" that they would never pick up another rock once they became adults. Maybe they haven't, but I know at least one of these sons have used the same form of discipline with his 2 sons. Aaaaah, the legacy continues.

Now, I have discovered that these rocks, these dang-gum rocks that have been cursed for years, are actually worth MONEY! Believe it or not, people will actually pay you to pick up these rocks and haul them away. I haven't actually collected any of that money -- it just seems so wrong -- but they are willing to pay and that just blows me away.

For many years, friends visiting from out of the state, usually from up north somewhere, have asked if they could take a few rocks home with them. We have always agreed, with a little laugh, and encouraged them to take ALL they want.

Just this weekend a friend borrowed our 4-wheeler and small trailer and drove it to the edge of the woods and picked up enough rocks to fill the bed of the trailer to take back to Neosho, Mo., to use in his landscaping business. People are actually going to give him money for our rocks. Go figure -- but then, did you ever think you'd pay for water?

He told us that city folks are willing to pay big money to give their landscape that natural look, and you can't get much more natural than rocks, I guess. He told us we were sitting on a gold mine.

You know, if I was 30 years younger and my 3 sons were still at home (hee hee) I might consider this as being a ground-breaking (no pun intended) business. But at my age, my knees, my back, my shoulders, my hands, etc. etc., just do not bend towards the ground as easily as they once did.

Now, I'm just depressed. All those years when we made our boys pitch those rocks in the woods, we could have been building our retirement account. Oh well, what is they say about hindsight?