[Avodah] Mutzkeh: Sticks, Stones, and Pets

[Sholom Simon]

>To understand the reason why stones are muktzeh, one must remember 
>the principle on which muktzeh was based: Everything handled on 
>Shabbos must be prepared for Shabbos in advance.

Well . . . except for the myriad of things which are considered 
automatically prepared, no?  S'forim (and, for that matter, just 
about anything one can read), food, keilim with which to eat food 
(plates, forks, napkins), chairs, clothes, games, toys, pillows and 
blankets, . . . . so much, in fact, that it almost renders your 
sentence useless.  If you want to say, however that "natural objects" 
fall in a different category, that may be useful.

-- Sholom