Cutting the Driveway!

Jeanie edited the Hope Expenses spreadsheet to show debits and credits; total in and total out. Previously the total at the bottom was only the sum of the money coming in.  Matt added $6,971.10 to Mom and Dad’s cash in column so that the total accurately represents the status of our bank account.

Harold took photos and videos today while Robbie cut the driveway in with the big excavator.  He had already mucked out Larry’s drive on lot 6 and piled the trees near the road.  He crawled it onto our property just after 9 AM, and twenty minutes later he already had it down to the parking lot area.  The machine easily pulls up the root masses and sets them aside.  Robbie scrapped the duff and muddy gravel off the top several feet of the lot and piled it over by our scrap piles.  He then piled the good gravel from below along the right side of the lot and dug the hole down about 15 feet.  When the hole was big enough, he put the pile from the top layer in the hole and packed it down.  He then dug further down on the south end of the hole and pulled more great gravel out.  He got down nearly 30 feet, and the best gravel came from the deepest part of the excavation.  Once he had dug all he could reach, he started pulling the debris and top dirt all the way down the driveway to the hole.  He made several passes bringing much down and placing it in the hole.  It was amazing how much muck would fit into that deep hole.  Finally Robbie said that he had done all he could do that day without the “clean-up” bucket which is wider and doesn’t have long teeth.  That bucket is being delivered to Portage today, and he will bring it over to continue the work.  He will also dig another pit to the right (west) of the first hole to get more good gravel and to have a place to bury the rest of the muck.  There is not enough muck to refill a hole big enough for all the gravel we need, so Robbie will have to bring in some gravel he has made up to grade the top of the drive.  Harold told Robbie that he will not be back until the weekend at the earliest, and to continue as he may.  Harold moved the two upper piles of birch back away from the driveway to keep them clear of the gravel that may well spill over into the trees a bit.

Our Gravel Pit