In August of 2006, we decided to put in our approach (the beginning part of a driveway with the culvert underneath...you seriously wouldn't believe how many people don't know what I'm talking about when I say that). Derek and Amber Fisher were also putting an approach on their land, and we all figured that maybe we would get a good deal if the three of us went and bought the culverts at the same time.
We booked Taras Gravel Supplies to come and put in our culvert for us on August 29th. We had booked the day off of work and arranged with Don Taras that they would come after lunch to put the dirt on the culvert, and all we had to do was put the culvert where we wanted it and secure it. Derek was the one that told us that we should secure it good, because I guess when he put theirs in, he didn't secure it, and when they dumped the load of sand onto the culvert, it shot out of the ditch it was sitting so nicely in, and he had to shovel the freshly dumped sand out and re-lay the culvert back in place. We were careful and made sure that it was secure. Since we were already there, offered to put Geoff's culvert in the ditch for him as well, so that he didn't have to get time off work to come out.
(Here we are, proud owners of a shiny 40-foot culvert,
that we were soon going to bury in sand, pitrun, and gravel.)
After staking both culverts, we played the waiting game. Taras said that they would be at our land just after lunch, which meant that they were supposed to be there around 1:00. Keep in mind that Ryan and I got there at 12:00 to lay the culverts where we wanted them. 1:00 comes and goes, and there's no dirt. 1:30 comes and still no dirt. Ryan calls Taras and he says that they're on their way. 2:00 comes around, and, you guessed it, no dirt...AND, Ryan fell asleep in the truck. The only thing that I could do was take pictures...which I did...many of them. Pictures of absolutely nothing...which I so often do. At about 2:30, the trucks finally started arriving. I woke Ryan up with a "They're here! They're here!!" delivered with a punch, and we got to work.
It was kinda fun watching them dump the sand out of the trucks and then push it around with their little machine (no idea what it's called...so little machine will have to do). As soon as the guy started playing around with the machine, Ryan wanted one instantly. There was a point in time where they left the machine with us and took off to get more dirt, making us wait longer. Ryan was hoping that they had left the keys in the machine, but no dice. If he started playing with it, there might have been an incident like Barry with the snowmobile...
It took them quite a while to get the new loads of sand, pit run, and gravel, since they were coming from the Garven Road gravel pits, and I think that they were just putting the gravel on our approach when my mom and dad got there.
If you're wondering if that pole was crooked before the guys came for the gravel...it was. Seems that Hydro likes to unhook power poles and reattach wires to new poles, and leave the old poles for the landowner to worry about. So no, a truck did not hit that pole. But that's how we'll know it's our land...the one with the crooked hydro pole on it. Unfortunately, we're going to have to take it down in the next couple of weeks. I wonder what they're going to charge us for that!
My dad decided to be funny and drive on our new approach, saying that he wanted to be the first one. I think that he forgot that it was fresh gravel, because I'm pretty sure he spun the tires and kicked up some of our gravel. Check out the marks he made with his truck tires...
The day, although very long and sometimes boring when we had to sit and wait for the dirt to arrive, was pretty good. We got our approach in, and that was exciting because that was the first thing we had done to our land after a year of owning it! Here's the finished product!
We went back a few weeks later, just to see what it was like, and ours was still in great condition, but we're pretty sure that a bus was turning around on Geoff's approach, because it was all torn up. I joked and said that it was because he wasn't there when the approach was put in. I never did tell him about the "buses turn around here" sign that I posted...
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