A Big ol Pile of Dirt

I re-sided my house last year and started working on the yard but got cut short by the weather. The front yard used to slope down to the sidewalk and I never liked this. Although the openness invited people to creep into my yard, I’ve never really liked fences on a front yard either. So I decided to build a retainer wall and raise the lawn to be level. Below are two photos of my front yard and porch soon after I moved in here.




The next two photos show what it looked like at the beginning of this year.

The nice weather got me in the mood to do some work, so this weekend I prepped the inside of the wall with a sealant and on Monday I called Irving Brothers to check on getting a load of dirt delivered. The unevenness of the ground made it difficult to measure, but I calculated that I would need six cubic yards. Irving said that translated to nine tons, so I decided to order an even ten as I still have work to do on the other side of the lawn. It was four in the afternoon when I called and I was surprised that they offered to deliver it that day still.

It was about six o’clock when the truck arrived and he backed in to dump it in the front yard. Unfortunately there were two problems. First, the dirt was very wet so he had to raise the bed completely before it would fall. Also, there was a wire overhead that made it impossible for him to reach the yard with the bed raised that high. He tried different angles and shaking the bed several times, but it soon became apparent that it just wasn’t going to make it into the yard. I finally told him to just drop it on the sidewalk as close to the yard as he could get. Below are a couple picture of the dirt piled on the sidewalk.

I didn’t realize just how big this pile of dirt would be. Ten tons of dirt equals 6 2/3 cubic yards. That is a pile of dirt six foot wide by ten foot long by three foot high. That’s a lot of dirt! I was pretty certain I wouldn’t be able to move that much dirt before it got dark, so I just started in clearing the area that was closest to the wall to let people pass by. Within a couple minutes, my neighbor Jim came walking over with his own shovel and just started in digging.

After we were at it for about fifteen minutes, Mike came over with a shovel also. I’ve seen Mike around before, but I don’t think he actually lives in this neighborhood. That means he had to go to somebody else and borrow a shovel to help me. The three of us worked for almost an hour and had the walkway opened up when Jim said he’d had enough. I knew Jim probably wasn’t looking for money, but I offered anyway. He almost seemed offended that I’d even offer.

Mike stayed for another fifteen minutes or so then said that he was finished. I knew Mike was looking for money, and if I didn’t have any to give I would have told him as soon as he started helping. But he never asked. He just grabbed a shovel and started in digging. I gave him fifteen bucks, which might sound like a lot of money for an hour of work, but it was hard work and he earned it. After a few minutes by myself, Arlen came over and helped for about a half hour. I knew better than to offer him any money and just told him to let me know when he needed my help with something.

A few minutes after Arlen left, Spencer showed up to help. I had already been at it for nearly two hours straight, and I was about ready to quit. But even though my back was killing me, it was difficult to walk away when I had someone helping. After Spencer and I worked for almost an hour, I announced that I was finished. I told Spencer I’d finish it the next day although I knew in reality that my back would be in no condition to do anything the next day. Spencer responded by shoveling faster and said “Come on now, we almost got it beat.” What the hell, the pain was beginning to turn to numbness, so I stayed to finish the job with Spencer. He hadn’t mentioned money either, but I gave him twenty bucks when we finished.

I had four different people jump in to help with out being asked. None asked for money and only two accepted what I offered them. I probably only moved four tons myself, and it was starting to get dark, so I’m sure I wouldn’t have completed the job myself that night. But in addition to them physically helping me, there is something to be said about the encouragement factor as well. Each new person was coming into it fresh, so as I was beginning to slow down myself, I was challenged to keep up with whoever was helping me. I definitely overworked myself that evening, and I’m certain that if I had tackled it alone I probably would have moved only about a quarter of the pile.

A few interesting things happened while we were out there working. The young guys that usually stand on the corner selling actually showed up while we were working, but they weren’t facing the street this time, and they weren’t shouting like they usually do. No, they were just silently watching us work our asses of. Although none of them joined in, you could tell they were impressed by what they were seeing. At first, I thought this viewing of someone actually doing physical labor might encourage them to change their ways and get honest jobs. But seeing me limping around with my stiff back the next day probably actually convinced them that the easy money is the way to go.

About an hour into the job, Collin walked past and offered to sell me some Vicadin (a prescription pain-killer.) Hey, at least he was being customer focused! Towards the end, when we were probably down to the last ton, another man came along and offered to help. He asked for twenty dollars up front, so the word must have gotten around that I was handing out cash. As soon as I told him that I could finish it myself, he dropped his price to ten, then to five dollars. He seemed a little too desperate, so I told him no more firmly a second time. He then actually took a hold of the shovel and tried to pull it out of my hands. I was about to drop the shovel and let him know he needed to quit slowing me down, but Tricia called to him by name and shook her head at him. He walked away after that.

Mike Harvey (fairplaybeach) made a comment on a previous post that it was surprising that no one messes with me here. I’ve come to know this neighborhood pretty well over the years. For the most part I know who’s here to make money and who’s here just for kicks. I can tell you some guys that would see shooting me as a badge of honor, and others that would see the potential fallout from this as harmful to their business. There are some who I could stand among three or four of them talking and not feel threatened, and there are others that I would not turn my back on just them alone.

I have definitely been tested here at times. They try to figure out if I’m carrying a gun, and where it’s at. They try to figure out what makes me jumpy and what things I don’t notice. They’ve tried to figure out my schedule and what room I sleep in at night. They’ve have tried to figure out exactly what makes me tick. But I welcome these games because the truth is, no one can act without giving away certain information about themselves. They test me to try and figure me out, but in so doing they also reveal much about themselves in the process. If a gunfight broke out, I think I could predict the reaction from many of these guys; which ones would flee, which ones would stay and fight, and which ones would just shit their pants. That knowledge alone gives me enough confidence to be able to do things now that I couldn’t do when I first moved in here.

The entire time that I was working on the dirt pile, I only got a bad vibe one time. Three of the younger guys were standing on the corner beside me and my back was turned to the street when a van drove up quickly and pulled over behind me. I immediately straightened up, turned around , and pulled the shovel into a somewhat defensive position. I moved quick enough that it actually seemed to startle a couple of the guys standing there. I quickly realized there was nothing funny going on, other than a reckless driving jack-ass pulling over on the wrong side of the road to talk with his buddies, so I just stretched a bit to give the appearance that was why I had stood at attention.

Below are two photos after we were done shoveling. The extra dirt will be used on the other side of the front yard after I build the wall there. Hopefully by this summer I will have grass and flowers growing.