Gary Monson - our favorite name around here

One of the craziest things that has happened to us in the three years since we moved here is this:  Gary Monson (owner of Monson Excavating) popped over on a Thursday afternoon when both Paul and I were gone, but Ann Hannig was watching the kids, and asked if we might be interested in the 'fill' he was going to have from digging a basement on Green Lake, down at the bottom of our hill.  He thought we could fill in our gigantic hole/burning pit on the north side of our driveway.  We didn't realize what a TREMENDOUS blessing this was until talking to others that are smarter than us!  Ha!  The cost of getting fill is not cheap.  For 2 1/2 days straight, 2 dump trucks hauled dirt from the Green Lake basement to our property, one truck after another, over and over and over and over again.  They brought 200 loads of dirt!  After 10-12 loads were dropped off, Gary Monson would hop in his back hoe/loader to level out the dirt piles.  Slowly our ENORMOUS hole started to fill up and up and up...and became more and more level.  In the meantime, Gary dropped about 10 huge (and some dead) trees by pushing them over with his back hoe.  He dropped them right into the big hole, then slowly they were buried by the dirt.  He pulled out some huge tree stumps, too, and buried them.  All of this was for FREE!  If we wouldn't have agreed to take this dirt, Monson would have had to drive 12 miles round trip to dump it, so it saved him money as well.  When it is all said and done, we will have received 2500 yards (200 truck loads) of dirt and will have a level, flat, beautiful yard!  Gone is the ugly burning pit, the weeds, the dead trees, the deep hole in the middle of our property.  What a huge blessing!  

This dump truck was driven by Luke.  We came to know him as Luke Duke, with the gray truck, and long blond ponytail.  The red truck (not pictured) was driven by Gary Monson himself.  Benny started playing with his toy trucks and told us he was Gary Monson, digging a basement (its a funny thought if you could see Gary Monson, an almost-retired, tall and thin, nice old man with a mustache...chain smoking cigarettes.).  For days Benny has had two toy dump trucks working hard, one is Gary, one is Luke Duke.

So, since we were getting so much free dirt, my vision for this concrete jungle started to materialize.  This is the before picture.

Here are the boys helping me smooth out the dirt that we took from Gary Monson's big piles.  In the background you can see the original perennial garden that we are adding onto (with the red mulch already laid down).

And here is how it looks after!  I have added many more flowers and pots since these "after" pictures, and the rocks go all the way around to line the sidewalk.  I love it so much better than the broken and cracked concrete now hidden underneath!

It's hard to tell the depth and magnitude of these pictures.  This was our huge hole, now filled up.

What is left of the burning pile is about to be buried with dirt.

A few from way back by the burning pile, looking toward the driveway.  It used to be a deep hole.  Now it is level ground!

Meredith is watching the action/dumping while eating breakfast.

We got Benny a sand digger and he was busy for hours digging a basement in this pile of dirt from Gary Monson.  Ben WAS Gary Monson as he dug, by the way.

Little Gary

Big Gary

Big Gary again...at the very start of the project it looks like.

The dirt hauling is completed. Gary will come back soon to finish pushing the remaining dirt piles into what is left of the hole.  Then he will grade it for us and we can lay black dirt and plant grass.  What a transformation!  A free one!  PTL!