Daley Ponderings

Just before 7:00 this morning, I thought I heard some sounds, so looked out the window to see a pickup truck but no backhoe.  The backhoe arrived just after 7 and Jonathan watched out the window while I got ready for the day.  Daddy said we could go out to look before breakfast since we didn't know how long they'd be there.

Jonathan decided to wear his firehat instead of the hard hat.  They were already digging by the time we got there, but there was plenty to watch.  After a while I suggested that we go home and get breakfast to bring back to the work site.  I turns out that the dump truck was full about one minute later, so by the time we got back with our breakfast they were just waiting around.  So, here's a question: is is more cost efficient to have one dump truck or two?  For this job, they only had one.  So while it was getting rid of its load, the backhoe operator and the "hole watcher" (one step down from foreman, is my guess) just stood around doing nothing.  Or entertaining a little boy.

We took breaks a few times to get some work done at home, but always tried to go back to the site when the dump truck came back.  When they finished a load, they'd turn off the backhoe and let Jonathan inspect the hole.  We saw where the gas and water lines were and explained how they dug around it.

One time when we came back, there was another backhoe in the street.  Jonathan asked, "Why are there two backhoes now?"  The man was so impressed that he knew it was a backhoe.  He said they needed to switch - I never was quite clear why, but for some reason the first backhoe was needed at another site.  They looked the same to me... 

After the third load it was taking a long time for the truck to come back, so I thought I'd get the upstairs bathroom cleaned.  But then I heard it and looked out.  It was full of dirt!  Why?  The last we knew, they were going to dig deeper because they still hadn't found what was causing the sinking.  So we rushed on out, but did not get there in time to see the dumping.  The backhoe operator tamped it down with the back of his shovel and when he was done we got the scoop.

The foreman had been there and said since it was dry down at 13-14 feet to go ahead and fill it back up.  We all thought that seemed a little chancy, but the foreman's the boss.  The backhoe guy explained to us that the fill is called "reclaim" and it's old road asphalt ground up.  He said after it's been there a while, it turns as hard as concrete. 

Then, oh the thrill!  He invited Jonathan to come in the cab.   He showed him the gas pedal and brake, and other driving controls, and then showed him the hydraulic controls.  And although the machine was off, there was still some relaxing room left such that when Jonathan moved the levers, the bucket moved a little bit!  After that, he  was kicking and pushing some reclaim into the hole, and the man offered him the hand shovel.  But once he leaned over too far and it nearly pulled him in, so that was the end of that.

But he got to climb into the backhoe again several times in between dumping and tamping operations, and he spent a long time sitting there in the swivel chair thoroughly enjoying himself, asking questions about controls and wiggling them around.

So maybe it's not the most efficient way to dig and fill a hole, but it sure was fun and educational for one neighborhood boy. (:

Three loads back in and pressed down hard and then they were done at 1:00pm.  They'll be back Tuesday to pave it.  We'll see if it sinks again or not...