A 'Hole' Lotta Diggin' Goin' On

When it rains all the time and then it rains some more, things happen. Such is my theory upon Scott's discovery of The Great Sinkhole of '17. He went down to check the mail Saturday (5/20) afternoon and couldn't help but notice the hole that had formed on the south side of the big clump of concrete, plants and dirt at about the driveway's mid-point. When the skies cleared Sunday, we went out to investigate.

An area about 4 ft. x 5 ft. x 3 ft. deep appeared in a space that had heretofore been an unexplained planting Clump. (Sorta half rock garden, half wildflower effort that turned into just another thing to mow around.)

The big fears included having the water line compromised or the culvert somehow circumvented. Scott probed the bottom of the hole, looking for signs of disaster. Luckily - it turned out just to be a section of soil that sank (perhaps encouraged by the groundhog family that lives nearby.)  He decided to take apart The Clump and use its dirt to fill the hole. I decided that my time would be better spent pulling weeds.

When I checked on him 45 minutes later, he had made great progress! He sheared off the dirt with the transfer shovel, collecting chunks of concrete along the way. The weeds and grass went in the hole, along with the dirt.

The plan for the big slabs of concrete included crushing them into rubble size with the sledge. This was later determined to be too much to tackle at the moment.

Small concrete chunks were chucked into the ditch next to the culvert on the south side of the driveway.

Tall weeds and grass were tackled with the scythe. Side note: another "found" tool, this thing is super sharp!

After about 3 1/2 hours of hard work, the hole was filled and The Clump was just a memory. (Plus, the cottonwood flowerbed was looking much better due to my expert weed pulling.)

I volunteered to serve as a passenger in the Ranger as Scott drove over and over the dirt to pack it down. I knew my body weight would someday prove useful!

At the end of a long afternoon, the tools were toted back to the barn and all was well. Another satisfying day of hard work. Good job, Scotty! He will continue to monitor the area and add more dirt as the ground settles.

Stay Tuned for Our Next Adventure!