By Vicki Scott
It was fun watching our “grands” climb, play and run up and down those Alabama red clay mounds. Each child was wearing one of my old tee shirts or tank tops. The shirts were like big dresses about 30 sizes too big, but I could wear them back in the day. The kiddies were making memories while I was enjoying some giggles that tickled my soul. That was part of how we spent this past Easter. We will treasure this time but now we’re ready to move on.
The red clay mounds consisted of dirt brought in to level an area for a storage building for my husband Alan’s precious motorcycles. We waited patiently for weeks for those mounds to be leveled. When the guy who was supposed to spread the dirt was called, we found out we were on a long list and he would get to us as soon as he could. The fact that Alan was willing to wait longer made me feel that the guy was not rude about the issue and even apologetic. I know the guy was struggling to find good help during the pandemic, so we waited.
Two months later, we were about to leave for a trip but were hindered by a trailer pulling up to our house. It took the dirt-spreading guy 10 minutes to unload a tractor, which made me laugh. We waited two months for10 minutes. He soon found out there was not enough dirt to spread out.
More dirt was unloaded the next day, and the dump truck driver made a mess while trying not to get stuck. It looked like the truck got stuck by the deep tire grooves, but the truck was gone, so I know it did not.
We waited two more months for more dirt, so we figured we had been moved the end of the list again. We could have called someone else, but everyone has a list nowadays, and we felt we had invested too much and gone too far to turn back at that point. However, we were next on the list for the guy who planned to build our motorcycle haven. He wanted us to call the guy to hurry him up, so we called.
It turned out that our dirt spreader had COVID. When we informed our building guy of the situation, he moved to the next project on his list, which happened to be a three-month project. But we were excited because that gave us more time to come up with the money to pay him.
Our dirt spreader finally came back and spread the dirt, only to be six feet short of the designated building size. He apologized and ordered more dirt. It then rained for three days just before our dirt was delivered.
The dump truck driver decided to avoid getting stuck again by dumping the dirt in our driveway. We braced ourselves for another long wait, but it was only a few weeks because of the rain. When Alan called the dirt-spreading guy, he said he would spread the dirt between rains, which he did. The combination of spreading the wet Alabama red clay mixed with rain allowed us to go mud riding in our driveway.
When we came home one day, we found that our builder had visited to check on the dirt spreading progress and he was introduced to the intensity of Alabama red clay on our driveway. I do not know who go stuck first, him or the Federal Express person. Our driveway is messy and very deceiving. Everyone who has recently visited has red tires and a story to tell.
The dirt-spreading guy ordered some gravel, which took take the fun out of driving on our driveway.
The dump truck went down the driveway with the gravel, and the dirt spreader said he would come back with a Bobcat to spread the gravel. Our driveway looks like a gray tunnel invaded by giant ants. If we make it to the ant mound, we can make it out, being that our automobile is not lower to the ground. Giant ants must have scared the Bobcat and made “right after” last longer.
This all sounds frustrating, and it might seem like I am complaining, but I am not. We have laughed through this whole ordeal. We had no idea of the costs involved in getting everything done, and now that we do know, we praise God for the wait.
So far, the best part of the story are all the dirt-inspired adventures. I’ve had so much fun harassing my husband. When all of this this is over, I must find something else to tease him about. I ‘m sure Alan is ready for me to move on about the dirt, but I’m just not ready just yet. Take your time, Mr. Dirt Spreader.
Stay safe, y’all!