By Don Guarino

SPECIAL TO CEG

Self-Serve Sand Pits

Self-serve, on-your-honor sand pits are fairly common in the county where I live. There is one 15 miles from my home, in a neighboring resort community. Once you’ve established a relationship with the owner, you can call to make an appointment any time. He leaves a loader for customers to use. A notebook in the cab serves as a log of your visit. Bills are sent out on a monthly basis.

There was one sand pit I frequented that had a late model John Deere loader available for customer use. Two buckets would fill my 1983 Ford F-800 truck. The loader bucket was wider then my dump truck body; I was always dribbling dirt on the headboard. One day, a rock the size of a basketball bounced off my headboard and blew out the windshield. That pissed me off! Ever drive a dump truck with no windshield?

At another pit I would use my father-in-law’s Case 580 backhoe to load. This particular sand pit had a 30-foot face with a row of pine trees at the top. I ran the tractor into the bank, which started a landslide, which in turn undermined a large pine. In an instant the tree was falling in exactly the same path I was traveling. I pulled back the shuttle shift, floored the accelerator; the 580 moved with a sense of urgency. Like a slow-motion film, the tree, the machine and the operator were headed for disaster. Fortunately, I had traveled just far enough so only the top branches covered the machine. Nothing of any size had hit me or damaged my father-in-law’s tractor.

Here’s what I’ve learned about working in sand pits. Cut and stump the top of any pit. When loading do not, I repeat, do not push the safety of the headboard. Always be on the lookout for a self-serve pit close to your next job.

For the past 29 years Don Guarino has owned and operated D. Guarino Construction, a small excavating firm in central New Hampshire. A native of the Granite State, he has blasted, excavated and repaired heavy equipment.