Where would we be without Donny the truck driver? He is on the road most days delivering random dry stone now that walling has started to take off here in this part of Canada. . He has arranged his driving routine so that he specializes in bringing quarried stone for many of the walls DSWAC members build in southern Ontario. He always tries to make sure he brings exactly the type of sizes and variety of shapes that we need. We not only get the stone we need we also get a lot of news from him about the other wallers and their various projects. I think he kind of likes this dual role he has, but he says he mostly enjoys returning and seeing the kinds of things we build with the loads of material he brings us.
Other drivers might not take such an interest but Donny tries to tune in to the the kind of stone structures we build with our hands so he can keep bringing the right material. He has found a way to make himself indispensable. If we need a special load of random material we know he will drive many miles to a quarry, tell the loader guy to move over, load the truck himself, and then drive several hours to our job site, and often be there the same day we call him. He knows that whatever stuff he dumps there for us, it's going to have to be all used up. Twenty four tons of random material - you wouldn't want to get it wrong. We pretty much trust him that it isn't going to be full of 'fines', or too big, too small or have way too many weird shapes.
It has occurred to us that he has as much input into the kinds of walls going up over much of Southern Ontario as any us wallers do or the landscapers and architects we often work with. The stones he chooses to fill his truck with pretty much determine the look and style of all the walls we build. So Donny has a big hand in what we do.
