code: def to_dict(self, get_value=None):
          
          self.trim()
          result = {}
          for key, value in iteritems(self.counters):
              if get_value is not None:
                  value = getattr(value, get_value)
              r = result
              for _key in key[:-1]:
                  r = r.setdefault(_key, {})
              r[key[-1]] = value
          return result
docs: Dump counters as a dict