Lay Out the Black Carpet

Remember the old tennis court at the east end of the school on Hilton Dr.?  Or maybe you remember back further, as blogger does, when there was a hill almost immediately beyond the driveway at that end.  At any rate, the tennis court was abandon with glee after the new court was laid to the west of the building  in 2008.  Since that time the old court has been left to the ravages of the weather while serving as a parking lot for faculty and baseball fans, and a practice area for the marching band of NDA/CCH.   But now, at last, it is being resurfaced as this missive is being typed. 

In above photo you see the truck pulling away from the spreader after it has delivered a load of asphalt, as well as the smaller of two rollers (truck in foreground, ???)  A nice feature of this photo is the view of the softball field as it is seen from a third mezzanine window.  You will note, no doubt, that this photo was taken through the window screen.  (Professional photo—no.  Blogger could have gone to the roof for these photos, but didn’t think of it until now.  There are no screens up there.) 

Here we see the larger roller too.  The men on foot are getting ready to cord- measure the width of the next row (blogger’s conjecture from what she saw shortly after this pic was taken.  Of course, blogger could be dead wrong, but that’s what it looked like.)

After the men have rolled all the newly laid asphalt, everybody just sits and waits for the next load.  Here’s a job with lots of break time if you don’t mind working with a very hot material and going through the same maneuver over and over again.  One suspects that it’s minimum wage for many on such a crew.  Considering the blessing a new parking surface they are providing, one wishes more for them.

So, in closing, if you have never watched a blacktop surface being laid, you now have a little glimpse of it.  There’s so much to learn in life.  God bless.