RNVTNS: VOL. VI, # 1 Down to where the Action Is...and Up too, of Course

Memories like birds, fleeting--one must grasp and hold in heart's hand.

So here's the week's news: action inside and out.
First we'll go to what happened at the east end.  Drilling for why? blogger could only guess, but he (driller) had to stop because school was in session when drilling is a no-no.  It's amazing how sound travels through cement and steel.







Also at the east end some action inside chapel.  The window frame of one window is removed?

Why for????, but here's proof.

The opening is still open (boarded up at night), so it must be serving some significant purpose.

Moving to the west, we find lots of activity what with crane assist, and ceiling cross beams (lay-
speak), and welders on hand, and corrugated sheets being placed this very morn,
blogger has been kept busy.!
 Note the welding in the photos.  Blogger always gets excited when she can capture welding.  For why?????  Be that as it may, you can see the progression from the laying of all the assorted beams (ah, lay-speak) to placing of what is starting to look like a roof.
  So up to the very minute (exaggeration since they didn't stop working after this shot was taken), here the story.  Stay tuned for the further adventures of RNVTNS!

RNVTNS VOL. V, #4

Memories like birds, fleeting--they must be grasped and held in heart's hand.

Monday:  As of 11:00 only light work at the chapel end.This photo was taken earlier, around 10:00.  Seems reasonable to expect the cement mixer some time soon.

 Tuesday:  Looks like the deed is done: footings poured.

Wednesday:  Still at the chapel end, a tantalizing development on the exterior walls of the building.  The markings in this photo are for the holes needed for the placement of girders.  By the end of the day more holes will be cut.

Thursday:  While outside, blogger noticed a workman unscrewing a panel of a chapel window.  Going inside and following a workman into the chapel, she found a crew of men taking the windows apart.  This was the moment blogger had been waiting for--to see how it was going to be accomplished.  Watching for some time yielded a number of photos.  Only two are shown here, but the second one has an interesting aspect.  The man on the left is from the company (his own) that will clean and repair the panels.  He's concerned that the men are being careful (they are--they are from another company that does this kind of work).  As this is being typed, the panels are leaning against the wall in a few places in the chapel.  These windows all have a sort of storm window on the outside, as you can figure looking at these two photos.
A very eventful and instructive morning for blogger.  This job has its perks!

Tomorrow will find blogger out of town, so what happens on Friday will be documented next week.  Until then...

RNVTNS VOL. V,# 3 Things Moving, Moving, Moving

Memories like birds, fleeting--one must grasp and hold in heart's hand.

The movement around here just this morning makes blogger think of the old Fats Waller song, "The Joint is Jumpin'", as she recalls from her big brother's record collection.  Well jumpin' it has been, keeping blogger almost running from one end of the roof (off and on the Sisters' patio) to the other.  Yesterday brought frustration when she realized that for the second time she had missed a floor being poured, this time the chapel floor.The photo right next to the poured floor is a shot of the elevator shaft and new entrance foundations as they are being prepared.  (The white boxes on the bottom right are air conditioners in second and third floor classrooms.)  Men were working around that area early today, as you can see.

The sight of the crane from a 4th. fl. window drew blogger out to the patio to begin the "snapping" of photos on her iPad.  It got more interesting the longer she stayed outside.  The next photos are of the commencement (more or less) of the work at the collaborative learning center (aka media center or library).

Lots of measuring and double checking with a level until all the roof beams are in place.  Then the side beams are placed by the crane operator and the checking with a level is repeated.  Very meticulous work with lots of ascending and descending of ladders.  Blogger is mightily impressed and thankful!Blogger was not outside when she took this photo, but at the faculty room window.  Else she would have had to wear a hardhat (seriously).  She has one from the theater construction, by order of that site manager (one learns about OSHA also while working this kind of gig). In this last photo, we can see the man welding the side beam in place.  The welding continued, blogger is sure, until all the beams were secured.  

Well as the reader can see, it has been quite a ride this morning.  Blogger will have to venture out this afternoon to see the further adventures of

RNVTNS.

RNVTNS VOL. V, #2 Now You See Them, Now You Don't

Memories, like birds, fleeting--one must grasp and hold in heart's hand.

Intersting week: at first all quiet.  Where are they?  Hmmm; must be at another sight.  Then suddenly on Wednesday...



                                                ...the mortar maker makes an appearance.

This means...yes...walls.  But lo, not the a wall for the 21st. Century Collaborative Learning Center (blogger finally has the newest and best term for it), but...yes, walls for the chapel.  Now, that's exciting!  And not just the east wall, but also the north wall facing the soccer field.

Yes, that was Wednesday.  Alas, on Thursday: all quiet.  Sigh.  Such is the life of a construction-watcher.




On another tack, let's come indoors and see what the some students are seeing each day.
This classroom has been arranged by one of our very creative teachers.  Look around and determine what subject is being taught here.

.Now that we have you guessing, where was the last photo on the right taken?

RNVTNS VOL. 5, #1 this IS where the ACTION IS

Memories, like birds, fleeting--one must grasp and hold in heart's hand.

First, this is a look inside (what blogger has been promising for weeks) with what has been accomplished recently.
  This is as far as the workmen have gotten in the old restroom inside the side door.  Earlier in the month, blogger could hear the men drilling before school began (7:45am).  Yes, early.
After this much was accomplished, this group of workers either moved outside at this site or on to another job for the time being.

With that said, much has been accomplished outside, and you've been kept up to date on that as of last posting.



                                                                         Some interesting stuff going on with the wall very recently.  In this photo we see a workman cutting out the inside divider of a concrete block for the top layer on the wall.

While at the top of the wall the finishing touches seem to be in the works.  The roof is someways off since two more sections of wall must be erected for this area (media center), or at least, that's what lay-speak blogger is thinking.  We'll all see together!
Moving eastward to where the biggest excitement of the week
was developing:  Behold a trench which suggest footer--ooooo!

To the left we see a man with a measuring rod (sounds like Ezekiel's angel) checking the northeast corner of the trench.






Below, lo, the concrete for the same is being poured.  But the trench seems to turn a corner and head for the building.  Yes, it does.  And then...well, you see it.

  Concrete is poured all the way to the building.  Yes again, we're talking here about the chapel extension.  But notice in this second photo that there seems to be a hole to the right of the poured footer.  Is that significant?  You bet.

To the right is blogger's prize pic of the week. (Not to burden you, but notice all the textures in the photo, and the balance!  She's impressed, even if no one else is.)  Could what we see in the last photo portend an elevator shaft?  Gasp!

That's all for now, folks.  Stay turned.

RNVTNS Vol. IV, #4 Still Outside, Still Interesting

Memories like birds, fleeting--they must be grasped and held in heart's hand.

At first glance, you may think, "ho-hum", but dear reader, there are no such things in at this site (even if the workman mentioned last week did casually raise the fallen end of the platform you see in this photo.  More about that later.)  Observe, please, the metal canopy from the faculty room door--down.  Next notice the row of holes above the windows.  At first blogger thought she remembered some vents there, but there are too many holes.  Maintenance thinks they may be for trusses for holding up the eventual roof.  Blogger thinks that sounds right.  Can you figure out what the red is from on the floor?

Moving across the floor of the new addition, we can see that part of the north

wall is getting up there.  About the platform mentioned above which is just to the left of the one you see here--you see it at the bottom right of the photo.  That means the platform so visible has been raised quite a bit to accommodate the continued laying of the blocks from the other side of the wall.  Unfortunately, blogger missed the actual work from that side of the wall, but could see from the darkness of the mortar what had been laid in the time she missed (about one morning).  Note the height of the wall from angle in this next photo (also the height of the platform).

 

Now let's move up the road to the chapel end to see what's going on there.   Some lawn moving.  If you even want your grass removed, this is a fast way to do it.  Sure, it has it's drawbacks, but...

Around the corner of chapel you can see how far the workman has removed the lawn--that gives us a hint of coming attractions.  Blogger remembers the tree that used to be in this corner, the one in which she saw a cedar waxwing dropping by for a few berries before continuing its migration south for the summer.  Blogger recorded in her bird book that it was May 13, 1978.  A neat memory.

Next time, blogger hopes to be able to show you some inside job sites. It takes a bit of doing, however, but there may be a way.  Stay tuned.

RVNTNS Vol. IV, #3 Now We're Cookin' with Gas... er, Mortar

Memories like birds, fleeting--one must grasp and hold in heart's hand.

In the last few days there has been evidence of some heavy duty
advances out on/near the Media Center floor.  In this photo we see one of three platforms for holding concrete blocks.  The man emerging from beneath the platform is holding a level.  There are cranks at various points under the framework that the men used to adjust the leveling. The three platforms had been put in place by a larger fork lift--something to watch!


Here's the forklift.  If you ever want to move something heavy at your house, you may want to think of renting one.


The men here on the right seem to be getting ready for the laying of the concrete blocks which are accumulating on the floor of the MC.  Now the next thing needed is the block-layers; but wait.  The platforms must have a few more components, it seems.  Today has proven what was still needed, but for now we can think more lay thoughts, like mortar.  The block-layers will need mortar.

 So we (they) have our (their) own mortar mixer.  Makes one think of "Mortar mixer, sand and water. (repeat)"  which you can sing to the tune of "Cement mixer...'" i.e. if you are old enough to remember the tune, of course.  In the first photo, the workman is in the process of putting in the ingredients--sand, water, and the powdered whatever (in the white bags on the right) that makes the mortar.  It's all chemistry just like cooking, one might think.
In the second photo, he's shoveling the mortar out of the mixer into a kind of wheel barrow.

Now for the real thing.  Three men are engaged in this operation.  The man on the platform is getting the concrete blocks (what was needed at the top) nearer the end of the platform for forklifting (?) to the foundation area (there are already stacks of the blocks on that floor).  The man on the left has just put a block down and is tapping it in place.  The man in the orange is getting mortar onto a mortar board from the barrow (below the picture frame).  Very systematic.  At one point while blogger was taking photos, one end of the first platform slipped and lowered less than a foot.  The man on the platform looked over, assessed the situation, then walked nonchalantly to that site, calmly opened a hatch, pulled up a crank and jacked the slipped end back up to being level with the other two platforms.  All in a day's work.  Blogger had expected some alarm to sound to gather the troops to right the wrong, but blogger thinks lay-thoughts.  Whew.
We'll see how high the wall will rise within the next week.  Truly, it is getting exciting.