Moving, Work, Life

Well if you are wondering why we are slacking on our blogging these days it is because we are getting ready to move this weekend. We are moving into our first house on Saturday. Janna is doing a great job of packing and she said Stone has been really good at helping.
Van is getting big. When he is on his belly, he pushes himself up to where his hips are off the floor so he can see what is going on. He has a death grip. He likes to grab everything and watch out if his fingernails are long.

I am still working on the Palazzo Verdi building in Greenwood Village, CO. Since I got here I have helped supervise the placing of about 4000 Cubic yards of concrete. These are pictures of some of the recent pours we have done. Above is a 1 foot thick slab on the first floor. It took 210 cubic yards of concrete to complete.

On the upper floors we do topping slabs. These are set to a finished floor elevation and then power-troweled. The trowel you see above is the burner. He trowels at a high speed and actually gives it a burned-in finish that is so shiny it is reflective like Zambonied ice.This picture above is the building after they finished placing all of the structural pieces of precast, or the "shell." That is a concrete pumper pumping up concrete to the 11th floor. We have only 2 more topping slabs to do on the building which will be tomorrow and Friday.

This piece was left out so several pieces of mechanical equipment could go inside using the crane. This piece had just been setting on the roof, waiting to take its place. Technically once it was put in, the structural shell was complete. I was one of the few who actually saw it.Ever wonder what it looks like from the top of a crane? Here you go. I was actually in the building, but it is a good view from the top down.These are the front pieces for the entry way canopy. They were the final precast pieces on the job. They aren't structural pieces, just cosmetic and to keep the precipitation off of the entry way.This was the pour this morning. You can see the crane and concrete pump were in pretty tight quarters. The crane had to finish setting the canopy and the pump only has access through the front curtain windows. Everything worked out fine.

Car Update and Camping this Weekend

This is the site where we will build the hotel. Once our construction starts it will be tight quarters as far as laydown room goes. The fence on the far side is the eastern edge of the property. Where that light pole is in the middle of the lot is about the middle of the building. Where the light pole and those trailers are will be a 22-foot deep hole stretching across the lot by next weekend.

I got the Honda back last night. They were able to fix it for a reasonable price. They had to reset the SRS system and they replaced the wiring harness that feeds into the washer pump. I don't know if there was more I could have done, but I am just glad to get that over with. I enjoy working on cars when it is not stressful; I hate working on them when I cannot find the problem. My old Dodge Van is ready to be put to rest. The brakes are starting to go. They cannot stop on a dime like our other cars. It slows to a stop. It is our mobile storage unit more or less.

Van has started to smile and giggle a lot. He watches Stone and Rusty and tracks them around the room as they walk. He will giggle and make big, bright-eyed smiles when he gets excited. I took some great pictures with my phone but haven't had a chance to upload them to the computer yet.

This is a shot of the 2 conventional cranes they are using on the other project.

Last night we got out the tent and set it up on the grass to make sure it is dry and ready. The boys helped me put the poles together and clip on the hooks to the poles. I made a couple phone calls to friends last night about Devil's Head, the area we are planning on going. Everyone I talked to said it is a great area and not a long drive from town. There is a 1.25 mile hike up to the lookout tower that takes you up just under 10,000 ft in elevation. Maybe Tim will be up for it bright and early Saturday morning before all of the kids wake up. We both need the workout as our fall flag football season is quickly approaching.

They are so tall we can see them from our place in Littleton about 11-12 miles away. On our job next door we will have a large tower crane and a smaller crane to pump concrete through.

Speaking of football, we had a scrimmage last Saturday against a fellow team in our league. They have an excellent quarterback who doesn't make a lot of mistakes. I was really happy with our defense though. While we never intercepted him, we did a good job defending them. We ended up winning by 2 TD's despite about 5 turnovers on our part. I did have an interception though it wasn't thrown by their QB. In the league we play in, they allow the receiving team on a punt to throw a forward pass if the guy catching it has not taken more than 2 steps. I punted the ball and then intercepted the pass.

This is a picture inside the lobby of the Palazzo Verdi job adjacent to the hotel we will be starting next week. It currently is at the 11th story of the first half of the building. They are building it in 2 phases. In this picture they are working on utilities and putting down void form. The stack on the right is void form. They pour the concrete on it when it is laid out and the ground is able to expand under the concrete without causing the concrete to lift and crack.

Janna and the kids came and watched and the boys did a good job of finding every possible ball that had ever been left around the field ( 2 tennis, 1 lacrosse, and 1baseball core with the yarn now off). Janna said Rusty found a plastic tampon applicator (? is that what they're called?) and he put it on the end of a stick. He was so proud.

Today my cousin Cassie and her boys are coming to see us on their way to St. Louis. We are excited to see them.