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October 2 - Meetings, Grading and Pews

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Another Status Meeting in the Church - A week ago Sunday the second status update meeting was held at the church. While there were some assembled pews, they were all in the sanctuary, and not in the dining hall where the meeting convened. So, everyone that wanted to sit had to bring their own chair. In the picture, Bob is standing but not because he failed to bring a chair. He wanted attention so he stood up in the front to give his status update. After Sam reported on the finances discussion ensued about whether or not to increase our self imposed debt ceiling. While the church could be 'completed' without the increase, some desired items like an epoxy sealed kitchen floor would have to be deferred. The congregation agreed to up the debt limit. Sam stated that the bank is fine with the new debt ceiling. Sam also said the projection stand in the picture is only temporary. With the current projected spending, we will still not have a completed kitchen so the eagle-eyed shoppers ...
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August 15 and 16 - Prep Work and Thunderstorm

The plumber comes too late - 

Naturally, the plumber shows up after the flood is over and the water drained away.
Actually, Don Lehtola being on site on Monday had nothing to do with the water in the basement last Saturday. Don, who is the contractor for the plumbing and HVAC, was there going over the plans and marking up the giant white board with Mark.







All the preparation work -
The amount of time and energy that goes into activity that a chronicler never would have thunk up is amazing. These size large window bucks will stay in the wall, with the windows attached to them. I figure that with the inside bracing and maybe a little duct tape to keep the shape when the concrete is poured, the whole unit should be pretty stable. Well, maybe that is not enough.



Three holes are drilled through the side rail of each buck. Then hooked anchor bolts, each with a washer and a nut, are hammered into the holes.

Zeke Aho is drilling the holes and setting in the anchors.






Later, these anchor holes are covered to keep the anchors in place while the concrete is poured. After the concrete gets set up, the covers will come off and the internal bracing will be removed. The bucks, now sturdily anchored in the concrete, will remain.

All this work just to keep the windows from popping out of the finished building.

















An elaborate plan for the truss footings was drawn on the giant white board.













Following this plan, this footing and another
one just like it were poured in exactly the right places. I think some trusses, which showed up on site yesterday, are rumored to be anchored on these footings. Stay tuned to see what really happens on these footings.














Tuesday brought a thunderstorm -


The storm came but not until late in the day, after the concrete footings were poured.


It started to get a little dark, but Sam Roiko toiled on until the rain came on - kind of serious like.
When the rain stopped, a rainbow was left behind.



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