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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 2 - Burying the Anaconda and Building Window Bucks

Burying the Anaconda - 



The drain tile snake that has been masquerading as an anaconda has been moved to its final resting place around the interior perimeter of the building.











Once in place, the anaconda was buried with pea rock dumped over the wall by this front end loader operated by Dan Hillukka. On the inside, several people using manual excavation devices distributed the rock over the immobile snake.










Ken Wuollet and Ryan Skoog laid in a burial shroud. The shroud looked to me like the ground cover cloth gardeners use to control weeds. But it seems doubtful that weeds will be much of a problem under 42 inches of dirt covered with a six inch concrete cap. But I saw them doing it and am sure that it is in the plan.


















Andy Loukusa and Ken cut a roll of burial shroud. This could be done since the snake is so skinny, that a full width shroud would be wasteful. Ken assured me that the proper device for cutting a round roll of material is a circular saw.




While the snake was being buried inside the walls, the foundation around the doorways was getting additional foam insulation. Since this part of the foundation is not adjacent to the heated building, either its footing must be dug deeper or foam sheet insulation must be foamed in place to keep the frost from bothering the foundation. Laurel Huhta applies the gooey foam to the insulation sheets.







Building the Window Bucks - 

Denise Loukusa drives in the screws securing the corners on a window buck. Really, that is the name for this frame. I looked it up on the internet. The buck is placed in the wall to save a space for a window. I don't know if it gets left in the wall or saved for a future use when it is no longer needed as a spacer.









Kevin Moll lays inside the window buck to give an idea of the size of this particular window opening. Kevin claims to be 5'10" tall but that is only when he is standing up. The windows in the sanctuary are this size.


Meanwhile, Joe Griffitts demonstrates the proper technique for making 90 degree bends in rebar. The bent rebar is used for holding the corner blocks on the wall in addition to serving Joe's workout needs.

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