Quickly taking shape

The weather outside is really cold (for us) these days with the temperature not going above freezing - even in the daylight hours. This means the jobs we can do up at the site are limited to welding alone. With no new concrete being poured this week (due to the cold weather) it was our crew's last day up at the site until things warm up. The construction crew has been busy at the site putting on the Q-decking in readiness for the concrete slabs. The cave areas and upper parts of the walkway are now walkable as is the bridge over to the raised island. It's looking pretty cool as the elevated walkways are quickly taking shape.

The rest of the crew was warm and busy in the shop. They were painting, sculpting and working on the armatures for the next projects. I got to start something new - which is always exciting. I worked on the structure for the water tower and mine car. Brando was cutting the steel I needed as fast as I could weld it into place. After only a couple of hours it was looking pretty cool and is almost ready for the mine cart to be lifted into place.

With the entire crew back in the shop starting tomorrow an amazing amount of work will undoubtably be done. Things will change fast. It's also a very big day. The crane arrives at 7:30 to begin loading the trailers. Tomorrow, the mountain top, the large tree, the balloon and various other features will be transported up to Cutus Lake Adventure Park. We also take delivery of a whole trailer load of new sub-structures for the next batch of large features. Stay tuned for pictures and stories of tomorrow's adventures...

-grampa dan

The cake is ready for icing.

Many months ago I did the concept drawings for Cultus Lake Adventure Park. The building layout and construction drawings were still in flux back then (as they would continue to be right up to this morning) but we knew one side (the east side) of the building would be built as a mountain and the other (the western side) would sport a streetscape theme with multiple building facades. It was to have have an old west feel.

Today, the carpenters finished the construction of the basic shell for the building. They were working under my direction with lots of input from the owner as well. Each day Chris and I would meet with the carpenters to decide on changes and modifications, before the building crew started work on that section. The idea was to think things out before they built it so they didn't have to make changes to work already done. The original plans were largely ignored and so it was truly design/build as we went. It was a fun process with the carpenters trusting us to work things out just in time for them to do their work. It came together beautifully!

The most fantastic 'cake' is now built. We are ready (and eager) to put on a whole lot of fancy 'icing' to make it truly magical. The giant tree, the 'cake topper', got it's last paint today and tomorrow will be moved out of the shop in readiness for it's journey up to the lake along with the top piece of the mountain.

Every day this project gets more exciting! Stay tuned...

-grampa dan

Pure magic!

It's fun to watch each member of our team build their skills and confidence as they do their jobs. Each time they become proficient and comfortable with the tasks they have done previously I take great delight in upping the ante with a tougher assignment. My sole purpose is to help them grow. Each time they inevitably rise to the challenge and in the process do far more than they thought possible. 

Yesterday, I asked Jenessa to sculpt the ropes and tops of the sandbags on the balloon basket. She was a little unsure but I was excited to see how she would handle it. She asked me how to do the job. I just said, make it look like sacks filled with sand tied up with an old hemp rope. She started tentatively but quickly figured out how to do it and craft it in a believeable style. The end result is fabulous, hard to imagine they were hand sculpted.

This is exactly the kind of magic done daily in our shop . Well done Jenessa!

-grampa dan