A little here - a little there.

Work continues at a fast pace on all aspects of the Cultus Lake Adventure Park project. Up at the site our guys have been busy welding the island structure for the Wave Swinger ride. They are working inside an enclosed plywood hording with the hope of staying a little warmer. The large platform will appear to be suspended by crumbling dirt banks and an assortment of large wedged timbers. The pencil rod frames are now welded for the dirt banks and the boys are starting the timbers and beams. With a little imagination I can clearly see the final result and trust me, it looks cool!

Outside the frost is finally coming out of the ground and the owner's crew is getting ready to pour a bunch more footings and decking The block layers are scheduled next week to lay a bunch more retaining walls and then we can at last do the bulk of the filling to bring the site up to grade. At that point we can start to move in the completed features. The building now sports it's rather plain looking water tight roof over which we'll install a decorative roof after our plaster theme work is done. We are also busy welding and wiring up the gnarly 'log' posts to hold up the bottom shed roof. They will all be installed by early next week and then mudded and sculpted when the warmer weather returns. In the middle of next week the mountain top and tree will be lifted into place along with the balloon and basket. The large ferris wheel will also be raised into position on the same day.

Back in the shop the gang started the concrete work on the trestle today, managing to complete the ties under the rails between all of the other projects on the go. When we are done it will be impossible to tell it is all made from concrete and steel.

Tomorrow promises to be another busy day. Stay tuned...

-grampa dan

All in a day's work

Wiring our features (attaching the metal lath) is never a fun or easy job. The mesh is stiff and VERY sharp. But the thing is that the more intricate the feature and the harder they are to wire, the cooler they look when we are done. Detail is great but it never comes easy. The crew continued to wire features today, finishing off the large tree and almost polishing off the trestle. Adison, Sarah, Brando and Kendra spent a lot of today under the large piece tying wire in impossible places. It is critical they get the mesh tight and cover every square inch. 

In spite of the difficult task they were doing there was lots of laughter, plenty of joking and a whole lot of silliness - all in the interest of making the job less tedious. It seemed to work well as they did great!

Jenessa spent her day working on the fine details of the Balloon Adventure sign. Today she sculpted the little basket with the friendly owl perched inside. AWESOME! The amazing thing is that Jenessa hadn't sculpted previous to joining our team a few months ago. She's is one talented lady!

Hailey was layering the fancy paint onto the Carousel horse. This sign is looking amazing too. Nice job!

Peter worked a couple of hours this morning with Dimitri laying a thick coat of fiberglass reinforced concrete onto the little rail inspection truck. As always, Peter had a few surprises up his sleeve including the oversize bolts 'holding' the sheet metal together. It is one real industrial looking truck!. He left before the carving began and it was our job to turn his rough vision into a finished sculpt. Since it was concrete we had to work fast and finish the job before it turned to stone. I was joined by Dimitri and Jenessa for the fun task. Dimitri is showing his talent and skill already on day two with us.

We can only imagine the endless fun that young kids will have as they 'drive' this jalopy to all manner of imaginary places. They'll start by turning the front crank to fire it up.

My day was spent bouncing around what seemed like a hundred different tasks. When I wasn't dealing with some other project I spent my time cutting, fitting and welding heavy pipes in place for the water delivery system on the water tower. While I'm not sure what all the valves do they look cool and fun which are their primary functions. :)

Up at the lake Matt and Marty welded up a storm, finishing the dirt banks on the Wave Swinger island. It was too dark to take pictures when I picked up the trailer but I'll take some tomorrow.

It was another busy and productive day in our shop. Thanks to each member of my hard working crew!

-grampa dan

A little more progress every day

We had a shop full of busy people today. The shop is so full (like always of late) that you can't walk end to end without ducking under or going around signs and features. Hailey and Jenessa were busy on the Carousel and Balloon Adventure signs. They are coming along nicely.

The very difficult task of applying the lath to the trestle with the mine car is coming along nicely and should be almost ready for the fiberglass reinforced concrete by tomorrow quitting time. There are SO MANY corners to fit the lath around! It is going to be a spectacular piece when it is done!

The big tree fort tree got much of it's metal lath today, thanks to the hard work of Adison and our new hire Demitri. Kendra and I welded up the water barrel frame for the top of the tower. Up at the lake site Matt and Marty made great progress on the island theme structure. Tomorrow we'll work at these same projects once more. Stay tuned...

-grampa dan