Back to work!

Today the worksite up at the lake was back in full swing after the Christmas break. The first order to the day was to deliver the water tower feature. It was built in our shop in three pieces. None of them had been together previous to landing at the site. The trestle base went in flawlessly and looked fabulous. As the second piece slid into place we had to trim one of the steel pipes a tad to make it work but that was accomplished in less than a minute. Chris was already smiling for he loved what he saw.

The water tank was the next order of business and it too went up into place without any problems.

With the installation of each feature it looks more like a theme park each day!

Then it was time to put the rail inspection car into the Wilderness play area.

We were on a roll, so I headed back to the shop for one more load - the cross beam for the front gate. The boys at the site were all warmed up and had the last piece in place in no time.

Later this week we'll hopefully be making some more deliveries to the site. I may soon be able to turn around in our parking lot once more.

-grampa dan

How does it feel?

My dad took me out to lunch today. He greeted me with a huge smile and told me he had been dying to ask me a question for a very long time. Twenty-three years ago my older brother and I had taken him out to dinner for his 60th birthday. We had jokingly asked him how it felt to be 60 YEARS OLD. And so my dad asked me that same question today. HOW DOES IT FEEL?

The answer is not much different than yesterday. 

Time sneaks up on all of us it seems. When we are young we can hardly wait for the years to pass but as we get older the opposite becomes true. Time flies by and we dig in our heals to try and slow things down a little. It doesn't.

Being 60 years old does not bother me in the least. But as I think about things, the fact that age 70 is only ten years away is a bit intimidating. All this makes me more resolved than ever to make every moment count. I won't be putting much effort into saving and planning my retirement. Quite the contrary. I'm going to enjoy the present. I'll be as creative as possible. I have dreams to think about, drawings to draw, projects to plan and teams to lead as we build our very best work yet. I have a lot I can share with others, hopefully making things a little easier and perhaps inspiring a few along the way. I am resolved to be a positive force, to add to people's day rather than take away. 

A good friend who phoned me today assured me that at my current speed I would most likely squeeze in at least fifteen more great years before I turned 70. He is probably right. At the very least I'll give it my best shot!

-grampa dan 

More than eleven miles (so far)

This past week we got another steel delivery to our shop. The boys cut it to length and put it on the rack as always. About half of the order was put in the trailer to take up to the worksite on Monday. The bulk of our order was pencil rod, solid steel rods measuring 1/4" in diameter. With two welders working up at the site plus all the welding in our shop it is amazing how much we go through on a daily basis. With this week's order, the tally for this project is 60,000 lineal feet so far, which translates to well over eleven miles (eighteen kilometers) of steel. Square tubing, angle iron, flat bar and pipe stock adds another few thousand feet to the total.

The amounts of diamond lath, tie wire, cement powder, paint and all the other supplies are also adding up in a hurry. The delivery trucks keep arriving and we weld, wire, mud and paint to use it all up in a hurry. The total is going to be high as we are still less than half way through.

-grampa dan