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The snow is freakin beautiful

    Thursday morning on the island, and big surprise,  it's snowing!

     We are here, and trying to get ready for concrete tomorrow at 9:30 and 11:15. The snow is coming down pretty hard, and the weather is predicting 6-8 inches. All this makes it fairly difficult to work, but I need to get this poured tomorrow because the tides next week aren't good to get concrete on the island.

The island at 7 am.

I am not sure at what point, I started thinking this was a bad idea

It takes a special breed of people to start you day like this..

and know, you will be here...

for 8 or more hours.

This job site is a mess now, snow, ice and mud.

Blankets everywhere, heater hoses everywhere.

Consider the building you work in, and then think of the people who built it.

Like I said, it takes...

a special kind of person to do what we do, like Teddy.

What a mess.

More like a disaster.

   
     The weather got worse very quickly, the wind was whipping around and it became blizzard like. Shortly after this picture was taken, on my way back to the trailer, I got word, they were shutting down the island. The last ferry out would be at 1:30. So, change plans, as usual on the island. Now it is time to pick up the tools, put heater hoses inside the forms to melt the snow that has accumulated all day, and cover with blankets, so more doesn't get in there before tomorrow's pour.  

Yep, that's me.

Matty and Rod, happy cause they just got the news we are leaving.

I am sure Big Jerry is being safe, Baby Doll wants him to come home.

Tomorrow will suck.

Your's truly, Curly from Pioneer Valley Concrete Service.

First week back and...

     First week back and we what? We shoveled snow on Monday,  after the Sunday storm. We managed to get some stuff down on Monday, in preparation for a concrete pour on Wednesday.  Tuesday went well, and by the end of the day,  our pour was ready for the next day, however, they were calling for quite a bit of rain. Now rain usually doesn't keep us home, but, when it is the middle of the winter, it can get pretty miserable out there. And, if it is really raining hard, a lot of our equipment doesn't work well, so what do we do? When it comes to weather reports, your guess is as good as mine. If I cancel and it doesn't rain, on this job, the logistics, don't allow me to change my mind the day of. If I plan on pouring and it turns out to be a crappie day, well that can get pretty expensive for PVCS. I decided to roll the dice and pour, I have one last chance to cancel in the morning at 5:30 am, before they start batching the first truck. So what happened?

We decided to take our chances. We need four hours to pour, shoot anchor bolts, straighten and top off the wall, and lastly, put the heater hoses on and cover with blankets. It was drizzling all morning, but we got our window.

     The rain held off, and we finished our 22 yard pour. As always,  the guys did a great job. They know what needs to be done and when, our job, is about working around the weather, concrete deliveries and a ton of other variables, we have no control over.

     So we finished out the day getting ready for our next pour, building wall and footings. Concrete is scheduled for Thursday and Friday but, we are now supposed to get another 3-6 in. of snow starting tonight, Wednesday. Given that, maybe the island will shut down, or maybe we just won't get our concrete,  who knows. It is hard to plan anything here, on the island.

We're back!

     It has been quite awhile since I have posted anything,  but that's because we haven't been here. With all the snow and frigid temperatures, work on the island became unproductive. PVCS gets paid to pour concrete foundations and floors, when your spending half of the day shoveling snow and it is in the single digits,  it's time to stay home. Two and a half weeks at home, with my wife, I am perfectly happy with that, but now it's back to work.

     And when we get here, what do we find, six inches of new snow from last night!

The temperatures climbed, the sun came out, and it turned out to be a nice day. We built some wall, and plan on pouring Wednesday,  Thursday and Friday,  if weather and seas permit. Of course,  they are expecting rain on Wednesday and Thursday though. Let's hope for the best though.

So what happened?

     Concrete has arrived! That's right, our concrete made it to the island on a later ferry, one they made special for our concrete mixer. We can pour, great news!

     The bad news, it's so cold outside,  the air and water lines on the mixer froze. Rats!

     The good news, we have a hawk heater, and are going to try thawing them out.

     Don't start anything on fire Feldy. Actually, one of the guys working for the general contractor, asked if I filled out a hot work permit for the propane torch. A little pressed for time my friend, go away please.

     Good job Feldy,  with the lines thawed, we can start pouring!

Now that the first truck is poured, we can start pouring the second truck, which showed up without any incidents. Go get em Matty!

We also started building walls on the other side of the job. Jerry and Smitty keeping busy in between trucks.

That's our day, and we are looking forward to 2:45. I will leave you with a few more pics from this week, and our ice storm.

The pretty, and the not so pretty. Sorry Smitty, sorry Feldy.

Waiting for a phone call.

     It's 6:15 on Friday morning,  and the ferry has just left the dock. I am waiting for a call from the boat Captain to let me know if the seas are calm enough to pour concrete this morning. It has been at least a week and a half since we have poured,  and we need this poured today. Next week the tides are (just got the phone call, we are a go for concrete) not good for pouring,  and with the possibility of snow, who knows what will happen next week.

    Hey, a glitch! So the ferries are running, I get to the island and call my concrete supplier to confirm,  and he says, "we are closed." Really, nobody called to tell me, and the ferries are running,  so reopen!  It is 7:45, he is suppose to be on a 9:30 ferry, and with the cold temperature,  he needs to defrost his plant. He may not make the first ferry, so I called the boat captain to see if he can run a special ferry. I now waiting for a phone call from my concrete supplier to see if he can defrost the plant, and one from the boat captain,  to see if I can get a special ferry run. Woohoo, it's Friday.

     My office called me yesterday to say, tomorrow will be cold, and wanted to know if working made sense. Well, I need the wall poured for multiple reasons,  first, I need the material from that wall, to continue building next week. The water proofers are coming in, and I need them to waterproof that wall so it can be backfilled, and then we can use that as access into the building. Once we have other access into the building we can continue to dig out the last of the building and pour footings. Furthermore, the tides next week are not good,  so if we don't pour today,  it won't be until next Thursday or Friday.  My guys came in today to do what was best for the job, it is 8 degrees out, I will be very upset if this does not work out. I will post this, and let you know how things work out.

Picture Post.

     I thought pictures might be fun, so buckle up, we are about to have too much fun.

  

This is mine and Day's home, after a snow storm. In keeping with the having fun theme, in our house, it is fun for Day to correct my grammar. The argument is how to say, this is mine and  Day's home. Is that correct, or is it correct to say, this is my and Day's home, which is what she thinks it ought to be. She also threw out, me and Day's home. Please help us solve this grammar mystery, keeping in mind, it is more fun when I am correct. 

After a heavy snow fall, it is difficult for the birds to find food, yes I enjoy feeding the birds. And, you should not neglect them either.

Now I mentioned having fun, so I thought I would add this picture. I sent this one to a friend after she sent me one of her standing in waste deep snow. This is fun in South Hadley,  at home.

Connor, one of the excavators, Smitty and Wild Bill digging out our footings.

That snow drift is about eight feet deep.

Again, six to eight feet deep.

This is fun, on the island at work. The last storm started Monday night and into Tuesday.  Obviously we did not work Tuesday and the island asked for limited personal on the island on Wednesday so they could clean up.  We came in on Thursday and began our clean up, the whole crew, the whole day shoveling snow. Snow storms are incredibly expensive and counter productive to construction projects, but all part of building in the winter. 

So after a day of shoveling, it is back to work. Big Jerry and Matty building walls.

As usual, the rebar looks good, and the work area is clean and neat, just the way I like it!

The rest of the crew, Smitty, Wild Bill, Feldy and Rod, stripping walls.

By the end of the day on Friday, the outside of the wall was all stripped and cleaned up, ready for the waterproofers to come in, and, ready for another 4"- 8" of snow on Sunday night. Really, another storm?