The "Heat of Hydration."

     To begin, the ferries were canceled on Tuesday, so we did not pour. Staying late on Monday and getting that ready to pour was important for PVC. A month or two months from now, when the job is behind, and the steel erection date gets changed, and other milestone dates begin to change, it is important that it was the weather and ferries, not PVC. The good news is, the island is going to make a few special ferry trips for us on Monday, so we will be able pour. That also means there is not much more to write about, so this would be a good time to address Angel's questions about heat and concrete. Angel understands, but is being an instigator, which is fine, but that means my answer also needs to teach him something. So, get ready to learn.

     What is concrete? The four main ingredients are stone, sand, Portland cement and water, there are many variations to this, but for this, Portland cement and water are all we need to know. Angel's question was, why does concrete give off heat, and why is it important to keep it warm?

     The water needs to dissolve, or change the molecular structure or the crystal lattice of the Portland cement into a new, stronger crystal lattice. In order for water to dissolve an ionic solid (an ionic solid is by definition a solid composed of oppositely charged ions) the water molecules must break up the interactions between the all of ions in that solid, the Portland cement being that solid. To do this, they orient themselves such that they effectively reduce the localized charge on each ion. This is called hydration. Hydration of ions is a thermodynamically favorable process, and as such, can produce heat. This is why it is called the, "heat of hydration." So, now we know why concrete produces heat as it cures. Let's move on to why it is important to keep the heat in, while it is curing.

     Concrete's strength depends on the growth of crystal within the matrix or the lattice of the concrete. These crystals grow from the reaction between Portland cement and water, or hydration. If there isn't enough water, the crystals can't grow and the concrete doesn't develop the strength it should. If there is enough water, the crystals grow out like tiny rock hard fingers, wrapping themselves around the gravel and sand mix, intertwining with one another.

     The other aspect of curing is temperature, concrete cannot get to hot or to cold, or it will not cure properly. As fresh concrete cools, the hydration reaction slows down. The temperature of the concrete is what is important here, not necessarily the air temperature. Below fifty degrees, hydration slows down a lot. Below forty degrees and hydration virtually stops.

     Hot concrete has the opposite problem: the reaction goes to fast, and since the reaction is exothermic (produces heat) it can quickly cause temperature differentials, and the concrete begins to crack. And cement that reacts to quickly doesn't have time for the crystals to grow properly so the concrete doesn't gain the strength it should.

     So Angel, how's that for an answer? Next we will tackle Anna's question about rebar. And try to explain compressive strength and tensile strength.
  

   

Love and nurture Matty's optimism.

     The important part is pouring the big box on Tuesday. Why, you ask? The box takes 29 yards of concrete, three trucks. We will not be ready on Monday, today, tomorrow the tides allow us to get three trucks on the island, no freight ferries on Christmas Eve, and next week, the tides will only allow 1 truck on Monday, and 1 truck on Tuesday, and again, no freight ferries on New Year's Eve. That means it is Tuesday, or we will not be pouring it for two weeks. Last Friday, I warned my crew, it may be the 6:45 on Monday, they didn't hear a word I said, as long as they were getting on the 2:45 home on a Friday they would have agreed to anything. Monday morning I said, "let's get our heads wrapped around the idea of working until the 6:45." And, off to work we went.

     We still had work to do, to get ready for this mornings pour, and my crew attacked the project, and got it done in time to start pouring our first truck at 8:30.

7 am, begin working.

8 am,begin installing rebar, and the beginning of a stop.

9 am first truck is poured, Rod and Hillbilly floating and covering. Matty, enthusiastically starting to tie rebar with  Teddy.

10 am, waiting for the second truck, and Matty is feeling really optimistic that we will be on the 4:15 ferry. You have to love his enthusiasm. 

 By 11 am, last truck is poured, and we are putting the final touches on the concrete.

11:30 pm, and we are back at installing rebar for tomorrow's pour, and Matt is still hopeful, and I encourage him, as I should. I would love to be on the 4:15 ferry back to the hotel. It is Monday, and we need to check in and unpack our stuff. I hope Matty is right.

1 pm and we had just finished lunch, and my guys are back at it, working like champs,believing we can still make the 4:15. Keep it up guys, great work.

Making short work of the top mat of rebar, by 2 pm.

But now it is 3 pm, and time to get the light tower out and ready, sorry Matty, luv ya.

4 pm, and we are beginning to tie uprights, but the lights go on. Optimism and enthusiasm is gone, now it's just, let's get this done so we can go home (hotel).

 

5 pm, guys, don't stop now, we are almost there. Matty and Hillbilly begin the uprights for the pier. Rod and Teddy just finished the sump pit box, and are beginning the dumbbell water stop.

This is what 6 pm looks like on the island.

Try to squeeze in every last bit of work, before we need to pick up tools, and catch the ferry.

Matt comes in thinking we will be done in time to catch the early ferry, I came in thinking, are we gonna get enough ready tonight, to pour tomorrow. We were both wrong.

We have a little work to do tomorrow, but we will be able to pour. I do know this, even though Matty was wrong, his optimism and enthusiasm this morning, is the reason we can pour tomorrow, and the reason I was also wrong. I love being wrong.

"Good night," from the island, and , thanks Matty.

33 yards.

     After our pour was cancelled on Thursday, we needed to end the week on a high note, and still be on the 2:45 ferry home. Yes that is right, on Fridays, being on the 2:45 ferry is important. You are away all week, doing your job to the best of your abilities, but Friday, all you care about is going home, to see you wife, your children, friends, or just to sleep in your own bed. So as the foreman, my job is to make sure my guys get on that 2:45 ferry every Friday, and some Fridays, the 11:15. We still have our jobs to do though, so pour 33 yards, get started working on Tuesday's pour, clean up and head down to the ferry.

     Getting concrete on this island is more difficult than I had thought, mostly because drivers are not properly badged. What that means is unimportant, what I have to do to get them to the jobsite is the story. Phone calls the day before to find out who the drivers will be, fill out a visitor apps. for them, when they get to the island, meet them at the ferry, escort them to the main office, switch their badges over, escort them to the site, pour concrete, escort them to the office to switch their badges back, escort them to the ferry. With the right badges, I wouldn't have to do any of that. Why don't they have the right badges? That is an excellent question, but we are working on that. Anyhow, the pour went off well, we poured, and covered with thermal blankets and put our "high-low thermometer" under the blankets. As concrete "cures" or gets hard, it generates heat. The thermal blankets are meant to keep the heat in when it is cold, and the thermometer records the heat, it measures the hottest it had gotten, and the lowest it had gotten. Below 32 degrees would be bad. I could get more technical with the curing process for those of you who would be interested, but unless you ask, I am going to assume this has been enough. Some, like my wife, are more interested in the human aspect of this, she likes to hear about the men, I will do a better job of mixing the technical with the human interest.

 

 

Our concrete supplier, Suffolk Cement.

 

The piece of concrete we poured, covered in blankets.

 

     Matt and Wild Bill beginning to tie rebar, in what I hope will be Tuesday's pour. We built the form work, the water proofers came to put their water proofing membrane in, and then we tie our rebar and pour. The water proofers came in on Friday, leaving us a few hours on Friday, and Monday, after we pour concrete, to finish this up for Tuesday morning. There is quite a bit of rebar in this mess, and I am afraid we will be taking the 6:45 ferry back on Monday. That pour is not until Tuesday, and we still have one on Monday, which we are also not ready for.

 

     Monday we are going to pour 20 yards in some footings and interior piers, two of the three piers are ready, and most of the footing is ready. Concrete is at 8 am and 9:30, so we have a little bit of time before the first truck shows up.

 

 

Two of the three interior piers.

So, 20 yards on Monday, 30ish yards on Tuesday (as long as no ferries get cancelled) a half day on Christmas Eve, and we will not be back until Monday. And, another short week, not the best of starts for a job. 

When the wind blows, we don't pour.

     I thought this week was going to be our turning point, but our pour was cancelled because of sea conditions. We did manage to pour 11 yds. yesterday though.

So this is what a mixer looks like, I had almost forgot. This was Wednesday morning, tides only allowed us to pour one truck, 11 yds. of concrete. I keep mentioning 11 yds. because it is a full truck, and on this job concrete is costly to get delivered. If  the concrete supplier has added, lets say an extra $250 to each truck, for delivery charges, then if 10 were delivered, each yd. cost an extra $25. If  5 were delivered, then each yd. cost an extra $50. We don't waste any either....

we use every last bit, and this pour was close. It is not easy figuring 11, 22 or 33 yd. pours. You cannot end it wherever you want.

Matty and Wild Bill, pouring and vibrating the concrete.

Teddy and Rod putting the finishing touches on it.

Well, this was Wednesday, and we were hoping for 22 on Thurs. and 22 on Friday, to start filling up this...

Thursday's 22 got cancelled, so we are going to try to get 33 on the island tomorrow. A big day for the island, more trucks in one day, than we have pour thus far. 

A recap and a one week look ahead.

     One full week on the island, under our belt, how did we do? Well, two people missed the ferry, one lost a badge and one was escorted off the island, but, we poured concrete.

     Back on the island Monday morning, and not much to tell. Teddy did find his badge first thing in the morning, went to the front desk, and all is well again with Teddy. Anchor bolts were delivered, and Marcelino came down with another load of material. Along with Marcelino, came Jeff with a passenger van for us, so we can drive ourselves to, and from the ferry. This was also a chance to get Jeff badged. Jeff will be one of our pump truck operators and can also make deliveries.

     This week, we can pour concrete on Wed, Thurs, and Friday. One truck on Wed, two on Thurs and Fri. Hopefully, we will have a good week, the weather looks great and with next week being a short week, my crew's spirits are high.

Thank God it's Friday.

     Yes it's Friday. I missed a post yesterday, but, as it turns out, yesterday was boring compared to today.
     Today started out as any other day, until one of my men was escorted off the island because paperwork that was thought to be filled out, was not. So, Ron was with security, until the next ferry, escorted to the ferry, and with security on the ferry, until they tied up and sent him on his way. Bye Ronny, luv ya.
     A rebar delivery showed up as planned,

and unloaded by some crew of "green horns," or new guys. My guys actually, just not sure what was wrong with them this morning. The rebar was a mess, I would come out, yell at them, and not ten minutes later, I would yell at them again. I mean, good freakin grief, how hard can it be to unload a truck of rebar? They made it look as hard as possible, but, you gotta love them, and it is the end of the week. With the rebar truck unloaded, time for lunch, and then finally, get ready for concrete.

     Finally we are pouring concrete, eleven yards, one truck. Sounds easy, one truck on the 2 o'clock ferry, on the island by 2:15, pouring concrete by 2:30 and on the 4:15 home. Well wouldn't you know it, none of the mixer drivers are badged, as I was led to believe. I get a phone call from our concrete supplier, who's upset with me because his driver's name is not on the list to get on the ferry and they won't let him on. If he was badged, like your drivers are suppose to be, I wouldn't have to put him on a list. Now it's 1:55 and we need to get him on that ferry, so, a half a dozen phone calls later, and we got word, he made it on the ferry. Should be here by 2:15. Now it's 2:30 and  I am begining to wonder why my mixer is not here yet. Another half a dozen phones calls, and I realize, without a badge, I was suppose to go meet him at the ferry, escort him to the main building, sign him in and switch, from green badge to yellow badge, and then escort him to the site. Once all that is done, it is 2:50, and this mixer needs to be on 3:30 ferry off the island, and I want to be on the 4:15. Well, at least he's here, but, where are my guys? Scattered all over the site, looking for, Teddy's badge.
     Teddy lost his badge, do these knuckleheads know I want to go home, I mean, good grief, it's meat night at Steve and Anna's. For the last 18 years, every Friday night, we grill ribeye at Steve and Anna's, and I am not missing it tonight because Tedward lost his badge. A little bit of yelling, and I round up my crew, point them in the right direction and start pouring. Now, while they are pouring, I need to see security and report a lost badge, and resolve this, so Teddy can get off the island. His name needs to go on the list, to get on the ferry,to get off the island tonight, and on the island Monday, and get a new badge Monday. Meanwhile, security sweeps the area in an effort to find the badge, with no luck.
     Back to pouring. I told that mixer driver to spin that drum, meaning, lets get this done fast, and we did, he was empty in 15 minutes, washed his truck and driving to the dock at 3:20 to catch his 3:30 ferry.
     We, are not done yet though. We need to finish the concrete, cover everything with thermal blankets, clean up and be ready to go by four. This is where my crew shines, pulling it together in the final stretch, like Secretariat in the home stretch. We made the ferry, and on our way home, after a long week.
     After we disembark the ferry, and begin our walk to our cars, surrounded by employees of the island, who are neither friendly nor fun, me and my crew end our night with the usual, "luv ya Curly, luv ya too Rod, see ya Monday baby, luv you Tedward, luv ya Bill, luv you Matty." They must think we are freakin nuts.

Picking up the pieces after the storm.

     A little dramatic, but makes for a catchy title. Actually the site weathered the storm just fine. I would like to say how happy I am to see people following and posting on the blog. So, I would like to start by responding to some of the comments.

     Day, the seas have not been bad at all, mostly choppy, once we had fours and fives coming back to Old Saybrook. No one has gotten sick yet, Rod is doing just fine. Actually a ferry ride in the morning and one at night, as Matty would say, is almost like being on vacation.

     Anna, Angel is right when he said, when it rains, PVC pours. He could have, and should have, gone on to give you the real answer, which is, for what we are doing, rain will not hurt the concrete. However, the final decision is up to inspectors, and there are a few here. So, until someone tells me no, we are pouring concrete in anything, as long as the ferries will run. We have few options with ferries, and bad weather is right around the corner. At the moment, the weather is not bad at all, 30-40 degrees, but it is windy, every day. Thanks to everyone for your questions and comments, I look forward to more of them as we move along.

     Like I said, the site weathered the storm just fine, and we were able to get to work right away, after a little yelling and barking at my crew. Did they do anything to deserve being yelled at, it's how I get the morning cobwebs out of their head, and how I show my love. How do they show their love...

by doing a nice job on the rebar. This footing is about 22 yards of concrete, 11 of which we will pour on Friday. I would love to pour all of it, but due to the tide constraints, we will only have enough time to get one truck on the island. Most of the rebar is being tied by Matty and Hillbilly, Teddy runs the fork truck, moving materials around, Rod and Ron do most of the building and share in laying out the job.

All kidding aside, not a bad crew. They know their job, do it well, and have a good attitude. There is nothing worse than being in your trailer, working on drawings, then come out to the work area, only to find out your crew has been screwing around because your not there. You need a crew you can trust, who cares what they look like. You can't ask for anything more.

     Tomorrow, we continue building, tie more rebar, and Friday, our first pour!

   
   

A day spent in the hotel.

    Due to bad weather and unfavorable sea conditions, the ferries were canceled for the day. So I am spending a day in the hotel room, working.

     I have made calls and checked emails on a number of things; confirming deliveries for my storage box, my next rebar delivery, Julie from our office sent me a blank T&M ticket, which I need to make copies of. A T&M ticket is a form I fill out for work we preform, that is not part of our original contract. In this case, winter protection. Whenever I cover or uncover excavation, form work or concrete with thermal blankets, PVC should be getting paid for that. I have also downloaded tide charts for the next few months, and I am reviewing them in preparation for a meeting I am having with Charles, the dock master, tomorrow. This is also a good chance to review drawings, which by the way, my anchor bolt and embed drawings are not up to date, another email I sent out. So, still plenty to do while I sit in a hotel.

     So as the night comes to an end, I check the ferry schedule for tomorrow. All ferries are running on schedule tomorrow. My storage box is coming in on the 11:30 ferry, and I am sure my excavation is full of water.

And the winner of, "who's missed the first ferry," is Hillbilly Bill.

     That's right, one has already missed the ferry, Bill. Granted, who among us hasn't slept through their alarm on Monday morning, but if your late here, you miss the boat. Also, if you miss the boat, you owe the crew coffee the next day. The second time you miss the boat, dinner, for the crew! You are gonna be everybody's "babe" that night Bill. The good news, he caught the next ferry out, and is safe and sound where he belongs. We also picked up an extra, Rod.

Rod 

     Not bad, not bad, Rod makes a fine addition to our crew (he is mine now Richie). So, that is me plus five, and soon we are looking to get a few more.

     On the island by 7 am. and finally we can actually get some work done, and yes, the fork truck has arrived!

   
     Teddy, our material management engineer, moving our trailer closer to the work area. If you are wondering, yes he dented our brand new trailer, but it is a little dent. With men, and material, we can begin building form work for a foundation, which is what we were hired to do.

Form work for the spread footings

Matt begins rebar

     As scheduled, we received our office trailer...

 Which was looking like it might not happen because of sea conditions, which brings me to,no ferries running tomorrow, that's right, we are not working here tomorrow. And, my rebar delivery is already canceled for Wednesday. I am thinking this is going to take a little more planning. I first want to check what the island has experienced for weather this time of year in the past. Then I need to check the long range forecast. After that, the tide charts. The ferry can only take concrete mixers during high tide, which change everyday. Hopefully I can get a good two week "look ahead" for concrete pours, schedule them, two weeks out, and make a foundation.
   

Can't ride the bus anymore

  Finally, the end of the week, Friday! The last thing I wanted to do Friday or Saturday night, was think, talk or write about work, I had enough. Sunday morning with a cup of coffee, while my wife is at work, seems like a good time. What does "can't ride the bus anymore" mean?

     There are buses on the island that takes people from the ferry to the facility, and from the facility to the ferry. The walk is probably a mile or so, not terrible, but it is the winter, could be raining and we need to carry stuff on and off the island. So, someone complained, and we can no longer ride the bus. What did they complain about, who knows, they don't like how we look, smell or dress, whatever. But someone complained about sitting next to the tax payer who, pays for the facility they work in, pays their salary and pays for the bus, we can no longer ride! @%&# you!

     Anyhow, we received a rebar delivery as expected...

     and unloaded it in time for the driver to make the ferry off the island. Now I thought my men did a great job unloading the rebar...

    

      nice right? "Unacceptable, I am taking photos and sending them to your office, telling them this is not acceptable," is what I heard. What is wrong with this rebar, some of it is touching the dirt, okie dokie. 

     Moving on... there is a hole open for us, we did some layout, moved material and covered the hole with blankets, to protect it from frost until there is concrete in the hole. Rod will be joining our crew on Monday, and we can finally begin building something, and hopefully pour concrete on Wednesday or Thursday. 

The crews makes it to the island.

     I now understand my wife's anxiety on travel day. Up at 3:30, meet Teddy at the yard for 4:15, hurry up and get your stuff from your car into my truck so we can get going. We met the other 3 guys, who I will introduce later, at the parking lot which is a quarter of a mile from the ferry. Now they need to get their crap into my truck, so I can then drive their stuff closer to the ferry, so we did not need to walk it that far. We unload the truck, I then drive my truck back to the parking lot, and run, back to ferry, with four minutes to spare. All and all, it went ok, made the ferry, and on the island by 7am.

    So, the crew...

     From left to right: Bill, Teddy, Matty and Ron.

     Or if you prefer: Hillbilly Bill, The Angry Midget, Matty Shower Curtain, and of course, Ronny Mac.

     What does the first day on the job look like? Nothing the office is hoping for. First, get my men working, this morning that means organize my trailer and all the crap Marcelino and I brought over Tuesday. My rep from the concrete supplier came over on the 7am ferry so we could discuss the logistics of bringing 507 yds. of concrete over (piece of the puzzle). What came of that meeting was, 22 yds. a day, 11 on the 7am. ferry and 11 on the 8am. ferry. I am thinking about the puzzle, are you? Let's table that for now though. Organize trailer, tools and supplies, a meeting, now a chance to give Matt and Teddy the rebar drawings while I look at the structuals, anchor bolt and embed drawings. While this is happening the excavators are digging my trenches, but it's looking like not much is going to happen very quickly. I would like to put my guys through the general contractor's safety orientation, while we are a little slow, makes sense? No safety guy today, but with some persuasion, someone else did the meeting. Good, another meeting/orientation out of the way.

     I am in the hotel and it's almost 7pm. and I have a pile of drawings I am hoping to look at, so I need to wrap this up. I confirmed rebar delivery for tomorrow, which by the way the fork truck is still not on site, and I have 10-15 tons of rebar to unload. A delivery on Mon and Tues, which that supplier has not filled out the paperwork to get on the ferries. More rebar on Wednesday and Marcelino on Thursday. 10 phone calls, 10 emails from my hotel, and the blog. The good news, there is excavation open for us to get started tomorrow and it is Friday.

Paperwork day

     After meetings yesterday, I had realized there were quite a few loose ends to tie up before I went to the island with a crew. This may be a good time to introduce you to the key players in the office. Dan the owner, who has been involved a lot with this job because of the logistics, Jim, is involved in most of the jobs, doing the work most people don't want to do. Jim's job is one of those jobs that is unappreciated, until someone has not done it. So, let me say here and now Jim, "thank you for your help." There is Steve who priced the job, and knows all about our scope of work. Julie, who is probably fed up with printing this, printing that, calling for ferry arrangements, and of course hotel arrangements. There are others I will mention as the job goes on, and their rolls come into play.

     So, a day of paperwork, "how much can there be," you ask. The site specific specs, a 100 page pile of crap, JHA's or Job Hazard Analysis, submittals, MSDS or Material Safety Data Sheets, manufacturer's data sheets on different products, also crap. I could go on, but you get the picture.

     Emails, we freakin love emails, and, everyone loves to CC everyone. I received or sent 20 or 30 emails today. Some were useful, ferry arrangements for the rep. from our concrete supplier on Thursday, rebar delivery on Friday, job trailer and Marcelino and his flatbed on Monday and a storage box on Tuesday, done. Sounds easy enough but, that includes phone calls to clear up confusing emails, resending forms that were not filled out correctly, good god, give me my tool pouch and nails any day. Let's not forget the countless phone calls, 20, 30 or more, I don't know. The good news, I go out there tomorrow with a small crew to get started, finally!

     Now here is the good stuff, the reason I believe I was chosen for the job. I like puzzles! I have a job to do, to get this job done in a timely fashion, done correctly, and make PVC money. There are two parts to this job, the foundation and the floors. We have a budget for ferries, and I need to leave  the lion share of the budget for the floors. Total concrete for the job, around 1500 yds. I say around because we seemed to have misplaced the figures on yardage for the concrete roof, but I have little to do with that anyhow. What is my part, is the foundation, which I have 507 yards of concrete to pour, and have 245 man days or 1960 man hours to do it in, and leave the most of the ferry budget for the slabs.

      Lets start dissecting the puzzle. A man day is one man for one day, am looking for an 8-9 man crew. Let us say 9.  245 man days now means, 28 days on the job with a 9 man crew. After seeing the drawings, both Dan and myself thought it would take two to two and a half months to complete the job. Well, there is a problem right there.  Maybe Dan and I are wrong, maybe the 245 man days is wrong, or a little of each? Next piece, the concrete, 507 yards to complete my part of the job. One ferry option is free, but can only carry one truck at a time, once an hour. The other option is hire a ferry for $10,000 a day, but can take five trucks at a time, about every hour. Eleven yards will fit in the truck, so a little more than 46 trucks, lets say 50. I need to get 50 trucks on and off the island by ferry, using as little of the ferry budget as possible,  in somewhere around 30 days, one truck at a time for free, or multiple trucks at a time for $10,000 a day, and do it during high tide, in the middle of the winter, wow! I need to give this more thought, can anyone say, "regression analysis?" For now, I need to pack clothes and food for the hotel. Tomorrow we begin.
    

Meeting day

     4:15 up and out of the house, out of the yard a 4:45 and on our way to New London. My first thought of the day, as I am staring at the back of Marcelino's flatbed, which is loaded with material, "I hope there is a fork truck on site to unload this truck." The contractor is suppose to provide a fork truck, and had told me last week, there would in fact be one on site Monday, yesterday. With all my preparations yesterday, phone calls and emails, I had forgotten to ask the simple question, "is there a fork truck there?" Something Marcelino may regret as he is unloading the truck by hand, while I am in meetings most of the morning.

     So trucks are loaded on the ferry, breakfast, emails, write a "to do list" and a chance to write in my blog. Yes Dan, I am making good use of my time on the ferry ride over (not all of us though)

but, as I walk the boat,  I can't help but become a little nostalgic. Most of my friends and family know, there is no place I would rather be, than on a boat, on the water. So, I can't help but think of friends , family and most importantly, my wife. As I write though, and announcement comes over the speakers, it is time to disembark this ferry, and head over to our next ferry ride. Orient point to the island. Hmm, I need to back my truck and trailer onto the ferry. My truck and trailer is 41 feet long. This should be interesting.

     Like a pro, 41 feet long, 8.5 feet wide, backed on a ferry with three other vehicles already on it. It's all done with smoke and mirrors I thought, which brought me back to a memory I hadn't thought of in years, of Day and I. Early in our relationship we would frequently travel to key largo with scuba instructors and students who are hoping to get certified. This trip I remember we drove down in a van towing a trailer. Day was driving when we decided to stop for lunch. She attempted to back the van and trailer into a parking space but gave up and asked me to do it. I did, with little effort and she asked how I had done that, as if it were a magic trick, my response, "with smoke and mirrors baby, smoke and mirrors." Mirrors referring to the side view mirrors, of course.

     Again, Day tells a great story, just takes a while to get to the point. Hopefully your attention span is a little longer than mine though. The point is, this job will be difficult for myself and the office, and I need to keep my head out of my ass. Life always gets in the way of work, your personal life that is, and work gets in the way of your personal life.

     So, we make it to the island at 10am, that is a five and a half hour commute, and as I feared, no fork truck to unload Marcelino's flatbed, and as Marcelino feared, he had to take care of it himself because I would be in meetings. Well, with little complaint and some help from the excavators, Marcelino made short work of it, as usual.

     I would imagine some of you are asking, "what kinda meetings do construction workers have?" The same as you, but we can swear in them. Pre-con meetings, safety meetings, foreman's meetings, sub contractor meeting, the list goes on and on. What did we accomplish today? We (PVC) does not have all their paperwork in, submittals, MSDS sheets, bla, bla, bla, and they have not begun excavating, which means, we are not starting tomorrow. There you go, 5.5 hours down, a two hour meeting, 5.5 hours back. Try again on Thursday.
    

   

Preparations

     So I am calling this day one, but understand, PVC has already spent month preparing for this job. Countless man hours pricing the job, hiring subs, such as the rebar fabricator, the concrete supplier and researching transportation over water, which is still a little vague! There has been multiple trips out to Plum Island, pre-con meetings, getting our badges, which are needed to get on and off the government ferry, which gets us on and off the island. No badge, no work. So, I am calling this day one because I am making preparations all day today, so we can start working on the island tomorrow.

     Preparations means, getting all my supplies and tools from my pick-up to my trailer. Preparation also means shopping.

I am on an island with nothing on it, the only way off the island is a ferry ride, not easy to get to the local hardware or lumber store. Getting vehicles on and off the is also a little more difficult than getting people on and off the island. Preparation is the key to this job being successful.

Marcelino, our yard foreman and I spent the day preparing for our trip out tomorrow. Marcelino and I will be going out tomorrow ourselves, me bringing my truck and trailer, him bringing a flatbed full of materials. Our day begins at 5am with a drive to New London, to get on the 7:30 cross sound ferry. From there to Orient point to get off one ferry, and on another. Orient point to the island, to unload, and attend meetings.

An introduction

     "Start a blog about Plum Island," they said, they being David, Dan and my wife, Day. So, here it goes, a blog about a concrete company, a foreman and his crew pouring concrete, which is difficult in and of itself, doing it in the winter, and doing it on an island.

     I tease my wife often about not getting to the point sooner, well my attention span is short, but she tells a good story. Maybe that same approach makes for a good blog. With that being said, I should say, when my wife and I built our home and her new kitchen, she was insistent on having a TV in her new kitchen. "I want to watch cooking shows, while cooking in my new kitchen." Me wanting to be the good husband, Day got her TV, and she watched cooking shows, I watched cooking shows. Rachel Ray became one of my favorites, but, she constantly would use the acronym EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) and then say, "extra virgin olive oil." There is no point in using an acronym if you then explain the acronym every time. Why am I telling you this, because from here forward I will refer to Pioneer Valley Concrete as, PVC, and not explain it every time.

     PVC is a medium size concrete company, specializing in commercial and industrial foundations and floors. They have been in business for 40 years or so, and I have been with them for 25 years, fifteen of which, I have been a foreman.  A foreman gets a set of drawings, a crew of men and a handful of tools and is expected to build a job correctly and make PVC money. In return, I get a paycheck and hopefully when the job is over, a new set of drawings for my next job.

     Well my next job, is Plum Island and should be interesting enough, to amuse at least, David, Dan and my wife Day, maybe a few employees of PVC.