August 19 and 20 - Who Can Control the Weather?

The rain comes, then stops and then comes again. The work continues in spite of the rain. Weather dictated that the concrete pour to fill the walls be rescheduled for next Saturday.

Water, lots of water - 

While the rain does somewhat slow the work, and get the workers a little wet, the puddles left behind give us a chance to reflect a bit on the work being done.


















Mark Hillukka works on the window while
Levi Keskey patrols the scaffold.




With much work remaining and footings to be poured this coming week, the water needs to go.

Paul Wuollet digs a drainage ditch, directing the water towards the back wall of the church where there is a reservoir.

Sam Wuollet, Troy Huhta and Paul are working to get the pump going to drain the reservoir. Sam pours in the water to prime the pump. While the motor starts up and runs, no water comes out of the far end of the hose. After several attempts at restarting the motor and again priming the pump they begin to suspect a mechanical problem. Troy is a mechanic and knows the pump must be taken apart to find the problem.

Troy studies the broken impeller and shattered housing. Immediately he understands the difficulty. When it was working, the pump moved water very well. As a rock grinder, however, it failed miserably. And after trying, it no longer moves water.
Some smart phone internet research and a phone call or two and replacement parts are located. Troy leaves the site in hot pursuit. As of the end of day Saturday, however, the lake remains and no pump is in sight. Stay tuned to find out when and how the water is evacuated.

Fortunately there is no rain in the forecast for the next several days. If the pump is not repaired, sponges and mops may be an alternative.








Other work carries on - 


Meanwhile, on dry (drier?) ground
 and up on the walls, work continues. Nine workers in this picture are busy at various activities inside the building.

Kevin Hendrickson is putting up metal scaffolding studs, ably assisted by his son Victor. Nate is up on the wall overseeing the work.
















Full wall height rebar is dropped in the wall all around the structure as Jacob Byman is doing in this picture.

Nate sights the outside of the wall and gives Tim Sturos the word on which way to turn the screw to adjust the wall. Straight and vertical. Straight and vertical. Straight and vertical. There is a lot of attention paid to these ideas.

Even though there are no holes in the wall, patches are applied in seemingly random locations on both the inside and outside of the walls. I knew there must be a reason for this activity so I asked Sam Roiko, a man of science, why he was applying these patches. Being a man of science, he knew the answer. Foam filled gaps between the blocks, fine for the finished wall, are not strong enough to withstand the the concrete pour. So, tack up some reinforcement material to assure the integrity of the wall. The straight scoop from a man of science.

Safety First - 

Another oddity - a lean-to built over rebar pieces. Bob Niemela, who traded his yellow hat for gray boots on Saturday, put these on the two footings outside (and foam blocks over the metal brackets protruding up from the large footings inside the building). He called these structures
'anti-impaling' devices, noting that with all the people and activity going on, making potential hazards less hazardous was an easy safety precaution. Maybe this is another reason he has the big bucks job.