December 29 - It Is the Holiday Season

It's A Wonderful Time of the Year -
The Christmas season is such a wonderful, joyous season. A time for the Sunday school Christmas program, Christmas services, Christmas parties, family gatherings, entertaining visiting guests, traveling to visit family in far off locations, and other enjoyable events. Throw in a wedding or two, since family will be in town for the holidays, and you have a pretty slow season for making progress on building a church with volunteer labor. So, without much building activity there has not been a lot for the chronicler to report, which makes for a great time for the chronicler to take in the Sunday school Christmas program, attend Christmas services, take in a Christmas party or two and entertain family visiting from afar. In all, a very pleasant and enjoyable couple of weeks, even if I did not attend any weddings.
Some Progress - 
Despite the labor shortage, there was still some progress. On a very cold evening before Christmas a few hearty souls worked outside attaching firring strips, on which the siding panels will be hung and putting on window trim. Paul and Eric are in the lower unit while Bob and an Brandon (?) are in the upper unit. Neither the picture nor my memory is good enough to provide definite identification of the other worker.



Some windows got trimmed out that cold evening also.





















Septic System -
One other significant event occurred before Christmas. The high tech septic system was installed. I got the scoop on this system from Sam. There are four septic tanks, each with a capacity of 2,500 gallons, that run in series. Down stream from there are three pump tanks, each with a capacity of 2,000 gallons. These tanks are connected in parallel. By my math that is total of 16,000 gallons of tank capacity. That is a lot of room even for a bunch of coffee drinking Finnlanders. This picture shows the top of the last septic tank in the foreground and the top of two of the holding tanks in the rear. The gray box houses the brains that control the pumps that move the discharge from the pump tanks into the leech fields, formerly known as drain fields. I am not sure when the name was changed but this is the first time I have encountered the term 'leech field', which sounds to me more like a place to raise fishing bait. The leech fields, of which there are two, can handle 2,900 gallons per day. There are two pumps, one for each field. The pumps can cycle up to 8 times per day, discharging 362.5 gallons per cycle. I am impressed by all these numbers.  I am certain that there is still a lot of arithmetic that can be done with these numbers, but I leave that as an exercise for the reader. I learned about all this sewage stuff just so I could pass it on.

This digging machine was just making its escape when I arrived on the scene that evening. I did not get a chance to see it in action. I was surprised that they could plant the tanks in such cold weather.







Digging Inside -
As nice as it is to have a septic system and leech fields, they are rather unnecessary unless there is also plumbing inside and a way to feed the outside system. The plans in the picture depict where the trenches need to be dug that will handle the under-floor heat ducts and plumbing pipes. But it is never so simple as to just start up the digger and make trenches. First the dirt need to be leveled. The magic laser beam machine throws a level line around the walls. Since there is a chalk line already on the walls indicating floor level, just set the laser machine in comfortable spot and measure the distance between the floor level chalk line and the laser line. Knowing this distance, just walk all around the building with a tape measure and check the distance between the dirt in that spot and the laser line.

Here is the laser machine resting on the tripod.

















Bob is wandering around checking the current grade at various spots. The red line can be seen on the distant wall and on Bob's leg. Using this technique it is possible to chart all the measured points and make a topographical map of the church floor in its current state. Of course this is a useless exercise so it will not be done.

















Instead, the inside digger machine will be used to move the dirt around so there will be level base on which the concrete floor will be poured. Greg Wuollet is the designated machine operator, shown here pushing some refuse out of the way so the serious leveling process can begin.

Watching this size pretty-big machine gently nuzzle the dirt up next to the wall is impressive. Obviously some skill is required to maneuver this equipment without smashing the walls, ceiling and/or windows.

While Greg drives the big machine, Bob demonstrates his skill with a manually powered excavator. Watching this scene develop made me think of the legend of John Henry's race with the steam powered drill.





Happy New Year - 
Well, the new year is arriving and next week will bring a return to a more regular work schedule at the church.