March 18 - The Daily Grind

Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them.  Are ye not much better than they?

Matthew 6:26

I stood in the church yard and watched the bald eagle circle low, just clearing the church roof, and then disappear to the north.  A loud chorus of sand hill cranes, recently returned from their winter residence in Texas or Florida., could be heard in that direction, too.  Perhaps they were reminiscing, possibly comparing notes about the long journey home, and happy to be back.  A few crows fussed over something amid the straw strewn in the church driveway.  Today was a new day for the birds and they were making the most of it.

Like previous weeks, work this week focused on the concrete floor and installing exterior siding and trim.

First, the floor.   Previously, we've seen pictures of various guys doing the slooooow walk behind the big floor grinder, back and forth, pass after pass, for hours on end, every day.  Well, that happened this week.  Here's Mark Vonada on one of many passes over the sanctuary floor.

What do you do for the corners and all the other tight places that the big machine can't go?  Eric Wuollet demonstrates how to grind those areas with a handheld grinder.  It's a bit hard to see, but he's kneeling on a small platform with wheels and a padded rest onto which he leans.  In the background, partially obscured by Eric, is Loren Hillukka, operating another grinder. 

 

I really have no idea what Eric was thinking in this picture, but after having watched him for the previous several minutes grinding away on the same small area, I got the impression it was something like "Man, is this grinding business EVER going to end?"  It's fair to say there was a LOT of hand grinding going on this week.

 

 An overhead view of Loren at work that same night.
 

Saturday came, and more grinders got to work.  The air was fairly thick with dust.

This is Loren again, working on the east side of the front entrance.

Kevin Hendrickson and a couple of his sons work around the floor registers at the back wall of the sanctuary, with (I think) Eric Wuollet doing the same in the background.

Klaus Hendrickson cleaning up.

Sam Byman way in the back, Eric in the foreground, Kevin in the middle.



When the floor is finally deemed finished with grinding, out comes the dye.  Here, Loren sprays dye on the floor and Phil Muhonen spreads it out evenly.

I told Phil that he and the others are the church's very first cleaning crew.

After the dye comes a layer of densifier -- as I understand it, a hardener.

Not too many pics of exterior work this week.  Bob Niemela and Jacob Byman finish off the south cafeteria wall.

Steve Redman doing some maintenance work on one of the lifts.  Troy Huhta and Paul Wuollet look on.