April 8 - Cleanup Outside, Walls and Pew Evaluation Inside

Cleanup Outside - 
Sam announced at the crew-chief's meeting this week that with the mild weather and likely nearby lifting of the road restrictions, the excavators may arrive week after next and begin the outside landscraping and landscaping work. That sounds like another major, visible step forward. Of course it also means that the winter's accumulation of scrap material and other debris must be cleaned up. Further, the container that was used as a tool shed must now depart the premises.

Some of the younger workers built recreational-sized fires to make scrap lumber disappear. A watchful attendant sprays the dry grass to make sure the fires can't attack dry grass on a windy day.
Naturally the dumpster fills rapidly with many hands finding miscellaneous junk accumulated through the winter.

Sam employs the trusty mobile fork lift as a size large trash compactor. The operation reminded me of an elephant I once saw in a zoo, thrusting its trunk out and rearing up on its back legs. The device seemed to do a reasonably competent job of trash smashing as the heap on top sunk down visibly.









Dirt piles have a magical, magnetic draw for children. After a morning of picking up trash, the workers assembled on the dirt piles behind the building.

I noticed Kevin's car parked outside the church earlier in the week. It appears to have had an unfortunate encounter with some solid object. What caught my attention was the repair job on the cut. I saw a similarity with the sewing job on one of my sons many years ago. It seems his forehead met a rapidly moving golf club and required a stitch job.

Building Interior Walls Over a  Polished Floor - 

Before this week, I had not seen the project for about six weeks. Marilee and I headed south to avoid the winter that apparently did not show up. Two days after I left, the concrete floor was poured and then polished. This photo shows a patch of the finished, polished floor adjacent to an unfinished section. It looks pretty good to me. It is much easier to walk about inside now than it was when I was here earlier.
And walls have sprouted up here ant there around the interior.

 

Eric and Kevin are collaborating on wall building with metal studs. I am impressed. They use a level.

Then some folks come along and trim the metal openings with good old fashioned wood.

Eric installs a wood framing piece while Mark and Spencer check on the quality of the work.
This interior work is necessary and important. It, however, lacks the showiness, drama and panache of say, swinging trusses into place over foam walls. By contrast, this interior work looks slow. and without much flare. Still, to have a completed church, all the work must be done. So, showy or not, let us forge onward.

The newly framed in kitchen has its first food service event on Saturday. Allison brought pizza for lunch and it was served in the kitchen

Seating for the meal remains a bit sketchy, however.











Other Signs of Progress - 
A couple of rooms are actually getting their finishing touches.

Brent is hanging plywood paneling in this room near the front entry. The plywood is the finished wall surface. For the near future the room will be the new tool crib, now that the container in the yard must leave. The tools that were in the container will temporarily housed here.

And back in the mechanical room on the back wall of the building, Spencer is painting the walls. It does not get much more finished that this.

Pews - 

Sam returned from his Finland trip with measurements from the pews in the Oulu RY. A prototype was built and is now being tested.














 Volunteers lined to test the concept pew.
Eric found it relaxing.

 Phil makes it look comfortable.

Mark and Eric peer off in wonderment.

Brent studies the matter rather seriously.

All the while Sam records the results and makes modifications

One suggestion, apparently, was for a smoother surface so Jacob (do I have the name right?) sands off the rough spots.















Several iterations have already been user tested. No doubt there will be still more to come.