September 25 - Last Saturday: A Really Big Day

Concrete Pour - 
Another concrete pour, this time the sidewalks across the front and the walk under the portico. Two truckloads of mud got all the sidewalk done and half of the dumpster pad beyond the back edge of the parking lot. Sonny Johnson, Phil Johnson and Charlie Halonen from the Minneapolis congregation as well as Dale Muhonen from Rockford volunteered to help with the job. Once again, a helping hand from the neighboring congregations is greatly appreciated. It is always fascinating to watch this work - when the truck is spilling its contents, many hands and feet are required to coax the heavy goo into its desired location. Phil is shown pushing the goo around while Sonny and Dale operate the screed.

After the concrete is leveled out, the bull float is used to smooth the surface.

The float may reveal a spot lacking just a little material so the master adds a shovelful here and there to make sure the surface is just right.

After the mix has a chance to set up a bit, the red carpet is rolled out for the master finisher, who uses a really long handled trowel to apply the just right touch, like the icing on the cake. Actually it is a path of pinkish-purplish foam insulation sheets, but it looked rather like a red carpet, albeit a bit faded. Sonny and Dale stayed on duty until well after everyone else had lunch before finally acknowledging that the work was far enough along that it no longer needed their immediate attention.

Sitting on a five gallon bucket to enjoy his late-noon meal, Sonny noted that he was tired. A pretty good workout for a fellow over forty years old.

While the finishing work progressed under the portico, Phil Sam, Brent, Daniel and Westin, Charlie's son, took the sidewalk up to the parking lot. Charlie took the opportunity to coach the youngster on the fine points of concrete finishing.

Westin got the hang of it pretty quickly and was soon troweling on his own.

After the troweling is done, a broom is used to complete the finish, to improve the traction under foot and help prevent slipping. Phil and Daniel operate the broom outside the side door.











Assembling Pews -
Concrete was not the only attraction on Saturday. Inside the church, the sanctuary became the pew assembly area. Now that the pieces are all stripped of the old finish and stain and vinyl sealer have been applied, the time has come to put the pieces back together. Ami, Sam and Bob collaborate on a small bench repair job.

After the repair is completed, it is time to put the pieces together. Brian helps out as the middle man on this phase.















Bob demonstrates his skill as a chiseler by cleaning the old glue out of a groove in a pew end cap.

 Eric and Luke Byman team up to cap the end of the pew.

By the end of the day, eight pews were reassembled. I understand that one more coat of varnish will be applied before they will be completed.

That's Not All, Folks -
Windows were installed on the dining room side of the narthex.

Loren sets a window frame in place.

Kevin raises dust trimming the opening to fit the frame and glass.





















Wayne (on the right) and his son Steven install the frame and the double doors leading to the back porch.

 And out on the back lawn, Laif, Ben and Devin plane the flat trim pieces that will finalize the interior window trim.

Activity buzzed inside and out. I think I saw Farmer Paul mowing the lawn at one point, but failed to get a picture.

With the large turnout of workers, a size large lunch was called for. Diane and Elias came through with two roasterfuls of tasty potato, ground beef and corn casserole which the many workers enjoyed on a well earned break.

September 21 - Paved Parking Lot and More

Pavement -

If there is asphalt on the parking surface with curbs at the edge, how can there be much more to do? I asked Bob some time ago if we are nearing the end of the project. "Sure", he said with a smile, "and when the outside work is done, only six weeks of inside work remain." I refuse to let his realism dampen my exuberance. I watched the asphalt go down on Tuesday knowing that the only thing left to do is wash the windows. Of course there are a few details to clean up, like finishing and assembling pews, installing the sound system, building the pulpit and stage in the front of the sanctuary. Well, maybe it will take a bit of time yet.

It was fun to watch the paving process. Big equipment complete with noise and smoke. What could be more exciting?










The dump truck backs into the paving machine and starts the asphalt flowing. The paving machine pushes the truck across the parking lot leaving a smooth black surface in its wake.

A nice sized crew showed up Wednesday evening, including the official pavement testers. Bob's kids showed up to check up on Dad and to see if the new pavement was suitable for all manner of wheel vehicles.

In-line skates, skate boards and bikes were among the devices tested at the new proving ground.

Felix willingly posed and requested that his test runs were carefully observed. As near as I can tell, the surface and all the vehicles worked well.

Downspout and Drain -
It appears that the attempt to train water to seek a proper drain has been abandoned. Rather, the downspout was reconfigured to make training unnecessary. The revised installation uses gravity exclusively.














Ad Hoc Spray Booth - 
The sanctuary had a new
coating applied to the walls and windows. Poly film wraps the entire interior of the room, only peeled back a bit in two exterior doors to let hearty folks and fresh air in. The air is assisted by a fan on one side blowing in fresh air and an even larger fan in the other door exhaling stale, varnished air. The hearty folks on the inside are decked out with respirator masks to keep the lungs from acquiring a satin finish. Presumably the masks also keep the brain from going loopy from the chemicals.

 Matt sprays the now-stained pew pieces. His two masked assistants serve as materials handlers, moving raw pieces to the spray zone and then stacking processed pieces to the drying area.


Pew ends, all in a row, get a coat of finish material.

The masked assistants wipe any dust from a bench before Matt does his spray thing. I understand the assistants are Helen Parks' daughters but I did not recognize them with their gas masks installed.


I stuck my nose in the door long enough to shoot a few pictures but decided breathing is better outside.

Outside, tall Sam and Short Brian were in conference. Why they chose the over-spray laden jet stream for a meeting room remains a bit of a mystery.

Building Sidewalk Forms -
The plan is to pour sidewalks on Saturday. So, all the forms must be in place and the dirt within smoothed. Sam, Tom, Mark and Nate build forms.

Brian and Ed collaborate on the other end of the sidewalk.

Wednesday evening was beautiful. A joy to be out in the glorious late summer weather. But autumn is on the way, most noticeable by the significantly shorter daylight hours. Even with daylight savings time, it still gets dark.

 So the electric lights must be used. Brent assured me that he trusts Ed's hammer strikes as long as Mark holds the light steady.

Wildlife -
The sandhill cranes are using the same routes they used when the roof was going on last year. The church is in the flyway to the wildlife refuge they call home this time of year.

Across the road, a size large flock stopped in for a snack before heading off to bed.

A few more drop in to join the snackers.

Monarch butterflies enjoy the flowers at neighbor Pete's house. They are heading to Mexico, I understand.

Finally, after crossing the road to the church, I encountered this little mouse scurrying on the asphalt crumbs edging the driveway. So nice to have a genuine church mouse. I hope he is quiet.

Evening descends on the church, the workers and the newly paved parking lot.

September 16 - Final Grading

Heavy Equipment Returns -
Size large gear returned to the site today to do the final grading on the parking lot, preparatory to asphalt installation. Machines ranging in size from a road grader and a large compacting roller to hand shovels with intermediate stops at a skid loader and hand operated vibrating compactor, were all on hand to smooth out the surface. Rumor has it that the parking lot will be paved next Tuesday.

Pew Refinishing Continues -
Ed and family are becoming quite proficient at removing old varnish. But, alas the end of this phase of the job is nearing an end. If my reckoning is correct, by the end of the day no more pieces remain to be stripped of varnish.

 When I departed the scene, sanding was still continuing. It is possible that all the sanding was finished today. Aare and Ami kept the sanders busy throughout the day, stopping only occasionally to empty the accumulated dust.

Inside the building, away from the dust, Phil and Aaron added color to the wood, so recently divested of its old covering. With the old finish removed and the new one coming on, it cannot be long until they are reassembled, can it?














Trimming Windows - 
A new worker was on hand today. A Finnish, finishing carpenter and employee of Niemela construction, came to install window trim. Being originally from Finland he goes by the very Finnish sounding name 'Artu'. His tool box, however, offers a different spelling of the name, R2. No matter, the spelling, the trim work was excellent.

The side and bottom pieces are joined using pocket screws. R2 is drilling holes using the machine especially built for this use. 

The result of his efforts.

This piece is then attached to the two vertical casing pieces with screws.

 Bob and R2 assemble frames.

Two hands and one foot are required to position the frame on the window.

A granite window sill is dropped in before the frame is installed.

Sam shows off the result of all this effort. I asked if the window was now complete. Not quite. Trim pieces like Sam is holding will be added to cover the light lumber showing in the picture.

In the end, a beautiful window.

Bob trimmed and then shimmed the bottom piece of the frame. When I inquired why, he quickly responded "Juice and coffee." Being in the dining area, any liquid spill will not be left under the wood to soak in. With a small air gap the liquid will be allowed to evaporate without damaging the wood. Clever fellows, those carpenters.













A New Thing Out Back -

It seems that some concrete culvert pipe was available from a place a mile or so down the road. Available for free. There is something about FREE that makes it highly desirable. Well, it showed up out behind the church.
It seems a congregation member had seen such an arrangement on a playground and passed on the idea to the landscape folks.

Sam uses the mobile forklift to jockey the first section into place.

With Daniel on the front end loader and Sam in the forklift, these two machines nimbly cajoled the second section into place.

A little more maneuvering and a three section play tunnel appears.

Naturally, to be a really-o, truly-o tunnel it has to be covered with dirt. Daniel and the loader accomplish this under the watchful eye of a potential tunnel customer.