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Sunday, December 28, 2014

A Peaceful Sunday!

This was a very peaceful Sunday....especially since I slept until 12:30pm!  LOL  And I still don't feel all that great! I'm still fighting off whatever it is that I have been fighting for the past week.  Go thru cycles of better and worse....so I'll just ride it out!  Of course, the weather/temperature shifts don't help any. Our days and nights are still going thru 20+ degree shifts....not real good for the old sinuses!!

But at least it did stop raining late morning and we actually had a little sunshine this afternoon, but they are calling for a low here in San Antonio of 32* tonight....and the high today was only 50* with a high tomorrow of 63*....that's a 31* shift for the day!

Saturday, December 27, 2014

The End of the Year Cometh!!!

Well....the end of the year is getting closer....nothing on but Bowl games and only a couple of them that I can get on tv....can watch a couple of them online, but that can be a hassle.  Oh well....looking forward to next season, already?  LOL  But this is an annual thing that I have gotten used to over the years!!  Heheheh! I've learned how to handle the withdrawals!!

Things here have been pretty doggone quiet. The weather has been all over the board and my sinuses are paying the price! We are having shifts of 30 plus degrees on a daily basis. Last night the temp at 10pm was 71...at 6 this morning it was 50....and by 5 tonight is supposed to be 40....yee-hawww!! In the low 70's by Monday, then by next Thursday it will be back in the upper 40's with lows in the 30's and rain!!! Yippeeeee!!!!  The cold front passed thru here about 5:30am this morning and the wind came with it.  Bertha is rocking from side to side now....have a steady 11-15mph wind, with gusts up to 33+. Overcast and drizzly!  Love it!!  :-P

According to Mark (one of the supvrs) here, they are supposed to get rid of the generator Monday, and drop a line to the trailer. And the leasing gals and the other "office" personnel for the apartment complex are supposed to start working out of the Clubhouse and offices there doing showings of apartments and signing leases that are effective as of Jan 15 for about 40 or so apartments. They are going to drop a hard line for power to the trailer, so I will be plugging into the trailer for power. Plus I am going to move Bertha and "parallel park" her next to the curb. It will put me closer to the trlr so I hopefully will not have to buy any more extension cord. And I'm going to get a couple of cones and block out a spot for Mark to park between me and the trlr, and cone out my parking spot in front of Bertha.

Plus, when this months rental contract is up on the car, I am not renewing it. I'll just do a weekend special rental every payday weekend and stock up for the two weeks....and start walking more here and using my little stool!!  :-)  I just noticed day before yesterday that if I wouldn't lace up my shoe on my right foot it doesn't hurt nearly as much to walk, and I need to do more walking so that I can keep the swelling down in my right leg better. And the ankle is doing better, but the bottom of the foot on the heel is still very tender, feels like the heel bone is dropped down to just under the skin. Maybe by this time next year I'll be closer to normal!  LOL

I'm very pleased with the new frig...it draws less than a third of the little frig and keeps things very cold set just below the "medium" setting...I love it!






Wednesday, December 24, 2014

Christmas 2014

It is Chritmas Eve in the year 2014!  Which means the New Year of 2015 is right around the corner!  And I wonder what it will have in store for all of us?!?!?  2014 was interesting....but more on that later....now, back to Christmas Eve in San Antonio, Tx.

I would also like to announce the arrival of my 6th grandchild!!!!  Olivia Bozeman arrived on 12/22/2014, coming into this world at 8 lbs 1 oz, 20 inches!  Congrats to Tabitha and Jason!  If my other 3 start having kids I'm just going to have to retire because it will be a fulltime job just trying to travel around to see them all!!

And I had a package arrive from my company on Monday.....it was a 9 pound smoked turkey from Greenburg BBQ in Tyler, TX.   And WOW!!!!, is that a good turkey! It is better than any that I have ever had!!!

It's a half day of work for the crews that are here on site. Most everybody should be gone and it should be quiet here by 2pm. A day and a half of peace and quiet!  But come Friday morning, it will be work as usual.

In the past 3 days I have succeeded in having the old frig removed from Bertha. The guys actually had to take a sawz-all to it to get it out the door.  And that is how we found out that the coolant that was used in the old frig's was amonia!!!!  I can still smell it!!  But it is out and gone in the dumpster.  And YEA for Christmas sales....Lowe's had a 4.5 cu ft Frigidaire frig....it was 25% off!  So, you guessed it, Bertha got a new frig for her Christmas present!!

Tomorrow I will be headed to Round Rock for the day to visit with the folks. It should be a nice relaxed day. I'll have pics up tomorrow night or Friday.

If the weekend stays fairly nice I'm going to try to finish the H2O system in Bertha. Friday I'm going to get the connectors and hose to fix the gap in the feed line from the pump. I hope that it will be a quick fix.  Haven't pulled the water heater out yet, so will have to hit it with water to see if it leaks. If it does leak, then it will be a few days before I can get the system up....will have to remove the tank for now and bypass it.  Could be interesting!!

Also have to do a semi-permanent fix to the counter top by the door as you come in.  The corner of it is slowly disappearing....old age, old glued sawdust and just daily traffic is inflicting terminal injury to it. So I have a piece of that birch 1/4 inch plywood left that I think is large enough to get it taken care of.

So that catches me up for the week.  Looking forward to what 2015 brings!

Until later, MERRY CHRISTMAS to All!!!

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Awesome Early Christmas Present!

As of 12/22/2014 I have become a grand-pa for the 6th time!!

Welcoming to this life Olivia Conner Rose Boseman
                                           8 lbs  1 oz,    20 inches

And congrats to Tabitha and Jason!

Pics to follow shortly!!

Monday, December 22, 2014

Just a Little Catch up from SA.

I've been working on Bertha again some to try to get the storage figured out. And cleaning up some more....Still have a ways to go!  But each week I throw out a more stuff that I have no idea when the last time I used it was. So I'm actually coming up with more storage room than I currently need.

As you can tell from the picture below, I have "neighbors" that lead a rather colored life!!  The good thing is that the wind seems to always be blowing from my direction towards them!  And they seem to never really smell now since the heat of summer has passed by!!!  Thank Goodness!!!  




I just had to throw in these two short little videos....you just never know when you will be having to work late!  The concrete finishers had finished their work for the day/week and needed to get their polishers down from the second floor so that they can go home.  Had to bring James back to the job site so that he could get one of the lifts and help them get down with the machines.




I did my grocery shopping yesterday, and Abbie had a spa day...and I noticed something.....there are almost no Christmas decorations in the stores out here. And I mean no decorations. Apparently most of the stores are not allowing anything that does not "promote the brand"....or might be "misconstrued" that they were favoring one group over another!  So I'm about done with getting out for anything the rest of this week and probably not getting out next week either!




Yesterday was also Spa Day for Abbie...and Ericka just did her up with bows again...and they lasted about 2 minutes once I put her in the dar...she does not like having anything on her head...much less rubberbands in her hair!  LOL



Now for really good news....gas just keeps dropping here!  This is what I paid yesterday when I topped off!  It does make my gas budget go a lot further each week!!


Then yesterday evening I decided to finally try to see how well my little egg cooker would cook scrambled eggs....andthey come out like a souffle!!  And quite good!!!

And it is such a consistency that it "cubes" up just great to make a burrito with it....and it really tasted good!





And to end this installment on a Merry Christmas note.....just look what just now has been delivered to me!!!  From the boss!! And unless I'm not remembering correctly....this is the company that sells out of their turkeys every season, in fact, you have to order well in advance to be able to get one of them!!!  And I now have a 9 lb turkey to debone and bag and hopefully have room to keep it for a few days!!!!!!!

YUMMY!!!!!!

So....Just in case I don't get back on here before the 25th of December......

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL 

AND TO ALL 

A GLORIOUS NIGHT!!!!!

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Christmas Spirit?

I'm doing my grocery shopping this morning  & i just realized something.....all the talk about the "re-urbanization"of America - and i wonder just where all these folks are living & where is the Christmas Spirit?  Because in the "big city" you see very little of it. Lots of sales, lots of short fuses behind steering wheels.....but not much spirit out here.  Hmmmmm!?!?

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

"Tis the Season.....SO?!?!?!?!?!!!!!!!

Last night was a quiet night. As they all are basically!  :-)   I had a transient pass through last night...first one since I have been here. He was very polite, very quiet and appears to be very needy. He is carrying an Army type duffle bag, and is fairly well warmly dressed. He walked up to me as I was sitting in the car. He asked me if there might be a portapot on site that he could use. A split second decision and I told him how to get to ours on site. I very quietly drove around and kept an eye on him, and he went straight in the way I told him, made his visit and headed straight out the same way. I really had a feeling of sadness for him....asked him when the last time he had a warm meal, he didn't really answer.....didn't need to, because from his looks, it had been a while. And the reason I feel so sure of this happening with him is that I gave him several dollars (what I had in my wallet), and I got a very simple thank you, no over the top reaction, a very reserved reaction and very muted emotional response (he had a tough time looking me in the eye).

And being the time of the year that it is, I spent the rest of the night thinking about the "luck" that I have had over the years. I have 5 beautiful kids.....soon to be 6 grand grandkids......having been blessed with the amount of travel I've done over the years that most folks want to do & by the time they "retire" they're not able to do......all the folks that I have had the opportunity to meet and grow to know......and the overall good health I've had (in spite of my working hard to not have it!!).....I've had a very full life and in actuality....a very fulfilling life.

As I've already mentioned....I have a lot of time to ponder, think, "philosophize" each day now....and the more I do it, the more that this life I've led stands out to me....and the grand things that I have gotten to do. As of now, I'm living the life I like....mobile (even though I'm stationary for a few months)....fixing up a "tiny house" on 6 wheels....the lifestyle I love! I don't know of too many folks that can truly say that they are satisfied with where they are in life at this moment.  I really can say it and mean it....still have things I want to do and see.....and if it is in the overall scheme of things, I will get to see and do those things before my number rolls up!

There's probably more that I want to add to this....but it is still in the thinking stage....or the lack of sleep stage....so I'll just have to sleep on it!!  LOL

Have a great day!!







Monday, December 15, 2014

It is just beginning!

I have gotten a pretty good days sleep today, but I have also been keeping up with the hostage situation in Sydney, Australia. And the sad conclusion of it.

This is an example of just what we can come to expect in the future from the groups that are what we call terrorist groups...."an isolated incident" is what they called it, but it is only going to become more frequent and more deadly in the days to come.

This was an individual that was on the watch list, and had done stupid things in the past. But even being on a watch list is no guarantee of being able to prevent this type of situation.

And even with all the work to keep folks safe, they want to complain about an "invasion of privacy" while the law enforcement folks try to keep them safe?????  Just how stupid are the American people getting??  Not to mention just how stupid are the populations of most western countries getting??

If society wants to be "safe", then you have to give up something to the folks trying to keep you safe. If you don't then you don't have a leg to stand on when you get "hurt" or killed or blown up! Because they are part of the problem when it comes to keeping up with the folks that want to do harm to the majority of the populace!

Enough said1

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Now why isn't this on National News?!?!?

I have just seen this on the local Sunday morning news here in San Antonio. Now maybe I have too much time to think and consider things now with my new work and in my current state of "practicing for retirement", but I am actually watching more news now, until I reach of point of disgust and turn it off, but I keep coming back to my thought pattern of where our current society is and just how far are we going to have to drop in common sense before we wake up!

I still don't hold a lot of hope for society as a whole unless something wakes up the masses ( I still prefer "the herd" as a better description) to the fact that we have gotten way off course when it comes to how "a village" has to operate in order the said society to survive.

Here is what I sent my kids on HangOuts, and I think all that read this blog should look at this very many times!!

Now why the hell doesn't something like this make the national news instead of the bullshit that is going on with all the coverage of the "protestors"?????? Grandmother caught stealing eggs thankful for off…: http://youtu.be/jiOljF1gxuU

Take the 3 minutes to watch this news report out of I believe either Huntville or Birmingham, AL and see what I am talking about.

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Spring like Storms and Advancement on Job!!

Good Morning, World!!  It has been cold, wet and windy here for the past week or so! And it is still changing from day to day. In fact, even the weathermen are having a hard time getting out the "7 day forecast" because it is seemingly changing every 12 hours! This rain today was supposed to have been done by lunchtime today, and now they are saying it will be here until tonight. The high today was supposed to be upper 70's, that will be here tomorrow. So I just sit back & watch out the window to see what it is like this hour!!  LOL

I finally dropped by that little VW shop this week to see what it would cost to get one of the VW "Things" that were on the lot....I shouldn't have....I almost fainted!! The prices for the VW's has gone thru the roof!  The most inexpensive "Things" on the lot were $8,900!  That little 'ol VW Pickup in the picture above.....well.....a month or so ago he had a guy walk in one day and offer him $25,000 for it....and he turned it down because it would bring more! My heart is broken!!  So I guess I will be looking for a mid 70's model of a Subaru Brat!  



They have really been moving along with the job here. They have been pouring concrete for sidewalks and parking areas all week. And working late nights to try to get caught up...but catching up when you're 5+ months behind is an almost impossible task! But they have about 20 or so apartments lit up trying to "condition" them so that they can finish the final details of getting they ready to turn over to the owners.



The pool guys have really been working hard at trying to  get the common area in the middle of the main building complex done. Pouring the sidewalks, patio areas and entrance/exits into the buildings.They have been here all night a couple of nights, and way into the night all the other nights.  But at this rate, they just might get done soon!



It will be nice when they do get through with it all. They also laid the tile in the pool and are coming along with the "fountain" part of the pool....I can't wait to see what it is going to look like!  They are bringing in shrubs and palm trees and are trying to make it look like a resort on the coast. Should be interesting! I'm not sure who had the task of doing decorating and furniture choice for the "clubhouse"....but I'm not very impressed. I'll try to remember to get some pics of that later and add them.

But the insides of the apartments are looking pretty good. I wandered thru a couple of them the other night and was surprised at how good they were actually looking!

 They are actually looking pretty nice. I'm not real into the "contemporary" lighting decor...or the cabinets (they are really just too dark for my tastes) but it does look fairly good!  I do like most of the plumbing fixtures they are using. The a quite nice!  :-)


The kitchen countertops are what I really like! They are all a gray marble top, well done finishes and nicely cut and edged! All the entrance doors are 8 feet, which I'm told is what comtemporary decorating is doing to give them a "classy look" for today's style....if you say so!!  Heheh!




Well, the rain just keeps coming and going each 30 minutes or so...literally! It has just started again, been about 40 minutes since the last little shower.  

And as the day wears on the green/yellow/red areas on the radar is supposed to get quite a bit larger. But I'm not complaining...these poor people have been needing raing for several years, so it is a welcome site! Now if they could just learn/remember how to drive on wet roads!! And the temperature is supposed to hit 75* today, rain moving out after midnight tonight, sunny tomorrow and the high is supposed to hit 80*!  Glad I have the A/C unit still set up!

That about covers it for today. Time to do a little house cleaning, sorting & "positioning" of "stuff"!  See you in a couple of days!  


Thursday, November 13, 2014

Winter hits South Texas!!

Well....more or less....winter has hit south Texas....and you can get a good grin when you look out and see folks here dressed like they are in Denver!! It is currently 39* (was down to 34* this morning)...and tomorrow is supposed to be colder. And these poor folks are not used to temperatures like this! I'm quite happy with this weather...but these poor folks are not looking forward to this winter. It just might possibly be a long and really cold winter for this part of the world!

   The "community area" in the middle of the main buildings is also coming along nicely. The pool area is coming right along. It go slowed down with all the rain we got last week....the middle area turned into basically a small swamp!  But it has dried out (kind of) and they are getting ready to do the final pours of the pool area and walkways and "patios". So it is all coming together!




They are coming right along with this project. In fact, I am amazed at just how much they have gotten accomplished in just the past 2 weeks. In fact, they have moved in furniture at the "clubhouse" and office section of building 8. And from what James has told me, they are getting several apartments ready to be turned over to the owners....which I am quite sure has made them very happy. There is even hard power in that little section of the building. So just maybe before too long I will have a hard power drop of a 30 amp line for me and Bertha.  That will be a blessing!  No more fighting with workers that would overload my little 20 amp plug!


Now on for some of the practicality of the goings on here.....concrete!! They have poured and cured the entire driveway around the complex....to the point that all that is left is the main entrance approach!  This sounds like a minor accomplishment on a project like this...but for me and Bertha and Abbie....this is a major thing!  The generation of dust has been decreased by at least 90%!!  Which means my sinuses and the interior of the house has been brought an amount of relief that is almost tangible!! I only have to dust 2 or 3 times a week now instead of 2 or 3 times daily!!! Oh,what a relief it is!!  LOL


This picture is what my current pot of "stew" started out from...and it came out pretty good....but I will have to get a larger crock pot if I plan on using all these ingredients in a meal at once. For a meal for probably 3-5 folks, you can't beat this mix!!  LOL   Started out making a cup of rice in my rice cooker.  Then transfer it to you crock pot. Add to that 2 cans of canned beef and gravy (drain off "gravy" if you get Great Value..just too much like water), then let it simmer for 10-20 minutes.  The drain the liquid off of a can of mixed veggies and blend them in.  About 10 minutes later, add about half a pack of Lipton Beefy Onion soup mix...DRY! Don't add any water, just mix it in a best you can and put the lid on. Let that cook for on high for 20 minutes of so, then remove the lid and mix it up real well with large spoon. That's when the gravy mix will totally mix up and disperse.  What you come up with is a moist, tasty "stew/soup" that is actually quite good!  And the cost is about $7.00....maybe!  Might actually be less that that. But it is good!


Time to take a little rest period and get ready for another night. Thought I would close out today with a nice sunset pic from the heart of  San Antonio!
 

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Rain, Rain, Rain!

This is what the radar has looked like here for the past 24 hrs & it has been great! Overnight we had over 2.5 inches of rain. It had settled into a good 'ol soaker! And the weatherman is saying it will be here probably until Friday morning! Glorious! And with the train had come some really cool temperatures! The high today is 60°. And cold temps are coming!

Sunday, October 12, 2014

More Concrete, Please, Sir!!

Well, this past Wednesday morning....at 4am again....they came in and poured the West side of the road, the curve around back. I can see a light at the end of the tunnel as far as them getting the complete roadway paved. Because once they get it done, I will be able to drive all the way around the site and not worry about MUD!!!!!

I'm getting my "Tiny House" set up a little more each week, too!  Still throwing stuff out and figuring out the storage, but it is getting there. I almost feel like I have really gotten settled into my new "life"!  And you know what????.....I'm learning to enjoy it more every day!!  :-)

There's not really much else to add.....OH.....except that I went and bought several new pairs of shoes yesterday. My right foot has gone from a 10 1/2 to a 12-14 shoe size! Brother! My ankle seems to have settled for the time being in the shape that it is in and it looks like that if I am back to 80% of normal by this time next year I will be very happy!  It is just amazing how long it takes me to heal nowadays!!  LOL

Have a great week, folks. And I will keep trying to update a little more often!!  :-)

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Truck drivers are on the way out!

I've been wondering how long this would take..... it was only a matter of time..... and seems the time is closer than i thought!

http://www.appy-geek.com/Web/ArticleWeb.aspx?regionid=1&articleid=30002380

Monday, October 6, 2014

AT&T Breach

If any of you guys are on AT&T, check your finances.

http://www.appy-geek.com/Web/ArticleWeb.aspx?regionid=1&articleid=29941196

Just a quick thought......

I just watched a couple of commercials for autos..... and folks are so concerned about cell phone usage & texting while driving. ........

Well have you noticed just what the car makers are pushing??

Ford was just the page that loaded fastest so i screen shot their page.

http://m.ford.com/technology/sync/test-packages?slide=4#appsimHome

Sunday, October 5, 2014

A weekend of football!

It has been a nice peaceful weekend! No rain, but that means no mud and so no mess! I spent the day cleaning house and watching football! Just a normal weekend for me!  And the weather here was almost like fall! It got down to the 50`s the past couple of nights. Of course this coming week it is hear back up to the low 90`s! Bah-humbug!

If all goes well I'll be in touch with some guys (a father & son that that do RV work on location. I'm going to see about having them do my repairs/upgrades to Bertha. It is going to be awhile before I'm able to get up & down to the ground to do a lot of the work myself. So I'm hoping they do good work & don't cost an arm & a leg!

There's really not much else to add right now. That is how quiet it has been this week, so I'll close this post & maybe I'll have more to add layette this week.

I'll close with a picture Christopher sent me! It is really pretty up in"snow country"!  Can't wait to hear how he likes it in January!  Heheheh. 

Saturday, October 4, 2014

A Quiet Week





Well, besides the couple of posts that I did last night about a couple of news articles I forwarded to here, it has been my usual 10 days or so since my last post....I guess that when I am stationary like this, that is going to be my more or less norm!!  :-)


The main "excitement" that has happened around here for the past week or so was the thunderstorms that passed by here a couple of nights ago! And when I say passed by, that is exactly what happened!
The storm front stayed to the east and south of main town, but the lightening was absolutely fabulous! I never even heard any thunder, but the light show went on for over 2 hours!


It was just so pretty, and it lit up the clouds in a way that I have not seen in many years! It was the most 3-D lightening show that I can remember 
seeing.




It was almost like someone had choreographed (sp?) it in advance and had laid out the patterns and directions that it would go.
 And today was my splurge day for this period....SONIC!!!  And they have banana splits!!! I have not had a banana split in a LONG time....so that was my splurge for the week!! And, boy, was it a tasty, smooth, cool, sweet splurge!! I just might have to do it again sometime!!  Heheheheh!


 

 Well, it looks like I will be here through at least February, and possibly into or through March. They are just now getting power close to getting turned on for the buildings, and that was supposed to have been done in June, so you can see that they are just a little tiny bit behind on the schedule.  But when I do get released from here, I am going to take 6-8 weeks off and make the circuit and see everybody.


As you can tell from the map above, making a circuit for me to see everybody is going to be a major roadtrip.....aawwwwwww!!!  LOL   It is about 3500 miles, and will take at least 8 days of drive time for me in Bertha, it might be more like 10-11 days of drive time. But I will stay true to me and not run the interstates any more!!!  I refuse to be in that much of a rush for anything unless it is deemed to be of life or death!  So, if you take the drive time and add 3-5 days at each stop, that comes up to about 32-37 day road trip...and I am looking forward to it. And hopefully the worst of the winter will be done and gone by then!

It is about time to get ready for the night....so I will end this by saying I hope all are doing well, and I will be posting again....sooner than later, hopefully!!  :)


Sunday, September 21, 2014

Fall Can't Get Here Soon Enough!!!

How about this....it has been less than a week since my last update!!!  

It was a pretty good week here...which translates out to mean....nothing has happened of much importance!!!  Just quiet nights and sleepy days!

So this will be short and painless!!!  The only thing to really talk about is the weather...it has rained several times, and each time the air becomes like a sauna and it gets almost just unbearable here. But it has been cooling off some the past several days, and the forecast for the future is for it to keep getting cooler, hopefully.


But when it gets cloudy here it makes for some really nice shots of the sky! You can see for so far off that it is down right impressive! Especially when you can stand on the top level of a 5 story parking deck!

But that is my excitement for this week. So I will make this very short and painless....and say that I hope that my next post will be just as painless!!
 

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Fairly Interesting Week

The past week went by pretty quick! That's what happens to me when I'm on 3rd shift and the football season has begun!  Heheh....well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking by it!!





I believe I told you about my renting a little car for the weekend....well, I have gone ahead and rented it by the month. They had an offer that was just hard to pass up and so the Elantra is my "daily driver" for the next couple of months. It does real well as far as mpg's go, and it is very comfortable. In fact, the way the dash and the interior is laid out it is almost relaxing, if you can say sitting in a vehicle is relaxing! Took it by Firestone and had the tires rotated and an oil change done....and just signed and drove away....that is one of the things I like about it! But it also gives me wheels to be able to get off site whenever I need to without having to unplug, and fight my way out with Bertha. And Bertha still needs work before I will want to drive her around town much. It is just too hard on the little motorhome to do all the city driving that I need to do. I also stopped by O'Reilly's and picked up a "beacon" light for the top...and it works very well....even during the day it gets folks attention and it also makes it obvious that I belong here on the site. AND...it has a full XM Satellite subscription on it! So I can get my stations I listen to in the house on it....and I can keep up with my football even when I'm working!  Love it!! :-D











We have had a slight cool down here...but the humidity has gone thru the roof! Highs for the past several days have been in upper 80's and low 90's. But the lows at night have only been down to about 75, and the dew point has been at 75 or higher at times! So when you walk out the door it is like walking into a sauna! Even the nights are muggy....think Alabama in mid August on a bad night! It has just be awful!  But at the same time it has brought rain from that hurricane that hit Mexico in and that has been good for the area. The water aquifer here has risen over a foot in the past few days and they are expecting it to get even higher all the way thru the weekend. After so many years of drought this is very good for the area.

Monday morning at 4am they started pouring the driveway on the southeast end of the site. They spent several days getting the ground ready (leveling, putting in water shutoff pipes, vent pipes, drains, etc), then they did the form setting in two days, and they did all the rebar layout in just one day. The pour took 17 mixer loads of concrete and the last one was emptied out at 10:50am Monday. The main reason it took so long was the trucks had to back in to the site, one truck at a time, and had to washout on site before pulling out, so it was a long process. I sat on the shoulder of the road just over the crest of the hill with beacon and flashers on to help warn cars of the parked mixers on road. In fact, I sat there until 8:40am...so it was a 14.5 hour night. And watching these drivers come barreling by and then almost running into the rear of the mixers or forcing their way into the other lane was almost hilarious if not for the fact that it is sad! 

  I took the pics of the pour site from the top of the parking garage. It doesn't look all that large of a pour field, but the main road is about 25' wide and from top to bottom was about 110 yds, and the end flared out and went to the old pour, and also made the entrance area for the parking deck on the SE end of the garage.

 
  




The shot on the right here is from where I was parked on the "shoulder" of the street. Eventually it will be turned back into a sidewalk. But to give you an idea of just how close the apartments are/will be to the street, the front wall of the building is just barely the width of the dirt area in the pic behind that fence to the right! TOO close for my liking! Of course, I have a warped idea of what the proper spacing should be between neighbors....the least of which should be about 400 yards!!  Heheh!




These two pics show my "new" parking spot on site. I am out of the way, and have power, which I was supposed to have the day I got here, but it also shows just how close I am to the work that is going on every day...and I am still amazed that I sleep thru most of it. One guy here said that it was the "dad syndrome"....if the noise is normal, you sleep thru it!! And that is so true!  LOL




They are making a lot of headway quite quickly as of now. Most of the crews are onsite no later than 7:00am and don't get off site until after 6:30pm each day. Some of them are working until the sun is gone and others are actually using lights and working late...sometimes until 10 & 11pm! But it is paying off...I might actually get off this site by January if they keep up this pace!!  LOL  But it is looking like I will be here until probably February.



 
Think I'll make a little lunch and then settle in for another nap!  It does take some time to get used to working all night and sleeping during the day...but I'm getting there. And now with it being a little cooler during the day, it is easier to sleep some in the afternoons. I have to figure out what I'm going to do about the air conditioner...probably just hang in with the little portable one for the rest of this season. I'm hoping that when I replace the roof unit it will not pull too much so I will still be able to work off a 20amp electric service. Have to do a little research on the load that the new ones pull....that could decide for me which make I have installed. :-)