Updating the Ongoing

First, thanks to Sr. M. Judith Averbeck for the last five entries. She has carried you through the biggest developments of the last two weeks. In brief, what has happened since her last entry: more earth has been moved from the hill in front of the school building, creating terraces that if sodded would look quite lovely. The dirt, of course has gon e to the soccer field site. The photo shows the soccer field site pretty much at the current level.
On the theater site work has begun on the passageway that will connect the ground floor of the present building to the new theater. Since that will have no basement, this passageway will consist of a stairwell. The men began pouring the concrete for that connector last week (photo). The trench for the sewer pipe has been inching toward the corner of the parking lot for the last several days and finally broke asphalt (chunks can be seen in one photo) at the end of last week.
A farewell was bade to the compactor at the end of the week. Its work on this site is temporarily not needed, but it will return. Hopefully, all the pictures at the left will help to concretize the verbal descriptions. This blogger forgot a major adjustment that has to be made to the picture transfers, so apologies are in order for those not able to pull up the photos during most of June.

Two Down – ? to Go

Even though it is Saturday, lots of work is being done today. The grading of the hill in front of St. Joseph Heights has been completed, leaving a gentle slope at the bottom of which the sidewalk along the Dixie will be laid. The "pad" of dirt (surprisingly high) on which the new theater will be constructed is likewise finished. Who knows what will be next?
Your two friendly bloggers will both be on retreat for the coming days. The blog will resume when Sr. Dolores returns.

New Surfaces

We begin to see that filling the former gully that is becoming sports field is not a simple task. True, the part closest to NDA is now a flat, compact surface. But the area between this lowest layer of dirt and the Heights building is now a nicely terraced landscape. One of these terraces serves as temporary road connecting to the site of sidewalk construction on Dixie Highway. It runs along the back yards of St. Joseph Lane residents and sees lots of heavy equipment traffic daily. We can only guess at what purposes the other terraces serve.

Day of Dirt and Dust

Today was a day of putting dirt into trucks, dumping dirt out of trucks, digging dirt out of trenches, pouring dirt into trenches. All of this taking place in self-generated clouds of dust. Lots of activity (that went on until 7:00 PM to make up for time lost due to rain). Thank God windows could be closed (due to wonderful cool temperatures). Only the outside structures and the carpet inside the main school doors sport a lovely thick coat of dust.

Layer Upon Layer

Who knew what lay under all that green grass, asphalt and brick? Now that digging is seriously deep, it becomes apparent that NDA is built on rock. And not just any rock. Nice, sedimentary, fossil-laden rock. Not really a surprise for this part of the country. Above the rock is rather impressive red clay, and above that, of course, a darker layer of topsoil.

Pipes Of All Types

Water management is evidently a major concern during this construction. Pipes of all colors and sizes keep appearing at various places. Deep trenches are being dug all over the place. A heavy metal frame is lowered into the trench to support the walls and then a length of pipe is laid at the bottom. A storm has just blown up, suspending pipe-laying and all other activities.

Ditches, Dust and the Dixie

The Dixie first: today they have cleared away the heap of dirt in one area so that one can stand on the Heights drive in front of the building and actually see Dixie Highway beyond that excavated secion! It's still there, traffic and all. On the upper level of the soccer field site, the operator using the excavator is hitting shale, and so you can see the clay dust rising from the trench. Behind the school, an excavator is digging two holes right up against the building. the hole that is being dug in the photo must be about 12 to 15 ft. deep by now. It is in front of the doors that lead ultimately to Heritage Hall. This is the connection site for the theater. Things really do progress, slowly but surely. The theater site at the moment is seeing the drama of construction unfold. How exciting!

Ditches, Drainage, and Dirt

Early in the day the lake disappears as the men create a channel to allow runoff so they can continue the trench across the upper level. A river runs through it! In the picture above that shows the narrowing of the difference in the two levels, you can see the run-off on the left side of the lower level. It looks like a ribbon. The upper trench advances again today, and the protecting steel frame is used since the trench is quite narrow. The relatively narrow blue pipes are still being placed while the larger silver ones (are they just sheaths?) sit by waiting their turn. In the front of the Heights the excavation reaches to street level for the first time. Things are looking up (or is it down?). Don't forget to click on the pictures to enlarge them; then use the arrow at the upper left to return to the blog.

Dig And Dump

Things are moving right along, seemingly in the right direction. A three pronged trench that was dug last week near the gym is filled. We presume that something was laid in the trench before this happened. The Heights front is graded more, getting closer to the slope needed from the sidewalk site. On the southern end of the Heights property and somewhat onto it, a new trench is dug in order to connect to a sewer line there (again we presume). The lower level of the soon to be soccer field continues to be filled with dirt from the Heights front and is obviously getting shallower. You can see the contrast between the dried dirt and the new that is being spread on it.
Since blogger #1 will be out of town for a few weeks, blogger #2 has graciously agreed to fill in (after quite a tussle). She is an good photographer (good eye) and writer, so reader (if there is one) can rest assusred that the blog is in good hands.

And The Rains Came...

Photo Phun in Panda Park: Match the pictures above with the captions.

Caption #1 Welcome to Panda Lake with Pyramids. Swimming allowed only on weekends...at your own risk.

Caption #2 Panda Paws with Gravel Claws. Approach at your own risk.

Caption #3 Panda Cliff Creek. No fishing (except, of course, at your own risk).

Caption #4 End of Gravel Path in Panda Park. We hope you enjoyed a risk free holiday with us. Exit through Muddy Parking Lot only...at your own risk.

Rumbling And Digging Along

The Heights' front hill is definitely being redefined as can be seen in one of the photos. So lots of action in that field with excavator loading truck #1; this truck moves on to make way for truck #2 which gets filled and moves on to make room for truck #1, and so on--most of the day. In the meantime, in back of the school a trench is dug right up against the building for the placement of the footers. That hole is filled again before the end of the day. The second compactor is busy on the hill above the gym, while on the upper level of the soccer site, the excavator with the bucket and the one with the sheep foot roller are busy in the pipe trench. In one photo above can be seen the protecting steel frame lying out of the trench on its side, apparently not needed today. The trench will take a few more days of digging to extend to the area of the drain off coming from under the parking lot. The next trench, or a continuation of the one currently being dug, will cross the parking lot in the direction of the detention pond already in existence on the other side of the school. Eventually water will be carried by the pipes in both directions-- north to the retention pond below the cemetery, and south to the detention pond.
With no significant rain for several days, all this rumbling and digging is raising dust, dust, dust. But when it clears, one can see the new banner hung on the side of the gym to engage us all in the project.