Welcome back to Lesley and Kent Evans!! Kent is a dedicated member of the Urban Miners here at Palm Creek. The Urban Miners are the devoted men that take care of our aluminum recycling so they can benefit others with their cash rewards. Since Kent and Lesley are permanent residents here, Lesley gets recruited while the others are absent. They have been away for the last few weeks and the moment I saw their golf cart going down the street this morning, I knew where I would find them.
Oh...why not? One more photo op for the barrel cactus. This one is quite colorful and I like the zipper-looking cactus in the background.
Remember when I posted this photo of Eddie spraying for bees??
Here is the aftermath! Wow! These bees were firmly entrenched in that sprinkler box. Woe be to the innocent person who lifted that lid without knowing what was in there! Sorry to lose the bees but happy that we're safe from stings in this busy traffic area.
Construction looked pretty quiet when Don and I drove over there Friday morning so I didn't take any photos at that time...........but, that afternoon Jim called and I eagerly tagged along for another tour. The reason things seemed quiet is because the construction crews opted to work four 10 hour days and take an extra day home out of the heat. Sounds like a good idea as I'm sure they need time to recover.
All the sewer work should be completed by this Monday! Here is a photo of the completed sewer connections for the new home sites. (Remember...green pipe means sewer)
This area is marked off with green paint to show where the trash dumpsters will be located. A nice protective wall will block off the area.
Just to the left of that is where recycling bins will be located.
Here is a close up of the retaining wall around the sunken courts. I'm a real rookie at construction projects as I didn't realize a retaining wall like this gets poured full of concrete right into those bricks.
Up toward the north gate, we found Antonio working on the irrigation line to Cottonwood.
Purple pipe....non-potable water. (gray water)
Always a friendly smile from our staff members!
And of course......here's Faustino with shovel in hand!!
I learned more about sewer access again. The rings of concrete you see here are like adjustable collars. You can add as many as you want to adjust the height of the cover.
This is the future street.
When this gets filled in with dirt, the sewer access will be buried and paved over with the asphalt. These surveyor markers (green flags for sewer) and 'hyroglyphics' will be vital in marking the exact location. Two markers are put in position. When the street is paved, they will measure a 15ft arc from each marker to determine the exact location of the manhole. Then they drill through the asphalt and adjust the height of the collars to bring them to street level. Ta Da!! You now have the typical manhole cover you see on every street. Ha!! Whoever would'a thunk about all that science and math stuff! I learn so much every time we go out there. I never even thought about this process before so I find it fascinating!
The curly green wire coming up from underground serves a vital purpose in locating a sewer line. They can attach some kind of electrical device to the end and then follow the exact line of the sewer pipe as it travels underground.
Our next stop was over by the main trash and recycling area (near the maintenance buildings). The dumpsters are temporarily moved away so this area can be leveled and prepped for concrete. This will be all concrete soon and then the dumpsters will be placed back against the wall allowing a lot more room in the area.
We will take the tires and axles off this black truck trailer and place it at the far west end to be used for storage for props and special events. Great idea and very cost effective!
Okay...it is now three big cups of coffee later as I finish this post for the weekend. I get Sunday off! (unless, of course, something really exciting happens :))
Keep those emails coming my way. I like to forward some to Jim Dawson so he knows how much we appreciate his time in trying to educate me and make these pictures possible!
Email: sue77hepler@yahoo.com
