Pouring the Ballroom Floor

The first cement truck arrived promptly at 2:00 a.m. and the crew was ready and waiting for it.  All this plastic sheeting is a moisture barrier to prevent any moisture seeping up through the sub layer and getting near the wooden floor in the future.

I was glad to be there early so I could watch that Star Wars machine unfold its huge long arm and reach across the site for the initial pour.

It was quite impressive to see such a huge crew there.  At one point I counted 36 people and that doesn't include the truck drivers nor the people back at the cement company that were preparing the trucks.

By now I'm familiar with this pouring operation as we watched the same crew do all of our pickleball courts.  Cement comes flowing from the truck, dumped into the Star Wars machine (I'm sure it has a more technical name), and down that black tube chute.  One man steers that chute by hand while another wears a control box that moves the entire arm.  

Then the rest of the crew springs into action and each has his own responsibility to get the proper depth of the concrete.  Final step is smoothing the surface.

I watched through two cups of coffee I had with me and then came home to recharge my phone while I downloaded some video.  I'll put Don to work editing it later.

Security told me they were receiving complaints from several of our residents about the noise.  Sorry folks, but this pouring has to be done at night when the temperature is cooler.  It was a nice cool 86 degrees at 2:00 a.m.  

Always measuring depth and making sure forms are level.

Back-breaking work!

Time is 4:15.  A few minutes break waiting for the next truck.

Now we start on the kitchen.

Truckload after truckload.  Between 14-17 loads.

Don and I went home around 4:30.

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Ballroom & Sewing Room

When we saw the ballroom this morning, I thought we had missed the concrete pour but since then we learned that this is a plastic barrier that stops moisture from coming up through the subgrade and possibly getting into the wood flooring.  The big concrete pour starts at 2:00 a.m. Friday.  I think I'll take a big nap this afternoon!

Say hello to that BIG new kitchen area.

Here's some BIG news for the hundreds of sewing and quilting residents!  They're starting the hole for the sewing room.

Will keep an eye on the progress.

We had Just Plumbing stop in yesterday to replace the filters in our reverse osmosis system, replace the filter in our salt free water softener and flush our two-year-old water heaters.  This white stuff in the street is what was in the water heaters.  Yuck!  Hard to believe we get that much junk in just two years.  How long has it been since you had your water heaters flushed?

By the way..............Just Plumbing is one of the loyal Palm Creek sponsors and we highly recommend their service.  If you decide to use their service, please mention our name because I understand there is a referral program.  I'll take all the credit I can from the work on this blog.  LOL

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Some days Mouse is not patient and wants to play immediately.

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Here's a couple cute cartoons you may want to send to a friend in the hospital or who has been to the doctor's office.  

Ballroom & doggie park

Don happened past as I was diligently working at my computer.  Mouse sits quite patiently waiting for play time.

The little dog park at the north end of the park has been cleared out.  Rumor has it that they'll be installing new sod.

The ballroom floor is all filled in and compacted.  Concrete gets poured this Friday.  They're expecting about 14 truckloads about 4:00 a.m.  (Groan)  Yes, I'll be there for photos.  (yawn)

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Two short videos

Don sent up the drone this morning to check on progress.  Still lots of ground work to do before we actually see any true building.  

Looks like they're smoothing out and compacting the dirt by the ballroom.  Lots and lots of underground cables and pipes have been installed.

More miles of sewer pipe is going in at the north 40.  

Weather is still triple digits daily.  No major storms have passed through Casa Grande but Phoenix and cities north of us have had quite a few with flash floods as  a result.  

All is well.

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Mouse is in training.  We allow him to climb up on chairs but NOT on the kitchen table or counters.  It's hilarious to watch him test the boundaries......especially when Don sat down to savor a bit of leftover steak.  

I never realized how much fun it would be to have a little kitten around again.

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Sky & Flowers

Everyone remarked about our picturesque sky yesterday!  Luckily, Suzette Taylor captured some of the   gorgeous clouds.  

Collage by Suzette Taylor

Made a quick stop for a flower picture this morning.

See the little bee at the bottom of the petal?  

Many more buds so there should be flowers all week.

Don is sooooo patient.....sometimes.  LOL

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Just a baby storm here

Just watched the 10:00 pm news from Phoenix and thought I'd better write to let everyone know that the storm did not hit us like it did the upper valley.  We had some wind and a little rain but nothing serious.  Phoenix was hit hard and is still without power.  

Radar looked serious but the storm sort of broke up and and blew past us.

We went to the Big House for breakfast this morning and met this HUGE green beetle flying around.  He was about the size of a man's thumb!  I have no idea what his name is .... just big bug.

He was quite colorful under that green shell but its hard to see in the photos.

The new electric transformer has now been installed so the buildings are back in power again.

We'll get some good drone footage tomorrow.

Bistro footings

The weather reporters and/or newscasters obviously scour the internet when they're looking for research on news items.  I received this message from someone who visited our video of a recent dust storm in Casa Grande.

The same thing happened back in 2013 when a crew from Channel 3 actually came down for a personal interview.

They're digging the holes and getting the rebar ready for footings at the new Bistro area.

Just more piles of dirt and big holes at the north 40.  

There's lots of underground work being done all over for footings and pipes but it doesn't make for very interesting photos.  I keep posting though so stay tuned.

Look at the sky in the above picture.  This is so typical of monsoon season.  Storms are very localized and unpredictable.

It's always fun to watch the quail.  I hope Dean and Laurel see this photo taken on their patio this morning.

Thank you to Cher and Paul Ragains for a special present for Mouse.  He likes it!

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