Re: Deck repair muddin
Posted by Zonie on August 07, 2023 at 01:59:38
In Reply to: Deck repair muddin posted by FunMudder on July 15, 2023 at 18:02:19:
Having been a furnace operator since 2008, I don't get muddy at work these days, but when I had other jobs I sometimes had that privilege. In February of 2007 I was working as a grade checker for Valley Rain Construction, a landscaping and irrigation systems company in northern Tempe. Their main specialty was building city parks. They had built most of Cesar Chavez Park in southwestern Phoenix before I joined the crew, but they were called back for come corrective work. Apparently they were supposed to build a fence with concrete footers by some entry road, and they had forgotten to do it. I was assigned the crew to excavate the holes for pouring the concrete.
There were three of us--the foreman, the excavator operator and I, the grade checker. The holes were dug the first day, and we were getting ready to check the grades when it began to rain. After lunch the rain was a bit more intense, and the foreman said we had to quit for the day as if we continued the excavator might track mud on the road and give us a dust violation fine.
The next day was bright and sunny, and I returned, but the holes had become mud holes. The foreman thought we had come there for nothing. Well in those days wages were low and gasoline was expensive, and I didn't want to have driven across the metro area for nothing. I told the foreman, "Look, it's a bright sunny day, and by afternoon the ground will have dried enough for the excavator to work. In the mean time, you could set up the laser theodolyte, I can get in the holes and hold the grade pole, and you can take readings. That will take us until lunch."
He said he'd have to clear it with the project manager. I said, "Fine, ask Mr. Rogers if it's a wonderful day in this neighborhood." For some reason he always got nervous when I referred to the project manager as Mr. Rogers, even though that was clearly his name. He called and got clearance.
I had just about the most fun I have ever had at work. I would jump down in the mud holes and sit down in the mud, relaxing with my backside in the cool, creamy mud as I held the grade pole for him to take readings. I went from mud hole to mud hole doing this until lunch.
The foreman was impressed. He said, "You got right down in that mud! But how are you going to clean up?"
I said, "I'll do laundry tonight."
He asked, "But what about your car?"
I said, "it's old. A little mud won't hurt anything."
After lunch the ground was dry enough for the heavy equipment, and we got in a full day's work.