Hello,
.
One more of the catch up attempts. This one chronicles the end of the excavation/filling/smashing/compacting cycle…for now.
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It begins, not surprisingly, with the rental of the compactor.
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They were expecting me. When I got there, the machine was already wheeled out and getting the front roller brace welded back on.
![A close up view of these \"safety first\" connections on the welder is worth it.](https://rrop.org/wp-content/uploads/photoscompressor/img_0567.jpg "A close up view of these \\"safety first\\" connections on the welder is worth it.")
A close up view of these \"safety first\" connections on the welder is worth it.
![And here is the approved safety mask in use. The only problem was that they weren\'t fixing it for me. Between the time I had secured it by phone, 8:00am and when I arrived as promised an hour later, the manager had rented it to someone else and then split, leaving his unsuspecting assistant in the hornets\' nest. I called his mobile phone. No answer. Then I heard her talking to him. I got the phone. He hung up. Wouldn\'t answer anybody\'s calls after that. It was of course the last compactor and I was of course dying to compact him. I had twenty guys waiting for this thing. If you know of anything more frustrating in an impotent feeling sort of way than hollering into a hung up phone, drop me a line. I\'d be anxious to hear. The only collateral damage was the poor guy who thought maybe he could insinuate himself into the situation as a problem solver and addressed me with a saccharine \"Jambo!\" It\'s a sucker greeting. Strictly for tourists. Kenyan\'s don\'t use it in real life. Too bad he couldn\'t hang up his phone and not hear me.](https://rrop.org/wp-content/uploads/photoscompressor/img_0570.jpg "And here is the approved safety mask in use. The only problem was that they weren\'t fixing it for me. Between the time I had secured it by phone, 8:00am and when I arrived as promised an hour later, the manager had rented it to someone else and then split, leaving his unsuspecting assistant in the hornets\' nest. I called his mobile phone. No answer. Then I heard her talking to him. I got the phone. He hung up. Wouldn\'t answer anybody\'s calls after that. It was of course the last compactor and I was of course dying to compact him. I had twenty guys waiting for this thing. If you know of anything more frustrating in an impotent feeling sort of way than hollering into a hung up phone, drop me a line. I\'d be anxious to hear. The only collateral damage was the poor guy who thought maybe he could insinuate himself into the situation as a problem solver and addressed me with a saccharine \\"Jambo!\\" It\'s a sucker greeting. Strictly for tourists. Kenyan\'s don\'t use it in real life. Too bad he couldn\'t hang up his phone and not hear me.")
And here is the approved safety mask in use.
The only problem was that they weren\'t fixing it for me. Between the time I had secured it by phone, 8:00am and when I arrived as promised an hour later, the manager had rented it to someone else and then split, leaving his unsuspecting assistant in the hornets\' nest. I called his mobile phone. No answer. Then I heard her talking to him. I got the phone. He hung up. Wouldn\'t answer anybody\'s calls after that. It was of course the last compactor and I was of course dying to compact him. I had twenty guys waiting for this thing. If you know of anything more frustrating in an impotent feeling sort of way than hollering into a hung up phone, drop me a line. I\'d be anxious to hear. The only collateral damage was the poor guy who thought maybe he could insinuate himself into the situation as a problem solver and addressed me with a saccharine \"Jambo!\" It\'s a sucker greeting. Strictly for tourists. Kenyan\'s don\'t use it in real life. Too bad he couldn\'t hang up his phone and not hear me.
You know by now that sometimes I get mad here. This was a high/low water mark. I\'d prefer a little more Mother Theresa and a little less Oscar the Grouch in my approach at times, and I\'m working on it. But I\'m going for accuracy in recounting. Anyway, the seizure went about as quickly as it came, and as far as I know, no one was hurt in the filming. I found this also ran a little later and it ran as bad as it looked, but it was heavy.
Th masons had been busy laying the screed, the mortar base for the stones.
And then the Franken-compactor showed up.
And scaled the first ramp/bridge,
and started smashing stuff. The operator, David, broke a casing on the motor and we couldn\'t turn the machine off after that, even though there were often long periods between its work, and it spewed oil like the Clampett\'s well.
Meantime, the guys finished the last hard core layer on the other side.
The smasher wasn\'t without iconic beauty.
After the hard core was pounded, the guys added the murram on the layer and the compacting began again.
The wind was blowing,
and the dust was sticking.
Benson was keeping Lake Gilbert filled.
And the three adjacent areas, now beaches, in our minds, were named for their geography. For you City folk, this is North Beach.
Floridians will recognize South Beach here.
And our favorite Italian spot, Sunova Beach.
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Let’s have lunch,
.
David
Comments(2)-
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Linda says
October 18, 2008 at 2:55 pmyou write so well, Oscar, and anyone would react that way!! Even Mother Theresa I imagine.
🙂
David says
October 19, 2008 at 1:09 amLinda,
For me it goes in streaks. At the end of a long stretch here like this one, I can be like a full tea cup, anything added causes overflow. Your prayers help, I’m sure.
David