November 17th Friday

Late Thursday the excavation was completed. We now have a very nice hole in the ground. The Excavators spent the week back filling and packing the soil for our foundation. It was really a very fasinating process. A water truck was brought in to make a nice packable mix. There were many miles logged on the machines in the process. Back and forth, back and forth all day long! . At times there was actually a lot of traffic in the hole. The next step should be surveying and preliminaries for making footings & foundation work.

November 9th Thursday

Last Saturday a crew spent the day installing a new gas line that circumvents the construction site. On Monday morning the switch between the old and new lines was made. Late Monday afternoon Fucinaro Excavation removed the old line and began excavation of the basement.

According to MECCO's job site foreman Dale, the dirt work will take about six to eight days . The dirt that is removed will be relocated to the old corral & the gully at the end of Mount Michael Road were it will be used as fill and be leveled

The excavators will have to over excavate and then bring in backfill and compact it as they go. This will take time! Large mountains of dirt are being set aside for backfill purposes. Water is being used to dampen this soil so that it will compact better. After the work is completed they will have a soil sample taken to insure our base is good and compact. Our soil is what they call "sugar loam" which is very powdery when dry and not very good for compacting. If they can't get it to compact sufficiently we will have the expense of having to haul in truck loads of dirt for this purpose. The first day of excavation so much water was being used that our water pressure dropped to low. It was affecting the entire campus. So water use by the excavator has to be limited somewhat. We are hoping for rain on Friday! Usually you don't want rain for construction work but in this case it would be a good thing.

When excavation is completed MECCO will then start with footings, plumbing, electrical and phone line rough-ins

Last night Omaha weather forecaster "Jim Flowers" gave his winter forecast which calls for above normal precipitation and below normal temperatures for December & March. January & February might have above normal temperatures but overall the winter should be above normal for precipitation. Not what we wanted to hear!

I took some nice video of the excavating. Some of the footage & photos were taken from "above" through the hallway window outside Bro. Francis' room. This window will eventually become a doorway to the new wing. Check out the Video & Photos link this week!

October 31st Tuesday

The Corral is gone and the new water line is set. They started some excavating on Monday but everything has come to a halt. We are waiting on the gas company to come out and move the gas line. It runs right through the middle of the new addition.

The excavating company has just scraped the surface but can't go any deeper unless they wish to run the risk of hitting the gas line (an explosive proposition). The problem is that the gas company doesn't consider it a priority because it is not their gas line. So who does it belong to? It is owned by Mount Michael! Back when Mount Michael was started " Out in the Boonies" of western Douglas County, The only way the school and abbey could get gas for heating & cooking was if we built our own connecting line to the gas company's line south of Maple street between Elkhorn and Waterloo. We have since had several neighbors between us and junction, piggy back on to our gas line otherwise I suppose they would be without. Despite the slow down the initial digging has given us a sense of the location of the outer walls and a clear picture of the additions dimensions which are marked out by stakes with pink tags. (see slide show)

The rumor is that maybe Monday the gas company will be out but I guess "technically" they are booked into January. Sounds like a time for some "Divine Intervention".

October 25th Wednesday

Activity has really picked up the last 7 days. Friday the waterline was tapped and valves put in. The water passed inspection over the weekend so there was limited disruption to the Abbey & School. . Monday there was allot of survey work done and then on Tuesday much of the new wings waterline was connected to the junction that was installed last Friday.

Today Fucinaro Excavating Company began the demolition of the Corral. The Corral? Yes! When excavation of the new wing begins the large amount of dirt generated will be used to fill in gullies at the end of Mount Michael Road and rebuild the bluff where the corral was located.

Next summer Camp St. John's trial rides will enjoy new facilities. The construction of a new corral will begin in two weeks. It will be located beyond the baseball diamond.

Still on tap for this week is more utility work. The gas line will be moved to a parallel route alongside the new water pipes. The phone lines (which have been cut to the Michaeleen) will be relocated and run around the back of the Abbey.

October 18th Wednesday

This past week has seen the arrival of the project supervisor. A headquarters trailer is in place along with a large metal equipment container. The phone company & gas companies have come out and placed yellow & orange flags to mark where their utilities are buried.

Yesterday safety fences were put around several trees and allot of surveying was going on. This Friday water will be be cut off for the entire campus as they prepare to put in some valves on the water line so that water going to the Abbey can be separated from the school's mainline.