December 18, 2006 Monday

The last of the footings were poured last Friday. The hole for the elevator shaft was the last part of this stage. This is a significant accomplishment because once the footings were in place winter weather will not stop construction. It is just a matter of whether it gets to bitter for the workers to endure and work effectively. We are still hoping and praying that the winter continues on the mild side.

This week the work will shift to the construction of the basement walls. First up will be be the north wall of the basement. Early in the week the construction of the steel rebar reinforcement will be the focus. Once that is accomplished a crane will be used to put the forms in place for pouring the wall. That will be a great site to see.

When will the basement floor be poured? That is dependant on the weather. If it gets to cold the prefabricated 1st floor may be sent in place atop the basement walls and used to hold in some warmth. The basement floor could then be poured using motorized wheel barrow type devises to tote the cement back into the far reaches of the basement.

Construction of the new corral (See October 25th log entry) has progressed this past month. The horse barn is close to completion. A few more roofing panels were being added this past Saturday and then the sliding doors will need to be put in place. One nice feature of the barn is that the roof has alternating translucent panels to provide light to the interior. Eventually posts and fencing will be constructed. The "Bright Red" barn is visible from Mount Michael Road but please be careful not to drive into a ditch if you look for it!

December 2, 2006 Saturday

Now that the excavation has been completed work has moved on in new ways. The first task was accomplished the day before Thanksgiving. When a giant auger was used to bore a cylindrical hole where the piston will go for the elevator. A large metal tube (looked much like a steel culvert) was lowered into the hole and sand filled in around it. A temporary steel plate was fastened for safety purposes until it is needed later in the construction process. After Thanksgiving conduit was run for a new power line that will go to the addition and conduit was put in for the phone lines that will be installed. In the process the current phone line was cut not once but twice and the irrigation at the cemetery was cut through also! Workmen worked well into the dark to repair the damaged lines. Most of the lines were repaired by mid evening although the priory building continued to have phone problems for several days.

Another project has been the creation of a new south exit from the Abbey. The former south exit now has a 20 foot drop off and will be an internal entry into the new wings main level. The workers attempt to cut, chip, and chisel their way through have been somewhat amusing. The original Abbey building appears to have been built to stand up to a category 5 tornado and outlast the the Pyramids of Giza. Lots of concrete and rebar as Brother's Mel and Luke can attest to from their novitiate days when they used jack hammers and sledge hammers to remove the top 4 ft from the abbey's flat roof to make it a pitched roof. (Yes there was a time when Bro. Luke could comfortably wield a sledge hammer!)

Friday December 1st was a very big day! The first concrete footings were poured. The northern and eastern footings are now complete. Next week will be the southern and western footings. The outline for the first footings had been evident for almost two weeks. This next week we will be able to see the first real life outline of the complete structure when they paint the outline on Monday. Luckily we missed Friday's blizzard that Kansas City received. It was cold and clear here so construction continues!