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| Somebody forgot to tell the snake that this red-tailed hawk is gnawing on that it is mid-December in northern Ohio! |
Another busy week both at the marsh and at the desk this last week. In addition to the ongoing efforts at what will be the new West Pump site, we are readying two more permit applications with the US Army Corps of Engineers (more on those later), making headway with the USDA on the conservation easement on our East Marsh, and are prepping for some significant developments with how we present ourselves online (again, more on this to come soon, but for all our faithful followers of this journal, the blog isn't going anywhere). These are the highlights among a whole smattering of other day-to-day priorities. Suffice it to say December is FLYING BY!
On the project front, Jason and crew have been concentrating on (1) bringing the surrounding soils up to grade, and (2) prepping the channel crossing for a concrete pour -- a milestone that is supposed to begin in just a few short hours! Photos do better than my words, so here are some recent pics:
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| Moving dirt (and finally some clean rock!) while Jason preps the wooden form that will receive the concrete that will ultimately make up the channel crossing |
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| The end of a day's work; the form is more or less complete |
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| Wiring a complex grid of rebar that will serve as reinforcement for the crossing concrete; this bugger isn't going anywhere |
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| Finishing touches last evening; final prep is going on now and the mixer truck is supposed to arrive a little before noon today |
Today's efforts are significant in that the completion of this crossing signifies "substantial completion" (a contractual term) for the project. Our contractor committed to reaching this milestone by the end of the calendar year with the contingency that they could use early next year, if needed, to finish everything up. With 2+ (albeit crazy) weeks before the New Year, they "show no sign of stopping" . . . to borrow from one of my favorite Christmas carols. So I say, press on! Once we get this work completed, we can "let it snow, let it snow, let it snow" . . . at least until we are permitted to start our next improvement project -- which we hope could happen as early as January of February!
In the meantime, I gotta get myself on the road so I can go watch for a mixer truck.