Action Everywhere!

I was delighted to find a new place to watch the action today.  This photo was taken from the top of the new Nu Skin garage.

The west lot was organized chaos.

I watched two track hoes work together to carry a heavy I-beam.  I guess they got tired, because they tucked it in and left it for the night not far from where it is in this picture.  

This is a view of the west lot from University Avenue.  (The Nu Skin garage in the background is still a work in progress, but very accessible.)  Notice the pile of gravel on the left side of the picture.

The pile of gravel can be seen from this view, too.  I think there is a plan for this gravel.

This is a view of the north lot from the construction cam early this afternoon.  Notice the two pools of water in the upper north lot.  I learned from the articles from the press release last week that this water is coming from the water table.  Work has been going on here for months.  It's hard to imagine that Provo, situated very nicely in the middle of a desert, has a water table, but remember that northern Utah is at the bottom of what was once the ancient Lake Bonneville.

By the time I arrived at the site, one of the pools (on left) had been covered with gravel, presumably from the west lot stash.  

Since last week, a black liner has been placed along the base of the retaining wall in this lot, and a black pipe is on top of that.  

The machines worked all afternoon and eventually filled in the second upper pool with gravel.  This picture from the construction cam was captured at 6:30 pm.  If you look carefully, you can see shadows heading toward the upper left corner of this picture.  The rods casting the shadows remind me of the micropiles in the basement.  I'm guessing that there is plenty of underground work involved to handle the water table.  Don't ask me about the pool at the northeast tower, because I don't know.

You might be interested in knowing that a new contractor is on site.  Let's hope he knows his stuff!

I caught the elegant crane in action before he finished for the day.  

I tried to see what he was putting in the basement, but instead I captured a new view of the sunken living room.  You have to look closely, but you can see some of the metal rods are taller than others.  Actually, they are the same height, but some are in a pit.  I'm hoping no one is bothered by the water.

The men worked away.  I'm watching in hopes of catching the next stage of the slab construction. 

I did step back to take one more picture of the crane.

News articles from last week mentioned sensors on the exterior of the tabernacle.  These are used to measure any motion, because, well, the building is on stilts!

Once I knew about them, they were easy to see.  I scrolled back through my pictures and found them in place as early as November.  I'm feeling just a little sheepish that I hadn't seen these before.  I presume if the tabernacle starts to tilt, someone will know just where to push to steady it.

I also followed up on the work at the base of the west wall.  They seem to have done a very nice job covering the chicken wire.  I will venture a guess that this is a patch. 

News articles from last week said that three of these corner tower caps were in pretty good shape.  Original interior framework will remain in place.  I'm trying to find someone to bribe who might let me look inside.  I'm wondering if cookies will be sufficient.  Notice a red ladder hiding from me.

I watched what I thought were two pile drivers working along the east side in the south lot via the construction cam this morning.  Retaining walls along the new I-beams were put up pretty quickly.

By the time I arrived, though, just one machine was working, and he seemed to be drilling up a large pile of mud.  This area will eventually be underground parking, so I'm thinking getting mud out of the garage is a good thing.

Trucks barreled in and out.  

Slowly but surely they are removing any extraneous dirt from the west and south lots. 

I realized that the tabernacle is being very patient.  Maybe he's even enjoying the attention.