Concrete, Niches, Flags and Helpers

Just because it's early doesn't mean work isn't happening at the site.

Mr. Concrete Pump poured a wall on the south end this morning.

He visited the site on Tuesday and tried to make sense of the two Bermuda Triangle areas.

This morning the forms came off these two stairwells.

A red ladder was finally able to escape.

Work on the brick, as you might expect, is quite noisy.  The jamb on the right is original to the tabernacle.

I looked for another niche and found two.  This one is on the north face of the northeast tower.

This niche on the northwest tower, like the other two, is a veneer of quartzitic sandstone, replacing the original plaster niches.  Charles Eastlake would strongly approve of these beautiful niches, as he was not a fan of plaster.  He actually went so far as to say, "In an evil hour stucco was invented."

I cannot imagine what he would have said about styrofoam.

Evil or good, it's spreading nicely around the planters on the north lot.

One planter on the west side now has forms.

The cranes were busy this morning, moving rebar for more concrete on the south garage floor.

Forms for hot water tubing on the eaves are being prepared for the southeast tower roof.

The orange template has already marked the tubing on the southwest tower roof.

For an early hour, there was a lot of action downtown.  Preparations are underway for 4th of July celebrations, including a parade tomorrow.

I saw red, white and blue everywhere!

Even better, when I got home, I found a visiting helper awake.