Faster, Faster!

I took my husband to the site today.  He thought it was fun to see the piers exposed.  It looks as though the building has been raised, when in fact the dirt has been excavated.  Here on the east side a track hoe can be seen working inside. 

The piers aren't crooked, but this was the best shot I could get wrangling my camera around the fence.  Notice the trench inside the building.  This is larger than it looks and is the entrance the machines use to get inside.

The track hoes are constantly moving and digging.  It won't be long before all the piers are exposed.

This is the southeast corner which was being exposed yesterday.  Notice another machine inside.

This view from the southeast corner shows the south face.  Notice the entrance trench just to the left of the center in this photo.  Yesterday this tower foundation was being uncovered.

This is the north face.  The machine on the left was reinforcing the retaining wall.  We happened to run into someone "in the know" who told us the piers extend down at least 38 feet, making a two-story basement possible.  He told us the north lot is being excavated so it can be used as an extension of the temple basement.

This is the machine reinforcing the retaining wall.  Our new friend said these walls would remain outside the exterior foundation walls of the basement extension, walls which haven't been poured yet.  He seemed to know what he was talking about even though he is not involved with the temple construction.  He told us how he knew stuff, though, so we believed him, but I wouldn't want to get him in trouble.

The foundation of the northeast tower was being exposed today.  My husband was willing to watch my favorite Star Wars machine as long as I was.  The picture makes his work look forceful, but he was actually quite delicate, considering he was working with cement and stone.

This track hoe in the north lot is amazing to watch.  So are the dump truck drivers.  The driver of this tandem vehicle backed onto the lot from the south, past the west side, and down into the north lot.  After Mr. Track Hoe loaded him up, he drove out nose first, but he was immediately replaced by another driver backing his tandem trailers in.  We watched a series of these while we were there, but there was so much going on we didn't count.

I watched Mr. Track Hoe work on these slabs yesterday.  I believe they came from the surface, not from some recently uncovered construction from years past.  I asked my husband what he thought these slabs were.  He believes they could simply be the frozen top soil which has been packed down over the years.  That theory fit because we again watched the clumps get dropped from the bucket of the track hoe, and they broke up easily.

Out of nowhere this vehicle pulled up next to Mr. Track Hoe.  My husband knew what was going on.  This is a portable filling station which also services each vehicle on the site to keep them in optimum running condition. 

This is the south face.  In the far right of this picture, between the track hoe and the pile of dirt, you can see the trench which the little machines use to enter the building.

I zoomed in from a different location to get a better view of the entrance trench.  

This is the south trench from the east.  The entrance trench is on the right.

This is the south trench from the west.  Notice the end of the pipe which was once part of yesterday's pipe running under First South.  Utility conduits can been seen in the far right of this photo.