Six weeks in the life of....

Its been quite a summer so far! We have already spent many weekends with family and friends.

We open our house at least every other weekend to anyone who wants to come play.



Those sweet times are almost enough to get me through the changes at mah day job. Day job has been very unpredictable due to strange forces. Some one must have heard my screams of boredom and placed me on a project merry go round. The ride has been bumpy but have finally settled out (I hope) on a long term project. For several months prior I have been flexible  bounced around by a very engaged micromanaging administrator. That's cool, though. It gave me chance to show off my skillz.
I took this opportunity to document the changing conditions of a construction inspector. Do not run so fast to get that cheese for my whine, I am more than aware that the ACTUAL construction crew performs the work, but I must be aware of their actions,  predict their next move and reason with them when I think they are wrong. All of them, across multiple projects, from day to day.
So I'm minding my own business on this little state route widening project, placing some pipe and moving right along. That means we are developing a relationship of trust and information exchange. Suddenly I am called away.
The first surprise was a nice little overlay project.

These are good to practice not getting run over.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y82hvq-Axxw&feature=player_detailpage


Next I was sent to monitor some more  pipe shenanigans.

Then we next leveled things by hanging with a night crew on my original project. And we sharpened our not-getting-hit skills in the harsh shadows of light plants and nonstop traffic. This was an awesome crew that took anything thrown at them (fixed everthing that broke down quickly).

Next, I am rudely awakened one day and told to report to a bridge project. Finally. That was like an invitation to come home.
But kind of like childbirth, one forgets the pain involved and can only remember the delight and satisfaction of the process. I am a little put off that there is no field office provided and we are 10 miles on the other side of a cotton field that's 10 miles from a store, and even then bathrooms are sketch. I have been known to take my leave under the existing bridge. Laugh if you will.

Then there's this:

http://youtu.be/hdlMJdlfg74


Ear protection is a must during this stage, which lasts about a week. Oh but the train still comes by every 20 - 30 minutes.

Even with all of that I am grateful to have a challenging job and hope I can do this for many years to come.