Topped Out!!!

 Actually, we topped out a couple of weeks ago.  That is to say, we poured the final roof slab at the highest point of the building.  So, according to ancient traditions, we had our Topping Out party to celebrate.  I'm serious when I say ancient too.  As you can see, we drug a large evergreen up to the top of the building and strapped it in place and placed the university flag nearby.  I thought we should have had an American flag too but we do have those on the cranes.  This is an old Scandinavian tradition going back at least 1,000 years.  The tradition was brought to the United States several centuries ago and we try our best to keep it going although this is the first full Topping Out party I've ever been to.

Now, due to the time of year, many people would assume that is supposed to be a Christmas tree but it's not.  The tree, being an evergreen, symbolises good luck and growth.  Actually, it's there to appease the woodland spirits that we may have pissed off when we chopped down the trees to clear this site.  But you can't say that in public anymore.  LOL!  Sometimes the tree will be decorated with streamers.

 Anyway, there's lots of speechifying by several people that really have nothing to do with the job actually getting built (except for Daddy Rabbit) and food.  The food was okay.  Normally it's pretty good and we stuff ourselves.  Then they give away door prizes offered up by tool rental companies and such.  That was really good.  I won a gift card to Lowe's, a hat and a pair of safety glasses.  I gave my hat to one of the fellers that didn't win anything.  I have a bunch anyway and it wasn't a style I liked but he did.

So, it was fun and we got off with pay about an hour early.  Some jobs you get free lunches several times through the course of the building and some you don't get squat.  Just depends on the owners.  This will probably be our only free lunch for this one!  We had a real pretty day for the party too, which was nice.

So, I have today off because Jack is still out of town and somebody had to be here for the animals but he'll be back tomorrow and I'll go back to work.  I am going to cautiously tell you though, that I should be coming home after this week.  I'm not going to point fingers or such but it seems that the project managers on the job have let me run out of steel to weld up and they are not willing to pay my wages (their words) to do other, less skilled work.  So, I'll be coming home for a break and am supposed to go back after the first of the year when a new batch of steel comes in.  We'll see.  I'm happy to have the holidays off and this will allow me to catch up on many orders for pottery.  I have not forgotten ya'll if you ordered something so bear with me!  I am working on it!