Rock Around The Clock

 The photos are just some miscellaneous ones I had that are somewhat related to what I wanted to write about tonight.  The area shown is where my most recent project has been going on.  I know that the world of commercial construction is very far removed from the way most people work so I thought I'd just give ya'll a view of my day.  It starts out early enough at about 4:30 a.m.  I get up in time to have a good, hot cup of tea and really wake up.  I hate to be rushed into my day.  I make my lunch and breakfast and am on my way to work by 5:30.  One good thing here is that I am only about 15 minutes from work at the most, so I make it there by about 5:45-50.  We start work at 6:00 sharp so everybody gets there earlier in order to get their stuff in order and several of us usually sit and eat our breakfast also.  We also use the time to begin our daily aggravation and joking on each other.
At 6:00 we have our safety meeting.  It used to be you only had those once a week but it has become common to have them every day now, first thing.  That lasts about 5-10 minutes and then everybody goes to their assigned job places to shake tools out and get to work.  I have been hanging steel in this stairway that you see in the above photo.  First, I welded on those short stubs you see on the right, next to the concrete.  There are steel plates embedded in the slab that you can't see.  This is 7 floors with embeds at each floor.  Now, my welding leads only reach about 3 floors, so I have to pull the leads up or down the stairwell to reach the next section.  When i run out of leads I pull everything back to the welding machine, roll it up, take the machine over to the buck hoist (if it's running) and take it up or down to the level where i can reach the rest.  Now, sometimes I can just put it on the 3rd or 4th floor and just have to move the leads but sometimes I have to take it all the way up or down for other projects.  Inevitably, I end up moving the machine at least once a day and pulling those leads all over the place.  I know many people have commented on the "condition" of my biceps and shoulders.  Well, now you know.  They are in the shape they are from 18 years of moving, pulling, carrying, shoving or rolling up leads that weigh 30-40 lbs. each.  If I carry them both at once to save time it is a fair load.  And I'm also doing this going up and down any number of stairs.  So, I just work on this type stuff; welding, carrying, moving, layout etc. until 9:00 a.m.  Then we get a 15 minute break if our work allows it.  if you have to work through break you can usually make it up later.  I know 15 minutes doesn't seem like much but it does help a lot.  we get a snack and something to drink, joke around and aggravate each other some more and then go back to work.  Now, today, work involved flying steel into place with the crane as I have all the other stuff in place.  The other day we were on the inside and the crane flew the steel over to us.  I have help doing this.  We maneuver the pieces into place and as the crane holds them, i tack weld them well enough that we can cut him loose and he'll go pick another.  After we get all the pieces hung, I'll come back by myself and hard weld everything according to the drawings.



When I'm welding near the edge I wear a harness, in addition to the welding jacket, etc, and tie off to these clever devices.  They pour them into the tops of each column and are left in place until all outer work is over.  They are very handy.  There is a handrail there, as you can see, but I often have to stand on a ladder to reach what I'm welding and if you do that you must be tied off.
So, we just keep working until 12:00 noon.  Then we get a 30 minute lunch.  It's enough time to rest up but not long enough that you don't want to go back to work.  You don't loose your momentum, so to speak.  Today we were hanging steel with the crane but we had to be up on the outside of the building in a lift in order to maneuver it correctly.  There were 2 of us in the basket and one guy inside to hand me the leads etc. and help hold.  This type work is a little scarier because the operator is flying the steel right over us and then lowers it down to us.  We use a special clamp of the steel called a "plate dog".  It basically bites the steel as long as there is pressure or weight on it and releases when the tension eases and the rigger flips a safety latch.  You have to use these when straps would get caught behind the steel once it was set.  It does cross your mind when that steel is over you that if that plate dog fails you will probably die or be severely injured.
So, normally we would roll up at 2:30 but we are working 10 hours a day so we keep going until 4:30.  We are allowed to go get a Coke or something around 2;30 or 3:00 and of course, we can get water or take a bathroom break any time work allows.  Sometime you have to plan these things if you are working in the air or on a lift.  So, same ol' work until about 4:15 and then it's time to get tools up.  we usually have quite a bit of stuff out so it takes a while to get everything rolled up and locked up in our tool boxes.  Then we go sign out and leave at 4:30.  You do not leave before then even if you have your stuff up.
I know this sounds like a rough day for most people, and it is hard, but we have fun.  We joke around when we can and tease each other.  Sometimes there are down times waiting for one of the cranes or such and we can rest them.  It does take some getting used to though and many people don't like the work.  I don't know, we all have a good camaraderie and help each other as much as we tease each other too.  I am fortunate to work with a great bunch of guys.

These Boots Were Made For Walking

Actually, I think these boots were made more for kicking the crap out of somebody or something. That old song always makes me laugh because when we were little, it had just come out and my sister would stomp around in Daddy's boots singing it. She still stomps around a lot.

If you read my updated last post you know that I am back to work tomorrow so I have been running around the past couple of days getting ready. We have to be drug tested, have a background check, get new steel-toed boots, find all my tools and get them back in order. I cannot say much about this new job other than it is for the railroad. Homeland Security now monitors all that stuff and thus the background check etc. in addition to all the strict requirements from the railroad. I especially cannot discuss much about the job over the Internet. And of course, I get to start back on the day that is forecast to be the hottest day this year. It was 100 degrees in parts of Birmingham today and tomorrow is supposed to be worse and we are working right amongst the trains; no shade anywhere! If I don't post again for a few days just bear with me. Not much has been happening at the house this week due to this and the pour (under the house) has been put off for a week or two. But I'll be making good money again and can buy all kinds of stuff for the house!

I am going to work for a superintendent that I started out with 13 years ago. He (Larry) was the first one to let me come on his job as a apprentice carpenter. It was a 6-story apartment building and I was petrified. The company only wanted me there because it was a government job and it looks really good for them to have minorities. No one thought I would last a week but I finished that job up and kept on. I have encountered a fair amount of prejudice and discrimination over the years in my work but a lot of the men have been very fair to me. Larry has always been good to work for even though I know I have aggravated the crap out of him. He was the super on the second job I was on and we were out in the field one day; I was nailing door block-outs together and Larry was standing very nearby talking to the foreman (my then husband). I zinged a 16-penny double head nail and hit him square in the chest with it. He slowly looked up at me as if I had spit in his face. Now, Larry is a big man; very imposing, especially to a little apprentice girl. I looked frantically around for a piece of plywood, a rock, anything that I could crawl under. I didn't know what to do. He just sighed and shook his head. He has done that a lot over the years around me. Like that other time I caught my pants on fire! But that's another story.....