Great End on a Productive DAY

Mora Utilities got a great start on the inlet work they are doing. Construction guys are all set to come start form work tomorrow. The plumbers got all underground covered up. Electricians should be here on Monday. Rick W and Vaughan H, owners of Parkway, stopped in to check out our progress and compliment Woody on the good work. Rick Mathews, McDonald's ACM also came in this afternoon and was pleased with the work. Michael Sawyers our project manager called at the end of the day to check out our progress. All in all we had a very productive week. We're hoping for continued great weather next week so we can pour our parking lot and slab.

Coming soon.....McDonald's

Woody used some time today to construct two new boards for the building site signs. The new McDonald's banner and a Parkway banner is now displayed on the NE corner of the job site.

Lawton Plumbers Pass U/G Inspection

Plumbers continued plumbing work after they passed the underground plumbing inspection this afternoon. We've been accepting receipt of equipment and material this afternoon for the utility company. Mora Utility has been onsite all day today working on underground utility.

Plumbing Inspection scheduled

Plumbers are scheduled to have the City of Irving inspect their underground plumbing today. They are here bright and early to finish up for the inspection. They've been notified to put on their hard hats. Also, on site today are the utility contractors. The excavating/grading team removed their last piece of equipment this morning. And the concrete crew will be on site right after lunch.

Plumbing Visual

How's this for some great visual progress. The plumbers got the underground plumbing going...while Woody and I got some boards updated. Enjoy the pics.

Piers complete

Pad was prepared, compacted, tested. Holes for piers were drilled. Steel forms were placed in the holes. Finally the concrete was poured. This all happened yesterday.

Rick Mathews, McDonald's ACM, stopped by this morning & gave Woody a great pat on the back for showing good progress & having a great looking job site. It's always good to hear.

Work is progressing at a fast pace today. By the end of day we'll have McDonald's banners will be posted on site.

Plumbers are here!

Today it's crazy busy on the job site. Concrete team showed up to set forms & dig trenches. The plumbers are starting the underground plumbing. Surveyors are here to do the storm water line survey. Terracon is doing the parking lot density test. And grading team is blue topping the parking lot.... GET ALL THAT? It's wonderful to see so much activity. The preliminary work isn't always visible at the end of the work day. We are shooting for pouring our slab on the 6th of March. Then we'll be flying. The picture shows the depth of cut, which explains why it's taken so many days to export dirt.

New McDonald's Coming to Irving

Won't be long now and this open space will be but a memory. McDonald's newest location in Irving had it's first pier drilled today. Woody's goal is to turn this over to his Project Manager, Michael Sawyers in 70 days! This will give Michael 15 days for finishing touches before turn it over to McDonald's. Seen in the picture are the lab company inspecting piers as they are drilled, the drill company of course drilling the piers and the grading company continuing to export dirt. The concrete company will begin setting steel in a while so that concrete can be poured after lunch. Tomorrow we'll have plumbers come start working on underground plumbing and the electricians will soon follow.

Day 56/71/86 was WINDY!

Picture facing Southeast at the end of the day. Yes, that's Woody's shadow.

Woody had the silt fence moved on the south side further south. Michael came by to check the site and meet with Rick. Sunbelt delivered the generator. This gave us the opporturnity to meet with the utility contractor and make arrangements regarding the utilities. As far as the piers go the work has been postponed to tomorrow. Woody was really anxious to start, but the drill truck broke down en route to the site. They promised to send out two drill trucks tomorrow to get back on schedule. Terracon passed us on the compaction of the pad! We will have them back out tomorrow to inspect the piers. Lab testing is just one of many things Parkway does to offer our customer a quality service. The wind today was brutal to say the least....I thing we had 40mph winds...and it was cold in the wind...not to mention the job trailer door kept trying to blow off the hinges. We'll hope for better weather tomorrow.

Day 57/72/87...Days go fast

We've scheduled delivery of the generator for tomorrow. Also, we'll have the drilling for the piers going on tomorrow and in the afternoon the piers will be poured. To make this happen the excavators will have to have the pad ready and lab will need to give the thumbs up on compaction. So today it's a matter of continuing the dirt work. Woody met with the Cross Rep regarding the lot lighting. Concrete company had men onsite today tying steel for the piers. The highlight of the day was having Michael Sawyers visit the site. He reviewed plan changes and scheduling with us. This picture shows how much dirt has been cut out of the lot to bring it to grade. This should allow you to see why we have spent so many days on exporting dirt.

Pier work preparation starts

It's Saturday, but work continues. Even when we don't work Sundays we lose a building day. So working Saturdays helps to make some progress. The concrete company came to do batter boards and lay out the slab and piers. They should be tying steel on Monday and digging holes Tuesday and pouring piers on Tuesday. Right now it looks like Plumbers will be ready to start on Wednesday.

DIRT....Dirty work...

Importing of select fill started today. Export of excess dirt continued. Survey company has now marked our BUILDING corners and grade stakes. We had a visit from the City of Irving. The SWPPP Inspector advised us of their expectations. Rick Mathews stopped by to deliver the trash enclosures plans the City of Irving is waiting on and a documents needed pertaining to the permit. Green Guard restocked our supplies and Culligan got us some drinking water. Rick and Woody met regarding the amount of dirt being exported. Finally, we went to the City to meet regarding permit and trash enclosure plans.

Rain, rain, GO AWAY

Woody was at the job without me today. I called in a "sick" day! It was rainy and cold. Since not much work could be done as far as preparing the pad, the excavators worked on exporting the excess dirt from the lot. Woody was able to meet with the company that will be doing the concrete work.

Uneventful....That's a Good Thing!

Not much to report. The dirt work continues and tests from lab all look great. We were able to get some estimates for a generator. Submitted what we had to Michael. Michael & Randy both came by the job today. Randy works in warranty at Parkway. It was good as always to have Michael on the job to check progress.

Getting power when it's not available...

GIT 'R DUN....HA-Ha!!! Here is the Parkway specialty....1200 watt power pack plus! Yep! Ever wonder how these building go up in remote locations where power hasn't yet been installed by the electric company? Well, they use generators. Actually, after the meeting with Oncor it's been decided that we will need a generator until other arrangements are made. The one pictured here is actually Woody's personal unit and no bigger than your styro-foam cooler...about a size of a six pack. Yep, the big guns are needed to play with the big boys. The Lab was here today to test the lifts. Excavating team continued with sub soil work. Woody put up Parkway banners on the job trailer. And Michaell has asked that we get estimates to get a "real" generator out here to run the job.

Clear Skies....Work proceeds

Lab is here all day testing compaction. Excavating team continues pad preparation. Michael Sawyers, Rick Mathews, Oncor rep, and Miles (Cross Development Rep) were all present for a meeting regarding permanent and temporary power solutions. Later, Ben Simms of Adams Engineering stopped in to view change requests. All in all a good day, although it did start off all wrong. We found the job trailer had been broken into over the weekend. So the police had to come in to do a report and talk about a clean up job. They tracked mud all over the place and just made a mess. Must have been upset to find that there wasn't much worth taking from an old job trailer. Woody has a rule that every day everything must be packed and taken back home. That means the first thirty to sixty minutes of the day is used to set up the office and the last thirty to sixty minutes of the day is used to take down. That on it's own is exhausting.

Day 4: Rain Again

Excavating company was only able to work part of the day due to MORE rain. It's Saturday and often a day when great progress can be made. That will not be the case today. We'll hope for drier weather during the week.

Day 3: McDonald's Ground Breaking Meeting

As the excavating company continues to work on pad preparation, we were picked up by Michael Sawyers, Project Manager, to go to the McDonald's Headquarters and have the ground breaking meeting. Ronald McDonald was not present nor wore the happy fries there to greet us. But Rick Mathews, ACM, was awaiting our arrival. We were able to discuss the overall project and goals for construction. We've finally gotten Rick & Michael involved in helping resolve any issues that would prevent electrical service. One of the keys to a successful project with Woody & Michael is their willingness to be proactive rather than reactive. Lab should come Saturday and next week to test the soils compaction.

DAY 2: Sub Soil Continues

Dirt work continues. While they work on that the survey company was finally able to mark the property corners. Woody spent much of the day constructing and erecting the sign shown in this picture. This is known as the SWPPP Board....Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plan. We also met with Oncor rep and the president and superintendent of the development company. This is part of the meeting required to attempt to get temporary electric service. It's also Valentine's Day.....so the day was smooth and easy paced.

Ready, Set, GOOOOOOO!!!!!

That's right! Today is the day that Michael gave the green light to proceed with construction. The first step is the dirt has to be prepared. So they will export dirt and import select fill. This morning the silt fencing was completed. Also, the construction entrance was completed. Then the excavating team started digging and grading. Magnum survey came out to start marking property pins. City of Irving issued us a water meter for fire hydrant. We've scheduled the lab for the soil testing. Productive day and a good first day.

Rainy days...No GO today!

Equipment is on site and we're ready to start. However, Rick and Michael are still needing to make final decisions before they can give the go ahead. Meanwhile, it's been raining all day...so it's just as well that we didn't start today.

Rick brought the permit and plans to the office. Michael came by for plan review. Woody & I went ahead to City of Irving Utilities to begin the process for getting a water meter.

Excavating mobilizing....Here we go!

Gill Excavating arrived and delivered equipment to begin sub soil work tomorrow. Survey company is scheduled to come mark property corners. Woody & I went down to the City of Irving to get familiar with the inspectors and code office. While there we picked up a list of inspections the city will do as construction progresses. Our biggest task currently is working on getting temporary electrical service. Work hasn't and can't start until Michael says GO! Plans ready, office ready, Woody ready.....we're set.....(even made a path in case of rain)....waitin' on a GO.

SILT FENCING STARTS

Before the construction of the McDonald's can begin, we must first do a number of items that have to be completed. One of those items, is the installation of the SILT FENCE. Earlier today we worked at the Carrolton Panda Express. Around three we were called to the 635 Irving McDonald's to answer some questions regarding the plans so that the SILT FENCE installation could begin. So off we went. Pictured here are the workers as they begin the project. By the time they finish they will have outlined the parameters of the property with the fence to prevent contamination into the street and a construction entrance will be left open.

While they worked on the fence, we continued the set up and clean up of the job trailer. The trailer will service as the operation center for this construction site. We will use it to do our daily work, meet with sub contractors, review plans. A portion of it will also be used to store materials that will begin to come in for the project. We take great care to set it up for convenience and comfort as it will be the place that we spend the majority of our time over the next three months.

Carrolton's New Panda Express

Woody is well known for his enthusiasm to help out at Parkway when ever needed. Today's assignment was to go to the newest Panda Express in Carrolton, TX. The Superintendent that is working this project has been sick all week. Today equipment was delivered to the site as well as Simpson ties and lumber. While Woody overlooked the concrete work being completed and steel erection, I took the time to catch up on computer work. It was a beautiful and sunny day and the winds were not as harsh as they were earlier in the week.

We enjoyed seeing Jason at the site. His company was erecting the steel. Woody & I hadn't seen him since the McDonald's Littlefield job. He's pictured here supervising the work being done.

This Panda Express is located at George Bush & Old Denton Rd. Directly, next door is an Arby's already open for business that was also built by Parkway.

Setting Up Shop

We returned last night from Littlefield. This morning we got ready to go to work. Before we could make it to the job site, Michael Sawyers called us into the Lewisville office. We went in and got some detailed info regarding our new project. We also had to make some calls for bids. We were all finished at the office by noon. We grabbed some lunch then headed out to the job site. Once there we continued the process of setting up the office. This includes setting up office equipment and preparing for services to be started. Best of all it means unloading all the tools and office equipment and supplies from the truck and rv. Although we'd planned to stop around four, we worked until 6pm. I guess we are both just excited about the upcoming project. Today the site is only dirt. In a few weeks the frame work for the new McDonald's will be in place.

In Honor of Charlie

Into all our lives must enter sadness so that our joys can be experienced more greatly.

Our trip to Littlefield turned out to be touched with sadness.

While we are setting up our RV at the Waylon Jennings RV Park and preparing to meet my family for dinner, down the road Charlie Brown, a Senior at Littlefield High School is preparing to go to Lockney to watch his school mates play basketball. He arranged to take the afternoon off from work. He picks up his cousin, Crystal, and the twins, Tara & Kara. But Charlie I can almost picture never being the one to think only of himself, made a couple of stops on his way out of town. First, he picks up a box of soft drinks and some ice to take to his friends already at the game. Then, he stops in at the McD's for some take along food. The group set off to the game. Knowing these students, I'm sure they were happy, laughing, and talking along the way. Probably anxious to get there and cheer on their team.

Sadly, they never made it. Due to overcorrecting while driving the car was reported to have rolled over and Charlie and Crystal were ejected from the car. The twins are recovering at the hospital and are expected to fully recover. Charlie and Crystal have gone on to their eternal rest.

Initially the news filled me with sadness. As last night went on, I finally was able to feel the joy and happiness of having known Charlie. I was blessed to have had him in a Spanish class I substituted last year. I'd witnessed Charlie at several church events when we'd travel to see Jesse Duplantis. I remember him as someone extremely mature for his age with a great work ethic. He's one of those big guys with even a bigger heart. My joy is that I was blessed to have known Charlie. Crystal was Charlie's cousin. This family lost two in the blink of an eye.

If you are able please contact First United Bank in Littlefield to make a contribution to the funeral fund for these teenagers.

Happiness is Lubbock, TX in my rear view mirror...

Or in our case, happiness is Lubbock, TX on our GPS! Here is a rear view of us hauling our home/rv to our next location. Today, the location is: Littlefield, TX. It's time for the follow up medical visit we'd promised Dr Lentz to keep if he released me last week.

This morning we went to work over at Taco Bueno in Plano, TX. Pete Hamm is the official superintendent. He's currently in California working on another project so we've been helping out at this location. We met the plumbers, Taco Bueno manager, and the stripers at the building this morning. Because of the light rain the stripers will have to hold off painting the stripes on the parking lot.

Pre-Preliminary Work....

Check the grounds.

Where will the electric come from?

Where will the silt fence go?

How much dirt work will be required?

Any surveyor markers?

How about phone service?

Who will be the subcontractors?

And where will we put the coffee pot?

Today was largely spent on looking for answers to these questions and setting up the trailer.

SUPER BOWL 2008

Eli Manning is a Mississippi boy....Woody Gibson big time Mississippi boy. Need I say more? Happy day in the Gibson home with the NY Giants winning the game. And what a game!

We decided to watch the game at home. Woody cooked ribs on the grill, brought a Mardi Gras cake, and made some delicious out of this world homemade HOT WINGS!

Overall a GREAT day!

MARDI GRAS KING CONTENDER

Is it the Mardi Gras King or is that Woody Gibson? It's a Contender for Mardi Gras King, Woody Gibson! This photo is out in front of the American Airline Center at Victory Plaza. We went out to see the Mardi Gras parade and check out all the festivities. All in all it was a great adventure. We opted to take the TRE (train) from Irving to down town Dallas. The train station is only a mile from where we have the RV; so it's very convenient. We arrived at 5:00pm just as the Mardi Gras kicked off. We walked around and finally ended up at the House of Blues. We got on the waiting list, which was a two hour wait. Since the parade was scheduled to start at 7:30 we decided we may need to find some where else to eat. We walked a little further and found a TGIF. We had a ten minute wait there. As soon as we were seated, the pager Woody had been given at the HOUSE of BLUES begin to light up and start buzzing. Figures. We enjoyed our dinner at TGIF. But the service was SLOW and it was 7:15 before we left there. We walked back over to the HOUSE of BLUES and gave them their pager before making our way to the parade. The parade was great, but a bit slow. Woody was excited to catch beads being thrown by the parade participants. I wasn't trying to catch them at all. So what happens? I got beads thrown in my direction. I never saw them coming. Ended up with them thrown right in my face....PAINFUL! and Funny! After the parade we listened to a live band playing some Mardi Gras tunes and slowly begin making our way back to the train depo. On the way we saw the famous GHOST BAR. Paris Hilton had been there only yesterday. The line outside the bar was long. We then went back through Victory Plaza and watched them do the news outside the ABC studio. When we arrived at the depo it was packed. When our train arrived it was clear that everyone was waiting on the same train. it was standing room only...packed tight. at 11pm we arrived back at the West Irving depo and drove one mile back home. What a great day. Tomorrow is Super Bowl.

Job Trailer Delivered

The day is off to a great start. First they delivered the Port-O-Let on the furthest end of the construction site. So far in fact that it was on someone else's property. Then they delivered the job trailer. But we had no time to set up because today is the Annual Parkway meeting. So we watched them set the trailer and then we left. In the picture you can see the Port-O-let. Woody tied it to the end of the truck and I pulled it to the trailer. Oh, what fun.

At the meeting they served us a catered lunch before the meeting. Then the owners reviewed 2007 Financial and Project Excellence reports. After a break, they continued with the goals for 2008 and changes in the Project Excellence program.

Woody was tickled that they recognized him for his Grand Slam on the McDonald's Littlefield project. But Woody and I were most pleased when Michael Sawyers was recognized for five years of dedicated service with Parkway and for being a PROJECT EXCELLENCE TOP PRODUCER. It was wonderful to meet the Project Managers and all the owners. We also had the opportunity to see Ryan Elmer, our Chili's Project Manager.