April 7, 2008 - April 11, 2008

Early Monday, Team Roadkill split into two groups: one group continuing with to help the Arch team, and the other group prepared the vestibule and buttress designs on powerpoint to be presented to our archaeologist Linda.

The entire group met at the church on Tuesday to present a new site plan and vestibule and buttress designs to Linda. She gave a few head shakes and nods, nut nothing that would that would sink our hearts completely. It was a well relaxed meeting. We hope that the next big meeting will be just as pleasant. Then, it was back to completing our previously assigned chores. One thing we noticed, the wood blocks were only fitting the arches but not the columns. In order to make them match, we cut what measured to be a 1/64th of an inch out of two colums. Pretty small eh?

Wednesday the Arch team ran into a big problem towards the end of the day. Somehow, the custom made arch is about an inch from where it is supposed to be. But a long day of hard work will burn a person’s energy down. But no worries because it will all be handled before showtime. Oh not to mention (I was told not to) that one of us had to run behind a pick up truck fifteen times trying to balance the weight of a member to prevent it from snapping in half off the bed of truck is a tiring task.  Also, Al and Jesse said, “Hi”.

Death Penalty for those that did not come to Red Barn on Friday. We cannot tell what happened from sunrise to noon, but I for one sure can say that my fingers and eyes bled. They bled! And yes, I recieved the smallest penalty as stated in earlier blogs. Being hungry for three sunsets is nothing to laugh about. On the bright side, Monday is near and is ushering a great blessing to all the very second that the very first arch is erected.

Next Week: LOOK TO THE HEAVENS! ! !

Learning Objectives:

B. Develop Problem Solving Skills: We are all thankful that we reevaluated our work before showtime on Monday. If not, the wood blocks would have been incorrectly measured and placed, and our very own customized arch half would only suffice for being fire wood.

F. Develop Leadership Skills: We all have made it this far motivating and leading each other to the eve of ARCH DAY. If nothing bad happens, and nothing bad will happen, the we will know that we all succeeded during our studies here in Rural Studio.

On Monday morning we began working on the details of our proposed entrance for Perry Lakes Park. Even though our design is radically simple, the decisions we make for connection pieces and anchor materials will determine whether or not the project will be successful. We spent the day researching various materials and visiting Rural Studio projects to see in person how students have approached similar problems in the past.

We made a trip to Greensboro’s Alabama Power office on Tuesday morning. We met with Don Ballard to discuss the best ways to suspend 100 feet of cable 20 feet in the air. After our lengthy conversation, Don suggested that we take a trip to the area headquarters in Demopolis, AL to see if they had any scrap supplies that we could play around with in order to get a feel for the materials. We took his advice and drove the dually to Demopolis to meet with the head honcho, Corey Sweeney. Not only was our trip beneficial, but we unexpectedly received ALL of the hardware we needed for the entrance sign FOR FREE. Mr. Sweeney donated the exact materials that his road crews use to hang power lines, including approximately 1600 feet of cable, 2 - 30 ft power poles, and hanger clamps to secure the cables. We were also promised to be able to use Alabama Power’s cable tightener, so we can suspend the cable as straight as possible. After returning to Morissette, we quickly began constructing our mock-up of the sign to see how well it worked. We were able to set roundwood poles in concrete, but because of the curing period we had to wait until Wednesday to suspend the cables.

Since we did not have the cable tightener for our mock-up, we ran into a couple speed bumps. We knew that we had to get the cables tight, but we did not know how to go about doing it. After some discussion, we remembered from Monday’s research that pulleys are an effective way to tighten cables. We devised a method to use a pulley and attach the loose end to Corey (Moulton)’s awesome 4-Runner…and it worked! We also were faced with the task of testing letter connections. After some failed attempts, we customized automotive hose clamps to firmly attach to the cable and bought shorter screws for a stronger fitment. Overall, even though we had a difficult start, our day was a huge success. Except for some minor details for the letters, we know exactly how to properly build our entrance sign. We were given Friday to work on renderings, so that the assignment would not be hanging over our heads next week.

learning objective G_ develop a commitment to high quality, accurate work. Even without a cable tightener, we had an obligation to construct our mock-up as accurately as possible only with available tools. After all, there is no point in testing a design if you are not going to test it correctly.  

learning objective C_ develop skills in using materials and tools. By creating a full scale mock-up of our design, we have familiarized ourselves with materials that we had previoulsy never worked with. We have learned from mistakes and now know how to construct the sign quickly, and more importantly, correctly.

Next week we will be back in Cahawba helping to re-raise arches. It will definitely be a huge week as far as progress is concerned. Once the arches are up, we will be back at Perry Lakes building the sign. We only have a few weeks left, but they will be extremely busy!

Let me just start this week by saying that if anyone who reads this knows how to kill large quantities of mosquitoes quickly, please let us know.  Our legs will thank you..

With one week left to finish preparing the arches for their big day, team Mind Bullitz (Gwyn/Kristy/Alex/Blake/Franklin) had to maximize our efficiency and utilize our newfound help from team Roadkill to tie up all of our loose ends.  We were 99% successful, with only one thing to fix next week.

learning objective C_ develop skills in using materials and tools.We continued using old fashioned methods on our repairs this week. It takes more time, but in the end, we have realized how much more rewarding it is. (the blisters aren’t so great though…) 

After getting our newly cut/detailed wood finished at the end of last week, we figured out the best way to assemble our new gigantic arch piece in the way that would keep it as level as possible while the epoxy dried.  It took several attempts and lots of critical thinking, but we finally got our final repair started on Monday.  While the large piece dried, we set to cutting wood blocks that will stabilize the arches on the columns of the church, making sure all of our bolts will fit in the piece that goes between the arch halves, and drilling bolt holes in the new pieces of wood.  It got pretty tedious, but with arch week right ahead of us, we kept going like a horse with a carrot in front of its face.

learning objective G_ develop a commitment to high quality, accurate work. Putting an arch half together is basically a six-step process, and a stressful one at that. A bit intimidating at the beginning of the semester, the process has now transitioned into something we do (usually..) with speed and accuracy. Every now and then, one will cause us a bit of strife, but as a team we can usually find the problem and take care of it quickly.

There were a couple of things that frustrated us this week, one of which was trying to get quotes on the new lumber for the roof we need to have on site by the end of the semester.  Trying to get quotes from some of these lumber people was painful and tiring, but the order was finally made, which gives us something to work on after the arches go up.  Also frustrating was realizing at the end of the week that the holes we had drilled on our newly repaired arch beam were off by nearly an inch, giving us added stress for next week.  Hopefully that won’t be too big of a problem to fix on Monday afternoon after the crane operator calls it quits for the day.

  The arches are ready, the equipment is ready, the site is ready, and we are definitely ready for the next few days.  Our whole semester has led up to this week, and we are confident that everything will work out.  We can’t wait to see the difference the arches will make on top of St. Luke’s, and we can’t wait to mess around on the cherry pickers when we’re bracing the arches with purlins.  Anyone who wants to come out and watch or help is welcome (especially help, the arches weigh a couple thousand pounds), and if you can’t make it, check back in next week for a recap of what is sure to be the most exciting week of the semester!