....may you always be greeted with a smile and a friendly "Hello". May you always feel welcome and invited. May you never feel dejected or belittled. If we ever get out of hand, may you feel free to slap one of the employees.
There is a very big story behind this but it is so petty that it bears no repeating here. Suffice it to say, a big lesson was learned today and I would hope the person who spoke out of turn would liked to have started their day over and take back all the nasties.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Yes, Virginia there is more Rock.
Yesterday was our family's 24th anniversary of moving to Virginia.
This morning Scott gets up bright and early to hammer on more rock. About 15 minutes into the hammering, the machine spews hydraulic fluid everywhere.
Hence, NO more hammering.
So, Scott moves over to the mini excavator to see what he can do about the rest of the road going up the hill. Track falls off the machine. Can't get it back on.
Service phone call to Rental Company for the Big Excavator & Hammer. Goes to central dispatch and they send out a crew. Well, kind of. Turns out the service truck guy is no where to be found. Not reachable by phone. So, two mechanics in the shop this morning head out to Toms Brook with a truck, a couple of tools and a 5 gallon bucket of hydraulic fluid. Scott was like where is the service truck. The mechanics explain about the truck and have no idea where the service guy is, they think he is off fishing. Doofus.
Second Rental Company gets a call for the MINI excavator. They don't have a service guy for the weekend. In the meantime, I got a phone call to bring tools. I grab some wrenches in both millimeter and standard and head down the hill. Call Scott to see if I forgot anything. Turns out the mechanics cannot fix the hydraulic problem and need more tools. They might come back on Sunday with more tools and take off the side panel and track the problem. It is not obvious from the outside.
Get a phone call back from the Salesperson that Scott has a cell phone number for. He finally calls back and Scott basically tells him, he is done for the day and he can't fix it.
Every single weekend or time he rents something, it breaks. The bucket on two different machines have been ripped off, teeth still in tact. He has ripped off the sleeves for the teeth. Welded back all parts and they rip again.
So, Scott decided enough was enough because he could not do anything without the rock hammer or bucket.
Monday hopefully the hammer guy has some better news.
This morning Scott gets up bright and early to hammer on more rock. About 15 minutes into the hammering, the machine spews hydraulic fluid everywhere.
Hence, NO more hammering.
So, Scott moves over to the mini excavator to see what he can do about the rest of the road going up the hill. Track falls off the machine. Can't get it back on.
Service phone call to Rental Company for the Big Excavator & Hammer. Goes to central dispatch and they send out a crew. Well, kind of. Turns out the service truck guy is no where to be found. Not reachable by phone. So, two mechanics in the shop this morning head out to Toms Brook with a truck, a couple of tools and a 5 gallon bucket of hydraulic fluid. Scott was like where is the service truck. The mechanics explain about the truck and have no idea where the service guy is, they think he is off fishing. Doofus.
Second Rental Company gets a call for the MINI excavator. They don't have a service guy for the weekend. In the meantime, I got a phone call to bring tools. I grab some wrenches in both millimeter and standard and head down the hill. Call Scott to see if I forgot anything. Turns out the mechanics cannot fix the hydraulic problem and need more tools. They might come back on Sunday with more tools and take off the side panel and track the problem. It is not obvious from the outside.
Get a phone call back from the Salesperson that Scott has a cell phone number for. He finally calls back and Scott basically tells him, he is done for the day and he can't fix it.
Every single weekend or time he rents something, it breaks. The bucket on two different machines have been ripped off, teeth still in tact. He has ripped off the sleeves for the teeth. Welded back all parts and they rip again.
So, Scott decided enough was enough because he could not do anything without the rock hammer or bucket.
Monday hopefully the hammer guy has some better news.
Friday, August 15, 2008
More Rock
I think this rock is attached to Australia and they don't want their rock back. It turns out the rock is limestone not bluestone.
Called a couple of dynamiters and no one was in the office or available to answer my question. How much does it cost to BLOW UP ROCK.
I guess they are so busy blowing up other people's rock that I will have to wait until Monday.
Called the county to check on getting the sewer pipe in and they all leave early on Fridays. UGH. So Again, call back on Monday.
Called the Sanitation District about the sewer pipe and they said call the county. So, obviously I did that. Plus I asked about the fees for the sewer tap, it went up by $700 again. Now just so I can "hook it up myself", $8,500.00 That's a lot of expensive crap. In Front Royal, a nearby town, it is $10,000 and the town hooks it up for you. Go figure. One county away and the difference in price is crazy. But the funny thing is that in Warren County, a bit cheaper to get in but a lot harder to go through the process because NOTHING is by-right whereas in Shenandoah county a lot more expensive in some cases, double or triple the money. But, almost everything is by-right in some fashion.
So, Monday a hammer excavator company is going to meet Scott out there to see what he can do with this rock. I guess we will wait and see.
It is a lot cheaper doing it this way but I just want a stick of D Y N A M I T E!!
Called a couple of dynamiters and no one was in the office or available to answer my question. How much does it cost to BLOW UP ROCK.
I guess they are so busy blowing up other people's rock that I will have to wait until Monday.
Called the county to check on getting the sewer pipe in and they all leave early on Fridays. UGH. So Again, call back on Monday.
Called the Sanitation District about the sewer pipe and they said call the county. So, obviously I did that. Plus I asked about the fees for the sewer tap, it went up by $700 again. Now just so I can "hook it up myself", $8,500.00 That's a lot of expensive crap. In Front Royal, a nearby town, it is $10,000 and the town hooks it up for you. Go figure. One county away and the difference in price is crazy. But the funny thing is that in Warren County, a bit cheaper to get in but a lot harder to go through the process because NOTHING is by-right whereas in Shenandoah county a lot more expensive in some cases, double or triple the money. But, almost everything is by-right in some fashion.
So, Monday a hammer excavator company is going to meet Scott out there to see what he can do with this rock. I guess we will wait and see.
It is a lot cheaper doing it this way but I just want a stick of D Y N A M I T E!!
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
How many licks to the middle of a tootsie pop??
So, how many hours does it take to hammer on a rock? Scott has been hammering away at the rock in the middle of the road going on 4 days. Yesterday he talked to Jim (rental guy) about getting a new bit for the hammer as the original one broke twice after two weld jobs by Scott. Scott spent Saturday evening welding the broken bit back together.
The bit is so heavy that you can't lift it easily even when it is in two pieces!!
The progress today has been great. The lower part of the garden center is coming together and we will not have to buy any fill dirt or find some. They used all the dirt from the road and the junk VDOT dumped this past spring. The lower pad will have the mulch, rock, and other bulk items. Plus a turn-a-round area for the tractor trailers and the customers who have trailers for mulch pickup!!
Saturday evening, we were invited to a party of one of our clients. It was a great evening and we were showered with the highest of compliments of our work. We got it finished just in time as well. We are entering this project in the Keep Virginia Beautiful contest.
We are renting the mini excavator for the rest of the week. We will probably rent a much bigger excavator with hammer for the weekend.
That's all for now!!
The bit is so heavy that you can't lift it easily even when it is in two pieces!!
The progress today has been great. The lower part of the garden center is coming together and we will not have to buy any fill dirt or find some. They used all the dirt from the road and the junk VDOT dumped this past spring. The lower pad will have the mulch, rock, and other bulk items. Plus a turn-a-round area for the tractor trailers and the customers who have trailers for mulch pickup!!
Saturday evening, we were invited to a party of one of our clients. It was a great evening and we were showered with the highest of compliments of our work. We got it finished just in time as well. We are entering this project in the Keep Virginia Beautiful contest.
We are renting the mini excavator for the rest of the week. We will probably rent a much bigger excavator with hammer for the weekend.
That's all for now!!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
An almost road
Well we are on our way to getting the garden center off the ground. Scott & Andy got the road partially cut in, ran into a big shelf of rock about 60 feet long. Scott rented a rock hammer and a mini excavator with bucket attachment. Turns out the hammer is not as tough as those rocks and the pin kept falling out and finally he broke the hammer, welded it back together three times and broke it all three times. So, tomorrow hopefully the rental place will have a solution to the broken hammer bit.
We got the silt fence up and in place along the front of the property.
Then the sky opened up and we had to quit for the day plus the bucket on the mini x was all busted up, 2 teeth missing and a piece of steel ripped off. To later find out the same piece of steel was welded previously.
Tomorrow hopefully we will have some gravel and a lot more progess. We did get to use all of the fill for the lower pad.
I need to scan the site plan in here!!
We got the silt fence up and in place along the front of the property.
Then the sky opened up and we had to quit for the day plus the bucket on the mini x was all busted up, 2 teeth missing and a piece of steel ripped off. To later find out the same piece of steel was welded previously.
Tomorrow hopefully we will have some gravel and a lot more progess. We did get to use all of the fill for the lower pad.
I need to scan the site plan in here!!
The beginning of great things...
We got final county approval of the Natural Art Garden Center on Thursday August 7th after sitting through 2 hours and 15 minutes of cell phone tower applications, we finally got our say and the site plan was approved.
We, originally, thought we had to go to the Board of Supervisors meeting at the end of August to get final approval alas, we did not. We got some very nice and encouraging comments from the Planning Commission and BOS.
We, originally, thought we had to go to the Board of Supervisors meeting at the end of August to get final approval alas, we did not. We got some very nice and encouraging comments from the Planning Commission and BOS.
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