Construction or Easter

It’s Easter. It won’t hurt my feelings if you would rather be with your family and attend church services instead of reading Monner’s Mumblings. Easter is more important than Monner’s Mumblings. May God Bless you.

If you choose to read so be it. I have stories to tell.

I started a remodel of a building that is headquarters for Public Works of a nearby county. For those of you wondering Public Works is the department that maintains roads and sidewalks, cleans and repairs county buildings, mows lawns and weeds of county property. This building houses offices for men with ties (No women) and personnel (Men and women) that work with shovels and saws.

My job as an on-site project supervisor is to make sure the impact on county goings-on is kept to a minimum. I need to keep one eye on the construction and one eye on the interaction of county employees and construction workers.

I have completed projects for billionaires. I have sat at a table and discussed a construction project with US Senators. I have found that no one has more self-importance than county government employees in ties.

Not included in the construction project, this building houses a kitchen/breakroom. Nothing fancy, a sink, a couple of refrigerators, three tables, twenty, or so chairs. Several times a day, county employees gather in this room for lunch or coffee breaks.

It may surprise everyone but construction workers enjoy having a clean, comfortable place to take lunch and breaks. As exciting as it sounds it's really not that great eating lunch sitting in the dirt and debris of a construction site.

A couple of the plumbers spotted the kitchen/break room and asked a county employee if they could take lunch in the comfort of the breakroom. Permission was granted. Here comes the guy in the tie. (Hey, that rhymes.) A short conversation occurs with the guy in the tie and the county employee that granted permission.

The county employee (without the tie) walked up directly to me.

Employee: You need to get the plumbers out of the break room. Me: Didn’t you tell them they could eat in there? Employee: Yes, I thought it would be OK, but Ol’ Tie Boy (my words, not his) doesn’t want them in the breakroom. Me: I’ll take care of it.

Walking up to the plumbers.

Me: Hey, you guys can’t be in here. Plumbers: They told us we could be in here. Me: I know that. The (Construction language) guy in the tie doesn’t want you in here.

Part of the construction project involves moving and building new restrooms. The county rented portable toilets for their use. I was informed by the county to rent temporary portable toilets for the construction. (I may or may not have FORGOTTEN to order construction toilets.) Needless to say, when people see portable toilets, they will use the first available. A word of advice, should you need to use a toilet while on a construction site, try to find another choice. Once in a construction site toilet, you will see “art”, read words that should never be read, and the interior of the portable toilet will be teepeed like the high school quarterback’s front yard.

Where was I? Oh yeah, portable toilets.

One morning the county employee asked if he could talk to me outside.

Employee: Someone reported one of the construction workers was smoking pot in the portable toilet. Me: Who was it? Employee: We’re not sure. Me: Your guys use those toilets also. Just sayin’.

If the truth were known, I was sure it was a construction worker. The indoor construction project was reeking from the smell of weed. If you live in Colorado and don’t recognize the smell of weed, you need to come out of your basement.

I walked into the building.

Me: HEY, THE SMELL OF WEED IIN HERE IS OVERWHELMING. It is legal in your house, but not here. Some guy in the back: It’s not me, I’m on probation. Carpenter foreman: (laughing) I smell it.

The remaining dozen or so guys, started looking around speaking a language I should have learned in junior high, but did not. I did recognize some of the words, but construction language in another language is still construction language and can’t be printed here.

It looks like I am going to have plenty of construction stories to tell.

If you chose not to read this story to celebrate Easter with your family, thank you. You can read this tomorrow. Tomorrow is also a good day to check your yarn stash and order yarn. Elaine will be monitoring the website and phone. Me? I will be stopping weed smoking in portable toilets.

Happy Easter! God Bless!

Our crazy lives!

Monner