Very busy Tuesday

We received an official e-mail notification that no parking was allowed on the north side of 5th street, that is because there was a huge delivery of glue-lam beams. The crane was parked on the lip of land next to the current ER entry and swept several beams onto the building all day long.

They finally pried all the boards off the new cement wall that will eventually be back filled with rock and dirt and become the top floor ER entry.  That's gonna take a couple truck loads of dirt, 
I hope the dump trucks decide to drive between the two buildings rather than through the new parking lot, either way it will be a delicate operation. 

Oh yeah, the ladies in the department gleefully pointed out that  I made the front freakin' page of The World.  Gah!! Slow news day.

We had a nice little ceremony at work today....

A topping out ceremony.  Mr. Z spoke, a guest minister said a Power Prayer and we all scrambled to sign the beam, which was then hoisted into its final spot on the top of the building. 

Yeah I signed a building.  And from here it looks like all of our signatures are upside down.  

Just makin' soup

Just gazing about the kitchen cupboards and the fridge.  What to make?  What to make?  Hmm, have half a bag of split peas, have 3/4 of an onion, have garlic, have some cilantro frozen, have jalapeno pepper frozen, have frozen turkey stock and some boxed chicken stock.

Well get out favorite frying pan, chop onion, saute in butter, add chopped cilantro, add chopped jalapeno pepper, add two bags frozen turkey stock, use up last of boxed chicken stock in fridge.

Add couple teaspoons chopped garlic, add salt and pepper.  Simmer for 90 minutes. 

Topping...topping.  O! Have bag of dressing in freezer, pour out half a bag into largish casserole dish, sprinkle salt, pepper, sprinkle of chives and drizzle generously with olive oil, bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Serve soup in bowl, top with fresh croutons.  Delicious.  Left overs are in fridge help yourself!

Busy week....

Wednesday morning, is when the MRI van parks in the up hill parking lot and takes up NINE employee parking spaces, so husband very kindly drives me to work.  However, THIS morning as we approached the clinic, there was a very long, long, LONG truck and trailer completely blocking fifth street.  So husband dropped me off at the clinic, and I walked up the street.  This is the rather misty early morning view of build from the street level as one puffs steadily up the 30 degree incline. Phew!

and this my friends, is the end view of the cement being boomed into the concrete forms that will ultimately be the sharp left turn into the second floor ER entrance.  I will update once the forms come off.  Tah!

All together now...We all live in a ...

YELLOW SUBMARINE, YELLOW SUBMARINE!

Yeah that wall board/insulation what ever is being speedily put up.

Couple of guys on a boom lift put them in place on the outside, another guy using some sort of electric expanding ladder/stairway is fastening them to the studs on the inside. Sure is a pretty bright yellow.   There goes the million dollar view....sigh....

Forms for pouring a LOT of concrete.

This impressive edifice is part of the form that looks like a minature version of Hoover dam will be the road to the top floor ambulance entrance.  That's going to take a lot of cement.  You can't get proper prospective but I took the picture just at the edge of the sidewalk right outside the medical records door, it is a drop of a good 30 feet to more cement that has already been poured on re-bar.  Oh my. 

Sort of an interesting day....

I elected to take a paid time off day on Thursday because it is very difficult to take time in the summer but there was a lull and voila!

Husband and I ran away to Coos Bay to shop at Freddy's and eat at Kum Yon.  I mentioned casually that I thought there was something wrong with the muffler because it was so loud the last couple of times I drove that I was startled by the throaty roar of Harley Davidson dimensions.  I had even noticed a couple people looking up to see what the hell was coming down the street at them. 

Husband made appointment for us at a muffler and brake shop in Coos Bay Friday at 1:30 so off we went.  The guy told us to have a seat, watch some television they would take a look and tell us what needed to be replaced.  We were mentally thinking new exhaust system, 300 bucks.  Oy. 

We had just gotten comfy watching "Cash Cab" when he called us back into the garage.  He asked us if anyone had been working on the car and we said no.  He showed us where not one but BOTH bolts had sheared off that held the muffler to the exhaust.  He replaced those and replaced the gasket that had crumbled to bits.

Forty bucks later we were out of there headed happily home.

We no longer have the throaty roar, which sounded real sexy, but I was afeared that the local cops would have given us a ticket eventually. 

Its been a very busy week what with building stuff .....

This is a picture of re-bar and stuff being made part of the foundation for the road that will eventually circle the hospital.

Well there goes the view, they are putting up metal wall studs.

The large opening is probably the second floor access for the emergency room, once the ground is all filled in and leveled up the road will branch to the second floor ER bay as well as the first floor ER elevator. 

This is a picture of the very large boom that is shooting concrete into the forms.  The gentleman in the middle of the picture wearing the white hard hat is also wearing a remote control device hanging from his belly, I admit it looks bad from this angle but there really are two little swivel sticks that direct the cement.

Uh huh that looks suspiciously like wall board. They also boomed concrete on part of the roof today.

And this my friends is my attempt at tomatillo salsa.  One of the OR nurses told me to come sample.  Good stuff!

My version is 6 medium sized tomatillo's chopped, two bunches of scallions, sliced, one smallish jicama sliced and diced, the juice of four limes, tsp chopped garlic, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes.  It would have been better with cilantro but I forgot to purchase some.
Very tart, crunchy and refreshing.  Be sure to get lots of chips.  Tasty!!

MORE BLOSSOMS AND MORE BUILDING

The second cactus blossom bloomed earlier this week.  It only lasted a couple of days, now its all back to desert.

This is part of the facade where the three story atrium will go, it will be glass and stone and first floor is where the cafeteria will be located as well as public bathrooms, seating and stairs and elevator to the second and third floors.

Today the cook made fried chicken, legs, thighs and breast.  Tasted almost as good as Grandma Horn's fried chicken.  We also had mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, biscuits, fresh salad, and fresh fruit salad.  Yummy.

Also this week I cooked a couple of dishes, I was playing what can I cook that I have on hand.  I came up with corn pudding.  I had a couple well aged loaves of french bread in the freezer, two bunches of scallions, 3/4 package of frozen corn, a can of mushroom soup and a variety of spices.  I emulsified the soup with about a pint of buttermilk, and a couple cups of milk, I soaked the bread in that, added four beaten eggs, half cup or so of shredded Parmesan, the chopped scallions, salt, pepper mixed well and baked in oven for about 45 minutes.  Husband gave me a thumbs up but is having a terrible time calling it corn pudding because it looks mostly like stuffing with corn added.  My secret ingredient was of all things a couple pieces of chopped fresh ginger.  Meh.  Next time I will leave it out. 

That same afternoon I noticed some meat in the fridge I had set to thaw and decided to make Swiss Steak.  So I pounded the meat into submission, coated in flour, buttermilk and Italian bread crumbs and fried it.  I then added some canned sliced white potatoes, made a milk gravy sauce, added more pepper, let it simmer for two hours and it turned okay, could have used a little more pounding actually but tasted good.  That's enough cooking for the week.