The First Pier is Going in!

Hi All!

The first pier is going in . . . and in . . . and in . . .

Here the guys are bringing the machine which screws the pier into the ground to the site.

It has a long stabilization bar on the back which is anchored to the ground with a long stake.

It takes two guys to manage the business end of the machine.

The whole thing is attached to a large air compressor run by this pedal. I like this guy's job. Standing there pushing the pedal!

It does the job - they get the pier in and then add extensions to get it down to a "stable" depth. I don't understand that part but I think it just goes down until it won't go down any more!

Doesn't that look like fun?

Trisha

More Pictures of the Work.

Hi All!

I am back again to show you more pictures of the foundation work.

I thought this was a telling vignette!

Do you see how deep these guys are digging? They are sitting on the ground with their legs straight down in the holes.

This is what they are digging up. Nice black clay.

The guy who was singing and had the nice smile - he let me take a better picture.

Isn't that smile cute? I told the workers (in Spanish) that the pictures are for my mother in Ohio. They all say "Hola, mama!"

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Trisha

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Voice Update: Susan really went to work on my yesterday and got most of the crunchies worked out. There is still some going on but she is confident that I can get the rest taken care of with regular massage. She did tell me that I need to stop being stressed so my throat doesn't get all tensed up. Ummmm. . . okay!

Work in the Morning

Hi All!

This morning I had to shorten my walk by a few minutes so I could get home and showered and dressed before this showed up.



The foundation guys. They went right to work taking out the shrubs which were in their way.

Luckily, the shrubs getting torn out are the shrubs that we were going to remove anyway - the "ugly shrubs" which were overgrown and needed replaced.

It is amazing how quickly these guys work!

Do you see the bucket and the plastic? Those contain my pincushion plant and my balloon flower plant. I don't want those damaged so they carefully removed them. This may be a good time to divide that pincushion plant!

This guy on the side of the house has the prettiest smile - I know you can't tell in this picture but . . .

As I get more pictures (before I have to leave for class) I will show you more.

One of the guys is singing and I can hear him through the window of the office - fun!

Trisha

Tension Relief

Hi All!

My stressful week continues so I needed a little break in the tension. Then, I saw this. How can you not smile?

Thank you Miss Cleo and Skor!

Trisha

Voice Update: Crunch, crunch, crunch! Surprised? I am not too surprised because of all of the stress I am under, all of the sneezing, and the over use at the symposium. How I wish I had a "normal" voice! Those of you out there with a normal voice . . . cherish it! Oh - tomorrow is World Voice Day. Check out tips on how to take care of your voice here. Believe me . . . taking care of your voice is important!

ASL, Fingerspelling, Deaf Culture, Oh My!

Hi All!

To use a very outdated cliche . . . I feel like a broken record. Of course, one of my group members related that vinyl records are making a comeback because they are being marketed with the digital downloads of the songs they contain. Weird, huh? To think that people are buying actual records to get the downloads. You would think that they would simply just get the downloads and forget the record. Must be a nostalgia thing, right?

Oh - back to the point. I feel like all I have been talking about, and doing, and thinking about lately is the work I have for my classes. The pile of work is attempting to suffocate me like the poor landscaper who got smothered beneath a pile of palm fronds (that is a true story!). I beat the work back into submission only to have some new and more insidious assignment poke up.

For example. This play assignment has been taking up inordinate chunks of time lately. It has invaded my dreams! I continually think about Agatha Christie mysteries and find myself gravitating to them on my podcasts (I have a super Agatha Christie podcast series that is fun to listen to while I walk). It doesn't seem like the play will ever be finished and yet it has to be finished for presentation on Thursday. THIS Thursday!

Just when I get all nice and stressed out about the play, a fingerspelling assignment pops up. I have to find a current event article to translate into ASL. Doesn't sound hard, does it? Well, you have to add in the requirements - 10 Fingerspelled Loan Signs (special signs borrowed from English and hard to explain!), 5 cities and states (which is the center of debate . . . does that mean 5 cities with states as a unit - like Chicago, Illinois - or does it mean 5 cities and/or states?), 2 labellings (I have no clue - they introduced this when I was at the NSDA conference), and a certain number of names.

EEEEEEKKKKKK!

Trying to find an article to incorporate all of that . . . very difficult.

However . . . I did it! I found an article with pretty much everything (okay, I had to fudge one of the labellings but . . .) and I am ready to take it to the lab today to video myself "saying" it in ASL.

Sounds like everything is under control, right? Wrong!

For Deaf Culture I need to have a chapter read and questions answered. Of course I have been working on the darn play and totally forgot about the chapter! It is due today! I hope I have enough time to get it done before class.

And then . . . there is a paper lurking in the background for ASL - yes, the same class that the play is due for! I know what I am going to write about but . . . writing it takes time and currently that is in pretty meager supply around here.

Not to mention the need to play with my beautiful kitties and spend time with my husband and buy food and clean the house and wash clothes and wash dishes and . . .

Calgon . . . take me away!

Trisha

Voice Update: Well . . . I haven't had time to really focus on it lately but it is slowly getting better. I have speech tomorrow so I will get a nice massage which will hopefully kick it into gear.

I Was Never Meant to be a Script Writer!

Hi All!

Happy Easter - a day late!

This has been an interesting weekend. On Saturday the other members of my group for ASL 3 came over to work on the script. What fun! This was the second time that the group met at my house. You would think we would have everything together, right?

Wrong!

We are still working on getting it written (okay I am the only one still writing but . . .) and all of the required signs into it.

Speaking of scripts . . . let me just say that as of last night there was only one act of the play left to write. I, being slightly off my rocker on Saturday, said that I would write it. No big deal since I wrote three of the other four acts, right? Ummmm . . . let's just say that the muse has left the house. The city. The state.

I have something written but I don't like it too much. I am ready to just stop. I don't want to do this anymore!

Of course, I know that I have to continue because it is a group grade and the other three will kill me if I don't help them get good grades!

I was never meant to write scripts!

Trisha

Voice Update: Good news and bad news. My throat is a bit less crunchy but it is still not wonderful! I have been sneaking massage in whenever I can so it is doing okay. Then. . . yesterday I had a sneezing fit. Sneezes, in case you never noticed, don't do your throat any favors. So - one step forward . . . two steps back.

Guess Who's One Today!

Hi All!

Guess who turns one today? Think about the members of my household . . . do you have it? What? Who?

Right! It is Skor's birthday! Happy birthday, Skor!

It is a good thing he is so cute because he was caught sleeping on the job.

When I confronted him and told him that my assistant shouldn't be sleeping, all I got was a look!

And then . . . as soon as I turned my back . . . .

He was sleeping again.

He tried to tell me that he was working on a printer jam but I knew better!

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Trisha

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Voice Update: Ohhhh - my throat is REALLY crunchy today. I hate it when that happens! I am trying to get extra massage time in but it just doesn't seem to be helping me much right now. I don't have many breaks in my voice but do sort of freeze up every once in a while. Rats! I guess I should know better than to talk so much!