Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Weekend Slaves Part Two: THE TOWER

Even if our second work day was trying at times, it got off to a great start! I must post my thanks to three wonderful cooks who sent down "provisions" for all those hungry guys. (Obviously these Moms already know the importance of food at times like this.) The sloppy joes, applesauce, cinnamon rolls, brownies and snacks were delicious, and disappeared very quickly!


No sooner was breakfast over, than I began to hear ominous talk of Nate and Jason taking down . . .



THE TOWER! Since Kyle and I don't watch TV, Nitchfield's TV antenna is a useless lightning attraction. So the guys decided to take it down for us. And yes, it really is as tall as it looks!



Not only is it tall, the wind was also particularly gusty that day, and the tower was visibly moving. Once again, my prayer life got a boost. I bet the guy's did too!


Sorry Nate, I didn't get any pictures of you up there. Some how the sight of you waving in the wind with a sawsall dangling from your belt on a rope was too scary for the camera!


I'm not quite sure how they did it (the details were too scary to be inquired into) but somehow they got it down without killing themselves. I did hear that at one point, it was so nerve racking that Nate started telling himself out loud as he was climbing all of the good points about the situations (Triangles are one of the most secure structures . . . let's see, what else?).


What a team!






It took them about all morning to get it down. That's okay, I was more than glad to have them take their time! This is what I saw out my kitchen window as I was fixing lunch.


Later, they worked on detaching it from the house and pulling out from the ground. You'll have to ask one of them how much concrete this thing turned out to be anchored in!


Ah, the joys of being back on solid ground!


Thanks guys for getting all that down. It's funny, but the sky looks so much bigger now!

5 comments:

The Hemmers said...

Ay, is that my brother up there?!! Whoo, am I ever glad he's safe. He tends to be a wee bit accident prone. Not because he's not careful, they just somehow..happen!
It's viewing this blog and seeing what's happening back in Illinois.
~Melody

Anonymous said...

Nate did the hardest part, taking the top down with the sawzall as I watched comfortably from my safe spot on the ground. We both agreed that had we known how little the tower was anchored in the ground, we would have never attempted such a trip to the top.

Thank you for allowing us to come be your slaves for the weekend! It was alot of fun hanging out with you guys, you're both wonderful hosts.

Jason H.

The Sisson Clan said...

Now they tell us he's accident prone! HA!!
Gretchen aren't you glad you didn't know that last weekend?

Anonymous said...

It was goood.

TD

erin said...

We used to have one of those on the farm where we lived, and when Mackenzie was about two and a half, she took off climbing it! She was well over my head before I got her down. I think she might have made it to the top if I hadn't caught her! Another good reason to have it down.