At the start of construction on a project at a state university in the northeast, the grounds director called an early morning meeting to discuss her concerns regarding possible disturbance of a rare sand plain pine directly adjacent to the work. The construction managers for the general and site contractors, the project managers for the school and the design engineers all met with her at the site trailer as ordered. Just as she starts talking about how we need to take steps to protect this special tree, that was donated by some late professor's family, we hear a chain saw start up and go right to work. Immediately, the site guy gets this panicked look on his face and takes off in the direction of the sound like his house is on fire with the grounds lady right on his heels. The rest of us just kinda walk around the corner of the trailer and we can see the site super waving and yelling while running across the site with her trailing behind a bit. Seconds later that tree she called the meeting about tilts and falls right in front of her. It was a spit take for those of us still sort of hiding behind the trailer but the site guy's looking back at her like a little kid watching has Mom cut a switch. She didn't say a word, she just turned and stomped off. It's a rare day in engineering when something that funny happens.
When the shopping center that contained California's last K Mart was built in the '80s its location was maybe a 20 acre hill that was absolutely loaded with Ponderosa Pines. The developer had all the permits necessary and hired the big logger here to bring in every timber faller in his employ to start at day break on a Saturday morning and get to work. By noon there wasn't a tree left standing. But the Karins of the county never had a chance to complain or protest. It was a thing of beauty.
The shopping center is called the Pine Creek Center. Us old timers call it the Pineless Creekless Center.
AFAIK, the last time a real estate developer truthfully named the land he was selling, it was around 850 AD and he called it "Iceland". A century later another Viking, Erik the Red, discovered another island with a few small parts that weren't covered with ice all year. He established the modern real estate development tradition, naming it "Greenland" even though you could see glaciers from every farm he sold.
Can we call Victor "Stumpy" now ?
ReplyDeleteHe was cut down in the prime of his life.
ReplyDeleteThe family tree comes to an end.
ReplyDeleteHopefully, Victor's nuts still work.
At the start of construction on a project at a state university in the northeast, the grounds director called an early morning meeting to discuss her concerns regarding possible disturbance of a rare sand plain pine directly adjacent to the work. The construction managers for the general and site contractors, the project managers for the school and the design engineers all met with her at the site trailer as ordered. Just as she starts talking about how we need to take steps to protect this special tree, that was donated by some late professor's family, we hear a chain saw start up and go right to work. Immediately, the site guy gets this panicked look on his face and takes off in the direction of the sound like his house is on fire with the grounds lady right on his heels. The rest of us just kinda walk around the corner of the trailer and we can see the site super waving and yelling while running across the site with her trailing behind a bit. Seconds later that tree she called the meeting about tilts and falls right in front of her. It was a spit take for those of us still sort of hiding behind the trailer but the site guy's looking back at her like a little kid watching has Mom cut a switch. She didn't say a word, she just turned and stomped off. It's a rare day in engineering when something that funny happens.
ReplyDeleteWhen the shopping center that contained California's last K Mart was built in the '80s its location was maybe a 20 acre hill that was absolutely loaded with Ponderosa Pines. The developer had all the permits necessary and hired the big logger here to bring in every timber faller in his employ to start at day break on a Saturday morning and get to work. By noon there wasn't a tree left standing. But the Karins of the county never had a chance to complain or protest. It was a thing of beauty.
DeleteThe shopping center is called the Pine Creek Center. Us old timers call it the Pineless Creekless Center.
AFAIK, the last time a real estate developer truthfully named the land he was selling, it was around 850 AD and he called it "Iceland". A century later another Viking, Erik the Red, discovered another island with a few small parts that weren't covered with ice all year. He established the modern real estate development tradition, naming it "Greenland" even though you could see glaciers from every farm he sold.
DeleteCold! That was SO cold.
ReplyDelete