Tricia’s Graduation Ceremony, Air Battle Manager, Class 22014

Liz and I got to watch a really great event: Tricia’s graduation ceremony, where she officially became an Air Battle Manager, for the 337th Air Control Squadron.
Liz and I got to watch a really great event: Tricia’s graduation ceremony, where she officially became an Air Battle Manager, for the 337th Air Control Squadron.
The AC unit, in place! It was a little tricky getting this thing up high enough… but we eventually got there. Bob and I had to put it in place, make some marks, and then take it back down. After he drilled in holes for the base/feet… we had to put this thing back up again.
We’ve got another unit going in, but it won’t be quite as tight a fit as this was.
If you thought our concrete work was over, think again! With our concrete blocks in place, the next step we had was to fill the cores of all the blocks with concrete. Our aim was to make a “soupy” layer, to pour down each core… and to finish the tops with a more solid layer.
Bob, cutting some of the rebar down to size.
Got in the top course of the wall, which is technically all “bond beam” blocks. Bob used a custom blade on the circular saw to cut down three inches along the middle and sides of each block.
You can barely see it in this photo, but we have a dirty trick: we’re using 3/8″ nuts, and placing the between each course of block. This ensures that we’ll have the proper distance between blocks, and serves as a kind of guardrail.
It’s not what the professionals do, but… we are far from professionals. So long as things are consistent, no one’s the wiser.
Liz, mixing up the mortar as Bob gets the blocks in place. I mostly hung out up top, passing along blocks as needed. Both Liz and Bob did the brunt of the work today.
All told, we used about 70 bags (with 13 leftover). Not too far off, on the original calculations.
Big day for me and Liz. We got rained out on Friday, and we’ve got plans Sunday… so Saturday was our only day to work. And we had accounted for being able to fill not one, but two Bagsters.
We got food on the way up, but showed up in time to join everyone else for breakfast. Liz noted that we were living like hobbits, with our second breakfast lifestyle.
A fun and incredibly beautiful day today, with the weather in the upper 50’s and a hint in the air that Spring is just around the corner.
Liz and I met up with at Katie and Tim’s lake house, where Julie and Bob were spending the weekend. We had a big afternoon of local breweries to visit, as part of Bob’s birthday celebration.
Julie and Liz, exploring some of the (many) other bottles available.
Tim’s father, Ray, was the officiant who did the marriage all those years ago. He was also the one who officiated last year (when they officially tied the knot). And he was the officiant today, when Tim and Katie were married in front of all their family and friends.
Ray is in the unique position to have married Katie and Tim not once, not twice, but thrice. Which seems like a very special and lucky thing, if you ask me.
I had a lot of fun playing ping-pong with both Sebastian and Paige. They’re both quite formidable, and we were all pretty evenly matched.
Liz decided to get in on the phone, and played a few rounds with Paige in the garage.