Caramba

Denise is our girl Friday. All sites have them .You know what I mean ,when a visitor that deserves introductions, comes to site; she is the one that gets introduced as" Denise the girl that keeps this operation going."
Denise brought a loaf of crusty bread all the way from DEETROIT after the bread posting. She brought a big wedge of Parmigiano Reggiano even though there hasn't been a cheese posting.
Anyway we are having a lunch for the site this Friday . The lunch to show the guys we like the fact that they are working hard and safe. Denise is cooking chili.
Chili, she's got more nerve than Dick Tracy, she's cooking chili for a bunch of Mexicans!

How would you like to cook chili for these guys?

Told Ya

Resistance is Futile !

Reminds me of home.

Out first thing in the morning on my way to work I stop for coffee.It's the "General Store" just down the road. It's open very early , my kind of place but it has the dirtyest coffee pots I have ever seen.Really I think they get cleaned every two weeks.
Anyway don't you know this morning I poured my small coffee and as I was putting back the pot I hit the cup and dumped it all.............tsk
I looked over at the woman behind the counter,who hadn't seen what happened and called out that I had done a mischief. She stomped over saw what I had done and started to yell at me about the mess that I had made.
Well, I was taken aback. " This reminds me of home"I said
Shop keeper "Why do you spill everything there too ?"
Me " No but I'm used to getting yelled at"
She looked at me ,cracked her face with a smile and she said "ah don't worry I'll get the girl to clean it up"
This place is full of friendliness.
later...............................

It's The Thought That Counts

Rod is a people person. I see evidence of this on a daily basis. Like last week at the dollar store, when Rod suddenly picked up a DVD player, waved it in a stranger's face and said "19.99! Can you believe it?!". When he sees a deal, he'll be sure to let you know about it. He's also concerned about the welfare of others. Yesterday at Dairy Queen, after Rod received his foot long hot dog, I received a chili burger despite ordering a flamethrower burger. After I explained the mix-up to the girl at the counter, Rod was visibly concerned. "Oh no... You're not going to get fired for this, are you?" he asked from across the room. He asked because he cares. This is why it should come as no surprise that he likes to reward hard work at the jobsite.


We've got a great workforce down here, but the unnamed worker shown above deserved the pseudo-recognition of being named our first "Empoyee of the Month".

BUSTED!

Sometimes Derek and I do go out .And sometimes while we are out we talk.The other day while out, we figured that we needed supplies so that meant WalMart.
I was driving,he was riding and the topic got around to what in the world was the purpose of the Wal Mart greeter.
Our Derek forever looking on the bright side thought they were there out of the goodness of the corporate heart and were given the jobs to make the old folks feel good about themselves.
Me "Not a chance .There is no way Wal Mart is giving jobs out for fun.
Our Derek"Well maybe they are there to stop shop lifters from escaping. Stop the stock shinkage."
Me "Ya right. Did you ever pay attention to the types that are stationed at the doors"
This back and forth continued until we got to the parking lot.
Once inside I got what I needed D got his stuff and we made our way to the checkout.While there I started talking to the woman infront of me and the cashier.A little light hearted banter about health food ,e-coli ,lettuce. You know grocery store talk. D jumped in the conversation and said some thing that was wrong. I kind of told him he was wrong the cashier said he was wrong and man he lost it.He went off like roman candle. I was laughing about it as we walked out past those hoops by the exits that set off alarms if you are stealing stuff.
Low and behold wouldn't you know the alarm went off.I knew it wasn't me . The greeters, there were two ,were after our Derek. The oldest ,about 70 ,had her finger up pointing at D to come over to her.We headed her way showing his cash slip and bag saying he paid for it all.The woman said she had to deactivate the chip inside his purchase. She was punching the codes or whatever into this big blue Star Trek thingy she had in her hand . I asked why? .Since we were already through the detectors and in two more feet we would be out of the store.She told me that's what they paid her for.
A revelation . The big question of the day answered! Who would have thought.
Seeing as that is what she got paid for I shoved my bottle of shampoo infront of her and asked for it to be deactivated.That kind of got her flustered. She started to mumble about reprogramming her Star Trek thing and how it was wasn't working right. I kept pushing the shampoo at her when her mate that hadn't said a thing up 'til now told me I was being ornery and I didn't need my shampoo deactivated.
By then D had had enough and walked out so I followed .

A New Game

WHO SAID WHAT?

"This will make a good shot"
" Ya, just don't touch me"

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROD

Dear Rod,

Today is your birthday. I encourage you to kick your shoes off and just relax, like only you know how.


PS Highlights of this photo include the glass of red wine on the table and the pink "over 21" bracelet.

Shades of 2002

Canadian hockey players pulled it off in Salt Lake City in 2002. An olympic gold medal for ice hockey. It is said that a gold coloured coin, a loonie, embedded in centre ice provided a measure of luck that pushed us to the gold.Thanks to an expat canadian temporarily working in the US, making ice.
Some similar thing happened in the heartland just the other day.Another canadian expat embedded a gold coloured coin, a loonie, in the first substantial concrete pour of a constuction project taking place in the midwest. All for the luck of the project.
Our dollar was placed in a way so as not to cause any sort of international incident. I turned my back so that they couldn't see what I was doing.
After the form work was removed I found my good luck loonie.
No one else seems to have noticed the embedded piece of canadiana.We'll just have to sit back and wait for the ensuing flap once it is spied, and they realize they've been euchred again with another good luck charm.

?

Met a guy today who kilt a polar bear in Canada.
"Since it takes so long for the ice to come and go now they are becoming a pest"

Bread

The food here is all pretty familiar.The "Fill Your Every Need" mega mart has got yer meat ,yer "NASCAR" potatoes, yer ethnic aisle, yer tomato sauce aisle , all stuff I'm used to, but for the "NASCAR" potatoes.
The only thing is they seem to like everthing soft.We bought some margarine at the start, it's still in the fridge. We don't like ,too soft. It slips off the knife as you try to dig it out. There is even a self leveling margarine in a squeeze tube. Too soft to stay in a tub,I guess.
Then there is the bread. Finding a loaf of nice crusty Italian or a good chewy crusted baguette has become a quest of great culinary import. The bread seems all to be disguised hotdog buns.
The one baguette that was bought got tossed. After the third day it was still soft, and that's not right. Everyone knows you have to eat it right away because after about four hours it's stale, and only good for french toast.
"El dente" around here means hail damage.
tsk...............................
Wait 'til you hear about the cheese.
Later.

So that you don't know who we are.

A trio of masked pickups descended on a midwest constuction site today.

Film at eleven!