Mineral King Bridge, Part 14

Before we begin our bridge update, have a look at view as of Saturday, October 15. The fall color is a little slow to appear this year. If you have the patience to follow this posting all the way to the end, you will be rewarded with 2 more scenery views. (or just scroll on ahead if you simply cannot control yourself!)

All four stringers are in place. Here you can see them from either end. It is fun to walk across the creek on the bridge. Not that i would know or would even dream of crawling under the bright pink caution tape. I did witness one knitter walk across the creek on an I-beam. Yes, I said, “knitter”. She is reported to have completed 5 stitches while crossing the creek.

Remember the blog entry about the cracked and drooping abutment? Here it is again, to reinforce the understanding that a new bridge was in order.

Michael, my husband who drives big yellow machines and wears green pants and a marshmallow head hardhat during the work week, is much more comfortable in his regular clothes and straw hat. Nevertheless, he is always ready to explain the work project, regardless of his attire. Here he is with our cabin friend, Glen. (Glen is the one who takes care of the Mineral King webcam.)

Thank you for your attention to the current lesson on bridge building. Here is your reward:

Mineral King Bridge, Part 13

The telehandler is swinging I-beam #2 into place. The chain is perfectly balanced, so the 3000 pounds move as easily as 3. Maybe not, but you get what I mean, right?

The marshmallow head is there to place it exactly where it belongs.

The lower shelf is the old abutment. The newer abutment is 1 foot higher.

This is the Work Leader, Ned. His marshmallow is toasted so you can distinguish him from the rest of the crew.

Are you ogling the scenery again? I don’t blame you!

2 down, 2 to go! Nice work, Marshmallow Heads!

Mineral King Bridge, Part 12

My favorite marshmallow head arrived just in time to take this beautiful photo of the last third of the bridge. (Lest you think he was lollygagging around, he was hauling up a load of stuff.) These marshmallow heads are rigging the last section to the telehandler (not to be confused with a teleprompter).

See that big yellow machine? It is the telehandler, a forklift on a telescoping arm with a 45′ reach. (Oh yeah, call me Mrs. Marshmallow Head – I get this stuff!)

Cool, hunh?

Those stringers don’t look half bad from this angle. I refer you back to Mineral King Bridge, Part 7. If the really crumbly parts are sawed off, the rest of the stringers will probably find a second life somewhere else in The Park. And, oops, did we drop an I-beam?

The pieces are stacking up. My favorite marshmallow head will haul them down the hill on a trailer. That isn’t really a load I want to meet on the Mineral King Road.

There goes the I-beam. That was just kind of stuffed underneath the bridge when Federal Highways came through in 2009 and had a cow. Those concrete pads are part of that era, and have to be cleaned out. My favorite marshmallow head donned his waders and spent some time in the stream arranging chains around them. Since he was the photographer and it is my camera and I don’t really want it to get wet, you don’t get to see that part. Besides, he is sort of modest and doesn’t want to show off too much.

Mineral King Bridge, Part 11

Have you just been dying to know what is going on with the bridge? There were 2 snow/rain days, a fake holiday, and then Michael took these photos for us on Tuesday, October 11. Since I wasn’t actually present, my comments will have to be taken with a grain of salt or two.

Abutments completed, bridge still fairly intact, marshmallow heads making plans for bridge removal. (If you are squeamish about the thought of this bridge getting hauled away, you might want to change channels now.)

ARE YOU KIDDING ME???!! That man is using a chainsaw on the deck boards!

He really is! See the swept off portions? See the cut marks running the length of the bridge? Holy cow! So much for the deck boards getting salvaged and removed. . . there must have been at least ten different requests for them. They really weren’t in that good of shape.

Bye-bye, railing that has known countless butts.

Sniff.

The chainsaw massacre continues. Sometimes a man’s gotta do what he’s gotta do.

Now what are they going to do with the pieces?

‘Scuse me, please. This California artists needs to go lie down for a bit.

Random Thoughts on the real Columbus Day

1. There is a strange thing about my daily paintings of fruit. Have you noticed that all of the fruits begin with the letter “P”? This is truly peculiar. Peculiar P Paintings: pomegranate, persimmon, pumpkin, pear, pepper, plum, peach. It is true that I haven’t shown you all of these in this particular series, but it is something I have puzzled and pondered.

2. Columbus Day is my birthday. Just sayin’. The real Columbus Day, not the fakey convenient Monday closest to October 12 for the purpose of making my birthday cards late and banks closed. I’m sort of old now, so not supposed to notice. Anyway, Happy Birthday to Careen, Nicole, Norman, Kim, Kenny Wing, Reggie and Regina Powers, and any other birthday twin who shares this date with me, past or present in my life.

3. Hey Carol, if you are reading this, I hope you made me some soap!

4. Remember I am working on a HUGE project, as of yet mostly unrevealed? Have a look at another portion of it:

5. I love to draw. 😎

6. I might want to live at Hearst Castle. Barring that, I’d settle for Cayucos.

Daily Painting, Continued

If you tuned in to this blog for the Mineral King Bridge update, I’m sorry to disappoint you today. Instead of watching my husband work on the bridge project, we spent the weekend at the coast in honor of 25 years of marriage. This gives me a chance to show you a few more paintings, even though I suspect you might be wishing for bridge photos. Just be polite, ‘kay?

Sold. (But I can paint another for you)

Daily Painting Catch-up

Here is proof that I actually do work in addition to watch the marshmallow-heads at the bridge in Mineral King. Yes, my business and website and car license plate and studio and business cards all say Cabinart, but sometimes Cabinart brings you kitchen-art. (I said “kitchen”, not “kitsch”). This California artist has to paint items that sell to those of you with gorgeous yellow/golden/reddish kitchens. These paintings are currently for sale at Colors, the art gallery and studio of Wendy McKellar in Three Rivers.

Mineral King Bridge, Part 9

Yesterday I left you all with the cliff-hanger of how to extract the heavy Wacker out of the abutment area, which is well below the height of the road. I hope it wasn’t too suspenseful for you. If it robbed you of a night’s sleep, please forgive me. Here is your answer:

The claw thingie of the big yellow machine just lifted the little yellow machine right out of the hole! Isn’t that the coolest operation?? These marshmallow-headed, shovel leaning road guys are brilliant, innovative and efficient! There is no need for you to question the wise use of your tax dollars when it comes to this road crew.

After the gravel is tamped smooth, a layer of plastic meshy fabric goes down again. There are many layers of gravel and this plastic stuff. HEY! I said, “plastic stuff” and you are ogling the views again! Stop that – I’m trying to explain the bridge project to you.

Mineral King Bridge, Part 8

Our marshmallow-headed, shovel-leaning road guys are hard at work, spreading the gravel as they build up the abutment on the closer side of the bridge. But wait, there’s more!

After they spread the gravel, it has to be tamped. “Tamped?” I can hear you asking. Yeppers. There is a machine for that.  It is yellow, of course.

It is a heavy machine with a flat surface and it sort of vibrates and smashes the gravel into a smooth-ish surface. It weighs a lot, and it is called a Wacker. I am not making this up!

Neener, neener, I told you it was called a Wacker! Just wait until tomorrow – you won’t believe your eyes when I show you how the road guys get the Wacker out of the abutment area. Ooh, will you be able to sleep tonight with the anticipation of this new information??