Some new activity

I'm sorry that nothing has been posted for so long but the only thing that has been happening is small groups of men wandering around blowing up rocks twice a day. Finally, the end of the blasting is in sight and today the first concrete was poured. The picture is taken from Tome library looking towards Dana (which is hidden in the trees). The other picture shows that there is still work to be done in digging out the middle wing. That picture is taken from the stairwell at the rear of Tome. I have heard, unofficially, that the blasting cost about $200,000. I'm sure there was an interesting discussion or two with the company that checked for underground rocks and reported that there would be minimal blasting needed.

Blasting!

Construction has been halted for a time for some blasting work. A large chunk of rock mysteriously appeared right in the middle of where the lower floor of the central finger should be. Some students suggested to me that the rock remain, and let the Geology Department move in around it.

According to Associate VP Ken Shultes, the first blast will be tomorrow at about 2pm. Blasting work will continue for two to three weeks -- then back to construction!

From Behind the Fence.......

I wandered over to the second floor kitchen in Tome to get these EXCLUSIVE photos of the construction site. Although not as economically lucrative as pictures of Suri Cruise or Shiloh Pitt, they are better than nothing. One picture shows a giant hole in the ground with men standing by it. The view is towards where the old Treehouse was located. The other picture is towards the front of the lot; you can see The Quarry in the background. I have it on good authority that things are proceeding on schedule so far. With a little imagination you can see the building taking shape.......

Hey, where did James go?

Demolition of the Railroad Avenue and College Street houses seemed to go slowly and I assumed that the James demolition would be the same. But I went away for a week and a half and when I came back the James Center was gone! All that remains of the former building is a concrete pad and several piles of rubble. So things are proceeding...word is that actual construction will begin in mid-August. Maybe I'll have to leave town again...

Don't forget that you can see the construction site on the web-cam.

Buildings crashing left and right......

All of the Railroad Avenue buildings have been demolished and only one of the houses on College Ave. remains. A cyclone fence has been erected around the entire work site. The webcam is now operational (as shown in the photo). Disappointingly, it is not the streaming video that I had been told it would be but is only still shots, refreshed every 15 seconds. The webcam shots can be accessed at http://cfserv.dickinson.edu/about/webcam/science.cfm

Demolition schedule!

The campus was informed of the demolition schedule via e-mail a few days ago. Starting today, the Railroad Avenue houses and the College Street houses will begin to come down. After the houses are down, James Center will be demolished. Altogether, the demolitions should take about six weeks. Kaufman Hall is now occupied by the former James Center residents, although some minor construction is still taking place at Kaufman. There is still a lot of work to do on the Louther Street entrance and the parking lot, and the energy plant on the same site as Kaufman is still under construction.

My wife and I dug up some great peonies from the yard of one of the College Street houses (with permission, of course!). It will take them about three years to flower after transplanting but these are the great old-fashioned kind with the wonderful smell so it will be worth it.

As a side note, the last house on the south side of Louther (422/424 West Louther Street) came down yesterday, soon to be replaced by a beach volleyball court. Perhaps Carlisle will become a stop on the professional volleyball tour!

Background activities

There has been a fair amount of "background activity" going on -- lots of utility work and a few trees around Tome have come down. Backhoes have opened up large holes in the ground between Tome and James. Work at the Kaufman site appears to have slowed down but a large moving van was loading up big items from James this morning. Nothing exciting (like large buildings crashing to the ground) but definitely a constant buzz of supporting activity.