My Front Yard

If you've never been here before, this page is one of many.  It's all explained here - the beginnings.
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and the Architectural Renderings

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The Kingdome Comes Down...

 February 2001

remember, all photos are thumbnails - click on them to get the bigger version
When you click on  you get a really big version of today's photo!  
020101.jpg (62985 bytes)Thursday, February 1, 2 p.m. - You can see even more of the trusses ready for installation. And the northwest wall got its steel reinforcements today.  I know it's February and this is still the January page but I'm waiting until I have time this weekend to fix all that.  Oh, and a couple of people have conjectured that the pole next to the middle rusty thingie is a shaft for an elevator to get people and equipment to the top for working... interesting idea, eh?
020201.jpg (60027 bytes)Friday, February 2, 11:30 a.m. - I didn't get  a great shot today and, I got home again just as it was getting dark to see that even more of the trusses had been laid out this afternoon.  I got a note earlier this morning saying that the Seattle Times says the trusses are going up on Sunday.  After that I got a note from a woman at stadium.org that they have decided to do it on Saturday.  Either way, I'll be here with the camera.  So, stay tuned!!  Oh and also, you guys were right!  The long pole looking thing next to the middle rusty thingie is, indeed, the shaft of an elevator.  You guys are good!
020301.jpg (62298 bytes)Saturday, February 3,  3 p.m. - The work started this morning nearly before daylight.  And then, unfortunately, the sun came out so my photos of the early work today didn't work at all.  But, I could get luckier tomorrow.  The sections you see up there now - on top of the south and middle towers - weighs 196,000 pounds and takes all four cranes (three to life and one to hold onto the first piece they put up.  You can't see it in the photo but there is a porta potty on the top of the south rusty thingie (in case anyone was worried).  And, there's a wind meter atop the middle one. If the wind gets greater than 15 mph, they have to shut down.  The sections should extend all the way to the north tower by Thursday and then they will start at the south end again with the top sections.  It's going to be a great week!
020401.jpg (71505 bytes)Sunday, February 4, noon - They worked hard today and look what they got done!  It's really taking shape now.  I caught the elevator in the up position.  At the time I took this there was a fair amount of welding going on, too and I could see yellow glows at some of the steel intersections.  It was pretty cool but didn't show up in the photo.  It must be so amazing to be up there working. As I type this it is 3:30 and I think they must be close to quitting because the wind has really picked up. 
020501.jpg (72123 bytes)Monday, February 5, 4 p.m. - Talk about dramatic!  I know, soon, we'll hit a patch when they start working on the side we can't see and the changes on our side will come more slowly but this truss installation is just amazing to see.  Hey, I got a note from Greg in Ontario, Canada with a link to his neighborhood implosion earlier this week in London, Ontario.  Great photos!
020601.jpg (70897 bytes)Tuesday, February 6, 4 p.m. - More progress.  They are all set up, in this photo, to lift up the next section.  I was hoping they would do it while I still had good light but it looks like they are just getting it ready for tomorrow.  More new picks at First and Goal!  Thanks, Tony!  
020701.jpg (69902 bytes)Wednesday, February 7, 4 p.m. - I love scrolling down through this past week and seeing that truss grow.  And, they are ahead of schedule.  They were supposed to connect up to the north lump on Thursday!  That truss is an amazing thing to see.  It's just beyond me how they make that all work.
020801.jpg (71484 bytes)Thursday, February 8, 4:15 p.m. - We actually had snow this morning!  I tried to capture it in a photo but it wouldn't show up.  And while it snowed for several hours it all melted when it hit the ground.  Sigh.  I do love snow.  I got a note this morning from Greg who is chewing on some ideas for the stadium opening and a possible gathering of all of us who have watched the progress.  That's a ways away, but, it got me thinking that maybe a mailing list would be a good way to for all of us to gather together virtually.  So I started one up.  If you want to join - and I hope many of you will - go to the mailing list web page and join up!  Or send an email to clamcam-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.  
020901.jpg (72264 bytes)Friday, February 9, 5 p.m. - The lid on the truss is growing.  There's only one section yet to go then it will be complete from the middle rusty thingie to the far southern lump.  Notice too, that I got a fine photo at 5 p.m.  A month ago, it would have been too dark.  Longer days make my life much easier!  We already have 10 members of the mailing list!  Come on an join us.  It will be fun.
021001.jpg (71300 bytes)Saturday, February 10, 3 p.m. - I've got some real info about the truss!  The lid that is being laid on top of the sections that are there is the same height as the main roof will be.  And the truss, itself, will get another layer that will raise it up 30 more feet!  Notice how the truss is connected to the bottom parts of the two lumps?  Well, when the top sections get added, it will tie into the top of the lumps.  And, by the way, the truss that's up there now is called the tri-cord and the one that will go on top is called the box arch.  How about that for some real info?!
021101.jpg (71107 bytes)Sunday, February 11, 1 p.m. - Today's arrow (and isn't it cool how I got it to bend around?) shows how the roof will go from themodel.jpg (23607 bytes) top of the truss as it's installed now to the top of those little pointy things at the back of the seats...  Actually, here's a photo that better explains what I mean.  And you can see how the box arch will sit on top of what's there today.  Also, I got some very cool photos from 'inside the bowl' (that's what the in crowd calls where the field will be) from last Saturday when they first began installing the truss.  I've added them to the tour page.
021202.jpg (72433 bytes)Monday, February 12, 5 p.m. - We got a new crane today.  Peter saw it on the way to work and sent a note.  He calls it Big Blue.  It's really much more spectacular than this photo shows, but I did get it 'in action'.  Notice, too, that the northwest wall is getting filled in even more.
021302.jpg (71934 bytes)Tuesday, February 13, 5 p.m. - Several of you caught the first of the roof struts yesterday... today they added more (see circle) and extended the line above the seats where the roof will sit (see arrow).  Really cool.  Oh and Tony found that First and Goal has more new photos up and some of them are very neat.
021402.jpg (68454 bytes)Wednesday, February 14, 1:30 p.m. - Today was just foggy-ish all day and I couldn't get a good, clear photo.  But, the piece on the top of the seats was finished off to the north end today - you'll see it in tomorrow's photo and I did learn that that piece is actually a perimeter gutter to catch water from the roof.  And, I also learned that Big Blue is actually one of two Manitowoc 4600's that have been there all along but it was re-configured to reach up to and over the truss.  Cool, eh?  Oh and Tony found me in a piece about the construction...  They asked for a quote a while ago and, of course, I was happy to provide.
021501.jpg (72673 bytes)Thursday, February 15, 2:30 p.m. - This morning I got an email from Dan who is the operator of Big Blue!!!  He's reading along with us.  Isn't that the coolest?! (And, I love his email address "craneologist").  In today's photo you can see Big Blue and Little Blue.  Big is the one with the fancy elbow near the south end.  And while we've all been focused up high, the ground guys have been working.  You can see that they've done more work on the scoreboard area and are closing in on finishing that southwest wall.  
021601.jpg (82442 bytes)Friday, February 16, 8:30 a.m. - Much to tell.  First of all SNOW!  Yep, we got some.  Now too much down here but the surrounding areas got a good bit.  I got an early photo so I could capture it.  Jr_Sites discovered in previous photos that they are apparently installing the glass in the suites already. I circled the area where the activity is going on.  And Dan, Big Blue's operator, sent some interesting factoids about his charge.  He says that he has 224 feet of tower and 210 feet of working boom.  Just add that one up for a whopping 434 feet.  That's an incredible number to me.  Wild.  Thanks, Dan!
021701.jpg (64845 bytes)Saturday, February 17, 1:p.m. - Well, the snow was fun but it is gone and replaced with a haze that prevents me from getting a great photo today.  However, I did get a note from Dan the Craneologist on Big Blue.  He says he works with his oiler, Lou, who keeps Big Blue humming.  And talks to an ironworker on the phone who is often his 'eyes' since he can't see everything from his cab.  (Can you imagine wielding a 434 foot arm working blind?!)  He also says his cab is actually separate from the house of the crane and it is both heated in Winter and air conditioned in Summer and insulated!  I may just have to see if he and Lou need a helper sometime.
021801.jpg (71077 bytes)Sunday, February 18, 2:30 p.m. - There was at least one big machine working today.  It was one of the bulldozer kind of machines working around the rock pile.  With all the roof stuff going on, I haven't pointed out some other action.  Today's red circles are around two curious pieces being built in the work area. They have, I suspect, important futures but it's hard to tell as what right now.
021901.jpg (76380 bytes)Monday, February 19, 3 p.m. - Today's photo has to be entitled 'The Crane Salute'!  They are all pointing to something up there.  Dan, the operator on Big Blue, says Little Blue is operated by one of his closest friends, Al and Al's oiler is Joe. Al and Dan have been working cranes together for more than 20 years!  Dan's crane will go back to Little Blue's size when the east side roof is done which, he says, will be in about 4 weeks.
022001.jpg (72371 bytes)Tuesday, February 20, 3:30 p.m. - I still have no idea what's going on in today's red circle.  They built that curious thing up and now there are two guys welding a railing of sorts on to the top of it. Very curious.  They have the northwest wall up to its full height.  Oh, and I got a great note in my guestbook from Ernie who will be bringing us our masonry!
022101.jpg (71327 bytes)Wednesday, February 21, 4 p.m. - Well, yesterday, Tony spied some 'horns' at the far south end of the truss and speculated that they were the beginning of the top of the truss.  BUT, today they are gone!  You can see them in yesterday's photo, right by the head of the arrow.  Very strange.  Also, Rikketyrik is guessing that maybe that platform thing I talked about yesterday might be part of the scoreboard tower eventually.   I'm skeptical but he's not been wrong before so I'm reserving judgment there.  One thing I did notice today is that there is now a porta-potty on top of the truss... it's at the bottom of today's arrow.  
022201.jpg (67600 bytes)Thursday, February 22, 4:30 p.m. - The horns were back this morning.  The shot I got at noon wasn't great but I clipped a piece of it for proof of the horns' return because by this afternoon they had been covered up or replaced by a growth on the lump!  It's the start of the truss lid.  And we got a bunch of new roof supports at the north end.  Kaj wrote with speculation that the platform thing at the bottom of the photo is going to be the inside of the elevator that they will plop into where those groove looking parts of the north towers are... Interesting.  Oh, and Dan, the Craneologist, reports that on Saturday, he and Al (in Little Blue) are going to be transferring trusses in mid-air!  I will keep the camera ready!
022301.jpg (63162 bytes)Friday, February 23, 12:30 p.m. - The mystery is solved.  The structures in the bottom of the photo - today, the main one has a black 'raincoat' on - will be placed on top of the truss that's there now.  When the top arch goes up, these little dog houses will allow the ironworkers access to the top part for welding.  Looks to me with the stuff already up there, it's going to get crowded pretty soon!
022401.jpg (71903 bytes)Saturday, February 24, 4 p.m. - Well, I missed the mid air transfer but you can see why it was needed.  Those roof supports in the middle take some real reaching that even Big Blue can't do alone.  Today's red circle is around an amazing site.  There's a guy standing up there!  No supports and no nuthin' just standing there.  A good wind could send him to 3rd base in Safeco Field!  There were several guys up there at one point.  You'd think they could find a less terrifying place to gather for a chat!
022501.jpg (77719 bytes)Sunday, February 25, 3 p.m. - Today the two Blues were doing their crane thing and we have even more roof supports.  And, I'm told that the guys up on the high beams are not untied.  They are ironworks are are tied to a very elaborate fall protection system.  They wear a full body harness when they climb up on the steel.  Whew.  I'm still not sure I'd want to be up there!
022601.jpg (74980 bytes)Monday, February 26, 2 p.m. - Look at those cool shadows on the east side seats!  And, speaking of seats... There is another batch over behind the rocks (out of the picture) and I saw a truck, today, taking a load over to the east side of the stadium.
022701.jpg (69365 bytes)Tuesday, February 27, 5 p.m. - I really like this late afternoon light.  There seems to be more of everything today.  The did finish that last northwest wall and since yesterday removed the work area that was erected in front of it.
022801.jpg (71625 bytes)Wednesday, February 28, 3 p.m. - Ok... so here's the stadium post earthquake.  My house is trashed ...  I didn't want to cheat you out of a photo but I thought you'd also like to see my house.  I've added an earthquake page for details. This afternoon I wanderedrebar.jpg (49779 bytes) out to the neighborhood and discovered that the stadium, in fact, did suffer.  The rebar on the west side just flat fell over!  They were working on it when I got this photo (I'm facing north).  I also got a note from Dan, the craneologist.  He said they had no injuries on the site.  They had some movement on the east side that they will check out tomorrow.  Everyone left the site right after the earthquake and they will go back tomorrow and assess.  He says he'll send me an update.
 

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This page last updated on 03/31/14

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