Daily Log Entries — Operations — November 2008
Wednesday, 19 November 2008
There ain't no jeebees, like the heebee jeebees . . .
OnC
2:22 A.M. Arrived and entered the community from Live Oak entrance. Drove through the city streets and observed no apparent lighting outages, and no parking violations. Some activity on Vista Ct. by residents parked behind their garage (two), but they were loading and unloading their vehicle.
2:35 A.M. Opened office and deactivated alarm. Fired up computer and began log entries. No phone messages on main line and no electronic mail.
Reviewing Yesterday's Disappointment While the men performed well and efficiently (two hours) installing yesterday's sod at Surry and the patching of sod at Scenic and Live Oak, they did overlook the irrigation of the sod patching. The sod is shipped dry on pallets because: less weight for shipping, less weight for handling/installing, and to eliminate onset of fungal disease. When weather is as hot as it was yesterday sod must be wetted in sections as it is installed to keep it viable. Once a whole section is installed, irrigation is run for 30 minutes, allowing moisture to soak the 2" of soil attached to the roots of the sod sections. The men followed the procedure I outlined for maintaining moisture for the sod at the Surry Ct. section admirably. However, yesterday afternoon as I drove to the adult pool with the counter top contractor and as I passed Scenic, I spotted the pieced-in sod and immediately noticed it was in wilt. I phoned the Foreman and he directed a gardener to immediately hand water those dozen sections of sod. I shall inspect today at daybreak to discern if any of those sod pieces reached the PWP (Permanent Wilt Point) — the minimal point of soil moisture the plant requires to remain viable. If moisture decreases to this or any lower point a plant wilts and can no longer recover its turgidity when placed in a saturated atmosphere for 12 hours — it succumbs. The devil does reside in the myriad of daily details.
2:56 A.M. Daily Planning
Office: Barbara will be working at her home terminal today processing checks, printing checks, and performing numerous other bookkeeping tasks.
Operations: Check on all newly installed sod. Direct that the appropriate quantity of starter fertilizer is applied, and establish the irrigation clock timings for the related stations to be comprised of four daily start times of ten minutes, until next week, and those timing durations will likely vary due to daytime temperatures - expected to drop for several days. Direct the roofing crew to transport the hot kettle machine to Wagonwheel to facilitate flat roof replacement. Kettle was pre-warmed yesterday at its storage location. Once transported, kettle must be chained appropriately for its security, yet be in the proper position to allow the 3" steel pipes used to pump the hot asphalt (550°f) up to the roof, to extend to the proper height and at the proper angel to reach the subject flat roof. Expecting a visit by another counter top contractor today.
At daybreak, I shall inspect the status of the laws in the second half of the community to determine if this week's mowing operations can be prudently skipped. This would free up manpower for additional sod installation, providing we can schedule a Thursday morning delivery.
Yesterday we measured the family pool and noted the various depths. I shall calculate the quantity of total water volume using factor of 7.48 gallons of liquid per cubic feet of volume. This will provide knowledge needed to determine the flow rate required to completely turnover all pool water either every 6 or 8 hours. We are hopefully grand fathered in at the original 1970 code rate of 8 hours, rather than the newer code rate of 6 hours. This is important since if we must comply with the 6 hour rate, that could increase costs significantly with the addition of a second 3 horsepower motor and pump, and increasing the pipe diameter from the pump room to the pool, and that task would require breaking up all the concrete from the pool to the pump room, and then replacing it all. This is another currently unknown circumstance that could go either way depending on county inspections and their interpretation of their codes. In turn, this unknown circumstance resulted in us receiving bid proposals that varied vastly in amounts, adding additional confusion to the issue of pool compliance.
Family pool is: 29' in width, 58' in length, with average depth of 5.5'. Thus 58*29*5.5= 9,251 cubic feet. 9,251*7.48 = 69,000 gallon capacity. For an 8 hour turnover, we need to maintain a flow rate of 146 gallons per minute. For 8 hour turnover, 195 GPM. I shall check our flow meter in the pump room this morning to determine our current rate.
Our men disassembled and cleaned all the filter grids within two filter canisters at the family pool late yesterday afternoon at my direction, since the water was visually murky in appearance, no doubt due to winds and fire debris. This will be a good time to check flow rates since pump is operating efficiently due to clean filter grids.
Maintenance: Begin sloped and flat roof replacement work on Wagonwheel Cir., including: starter board replacement at eaves, damaged plywood, and fascias. Fertilize, and set irrigation timers as directed for newly installed sod. Organize mowing crews to begin mowing of Phase I and II - obtain gasoline, oil, install cord as required on weed-eaters, blades on edgers, and clean and make adjustments to mowers. Work on adult pool restrooms as time and manpower are available.
6:56 A.M. Inspected lawn areas in second half of community. Due to short length of grass, we will be able to skip mowing until next week, if need be.
7:05 A.M. All men present and accounted for except two on vacation, and one in hospital. Barbara will not be present today. Discussed today's plans and priorities with Juan.
7:15 A.M. Telephoned sod grower and ordered 1,500 Sq. Ft. sod to be delivered tomorrow morning.
7:32 A.M. Left premises for food break.
8:00 A.M. Returned to office.
8:09 A.M. Seriously delinquent off-site owner with initials of D.L. dropped off envelope with cashiers check to pay full balance.
8:05 A.M. Researched possible family pool filtration issues: pump and pipe sizing problem. Seemingly, not enough flow rate due to pump head resistance resulting from pump being several feet higher in elevation than the pool water, and the longer than usual distance the pipe runs. Obviously, a problem created from the pool's and pool equipment's inception.
10:21 A.M. Status Update Drove to end of Calico Ct. Men attempting to prepare the soil, sprinkler work all completed. But, there are numerous large tree roots just below the surface - too many to cut and dig out in this lifetime. So, I'm pondering whether to replant the six trees that were removed five years ago because of age and disease, and plant a ground cover in that area instead of lawn. Drove to Wagonwheel roof replacement project. Much work remains due to original flashing defects in several areas where the small flat roof intersects with the two separate sloped roofs, one on each long side. Thus, many shakes on the non leaking sloped roofs had to be removed to permit proper size of flashing to be installed at those critical areas. Mowing, weed-eating and edging work in progress in Phase I.
10:45 A.M. Men breaking for 45 minute lunch period.
11:30 A.M. Men back from lunch break. Juan requested two petty cash checks, one for the Hitching Post, and one for Home Depot. Checks for propane and nails for roofing project. Requested Juan to have the gardeners lower the mower height by one notch for the balance of mowing.
12:36 P.M. Status Update Checked the newly mowed lawns at the front of Butte Ct/Country Lane. The lawn in this area with the lower cut still looks great. The lower cut during the hot summer months made the new lawns less attractive, so we raised the cutting height. Now, with hopefully cooler weather ahead and a lower cut, we may be able to begin skipping a week in between mowings, and during the coldest months, we'll skip two weeks in-between as we did last winter.
12:38 P.M. Left Premises. OfC
1:05 P.M. Returned to office OnC
1:10: P.M. Checked the lawns across from the clubhouse as mowing work was winding up. Noticed dry areas in several locations. Used soil moisture probe and checked random samples. Amazing. Most all of the area was hydrophobic, some worse than others - hard dry soil, unable to absorb water/moisture. Diagnoses: hydrophobic conditions created this past weekend due to high daytime/nighttime temperature, with accompanying dry, hot winds. Directed the men to begin running short, repeated durations of irrigation to break the hydrophobicity, and restore suitable soil moisture. This will add considerably to our already over budget water use - but it is not due to the type of grass, or mulch we used to prepare the soil, it's simply the weather conditions that continue unseasonably hot and dry. Even the numerous Sycamore trees have not dropped fall leaves, since they too continue to think it's still summer.
1:48 P.M. Left the premises for the day. OfC