After the pouring rain...

It doesn't look like much progress is being made, but according to Lorren, there were

quite a few trucks hauling dirt out and about today. We had so much rain today,

I'm surprised it didn't turn into good sized pond!

The gate was open when I went up, so Lorren thought

I ought to take advantage of a different vantage point:

In the blink of an eye...

Well, it was actually a pretty l..o..n..g blink.  I was surprised to see how much dirt has been moved.  I get so anxious!  It's fun to see the changes isn't it? 

Below is a picture taken from the west.  There isn't enough contrast in the steps of dirt to the east to really see how much has been taken out.

The rest of the pictures below were taken from the south side.

And then there was a hole...

I was surprised yesterday (Saturday) to see puffs of smoke rising from earth movers. 

They're hauling off dirt now and it's starting to look like something's going on...yea!

The picture below gives you a better picture of what's going on:

Christmas tree fence temporarily down

When we drove by the temple site today, the Christmas tree fencing on the east along

Main Street was down.  Apparently there had been complaints to the mayor that the

sidewalk needs to be accessible for the school kids walking to and from going to school. 

So they complied and moved the fencing to the west side of the sidewalk.  So I hurried

and took some pictures through a portion of the fence that was down. 

 I guess they've started to haul away dirt.

To the naked eye...

It was 7:15 pm when I took these pictures and the big machinery was still going.  I'm sure the work is progressing, but it doesn't look a whole heck of a lot different than yesterday.  I'm sure if one of the equipment operators read that they'd be stymied...I have no doubt they worked hard all day.  But it's moving forward rock by rock.

WooHoo! The serious stuff has begun! I haven't looked things over

since the weekend, so I was excited to see the progress!

The first three shots below were taken from the south side of the block. 

Notice that another office trailer was brought in on the SW corner (now there are three). 

Be sure to click on any image you'd like to enlarge to see more detail.

The shots below were taken from the west side of the block

This is the view from the porch of the tabernacle.

Anticipation...

It's kind of like listening to Carly Simon sing "Anticipation" and waiting for that big drop of catsup to fall from the neck of the bottle.  Will it ever happen?  We noticed that there was some movement of a couple of big diggers (I'm a girl...what do you want me to call them?), but surmised that they were merely breaking up cement and asphalt.  A couple of huge metal trash bins were moved to the center west part of the lot (the blue on the left of the center picture below), right next to the office/shed, and right where I stand to take my pictures.  I guess I'll have to figure out something else.  So, the pictures today weren't too hot.

The machine in the rear center of the picture below was doing

some dirt moving, but I couldn't really see that too well.

Trying to get a better picture below of what was being done,

but just couldn't quite make it.  Is the actual hole for the temple being started? 

We'll have to wait til Monday...

Rumors...only rumors!

It's rumored that a camera might be put up so that everyone can watch the temple go up.  How great would that be?!  Hopefully it will happen!

A little bit of digging...

First of all, I need to tell you that the luau fence grass really looks more like recycled Christmas trees. So from now on I'll refer to it as Christmas tree fencing. I was speculating over the purpose of it with a friend today and she suggested it might be as a "dust catcher" once the building gets going. Pretty good guess as far as I'm concerned.

Lest you think I'm shirking...

Not much has visably happened since I posted last week. It looks like there's maybe there's another large piece of machinery, but that's about it. Keep checking back. Hopefully they'll begin excavating soon!

 

More "drying paint"

The temple lot is now completely sealed up tight with the luau grass fence and there are absolutely no peepholes.  What are they trying to hide?!  I parked next to the fence, opened

the car door and stood on the doorjam (do cars even have doorjams?). On tippy toes I could capture the image which shows....absolutely nothing. I'm sure they worked hard, it's just not evident. It's pretty amazing, though, how much they've done in just four days. I just want the temple to be done next week!

They mean business!

Well, the porta-potties are installed as is the construction "shack"...so they must mean business! The luau fences are continuing to go in.

Below you can see the construction office in the background.

A little preliminary digging going on.

The 4-way stop on 3rd S and 1st W (3rd S is one way going west).

Is this all a little bit like watching paint dry?  I'm sure it'll get more interesting as time goes on.  I've decided to take my pictures in the evening after the crews are gone

as I might have to get creative to find visual access.

A roadblock of faux grass

I found out today that the plan is to put chain link fencing with "faux grass" all the way around the temple lot. It looks a little like someone behind the barriers is going to have a wild luau. One of the construction workers wanted to know what I was doing (he couldn't see the camera?...maybe he thought I was a spy). When I told him I'm documenting the progress of the building, he just smiled (I guess I'm not the only one). He said that we wouldn't be able to see the progress because of the fencing and that it was to prevent rubberneckers from causing accidents.  But I know there are holes in the fencing and I will prevail!

Below is a shot looking east on the south side of the temple lot. 

They're placing the cement barriers onto which they'll put the chainlink fencing.

Here's a shot of the "luau" fencing.

This is looking east with the temple lot to the right.

This is looking north.  They've made 100 West behind the temple a

one way/one lane street.  They've also closed 300 South

for now but I think the plan is for it to be a one way as well.