January 15 Update

I got called in again for flagging last night.  I had sent an email to Strategic Staffing to let them know Mom and would be available next week and got an almost immediate phone call to work last night.  They even called back to see if Mom could work too.

 

I was at Geneva Road/I-15 where Mom and I flagged last fall one time for moving a crane.  Last night we were mostly flagging for big double side-dumpers leaving the construction site.  Weather wasn't too bad.  It was around 32 when I got there at 7:00 pm and had only dropped to 29 when we were released about 1:30 am.  Never had to use the battery socks or gloves.  We had three flaggers so we were able to rotate, doing about 1 hour on and a half hour off, so we got a chance to get in the car and get warm after each hour standing around doing nothing.  No trucks showed up until about 11:30 and then there were only 2 of them.  We had another batch of 3 just before we were released so it wasn't exactly rush hour.  But the time does go kind of slowly when there isn't anything to do -- and just standing around in the cold isn't the best way to keep warm!  They were building a retaining wall and filling in behind it.  The retaining wall is made of huge pre-cast concrete panels.  Looks to me like the only thing that keeps the wall from falling over are long steel straps they bury in the dirt behind it.  The panels have notched edges so they lock together when put into place.  It as interesting watching "the boys play with their blocks".

 

Wildlife watch:  yeah, right!  In the freezing dark!  Not even pussy cat or a bird anywhere in sight.  And not even any pedestrians or even any interesting drivers.  One jerk blew his horn all they past both flaggers.  Never did quite figure out what that was all about.  We weren't even flagging at the time or in his way, just standing at our stations waiting for trucks or equipment to come.

 

Driving  home was a bit of a trip. It was VERY foggy!   I haven't seen fog like that in years.  I only hit one open patch for maybe a  half mile before I got to Payson, then it started clearing  up again just as I got to the off-ramp.  It was weird, looking back toward the freeway, the fog lay like a big roll of insulation right over the freeway.  It was deeper than the famous Tule Fog of the Central Valley in California, but still hugged the ground and was pea-soup thick.

 

Don't know if I'll get called in again tonight.  They do work on weekends, but not as much as during the week, so I might not be needed.  One thing in favor of my working is that I don't have very many hours this week, and those who have been working all week have probably hit their 40 hour limit.

 

Per Kristen's suggestion, I have created this blog.  This is a posting of the email update I sent out earlier today just to see what the "daily" updates are going to look like.

 

Guess that's about it for now.