October and early November temperatures were as nice as I can ever remember. Temperatures have dropped as low as 9 degrees this past week. The great weather we have been having has left us for now. Some crews have had to stop work and wait out the weather. Concrete crews are not to start paving until 34 degrees and rising. In The past few days’ temperatures have not got above 34 degrees. Trucks and equipment have had to have help starting. It’s not everyone’s favorite time of the year.

Underground crews are on the move to new job locations. Manatt items on the Central Business District in Downtown Grinnell have been completed. Larry Goodwin and his crew have moved to Knoxville to start a city project.  Brett Strong and crew have finished Grinnell Wal-Mart and are headed to the Grinnell Recycle Yard and the Brooklyn Office for their next projects. Both underground crews have had jobs this past summer that required six days a week schedule to finish project with in the working days allowed.

The crushing crew and Brian Novak are finished at Robins Quarry crushing recycle material. The crew crushed 95,000 ton of product for Wendling Quarries in the three months they produced. Their next project will be at our Ames yard, crushing asphalt. The crew will be moved and crushing by the time you read this article.

Kenny Alexander and crew have been moving all over on various jobs. End of year projects like cleaning wash out pits for ready mix plants to grading and pouring concrete footings for sand plants. If any one needs concrete work done on short notice, call Kenny. Currently the crew is stripping dirt at the Tama Sand Plant for Jeff Upah.

Concrete crews have been pushing all year for contract completions. Mike Viehdorfer, managers and crew are almost done with an Ankeny project for the Metro Division. The next project for this crew will be in Ames if weather allows. Mike is having a busy fall managing the projects since his paving foreman; B.J. Epperly injured his foot, and has had time away from work. Mike now needs to be in two places at once. 

Cortney Graber, managers and crew are finishing Cedar Rapids Airport and heading for Grinnell Wal-mart. Cortney has had a year that no one would want. This crew has been short of a mechanic most of the season. Being Superintendent and Mechanic has kept him very busy. Between Cortney, Rick Hudson and Jim Shafer the work has got done. Thanks for the effort.

Graham Cuninghame has resigned his position with Manatts as Project Manager with the PCC Division. He is now working in Texas with a bridge building company. We all wish him well in the future. I’ll miss our South African with his speech impediment. Grahams family is going to remain in Brooklyn until children graduate from High School. If you see Graham at home on the weekends, feel free to torment the guy.

The PCC Division was low bidder as subcontractor on the Mega I-235 project in Downtown Des Moines. This is the largest contract ever let by the Iowa DOT. Our portion of the project is scheduled to start in mid March and be completed by late October 2006.

Incidents and accidents are on the rise again. Fall is here with the cold weather and uncomfortable conditions. Take the time to be safe in all you do, and remind others to be safe if you see unsafe acts. The season is almost over, let’s get-r-done with no more incidents or accidents!