Well, the cold weather is finally upon us again.  Mother Nature has been pretty cooperative for us this year, at least in this part of the county.  We’ve had an excellent season to date.  Mike Naber and Carl Iezek produced over 200,000 tons of state approved concrete sand, starting in Independence and finishing the season at Tama.  They moved the equipment in a safe and timely manner.  This was accomplished with the help of many people dropping what they were doing to give us a hand.  The sacrifice at some locations to allow these workers to help did not go unnoticed and is greatly appreciated.

The Ready Mix side of the Tama division experienced the biggest year in yardage since I began working here, and possibly the most productive ever!  It was a very demanding year, trying to coordinate mixer help; scheduling (nobody ever wants to wait on the other guy to pour his concrete first) and lining up cement powder and concrete stone.  My hat goes off to Elmer, Dwight and Tommy for all they did to get us what we needed.  It seems like in today’s world no one wants to give notice as to what they will be doing the next day!

Dave Sokol got his feet pretty wet this year learning the batching system, scheduling, and ordering the necessary products to make it all happen.  He took a couple of butt-chewings along the way but did the best he could with what he had to work with, and he never broke stride.  The rest of the crew here also did a fine job this year.  There were countless numbers of late night and Saturdays this season.  Tempers flared only occasionally (too much togetherness, I guess?). 

We got through it all with no major mishaps or incidents.  I hope everyone has a safe holiday season!  Don’t forget your safety rules, even when you are on your own time.  Nobody wants to hurt someone else due to their own carelessness.