Culver Wellhead Protection Map
Map of Town of Culver wellhead aquifer area
I received the handy-dandy map to the right in the mail from the Town of Culver the other day along with a letter from Dave Schoeff, Culver Town Manager, talking about various procedures for protecting the well water for Culver’s municipal wells. All of it was a good reminder as ground water contamination isn’t something that people think about on a day to day basis. I doubt many people think about where the municipal tap water comes from beyond the faucet to which it is attached. I doubt many people really looked at the map either. Aside from the weird abbreviation for street “Str.” and the random dashed line area floating above the Lutheran Church property, two other things struck me. First being that the aerial photography for the base map is old. Construction began on Culver Garden Court in 2011 and it is not shown in the photograph. The second and more interesting thing pertinent to recent discussions is that the 10 year protection line extends very close to the current Culver Zoning Boundary.
Hopefully this will be added to the list of reasons why Culver should be allowed to extend their Territorial Authority per the Comprehensive Plan. Any decisions about development in these zones should be considered against the backdrop of wellhead protection along with all the other factors. If that is the 10 year line, then the 15 year line is farther out yet, not to mention some of the locations being considered for another well might have aquifer areas even farther out. Add this to your file Dave!
Little League 2014
Easterday Construction has always sponsored a Little League team. We always ask for Easterday Green shirts and they try and accommodate us. The team is pictured to the right. I hit the organizers up about including names with the plaque. Some of those kids may work here someday and it would be fun to see the tie-in. Ha!
Constitution Day 2014
I’ve yet to hear mention on the news today that today is Constitution Day, otherwise known as Citizenship Day. Hopefully it is still discussed in our schools.
Our Constitution remains one of the most succinct documents of its type and despite being written centuries ago, it continues to hold the guiding principles that have made the United States great. That’s why it is disheartening when our leaders, those sworn to uphold it, disparage it. The most notable case of this that jumps to mind is Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg‘s comment during the reorganization of Egypt that, “I would not look to the US constitution, if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012.”
Take a moment today to remember the 39 brave men who signed that document in 1787. Their courage and commitment should be celebrated.
If you are interested in additional links and comments I’ve made on Constitution Day, use the search bar to the right.
Heartland Artists Easel
You never know what kind of call you will get around here. Diane Osborn called around the first of August and asked if we could build a 12′ tall artist easel for Heartland Artists to use for sign displays during the Blueberry Festival. That’s not exactly something we get asked every day… We did a little research to try and determine what standard dimensions for an artist easel are. It didn’t take too long to figure out that there aren’t really any standards. We eventually found one that we liked and we went about modifying it to increase dimensions and make it collapsable.
We started with three 12′ 2 x 4’s for legs, joined at the top with bolts and nuts. The front legs are the outer legs and these were beveled to allow them to come in against the back leg when spread. A fourth 12′ 2 x 4 was cut in half for two 6′ lengths. One of those pieces was ripped in half again. One of the ripped pieces was joined to the full piece in an “L” shape to create the tray to hold the display. This would be where the canvas would sit on a normal easel.
We loosely bolted the “L” piece to one front leg. At the other front leg, we placed the bolt through and inch lower, leaving it stick out slightly longer. We then notched the “L” to rest on this bolt and lock it in place. This allowed the whole thing to fold up as one linear stack when not in use and without disassembling the parts. When completed, we had things set up so that it could be assembled without tools and could stand with the nuts and bolts just finger tight. We considered adding chains from the front legs to the back leg to set the open distance, but decided this would limit the flexibility of use and would impede how it folded up.
Easel in use at the 2014 Blueberry Festival
The final touch was to drill holes in the bottoms of the legs for anchoring. These were drilled horizontally through the legs to allow attachment to stakes if the placement was on earth or other mechanical fasteners if the placement was on pavement. At 12′ high with the potential for more than 32 square feet of signage, we were concerned that it would become a big sail and blow over in the wind. (Live & Learn. This was a problem with the film reel we made several years ago and that was a lot heavier and less top heavy!)
Thanks to Bob Cooper and Mugurel Stefan here at Easterday Construction for finding the parts from stock and assembling the structure. Shelley Heiden with Heartland Artists sent us the pictures which are greatly appreciated. Best wishes to Heartland Artists for many years of use.
