Last evening I attended a celebration for Jim Condon, Plymouth High School Principal. He was being honored for being named Indiana High School Principal of the Year. I’m not sure what one does to stand out amongst your peers in the field of High School Principals, but being named such by peer review from other principals makes it quite an honor. Dan Tyree, Plymouth Superintendent of Schools, emceed the event where Jim received several awards and accolades. Plymouth Mayor, Mark Senter, spoke and presented Jim with a proclamation of Plymouth’s appreciation for him, part of which was to name December 11, 2014 Jim Condon Day in Plymouth.
Mayor Senter Congratulating Jim Condon
I mainly know Jim through our association on the Marshall County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC) Board. Jim came on the board several years ago and in the time since I have grown to respect his thoughtful approach to all matters. I’m proud to call Jim a friend and also proud of his well-earned award. Congratulations Jim!
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.
What a difference a week makes. Last week the EFIS crew was finishing up with the base material. (See Below) This week we have the finish coat in place. Is that Blue or is that BLUE! Ha! Time to install the Chevy sign!
I was fortunate to be invited to attend Ron Liechty’s 80th Birthday Party at the Conservation Club on Saturday. It was a surprise party put on by his family and it was nice to see the community come out to celebrate with him.
I’ve known Ron for over a decade and I am pleased to call him a friend. My initial introduction was through Easterday Construction’s work on Garden Court projects. Up until this year Ron has been the President of Garden Court. This is a case of a client becoming a friend… A goal I have with all of our clients.
If I hadn’t met Ron through work, I’m sure I would have known him through other associations. It seems like he has been an ubiquitous fixture in Plymouth and Marshall County over the last several decades, serving on various boards and in many cases taking on the leadership and spearheading projects. He is an example of someone giving back to the community. This is an example I try to follow and try to encourage others to pursue.
