What I Saw Today

[Haggis@wk]

I spenf a lot of time in my car, mostly on back and country roads in north Texas. I see all sorts of things that I consider to be out of the ordinary and/or visually pleasing. I went to Royse City today and here's what I thought were worthy of photography.



This crew just moved this house and roof from about 10 miles away. They told me they're going to put the roof on sometime tomorrow. I'm tempted to go back and watch the process. Regardless, I'll eventually get a photo of it after its been put back together.













Horses are, obviously, ubiquitous in Texas but these caught me eye. They were apparently expecting a handout.




This is St. Anthonys Catholic Church in Wylie, TX. This is no longer used, there's a newer one behind this one but I think this one is very stricking.

[piqaboo]

Lovely church.

I'd like to watch them re-pair the house and roof too. Wow!

[dai bread]

Interesting exercise in house-moving. I take it you have wide, unobstructed roads in that part of Texas.

Our guys would have left the roof in place and sawn the whole house into as many pieces as were appropriate. The roof trusses would probably have been cut so that the roof could be lowered. Then they would have lifted the power and phone lines over the top as the truck progressed along the road, or possibly had the power company take them down and put them back up again. Only a full two-storey house gets cut horizontally like that one.

We don't have wide, unobstructed roads.

[Haggis@wk]

Interesting exercise in house-moving. I take it you have wide, unobstructed roads in that part of Texas.

Our guys would have left the roof in place and sawn the whole house into as many pieces as were appropriate. The roof trusses would probably have been cut so that the roof could be lowered. Then they would have lifted the power and phone lines over the top as the truck progressed along the road, or possibly had the power company take them down and put them back up again. Only a full two-storey house gets cut horizontally like that one.

We don't have wide, unobstructed roads.

Dai,
It's a fairly small two lane road but there is at least one railroad bridge between the two locations so the roof had to come off. It was moved at night with a police escort. It seems I might have to go again later today and I'll get a photo of the road. Plus there's a railroad bridge I'd like to get a photo of.

[piqaboo]

In our area there is one bridge where the semi and trailer w house need to cross the curb-center-divide, in order to get under the bridge (the road slopes up to the west, the bridge is level).
Traffic gets stopped a few hundred feet back while we all watch the rig/trailer/house crawl across the center divider (about 8" high and 10 ft wide), come under the bridge, then crawl back across again.

[Haggis@wk]

Here's some updates. They planned this for about a month and moved it seven miles on one night. They had to pull up the mailboxes ans signs along the route and then replaced them after the house and roof went through. Dai, I took a picture of the road, FYI. They startedd jacking up the roof today and they'll pull the house undeer it, reattach the roof, then lower it to the foundation.
















File these under "Everything's bigger in Texas"

[dai bread]

Those house-lifting jacks are intriguing too. Our guys use plain hydraulic jacks under the edges of the building. They put them on wide base plates.

Houses are heavy. I tried jacking up my Auckland place once. I put a concrete block under a 12-ton hydraulic bottle jack and went to work. The block disappeared into the earth. The house didn't even creak. It was only one storey too.

[Haggis@wk]

Went for a ride Sunday morning to check on the status of the house. I hope to go up tomorrow, Tuesday, to check on it again.



This is almost across the street from the house. I've seen a lot of strange animals wandering around peoples' yards in north Texas but camels is definitely a first!

[Shapley]

We shipped a 26' diameter tank conic section down the road several years ago. It was not a long distance, but we had to cross a 16' wide creek bridge that was load limited.

We placed a crane at the far end of the bridge, lifted the tank off the trailer at the bridge and swung it across the creek, and reloaded it on the other side. The rest of the move was a piece of cake.

The cost of re-enforcing the tank section to make it transportable in smaller sections would have been much higher than the cost of shipping it as we did.

[Haggis@wk]

The MRHYN won a local radio contest that took us to the Dallas Art Museum t and a nice lunch with our favorite radio personality and a docent conducted tour of the "Mourners"

Each statue was 14" - 16" tall and carved out of alabaster. I was enthralled for hours just sitting and looking at the variety

Here is the schedule of museums where they will be displayed.

•October 3, 2010 - January 2, 2011: Dallas Art Museum (Dallas, TX)
•January 23, 2011 - April 17, 2011: Minneapolis Institute of Art (Minneapolis, MN)
•May 8, 2011 - July 31, 2011: Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles, CA)
•August 21, 2011 - January 1, 2012: Legion of Honor (San Francisco, CA)
•January 20, 2012 - April 15, 2012: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond, VA)

I encourage those who can see them do so. After the current U.S. tour they go back to Dijon, France where they say they will never leave France again.

It was such a visual and emotional treat.

Piq, I certainly encourage you to take 'toid and Selma to see them when they are in L.A.

[Shapley]

Impressive website! My home computer is too slow to view all of the 3D models, but I ran one and it was very impressive!

[piqaboo]

Good stuff!
If we miss them in LA, we may need to go to France to see them, ne c'est pas?

[Selma in Sandy Eggo]

Just googled the museum - it's just west of the tar pits, on Wilshire. Altoid'd like to see the tar pits, too, yes? I'm still looking for my pet smilodon (every Telzey needs a TickTock...)

On the gripping hand, the cat box duty would be epic.

[piqaboo]

I've been waiting patiently to start us on the phantom tollbooth - we're getting so close!

True, but I'd rather not see the tarpits in summer. However, life is all about compromise.
When we go, wanna come w? Bring your fambly?

[Schmeelkie]

Funny you bring up THe Phantom Tollbooth - husband picked it up a few months ago and we've been reading off and on to Pumpkin. Actually finished last night. I hadn't read it when I was younger, so this was my first time - however - have to read it again as I started reading it to Pumpkin on chapter 5 - missed the beginning! Great ending (Milo: 'Well, time flies, doesn't it?').

[Haggis@wk]

I just can't recommend it more. One of the cowled monks face was several inches inside the cowl and was looking down. I had to almost get on my knees to see the face but the details are amazing. We had the great advantage that our tour was narrated by a very knowledgeable docent who's passion for the exhibit was obvious.

BTW, look up "John the Fearless" whose son was "Phillips the Good" and grandson who was "Anthony the Bastard." I kept hearing the refrain from "The Holy Grail" about Brave Sir Robin

[Haggis@wk]

We visited the Cottonwood Arts Festival in Richardson, TX yesterday. The photos are at this link http://www.pbase.com/jimhogue/cottonwood_art_festival I even tood a photo for Selma!!