Jimmy Harmon

Down in Alabama, we’re putting in new dock levelers. Before I was asked to do the job, I’m not sure I had even heard of a dock leveler. In fact, I didn’t really grasp the concept until I actually cut the concrete out, poured it back and saw everything come together.

In preparing to place a new dock leveler in concrete, we have to cut the concrete horizontally 97 inches, up on both side 12 1/2 inches and back into the concrete another 20 inches. Then we cut the back 97 inches again. Once the concrete gets cut out, we have what looks like a couch built right into the concrete. It’s actually a very cool process.

The question for me was “how can I cut 20 inches deep and 12 inches down?”

I found a saw online called the Cut N Break from Husqvarna. It claimed it could cut to a depth of 16 inches… with 8 inch blades! I did some research and all I could find was a video directly from Husqvarna showing the operator cutting a window hole out of a wall. It works with 2, 8 inch blades approximately 3/4 of an inch apart. You can cut to an initial depth of 2 1/2 inches and then you “break” and remove the center concrete. It’s VERY easy. Since there are two of us, I would start cutting 2 1/2 inches deep 97 inches horizontally and once done, I’d start cutting the next one. While I was cutting the next one, the other guy would start breaking off the concrete. Of course, it only takes about 2 minutes to break the concrete.

After comparing the electric version and he gas version, I went ahead a bought the gas version from a company called Tool Fetch, another company I’d never heard of who turned out to be excellent!

I’ll just go ahead and get to the meat of the story. The saw not only works, but it works better than I ever thought it would! It does in fact cut to a depth of 16 inches, and it does so with ease! I’ll admit that cutting horizontally isn’t as easy as cutting up and down, but it does the job rather nicely, and it’s pretty darn quick too. I hope to buy another one in the near future.

Talking to her on the phone now… well, video chat anyway. God I miss my family. I sure could use a hug from each of my kids and my wife! Talking on video chat just isn’t the same. It’s ok, but I sure could use the real thing!

It’s about time for bed, so I guess i”ll go to sleep and dream about where I’d really rather be.

Who Turned Out The Lights?

The first phase of Cullman is done!

Moving on to the next phase should go a little easier. We won’t have near as many people watching us this time either. Now that we seem to have a system, everything seems to be going a little more smoothly.

We actually had the ability to start cutting again last Thursday. We got quite a bit cut and called it a day since it was late when they decided we could start. Yesterday we finished cutting the outside and started working on the inside cuts. Today we’ll continue cutting the inside. Hopefully we’ll finish and be able to start removing the concrete.

I also heard from a financing guy last night indicating that I might be able to get their financing for the wall saw we need. If that goes through, we’ll have it made when we go to Virginia… Hopefully! We only have 20 positions here in Alabama, but we have 46 in Virginia. The saw will come in very handy to say the least!

My wife asked me last night what I wanted for my birthday which is March 3rd. I told her nothing, but what I really want more than anything in the world is simply to see them in person! That would make my year!!! It just costs around $300 in gas and then another $300 for motel and food while they’re here. It probably won’t happen, but it’s what I’d like for my birthday anyway. I sure do miss them. I sure do miss them. I sure do miss them! It helps just to say it… sorry.

Well, I guess I should go. We have major cuts to make and they aren’t getting done while I’m on the computer!

We finally got to pour concrete yesterday! It didn’t go as planned, but we made it work. The slump of the concrete was so dry, we could hardly get it right.

When everything was all said and done, we had a product that made the general contractor tell us “Looks 1000 times better than what I’m used to seeing!” That made us feel pretty good to say the least! It made our hard work worthwhile!

Trying to impress everyone by staying ahead of the game has been difficult. It always feels as if we’re behind, but we find ourselves waiting on them to move. To be honest, I think the whole project is about 1 day behind. Not bad considering we had to make some major adjustments because of the thickness of the concrete.

Hopefully we can pour our 2 remaining docks today and then start working on the Ballard’s. We should be done by Monday. Yippee!

If my family were here, it would make this the perfect weekend!

We started core drilling again this morning. The core actually got stuck in the hole and it took almost 30 minutes to get it unstuck! The Walmart Maintenance guy stated talking to us and informed us that he core drilled quite a few holes in the building. He said he was surprised that we had to go so deep. He suggested that we try another hole and maybe even skip one. So we did…

This is when things got very exciting! About 9 1/2″ deep, the water disappeared! That means the water must be draining through the bottom! Yes, we finally made it through to the bottom of one of the cores! I was so happy, I literally started running around trying to find something to pull the core up with! We actually decided to leave it in so we would have something to run the big saw over. I’d hate to have it sink in the middle of an 8″ hole with the 48″ blade halfway through the cut! That wouldn’t be good at all!

The other crews only worked a half day and took off. It almost seems like we get more done when it’s just the two of us working alone… with 800 other Walmart employees watching our every move! Not really. I don’t even think they know we exist unless we’re checking in and out! We called it a day so we could leave the job on a happy note.

The big saw finally arrived around 3:00 PM. We made saw cuts until about 7:30 and called it a day. Spent most of the day trying to figure out exactly what it is we’re supposed to be doing.

The worst part about planning for this job is not knowing what it is we’re doing. Having never done dock levelers before or even seen one, it’s been hard to plan on the equipment we need. The guy we’re doing the job for is an old customer of mine who offered us the opportunity to do the job. As much as I appreciate the opportunity, it’s hard to get proper information out of him. Originally, we were supposed to go to Williamsburg, Virginia first. There are 48 dock levelers to do there. They’re also the big dock levelers too. The levelers in Cullman are pretty small.

The bottom line is he’s probably not giving me the information I need because Walmart is the one to decide what happens and when. Just like when we first got here Tuesday morning. It would have been nice to start work immediately, but we weren’t allowed to start until Thursday. Not a major ordeal, but it probably cot me $200 for meals and hotel extra. I just thank God that we have the money to stay an extra 2 days.

God, I sure do miss my wife and girls! I’ve been able to video chat with them a couple of times each day, so that helps a little bit. Nothing, and I mean nothing can take the place of a kiss or hug from my girls! I thank God for the opportunity, but I sure miss my family!

Finally have the OK from Walmart to start work. Trust me when I say you can’t do anything until they give you the go ahead.

We went to Decatur, Alabama and picked up our saw. Once we got it back, we unloaded and started cutting. We quickly found out though that our saw, which cuts 9 1/2″ deep wasn’t enough. I called the rental company to see if they had a bigger saw. They have one, but it won’t be in until tomorrow and it’s coming from Clarksville, Tennessee. It should cut to a depth of at least 15″.

I have my core drill, so we started core drilling only to discover that our core drill, which goes to a depth of 15″, you guessed it, it isn’t deep enough! I’m having to get a core drill extension overnighted to me, ut I can’t get it until Wednesday of next week. Now we’re just helping Randy Edwards, the general contractor, and Rick, the steel guy. Now we’re just plain bored! Can’t really do anything.

Well, my concrete work seems to have taken me to Cullman, Alabama. We’re doing Dock Levelers for a Walmart Distribution center. I look forward to the challenge, as well as the opportunity, but being away from my family will undoubtedly be the worst part of the experience.

We left on Monday the 8th, 2010. I had to wait on some saw blades for my new cut-n-break saw, so we got a late start. We finally got on the road about 4:00 PM. I was taking both Lee and Josh with me, but last Friday, Josh said he wasn’t going to be able to go. Girl problems, I think. At any rate, Lee and I can handle just about anything we have to do on this job.

We drove through snow for most of the trip, and then the big problem became the temperature and ice. We had to stop about 2 1/2 hours from Cullman in New Albany, Mississippi.

Once we got to Cullman on Tuesday, we went to the Distribution center. We wanted to take a look at what we’re up against.

Basically, we have to core drill 48 holes and remove the concrete in 24 spaces. No problem!

Now, I think we’re gonna sleep for the rest of the day. It’s been a hard 2 days so far. Mainly because of the amount of driving we’ve had to do. As I expected, I miss my wife and girls tremendously!

As a firefighter and First Responder, I get to help lots of people.

The other morning (2:30 am), I got a call that was about 2 miles from my house, so I was the first one on the scene.

An older lady was having chest pains and thought she might be having a heart attack. As I walked into the room, she was sitting on the couch and I started asking her some basic questions.

I knew the ambulance was on the way, so I basically just sat next to her telling her it was going to be ok and we were going to get her taken care of. She was very nice even though she was obviously in pain.

The ambulance came and we got her strapped in and as I started to close the back door to the ambulance, the looks at me and mounths the words “Thank you for everything!”

It made my week with such a simple gesture! As always, I’m glad to help, but even more glad when it gets noticed by the person I’m helping.

It’s not like I do it to get praise, but it helps me believe that I’m doing it for a good cause! I have to thank the Pea Ridge Fire Department for letting me help…

I ask my wife if she plans on going to some of the sales on Black Friday this year. “What fun would it be to go by myself” she says. “Who said anything about going by yourself”, I tell her boldly!

For me, Black Friday has always been me and the kids sleeping in while my wife and her sister get some good deals on a few Christmas presents. Since moving to Arkansas, we’ve managed a few times to go to Houston for Thanksgiving where her sister lives, but this year, it just didn’t work out that way, so Black Friday shopping took on a sense of responsibility this year.

We made arrangements for the girls to stay with Grandma while my wife and I went looking for a few deals. After getting stuffed, we went home and got the girls ready for their sleepover with Grandma, then my wife took them to Grandma’s house. The plan was for my wife to come back home, we look online at some places we wanted to go and then then get some sleep before heading out for some fun shopping together.

The first part of the plan went great! The kids were gone, my wife and I were openly talking about presents for the girls, which is something we usually have to do by text or email, but one thing we hadn’t really planned on was happening… time! It was starting to get late and we were watching a Christmas movie before going to bed.

We were faced with a decision… wanting to be at Best Buy by 3:00 am on Black Friday, we needed to leave no later than 2:30 am. It was already after midnight, so staying up or getting an hour of sleep was really starting to become a debate. Needless to say, we decided to lay down for an hour and 45 minutes. I hit the snooze once, so it was really closer to 2 hours. We didn’t make it by 3:00 am, so we decided Target was our best bet.

We drove by Best Buy and, as expected, the crowds were already lined up with more people running to join from at least 3 different parking lots. It was almost 4:15 am, so people were really starting to make their moves now. We just kept heading to Target.

The parking lot wasn’t as full as Best Buy, but trust me, they were starting to come pretty quick by this time. We sat in the truck for a little while waiting to decide if we wanted out in the cold, and it turns out, another 200 people probably landed in line before we finally got the desire to get out in the cold. Not the biggest mistake, but a mistake none the less. We should have jumped in line as soon as we got there.

Standing in line for 45 minutes is always fun when there are people involved. Some of them were in pajamas still. Some looked like they just rolled out of bed and went straight to the car… It was interesting to say the least!

Once 5:00 am rolled around, it took about 3 minutes for us to make it in the store. It was awesome! I’ve never seen people running in a store before! Next time my wife and I will probably forget about the shopping cart and sprint directly to what were looking for. Maybe I can wear some type of fuzzy slippers that will allow me to slide on the floor, adding a little drama to the already dramatized store! For fun, of course.

We went to the toy section via 20 different isles and finally found what we were looking for. VICTORY!!! Or was it? Upon closer inspection, the scooters we were looking for were actually all gone. The ones we had in the cart were $35.00 and the ones we wanted were $17.00! So to justify getting the more expensive scooters, we established the fact that they had more options than the cheaper ones. At least we got something out of it.

After looking and purchasing a few more items for the kids, we stopped at Best Buy and Walmart and headed home for the day! After getting some much needed sleep, my wife picked up the kids and the rest of the day went pretty smooth. After reflecting on my first Black Friday, I have to admit, it was pretty wild.

Can’t wait until next year!