Day #1,285 - Frustrations

We were assured, guaranteed 100% yesterday by both Installer Ryan and by Supervisor Penny that the Cable Bury crew would be on site promptly at 8 a.m.  At 9 a.m. I was about to start making calls when two trucks pulled up.  OK. A bit of a late start, but the job was expected to take 2-3 hours so we were still on track for the Hook Up Tech in the afternoon.

Checking the Pull Rope

The Cable Bury Team began shoveling grass and digging their trenches.  At 10 a.m. they began boring under the South driveway.  A job which they expected to be fairly simple.  It would have taken Concrete Rick probably less than 15 minutes to run a second sleeve when he ran our lighting sleeve before pouring the driveway.  If we had only known ...

One of the other cable guys meanwhile ran a temp cable line from the house to where they were expecting to connect.  Doc showed the guy how one conduit was marked ‘phone’ and the other marked ‘TV’.  Of course the guy ran his line in the wrong one, so I asked him to pull it out and try it again the right way.

Conduit Under Driveway

Meanwhile Phone Company Dave showed up unexpectedly.  His visit had been requested since last Friday afternoon.  He said Al’s report from Friday said the conduit could not be found.  He laughed when he saw that it was right next to the fence with a large sign on it saying “Here I am!”  He said there was nothing he could do today.  His Phone Bury Crew would need to come out and he needed to obtain a City Permit first!  That would take two days, so maybe install on Thursday.  Seems we have heard this story before ….

I asked Cable Jose if I should call off the scheduled Cable Connection Service for this afternoon?  He said, “No.  They would be done in another hour”.

After 3 hours, the Cable Bury Crew was only half way under the driveway and their missile (equipment) was stuck.  I looked out to see a guy beating on our new concrete with a sledge hammer!  I ran outside to stop him.  He said his missile was stuck and he would need to break out our driveway - but not to worry, he would patch it!  I told him to stop immediately.  Numerous phone calls to his supervisors, Concrete Rick, Miguel and others.

Inch by Inch

Around 2 p.m. another crew arrived.  That was the Bury Crew for phone!  They had some time before quitting time today, so they decided to speed things up and begin working on our project (instead of Thursday).  Nice on our part, however ….. City Inspector Roy was driving by, so he stopped to check on the progress of the Cable Crew (First Team).  They were Okayed.  Of course there was no permit issued yet for the Phone Crew to trench because Phone Dave hadn’t had time since he was on site merely this morning and the work was planned for Thursday after getting the needed permit.  Needless to say there were several conversations on that issue.

Neighbor Craig came over and suggested the Cable Crew perhaps use the PVC sleeve which the landscaper had run under the driveway for our future lighting.  The cable company is supposed to run in the Equestrian trail, but that was not going to work out.  Doc and Craig dug and dug.  They uncovered the North Sleeving, but not the South one.  Several people tried for a good hour to locate that sleeve.   No luck.

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Of course by then Cable Technician Anthony had arrived and was ready to begin his part of the connection process.  He hung around for an hour before realizing things were not going to be ready today.  He promised to return just as soon as the Cable Bury Crew had finished.

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The Rescued Missile

Meanwhile the Cable Bury Guys were still trying everything they could think of to get their Missile unstuck.  I could not bear to watch any longer, so I went in the house to blow off some steam for a few minutes.  I said (out loud):  “Hi Angels.  Which ones of you are the strongest or cleverest?  I need you out there in the trench RIGHT NOW because those mortals have been working for hours and there has been zero progress.  We need some strong Angelic assistance and we need it quickly before damage is done”.  After a few minutes I went back outside to find the guys pulling out their missile.  COINcidence?

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The Phone Bury Crew wrapped things up around 3 p.m. and said they would continue working tomorrow at 8 a.m. We’ll see.  I don’t believe anyone any more.

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The boring missile was back in hand, but that had not solved the problem of getting the conduit under the concrete.  Thus, the Cable Bury Team attempted to bore in a new spot.  After a few hours, there was very little progress in the new spot.  I had called our concrete guys and they assured me there was a PVC sleeve out there.  So I grabbed a shovel and asked the Angels to help me find it.  After a while, Cable Jose grabbed another shovel and worked with me.  I gave up; he kept digging.  And he found the South Sleeve!  It was about 5 ft. from where we expected it to be.

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At 4 p.m. the Cable Bury Crew began actually running their orange conduit in the trench.  At 5 p.m. they ran the cable to the box at the house.  At 5:45 they drove away.  So tomorrow hopefully Anthony will return as promised ...

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By 6 p.m. Doc was really hurting in his back and knees.  He was having trouble moving.  This construction stuff was getting to him.  He was laying on his office floor and begging me to try stretching his lower back.  Good thing he is a professor and not a contractor.    LOL.

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At 6:45 there was a delivery of some products I had ordered on-line.  I had to open the garage door for the guy since our  front door handle is not working and we currently can not open our front door.  He said our garage was one of the neatest and best organized garages he had seen!  How could he say that with piles of stuff everywhere?  He said "kudos to you (or is it your husband) for that".  Doc organize stuff?  Surely you jest.

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By 7:30 Doc and I were at the Chinese Foot Spa and hoping they had openings for a one-hour treatment.  Fortunately they had no other customers and we could get a treatment.

After the treatment, I wandered next door to the grocery store to find a coin.  There were none to be found at the entrance or in the check-out lanes.  One of the end displays was being switched out and there, in the middle of the bare floor, was today's penny!  (Solo coin). Thanks Angels.

At the Pomona house, Doc got two hours of TV time to pacify his withdrawals.  I wrote Penny Tales and checked emails.

Total:    1 Penny