Summer work

Now that school is out, im back into the full swing of things with work. This is the 5th summer that i have been working for Big Red Asphalt.

I do the maintenance part of it, so i actually don't lay asphalt.I found this pic on google, but this is pretty much what i've been doing. The red kettle is the same one that we use.

We've been doing a lot of work for the church. Crack sealing is putting a rubberized black tar in the cracks in pavement. This extends life life of pavement by a lot.

Cracks happen when freezing temperatures occur. Water gets into the asphalt and when it freezes it expands. Another type of sealing that i do a lot of in the summer is seal coating. Seal coat also extends the life of asphalt by sealing the entire surface to prevent cracks from ever starting.

Seal coat is a black liquid material that contains some lime and sand in it. When it dries out it solidifies. In the little pic you can see it being sprayed on. Normally the first coat is put on by spreading it by hand using 4 and 5 foot squeeges, then the second coat is sprayed. That's what i do most of during the summer. Big Red has one of the best seal coat set ups in the U.S. Most of our trucks were built by my boss. All i know is that all the other seal coat companies envy us and our trucks. This is work that needs to be done, so it keeps the company busy, and it is very profitable.

Being the begining of the season i'm feeling pretty sore right now. The good part about the job is that it puts me into really good shape, and keeps me really tan.

Here are a couple of pics that i took last summer with my phone camera. Pictured is my friend Javier. We were doing a job at Berylium plant in Delta last summer and had to wear their outfits.

The worst part about the job is the cleaning. In order to do the seal coating the lot has to be extremely clean so that the seal coat can bond to the surface, and not the dirt. We have these blowers that blow dirt around. Last summer Javier and i got pretty dang dirty one morning after cleaning a lot in Salt Lake. It really makes you appreciate a nice hot shower at the end of the day.

Javi is a cool guy. He'll be working with me again this summer. I also work with some other cool guys and friends from school. I helped a lot of them to get a job working with me.

It is a lot of work, but it teaches you to work hard. After every summer i am also filled with tons of determination to return to school and get my school work done, so that i don't have to do this for the rest of my life. The best part of it is the pay. So far, i have averaged a dollar raise every year that i have worked. Lets just say that in 6 months i made more than most of my friends made in 12 months.