Pella Build: Week 1

This has been an interesting week!  We have been introduced to Pella, Iowa and several of it's lovely people, specifically ones who have an interest in what we are doing!  

What are we doing, you ask?  Why, let me tell you!

We are doing a lot of discussing, planning, figuring, thinking, explaining and the like.

We are doing a lot of calling, driving, searching, measuring, searching again...(though this fabulous category mostly falls to Adam).

We are doing a moderate bit of fitting, tacking, welding, grinding, cutting and other metal work.

We are doing some axle breakdown, break replacement, gasket replacement, differential examinations, and more fun auto-learning things.

We are doing some website design, logo research, timelapse photography, web design research, and even some marketing book purchasing.

 And by "we" I do mean "we!"
Notice my dedication to working: I put my work gloves on my head so the hood will fit. 

 Yes, I have had the privilege of getting into a little bit of everything, and I am learning a ton.  I feel a little bit like I'm on overload with it all, but I'll catch up.  We are working long hours, naturally.  You know how Pat is...never a moment without something to do!  I'm trying to keep up with him, but I'm enjoying a blissful moment of internet connection (thank you wb0rn, whose connection I'm using!), to catch you all up on our super exciting and immensely glamorous life right now.

We did get to take a fun trip with our Leader, Don and his family to a pumpkin patch this last Sunday.

 I'm not entirely sure how these are related, so I just leave it to your imagination.

 Hay Jumping has become a new favorite sport among those 4 feet and shorter.  We all took a turn and will probably be coughing the last of the hay dust from our lungs in a few short weeks.

 Taking a hay-less-rack-ride out to the pumpkin patch was a fun activity, with so many sizes and colors to whisk away those boring bills inside one's wallet.  I found a perfect sized one: it fit inside the palm of my hand, but upon further inspection, the squishy-ness of it caused me to decide to save my coins.

 Fortunately for Don and Erin, their 5 kiddo's were all about finding their perfect pumpkin!  I believe they settled for a family representative, and I was impressed by their satisfaction of the singular choice.

 This place seemed to scream Where the Wild Things Are to me, and no more so than when I spotted the fort/teepee made of corn.  We spent the evening exploring the hay train, complete with bell...

 ...and you know Pat was all about the goat education.  Being the frugal folk that we are, Pat showed the kids how to pick up the corn that was left by other obviously financially irresponsible people.  Later we found out the corn was free.  Still, a lesson on waste was learned, maybe.  We finished the evening with a fire and roasted hotdogs and Smores.  A really lovely day off!

 Back to work...things have slowly and methodically progressed.

There have been lots of notes taken and prints consulted.  

 Then this week, Don and I went to an in-town office due to the lack of internet service (except for now!!), and have been working in this super adorable and historic upper level space!  Those stairs are just about the most amazing thing ever.  I love them.  And then look at the view from the windows!

 Seriously the most adorable town I have ever been in.  I think they all mow their yards on the same day and everything.  In this downtown area there is a clock tower that chimes the quarter hours and then on the hour, it plays about 5-6 minutes worth of tunes.  I found myself singing along to "Home on the Range!"

 This place is just too cute.  There are some really fun shops that I may just have to visit one of these days.  Lot's of antiques, a couple coffee shops, gift stores and other quaint shops line the fabulously non-parallel parking streets!  I'm kinda watching for the "Truman Show" staff to accidentally show themselves...

 Yesterday we got to go on a "field trip" to Vermeer production facility, just down the road.  We were able to see a large factory structure and how they operated a $1 billion company.  It was really interesting.  It may be a few years before Vytrak gets to this level, but I could see one thing that we could totally take away from our trip: