2023 – Church-Next-Door Repairs As Seen From 7 Floors Up
……………………………………………… (Ignore April 30, 3017 publish date – this was published on May 22, 2023)
I see little things going on all around me and I take pictures. Sometimes they’re interesting and sometimes they’re not. And sometimes, they continue for days on end. Small things that mean little or nothing add up and – cumulatively – become something.
Such was the case over the last 5 weeks with the First Presbyterian Church of Hackensack, which is actually 3 doors down. I call it next-door because when I look out my south-facing window, the only thing I see is their gorgeous steeple – there’s no other structure between us this high up.
It all started when I saw this in their wraparound driveway:
That was followed by tape across that driveway – something I haven’t seen before:
All of a sudden, machinery was ripping grates out of the ground in the back of the church and concrete curbing was being sawed away:
At the same time, a blue crane popped up on the side of the church. I’m guessing they were trimming trees:
All this happened before lunch. I know that because the next picture in sequence was this one:
Jackhammer time after lunch:
Then an unattended piece of equipment suddenly materializes in the driveway…………..
………….as did another that looked like the Mr. Universe of jackhammers (sorry – I’m not well-versed in machinery nomenclature):
Something happened during this sequence. The fence is the dividing line between the church’s driveway and the house next door. If you look at the top image, the left vertical fence post (circled in white) is attached to the top horizontal bar.
Apparently, the machine got a little too close and that vertical post is no longer attached.
In the bottom image, the workers are right there, but I don’t think the disconnection is visible to them.
I don’t know if that fence belongs to the church, the homeowner or the city, but I just looked out that window – almost 4 weeks later – and that vertical post is still disconnected. I think somebody owes somebody a weld.
The other piece of machinery is no longer unattended and the container waits to fill up:
I spoke too soon. This began the same day:
Sawing a cinder block:
I saw a lot of this going on – some of the smoke was pretty intense – but no one wore a mask.
Here’s the wide view four days later. All that area closest to the church has been filled in and paved:
Stuff gets thrown into the container. Stop-action can be a challenge from 7 floors away. Nice to know I still have my timing (he says modestly):
Two unpopulated scenes:
Almost ready to be removed:
Untangling a water hose:
I thought this was going to be a total stay-at-home shoot, but I was out for a walk one day and saw that the work wasn’t confined to the back of the church:
It happened again 11 days later………….Oooo, progress! (click to enlarge)
A few days ago, I just happened to look out the window right after the container had been capped, so I stayed with the sequence as it got picked up and taken away.
I found it interesting that this container of very old and shattered concrete pieces is going past a cement mixer full of brand new cement that’s ready to begin a new life in another building.
I look at that picture and I see this:
So as I’m wrapping this up, I realize I don’t know if the work in the front of the church is finished. I’m guessing it is, since the waste cement container is gone, so – for the first and only time – I leave my apartment just to take a look (and maybe take a final picture). (click to enlarge)
Finished!
Well…………….not quite:
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