The Kingdome Comes Down...
March 2001
remember, all photos are thumbnails - click on them to get the bigger
version
When you click on you get a really
non-zoomed version of the day's photo!
 Thursday,
March 1, 4 p.m. - First of all, thanks to all of you
who wrote. Answering email is sure a lot more fun
than sifting through rubble!! I've got all my
power back (and believe me, it looks much worse with the
lights on!) and cable and everything. No cracks in
the walls, just junk on the floor. I was very
lucky and I'm very grateful. I did learn that the
500+ workers on the project left the site yesterday
according to their safety plan and were out in less than
20 minutes. That's fairly amazing considering they
were all over the place and it's a big place.
Today they spent evaluating and tomorrow it's back to
work. It really is amazing to think of what could
have happened and what didn't. |
 Friday,
March 2, 3 p.m. - Despite what my living room cam
may show, I have made great cleanup progress. I
have now cleared the way for the HomeGrocer.Com delivery
person to get in here tomorrow with my much needed
groceries so all is fine here. And all seems to be
good at the stadium. There were lots of workers
out there working today. The circle today is
around what will be the base for the scoreboard.
They are making great progress with it. And, isn't
that sky lovely? |
 Saturday,
March 3, 2 p.m. - I've been trying for the past half
hour to get a clearer photo than this one with no
luck. The air must be filled with earthquake
dust. There is some work going on today but it
seems rather quiet out there. |
 Sunday,
March 4, 5 p.m. - It's a quiet day on the
site. I saw someone driving around in a golf cart
earlier. Must have been security. Dan, the
craneologist, reports that the earthquake cracked Big
Blue's elbow. But, she's already had an elbow
transplant and has been recertified and is ready to
go. Little Blue road the quake with no
damage. Dan did say that he was tied to 3 beams
(about 15,000 lbs) when the quake hit and he was thrown
around enough that he finally just jumped out.
We've all got stories to tell for a long time to come. |
 Monday,
March 5, 4 p.m. - Lots of action today. You
can hear it and you can see it. And all under such
a lovely sky. When I got this photo there was a
gravy train of cement mixers (I circled it) all lined up
and ready to ... no idea but they sure lined up
nicely. The
two arrows point to two places in the truss where it
looks like there is more stuff than in the other
places. (How's that for technical?) It looks
like more steel or more something. It's hard to
tell. Jeff found this photo on the First and Goal
site that shows the truss several days ago looking from
the bottom up. And, that reminds me, for those of
you that missed the original announcement, you might
consider joining our Clamcam mailing list (where Jeff
posted this photo this morning). It's a nice
little community... Come
on and join! |
 Tuesday,
March 6, 4:15 p.m. - Check it out! We've got a
new thing on the north end of the truss... It looks
tailor made to hold the top part of the truss! And
it's another glorious day in the Pacific
Northwest. |
 Wednesday,
March 7, 2 p.m. - Before the earthquake (the day,
before, actually) the trees that had been on the
northwest tower disappeared. My Mom thinks Big
Blue nicked 'em. We discussed it on the mailing
list but a note from Rikketryik this morning reminded me
that I'd never mentioned it here. There was
speculation that those were not actually the traditional
construction tree-topping trees because the tower is not
the highest point on the site and they might be waiting
to get to the highest point and hoist a tree up
there. Another theory is that they were truly
Christmas trees only and they just took their time
taking down Christmas decorations. |
 Thursday,
March 8, 6 p.m. - Tonight's picture is a different
temporal view... I did take one earlier in the day but
selected this one for a couple of reasons. One, I
just thought the dusk shot looked cool. But, more
importantly, this afternoon they moved the lump
extension into the photo!! It's circled in
red. I'm particularly proud of catching this one
because it is exactly the kind of thing that I usually
miss and you guys always find! |
 Friday,
March 9, 5:30 p.m. - Two photos today!
Tony sent me this one from Charpy's
site. It is a great overview of the
progress. Note how many seats have been installed
on the west side! Charpy has some great shots, treat
yourself and go check them out. But, of
course, the big news is that we have our lump extension
installed. Now the north end lump matches the
south end lump and we're clearly getting ready for the
top part of the truss. |
 Saturday,
March 10, 1:15 p.m. - Well, they are not taking
Saturday off this week! Check out the action near
the south lump. It's not only getting a piece
installed right as I took this photo, but it has a new
thing that is obviously there for the next piece!
It's too hazy out today to get a clear shot but even so,
you can clearly see the latest action! |
 Sunday,
March 11, 2 p.m. - I got some skippy about the new
additions... (my source is highly reliable
)
"What you are beginning to see is the installation
of the “box arch” portion of the truss. These
pieces (A frames and box sections of steel) coming from
the south and north ends will eventually come together
in the middle and the entire truss will then be
complete, save for all the welding that is underway and
will continue through all of April. We have to
work the box arch from each end so the load is
distributed evenly across the bottom portion of the
truss already in place." So, as my Grandma
used to say, 'How about them apples?!' |
 Monday,
March 12, 4:30 p.m. - I think I'm going to be saying
this every day for the next several days, but here
goes: Look! Another section of the box arch
portion of the truss! They are making rapid
progress on that portion. They have the south end
already prepared for the next section. Maybe we
should take bets on what day they will meet in the
middle! Why don't you post your bets on the ClamCam
forum? |
 Tuesday,
March 13, 3:45 p.m. - We're missing some plastic in
today's photo - the circle shows where it was.
This could be unintentional. We've had some
serious winds today. From my office this morning I
watched a huge tarp that was covering an earthquake hole
on a building next to mine blow right off the
building. I posted a poll to guess when the top of
the truss will meet in the middle and there are some
results! Unfortunately, I think all of us were a
little optimistic. My poll only covered until next
Tuesday and that may have been cutting off the options
too soon. But, hey, it was my first poll.
You can see the results so far by clicking here! |
 Wednesday,
March 14, 4:30 p.m. - Check it out! I got one
of the 'Blues' in action! Actually, Big Blue seems
to have changed his rig so now I can't tell which is Big
Blue and which is Little Blue, but one of them is
putting in the next section as I type this! There
was a post this morning on the ClamCam forum about the
strange looking thing on the north lump extension. If
you look at the south lump you can see that it looks
like a box so I suggested that it might be for the dog
house (see circle) that they still have on the
ground. Then, when I got home this afternoon, I
discovered that they were working on the dog
house. I went inside to get my camera and by the
time I got back, someone had painted 'For Rent' in big
red letters on the side! It sure cracked me up. |
 Thursday,
March 15, 4 p.m. - Look what's missing! They
must have rented out the dog house quickly because today
it is gone. And, we have lovely symmetry there on
the top arch in today's photo. It's been drizzling
and raining all day and that makes for a really nice
photo (plus, we really need the rain). |
 Friday,
March 16, 4 p.m. - Two
photos today for the price of one. Heck of a
deal. I found the missing dog house. It's up
there on the north truss. And, on the side I
couldn't see yesterday someone painted, again in red,
The Erection Co. Inc. What a bunch of
jokesters. Now that it's up there, I can see that
it is an exact replica of the one on the south
end. That was my guess and I was right.
Amazing. The right hand photo is of the 'yard' that you
guys rarely see but is a major part of my vista.
The reason you get to see it today is that there is
clearly something happening there. In the red
circle is a section that they marked off today with
yellow tape. Looks like some impending
action. And, the arrows point to lots more seats.
Slated, I'm guessing for the west side. |
 Saturday,
March 17, 2 p.m. - Well, I found out that The
Erection Co. Inc. is not construction humor it is, in
fact, the name of the company doing the ironwork!
They also did the ironwork on the Mariners
stadium. I still think it's funny that it is spray
painted on the side of the dog house. There's work
happening on the site today - I can hear construction
noises and see some stuff moving around. But, it
looks like the Blues have the day off so likely no
change in the roof stuff until Monday. |
 Sunday,
March 18, 1:30 p.m. - It's a drizzly day and there
was finally a break enough for me to get some kind of
picture. Minutes after I took this the fog came
back in with more rain so I think I got the only window
of opportunity here. Today's circle is around a
staircase that you cannot see well in the photo but
looks very strange sticking up above the top
truss. There isn't one on the north end.
Another thought I had in the absence of a lot of action
today is... how do they empty those porta potties up on
the top truss? |
 Monday,
March 19, 4:30 p.m. - Pretty day - especially after
yesterday! John noted on the ClamCam forum this
morning that the dog house on the south end has been
nudge north since it was first installed... sharp
eye! And we got another piece of the top truss
today. |
 Tuesday,
March 20, 4:30 p.m. - We got our own staircase on
our end of the truss! And, they moved the dog
house up a notch. Plus the south end got a new
link. The big news for all of you, though, is that
I've bought a new camera! It should be here
tomorrow and promises better zooming (which we may not
need for every day but might be interesting now and
again) and a better shot. I can't wait for it to
get here so I can give it a try. Watch this space
tomorrow! |
Wednesday,
March 21, 4:30 p.m. - The new camera is here!
It's pretty terrific, but it has it's downside as you
can see in today's photo. The
XL size you guys have gotten so fond of is now too big
(that's why I've moved the icon so you might read this
before clicking). I'm going to have to rethink my
strategy. If you are interested in my thoughts,
come over to the ClamCam
Forum. Meanwhile as far as construction goes,
I'm thinking we're going to meet in the middle on about
Friday maybe. They are making progress, for sure! |
Thursday,
March 22, 4:30 p.m. - The north dog house is moving
up! And it looks to me like we are one section
away from touching! Thanks to all of you for your
kind comments and joined enthusiasm for my new
camera! I've decided to go with the one shot a day
for every day but Saturdays when it will be joined by
the XL version. I also have a surprise coming for
Sundays. Stay tuned! |
Friday,
March 23, 4:30 p.m. - Well, I was wrong yesterday...
Today we are one link away from meeting. We did
get another link today on the north end. I was
looking at the site today and remembering when the rusty
thingies were sooo very tall. Now they are pretty
short, all things considered! |
 Saturday,
March 24, 10:50 a.m. - I caught them moving the dog
house! I can't believe my luck! Isn't that
cool how they just pick it up and drop it into a new
location! Wonder if they intend to move the two
dog houses next to each other - a double-wide? Oh
and I realized that I had the date set European
style. I fixed it after the photo was taken. |
 Sunday, March 25,
8:40 a.m. - Well, here it is... your Sunday
treat. Starting today, every Sunday, I'll include,
with today's photo, the photo from This Day Last
Year. Thanks so much to Robert who posted the idea
on the ClamCam forum. And, just in time...
Today's This Day Last Year is the last day of the
Kingdome. This time last year, I was sitting on
the floor of my living room - with my terrace covered in
plastic - just minutes away from the big boom.
Isn't the difference between the two shots just
amazing? Just beside the north doghouse this
morning there's someone up there doing welding! No
other action I can see on the site. That welder
must be pretty lonely! |
Monday,
March 26, 4 p.m. - Here we are... only one year
since this was a big pile of rubble.
Amazing. They didn't finish the top span today but
they did nudge up that north doghouse another notch.
And, they have a bunch of plastic - blue tarps - across
a large section of seats towards the south. Wonder
what it all will look like a year from now? |
Tuesday,
March 27, 1:30 p.m. - Today was a real Seattle day
or rather the kind of day that most people who have
never been here think is a Seattle day. It
was gray and drizzly all day except the times when it
was really raining. They put a whole lot more
plastic down on the seats. Still no final section
in the truss... wonder what they are waiting for?
The south end doghouse did get moved up another notch. |
Wednesday,
March 28, 11:30 a.m. - Well, I should have figured
this out and probably could have it I had thought about
it. The doghouses are for the welders. They
are moving up the truss sections as the welders finish
welding the sections together! Makes total
sense. They are holding off on the last section
until they get the others welded because of the gases
that are generated by the welding. Those gasses
are escaping out the ends in the middle. There are
holes which you can kind see (count three sections from
the north end and you will see one of them). These
are fresh air intakes. Interesting, eh? It
takes about 2 and 1/2 days to finish the welding on each
section. Oh also, for several days now you've been
able to see some of the roof sections behind the
arch. More plastic down today, too. Also
Steve, who works in the neighborhood says they have
painted some of the south end of the top arch. I
can't see it from here, though. |
Thursday,
March 29, 3:30 p.m. - They have, indeed, started
painting. I've circled the most obviously
place. And, I've learned that the plastic is to
protect the seats from the paint! Oh and the rusty
thingies are scheduled to move to the other side on
April 28. I happened onto the east side of the
structure today and they have put in a good bit of the
glass already. Just like Tony reported a while
back - I just never get over there much to see. Oh
and they've done a good bit of the outside brick work,
too. |
Friday,
March 30, 1 p.m. - I love this shot - the sky and
the detail. Some days, I just get lucky. I
got a south Seattle publication that has a few gems
about our stadium. Each section of the roof
trusses weigh 98 tons and measure 130 feet in
length. The roof will measure 2.5 acres. The
two roofs will cover 70% of the seats and together they
will consist of 2,750 tons of structural steel, metal
decking and a waterproof membrane. Staggering
numbers, eh? |

Saturday, March 31, 3:40 p.m. - Ta Da! They
finished off the span this morning. And... I
missed it. But, doesn't it look cool?
Printed on the final span, under the flag is
"Ironworkers Local 86". The painter also
had a little fun in a couple of other spots.
Also, I noticed today that there is now a platform on
the supports that will be the grand staircase.
There were guys walking around on it today. |
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