7 Dec., 2012 -- 1MO officially open

Humm. HMMMM. HMMumm. Well, hmmmm.
Ok. Some squawks, but, hmmmm OPEN! Five months to do it. Hmmm.

And it shall be OPEN!

Yes, DR, it's the letter A

The first official arrival, B & L.  Just in time!

December 4, 2012 -- No Xs

First aircraft to take to the new runway! He didn't lift off, just warm-up and taxi.

Dec. 3, 2012 -- Almost finished, a lot late

If the airport opens tomorrow, Dec. 4, 2012... it will be just under a month overdue. In the morning, they may remove the yellow Xs and open us up. The forecast is for rain in the morning, so the Cherokee might not come home to roost from Willow Springs until Wednesday. 1MO has been closed since July 25, about 4.5 months. Ten feet wider, 60 feet; 600 feet shorter, 2990 or so.

The last worker leaves this afternoon. New sign; Taxiway A, runways 26 and 8.

Last night for the barrier, perhaps. It's all seeded and mulched, ready to go.

Nov. 20, 2012 -- A lot more oil, a lot more late

Topsoil for the grass, lots of dump trucks hauled in the fill.

New taxiway lights.

Striping the runway numbers. This guy gets to ride.

Runway 08, temporary paint until the pavement cures for 30 days.

Bases being installed for the runway end lights.

Runway 26, still closed. Next step, landscaping and seeding.

Nov. 16, 2012 -- A little more oil, a little late

A week past the Nov. 9 deadline, the crews are still working, now past sundown. They laid the asphalt and rolled it, and tonight are putting in the taxiway; two long days. If they had worked like this in the past four months, it would be done already. Supposed to be done by Thanksgiving, which is three working days. Ya think? There are still the runway lights to hook up, paint striping, signage for the runway numbers, and an enormous amount of landscaping before those Xs can come off the ends and all those Maxi-Tonkas move out. But... it's getting closer to being an airport again!

Laying asphalt on the north side on November 15.

Tearing up the taxiway on Nov. 16.

The old way, and the fast way.

That rectangle in the foreground will tell us the runway numbers 08 - 26.

It's not snow, just grass gone to seed. There are two pavers being fed by those trucks.

Runway 26, the pavers are almost to this end, beyond the asphalt truck.

After sunset they tote out their own lighting system. Nov. 16, rw 26, looking west.

Back on July 31, 2012, before it all began. Runway 08, looking east

Nov. 2, 2012 -- A little oil

Finally, they have spread a little oil to seal one side of the runway before starting the real paving. It's not much, and they have gone home for the weekend, letting two more days slip away before Nov. 9th when it is supposed to be finished.

26 Oct., 2012 -- Still working

Making progress on 1MO. But will they get it done by November 9? There is one layer of baserock on half of the runway now, and the pots for the runway lights are ready to be buried along the length of the runway. Between rains, it looks like slow going for the construction crews.
Leveling on October 8.

Site of runway lights control box

Each runway light has an electrical pot, buried along the runway.

October 20, 2012. East end Runway 26

June, 2012. Losing 600 feet off west end Runway 08, because of trees in that fenceline.

2 Oct., 2012 -- Harvest

Ok, so I've been enjoying the mild weather, we've had a few inches of rain, and last week the crop was ready. Making ... grape... uh... jelly! Yeah, that's it, jelly. Well, not really, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it. Crushing, pressing juice out of the mash, it's almost like work. But not really, because it tastes so good.

September 1, 2012 -- Slow and soaking in!

Three days of slow soaking rain, thanks to Isaac.
Anybody want to make some red clay pots?