July 18, 2008 -- Spreading Concrete at the Otter Tail Peninsula Community Center

For those unfamiliar with Northwoods living, there are many amenities that you have in the city that we just don't have on the north shore of Leech Lake. One of those luxuries is trash pick up. When our garbage cans are full, we have to load the garbage into the pick-up truck and haul it ourselves to the Otter Tail Peninsula Community Center where there is a large trash compactor and a recycling bin for glass, aluminum, plastic and paper.

The garbage compactor and the recycling bin sit atop class-five hard-packed dirt, which is fine when the weather is dry. But when we have rain, or during the spring thaw, the dirt around the garbage compactor and the recycling bin turns to ankle-deep mud, making the simply task of "taking out the garbage" quite an adventure.

After years of complaints from residents on the Peninsula (see map of the Peninsula below), the OPA board members finally agreed to pave the area around the compactor and bin. The decision was made that concrete would be laid this summer, thus providing a clean, solid base for the trash and recycling area.

I volunteered to help spread the two truck loads of concrete that it was going to take to do the job. I arrived at the Community Center around noon, under sunny skies and the temperature already 85 degrees. There was virtually no wind, making conditions very hot and humid for the task of spreading concrete.

I was joined by Bill Walter, Mark Boyd, Ron Newstand, Warren Snyder and about 3 or 4 other guys whose names escape me. It took us only 3 hours to completely spread the entire two loads from the cement mixers, smooth the concrete and rope it off so no one disturbed the drying cement. We did good work and the entire garbage and recycling area will be cleaner, easier to use and easier to clean up. All in all a job well done.