The kids, parents and teachers are nowhere in sight, but things are hopping this summer at Thornhill School.  Over the past month or so, the paved school yard was completely dug up to reveal the dirt underneath.  We wondered what would happen next.

Today a full battalion of earth movers, pavers, pumpers and all kinds of other equipment arrived on site.  As lay-people, we were left gawking at these heavy duty machines but couldn’t make heads or tails of the proceedings.  What the heck is a soil stabilization unit?

Fortunately, I ran into a well-informed construction worker outside the school yard fences who was supervising things a bit.  He seemed pretty enthusiastic, and shared a few details about re-surfacing the whole yard.

They won’t pour regular wet concrete over Mother Earth, which was standard procedure years ago.  Instead, dirt and dry concrete will be mixed together and delivered to the ground.  Then this mix gets transformed into real concrete.

We’re sure things will start shaping up in the next day or two, if you or your kids want to see the work underway.  It’s surprising, but this new school yard should be completed well before everyone returns next month.