Week 9- Cody Wales- Burlington Bees

Cody Wales
Monday, May 30, 2011
Burlington Bees

Well today started out just like any other normal day here at Community Field. I came in to work at 10:00am prepared to be in charge of a high school game. We treat high school games just as if it were a Bees game except I am the man in charge. Now I can get use to this. It is not that bad of job it is just a lot of time management. I have to make sure that everything gets done in time for the game to start and make sure all the coaches know the rules. For high school games we tell the coaches that the players must stay off the foul lines and off the new sod that we placed in front on the pitchers mound and behind short stop. We do this because we want the field in best shape for the Bees not necessarily for a high school team. So my rule was that if they step on the sod continuously then I would call the game. There were two games today so we kind of rushed through our pregame duties in time for them to start. Everything does not have to be perfect for these games anyway. So first thing first, I hung the flag and turned on the scoreboard. Then I chalked the lines and watered the dirt. Once all that was done my job was over for a few, at least that is what I thought. After I got back to the office T.J. had stopped in and left me a list of things to do while the games were going on. In between games we do not do anything we just leave it as is and let them play. So in that time T.J. put me to work. To start out I had to take care of our nursery. I cut the nursery and set up the sprinklers. Once that was done I had to cleanup the shop, organize things, and clean all equipment. Basically I was just doing anything to keep me busy. So for the first game I worked hard and got everything done and I was able to chill and relax during the second game. After both games were over we just covered up the mound and home plate area and dipped. We got the next two days off so we just took a head start. We come back to work on Thursday with a few projects in mind. So now it’s chill time!

Cody Wales
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Burlington Bees

OFF

Cody Wales
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Burlington Bees

OFF

Cody Wales
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Burlington Bees

Today was a little better day. I was supposed to come in this morning at 10:00am but when I woke up I had a text message from T.J. telling me that I did not have to come in until 1:00pm. Now that is something nice I like to wake up to. The only thing we had planned today was to build a project. This project was to build something that we could put into our warning track to be permanent foul lines. We needed this so that our foul lines would be perfect every time. We also wanted to build this foul line project because it would help out with our budget. How? Well because we usually paint our foul lines with spray paint. Come to find out that the cost of the paint we use is going up. The paint we use to paint the foul lines is still cheaper. So we took a piece of plywood and cut 8 4inch 8foot sections out and them together to make 2 20foot 4inch foul lines. So we got everything cut out and glued together now it was time to just wait and let the glue settle. Well why we let the glue settle it was a good time to work on my special project. So I grab the tape measure and went to work. During this time I measured triangular sections of our irrigation system. This means I walked around the whole field at least three times. I measured from one irrigation head to the next all in triangular form. After I get the measurements I can go back and look at the head of each sprinkler and see what the radius is. Once all that information is found out I can find out how much of our grass is getting water and exactly how much water it is getting. I also will be able to find out which sections of our grass are not getting any water. Well by time I was done measuring it was time to go home. So we checked the status of our mini project and still the glue was not dry. So the rest of that project will have to wait until tomorrow. A very productive day today although it was just a half day. So I’ll be hitting it hard again tomorrow.
Cody Wales
Friday, June 3, 2011
Burlington Bees

Well today was a full day of hard work. I came in at 10:00am ready to get at it. First thing we did when I got in was put in the permanent foul lines that we built yesterday. So to start this off we had to dig out the warning track material. After everything was dug out we had to make sure that the wood was flush with the ground. We did this so that it would not be a safety hazard for the players. After we place the foul lines down we had to fill back in around the lines and make everything look nice. We did this to the right field foul line first and then moved on to the left field foul line. It took us about an hour and 15 minutes to do each one. Once we got both of the foul lines in we fix the bullpens. Since we did not fix anything after the games the other day that means it left us to fix the game mound and home plate area. I would have rather fixed them after the game the other night but then again at that time I was just ready to get the hell out of here. Since we got a lot of rain this week the field has been under so heavy water in certain areas. So considering the rain we got we had to dry out the field with water pumps and hoses. This was not a fun thing to do but it was something that had to be done. While the water was being pumped off the field I took it into my own hands to continue working on my special project. During this time I took the color of each nasal and looked up the radius of them. Once I got the color of the nasal I could find out how much of the grass that nasal covered.
Cody Wales
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Burlington Bees

Today I came into work at 8:00am ready to get things started for the high school tournament. Once I got to work we started getting everything ready for the game and then the rain started to rain to come in. So since I was in charge I was the guy that had to deliver the bad news to the high school teams that we were going to cancel the games due to bad weather that was settling in. After I told the coaches and players that the games were going to be canceled I still had to cover everything up, in the rain. So that was the bad part of my day. Once I got everything covered up and the field was ready to be left alone I went and sat in the office for about another hour reading up on irrigation systems trying to figure out which nasals shot water the farthest and shortest. After sitting in the office and reading for awhile I decided that it was time for me to go home. Once again it was another short day but yet another positive day too. Well I get another off day tomorrow to rest up before the biggest home stand of the season starts up. Monday is going to be a long day of getting the field looking perfect then on Tuesday we start a 12 game home stand with no days off. That means working from 10:00am or earlier to 10:00pm or later everyday. So that means no rest for me for the next 13 days. Now it’s off to relaxation for another Sunday.


Cody Wales
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Burlington Bees

OFF