Deck Them Halls!

Okay, so everyone knows that over here in the Maintenance Department, things are just a little...different. For example, a week ago I was here in my office when a call came from someone on the Dining Hall staff asking if Kelly Curell (the Grounds Crew Supervisor) could find them a big tree that they could put up in the Dining Hall. So, I relayed the message to Kelly and then went back to assigning account numbers to my stack of invoices. About 15 minutes later, the office door opened, and in walked Kelly and behind him was Tyler DeLeonardis with a tree about 5 feet tall with roots almost as long dragging behind it and behind that was Sam Uhl! I just started laughing and of course they got a big kick out of my reaction. :) Kelly asked me if I wanted to keep it, so I said sure. It definitely wasn't the prettiest tree I had ever seen, but I figured it had potential; besides, it seems like every other building on campus has a Christmas tree this year, so why not Maintenance? So, Kelly sent Tyler and Sam out to put the tree in some dirt in a 5-gallon pail. About 20 minutes later, they returned with the tree not in a 5-gallon pail, but in a yellow Igloo drink cooler and some 'Caution' tape wrapped around the tree, and a piece of duct tape on one of the branches! :D I thought that was hillarious and suggested that we make it a true 'Maintenance' tree and only decorate it with 'Maintenance-y' things. So, I started asking the guys to bring things in to hang on the tree. They came up with: a car door window crank, several hose clamps, some wire, lots of keys, some 'corkies' (for toilets), and a Green Bay Packers birdhouse from Mr. Krzywicki (who is a BIG Packers fan)! Thad made the star out of some aluminum, epoxy, and wire, and we were all set! :) Here is the finished product: