Lange Family: November 2008

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Groundbreaking!!!

Ray's (Grandpa Riek) new business made it to quite possibly the second biggest milestone, they broke ground for their first plant. Basically his company will take shredded tires and retrieve carbon black and heating oil. Sue organized a surprise visit by both their son Jon and Javier. He knew that we were coming so we met them for lunch. Much to his surprise walked in more family than he was expecting. It was a cold windy day outside. In his usual fashion Ray downplayed the whole event. He kept saying it was just going to be about a dozen guys in suits in the middle of a cornfield. As it turned out there was probably closer to 100. It was a very big deal for both the city of Maryville and Carbolytic Materials.

It may be cold outside but this cookie sure is yummy. :)

This was a gift of a weather vane for the plant. I can't remember if it was the city, an engineering firm, or someone completely different but it is really cool.

Getting ready for the posed shot...(notice that Ryan is wearing his own hardhat)

I wasn't really sure what the other guys thought about Ryan being in the shovel pictures with his little plastic shovel. But as long as Ray was ok with I don't think anybody else had much to say about it. Ryan was the epitome of the perfect gentleman. He stood and posed with his shovel with all the other guys. We are so proud of Ray and all the hard work he done over the last few years. It is really nice to see something tangible come from all his efforts.