Monday morning I received an e-mail message from a former country school teacher advising it was going to be a nice day and I should schedule a reporting and photography trip that would allow me to be outside. It was a suggestion I wanted to accept.

I remembered my childhood when I took my red chair and went to watch nearby construction projects. I could sit on that chair by the hour and entertain myself watching men work. I watched projects like the blacktopping of Highway 14, extension of a bridge, construction of the Courtland Canal, and replacement of a section of natural gas line.

Fr...