Concrete Blog

On our travels through Utah on the way to Las Vegas we stumbled upon a great place to eat.  St Helen’s of Washington is a little coffee house and sports grill off the beaten path in St George.  LOTS of construction, by the way, in St George Utah.  St. Helen’s is an established establishment and runs like a well timed concrete truck.  Kwan was our server and did a suburb job of keeping our beer and salsa (home made) flowing.�

Great selection:  Philly Steak Sandwich.  I also tried the Greek Gyro.  There was also…. get this…. FREE CAKE!  I asked Kwan if there was some “special occasion”.  He said “no”.  Free Cake is a regular occurance at St Helen’s.

All those driving down to the “World of Concrete” in January should make a stop at St Helen’s.�

395 E Telegraph St
Washington, UT 84780

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On one of my many “google” searches on the word “concrete” (and it’s many cousins… “concrete construction”, “concrete contractors”, “concrete tools”, “decorative concrete”….etc) I came across an interesting website.  Domain name:  www.concretechange.org

Honestly, it stood out among the rest for one reason.  All you other guys out there do have great sites… lovely floors, pool decks, counter tops and the like.  But this site stood out because it reminded me of the wonderful substance concrete is in and of itself!  Eleanor from Concrete Change explained the site to me with this quote:

“Concrete Change is a network of people working in their locales for a universal, basic level of disability access to houses.  The goal is for  at least three features to become the norm in nearly all new houses;  at least one zero-step entrance (at the front, side or back), wide interior doors on the main floor; and a bathroom on the main level. …”

Concrete is a great medium for allowing such building!  Contractors today are taking steps to help develop ways of promoting handicap friendly homes, businesses and recreational availability to all people.

Case in point:  This past summer we took off for a few days on a local camping trip.  Something simple for our family… none of us are in a wheel chair.  When we got to our campsite in the Snowy Mountains, I noticed that there were handicap accessible facilities… zero entry…. thanks to concrete!  Such an easy solution to what could be a pressing problem! 

Granted, they aren’t the most luxurious accommodations… but I am SURE those of you out in the concrete business have come up with stunning examples of beautifully done concrete that also serves as functional for all people… send your photos in!�

Surprise… Surprise… Surprise…..Gomer Pyle: quintessential “little man”.  Gomer ran his own garage in the small mythical T.V. town of Mayberry.  Not the “star” of the show… but Andy and Barny couldn’t get along without him.  I don’t remember Aunt Bee driving… but if she did… I can imagine she may have been buzzing to the local general store in a rambler.  At any rate, Gomer no doubt kept busy changing the oil and spark plugs on the old “squad car”.  Nope, no “Jiffy Lube” or “Grease Monkey” in Mayberry!   Which, believe it or not, somehow brings me to my point…

What Ever Happened to Gomer Pyle?  The little guy who took care of things.  He took pride in his work.  He cared about the product that left his shop.  He knew his customers, and his customers knew him.  If there was a problem or a concern he could easily be found in Floyd’s barber shop. 

Most people look for the “Gomer’s” and stick with them for life.  They are local contractors, hairdressers, and your favorite “mom and pop cafe”.�

Trade Tool Innovations likes to think of itself as a “Pyle-Style” kind of place.  Let us know if that’s your company as well…!