Going to church the Hope Community way

(I thought it would be interesting to use Sundays to focus on Rensselaer's churches and to see how many Sundays I can go before I run out of material. Indiana is richly endowed with religious denominations, with influences from North and South, East and West. This is part of that series of posts.)
You may be wondering why there is a picture of the Carnegie Center instead of a church building this Sunday. It is because there is a group that meets in the Carnegie Center on Sundays. According to the "Church Services Directory" in the Rensselaer Republican, Hope Community is a "community of Christ's Believers offering hope and healing to the wounded. Sundays 9:30 am: Praise music, message from God's word, small group Bible study, fellowship, love, and acceptance."

I could not find any other information about this group on the web.

Hail storm

This evening a thunderstorm interrupted what had been a sunny day, bringing with it a downpour and hail. After the rain had stopped and the sun had returned, this is what part of Weston Cemetery looked like.
The hail had collected on one side of the street in Brookside Park.

And the cold of the hail and the warm humid air combined to create mist over the soccer field in the park.
I would have enjoyed the hail, but I have a garden, and this is what my garden looked like. The bits of green by the flower pots are sweet potatoes, which are not tolerant of cold. We will see in a few days how they fare.
My puny little tomato plants took a beating, many of them losing half their leaves. We will see in a few days how serious the damage was to them as well.
Tomorrow is graduation day for the high school. Those with early parties had a bit more excitement than they wanted.

Summer vacation

On Wednesday I heard the happy voices of dozens of children on the way to the park. It could only mean one thing--the end of the school year was near and the students were having a recess day. It is an ancient tradition--I remember park days at the end of the school year when I was in grade school in Minnesota half a century ago. One of the big deals for the St. A's kids is that the older ones are allowed to ride their bikes.In past years students from Demotte and Lafayette have come to Brookside park for their end-of-the-year park day. The Lafayette kids sometimes would come up on Amtrak, be met at the station by their bus, and ride the last bit to the park, and then go home on the bus at the end of the day. That must have been quite an exciting day for them. I vaguely recall that one year the train hit some cattle on the way up and was delayed for several hours. Or was it a vehicle? That may be the reason they are no longer doing it.
The kids are excited to be at the park. You would think that they had never been there before.
Some were on the basketball court, and one of the teachers, Mrs R, told me that they were playing a game called Knock Out. I watched for a while but could not see any sense to what they were doing.

Our congressman is in the news again

Here.

Shopping at Ron's Auctions

In early April I wrote about shopping at Ron's Bargain Shop. Also part of the Ron empire is Ron's Auction House, which is on Vine Street. It is open only for auctions, which are usually held either on Wednesday nights or on Saturdays.
Below is what the inside of the building looked like on one Wednesday evening.

At the back of the building is the cashier, where one gets a number and pays when one is done buying. Along the east wall is a small food stand. Rensselaer may not have dinner and a movie, but we do have dinner and an auction.
There are a bunch of signs that give policies for things like accepting checks. My favorite is the unruly-children policy.
Each auction is different, but some things are pretty standard. Housewares are a pretty common item.
I doubt if there are many auctions without some knick-nacks , though you never know what knick-nacks will show up at any particular auction.
When we moved to Rensselaer, there were a lot of auctions at houses. When the owner died or moved, the contents of the house would be auctioned at the house. Now there are very few auctions like that. Instead it seems that the contents of the households are being moved to Ron's Auction House or to auctions at the fairgrounds or the armory. I used to go to a lot of auctions, but that was when we were still adding stuff. Now we need to get rid of stuff.

When I lived in West Virginia for two winters, we did not have television. One of the weekly attractions was the auction at the local auction house. In many ways it was very similar to Ron's auction house. We still have a few items that we bought there.
In addition to knick-nacks, collectibles are popular, and like knick-nacks, there are many different kinds. Below are some old toys. I attended this auction, but did not stay long enough to see them sold.
The porch furniture below was sold "choice-out." That means all four items were available, but the price was for just one item. The winner could then pick what he or she wanted at that price. The winning bid was $10 and the winner picked the two rockers and the love seat, paying $30. The little table then went back for sale, and it sold for $11. It is not all that unusual for the second round to have a higher price than the first round, though you would expect that the greater choice would be the more valuable.
Sometimes things are sold by the piece. That means you buy the entire set, but the price is per piece. I guess the advantage of bidding that way is that the price seems lower than it really is. Often items do not get a bid. While I was there, a 35mm Canon camera did not get a bid of even $1. When this happens, the auctioneer lumps something else with it. Eventually something that is actually has value is added to the group of items and the group sells.

Below is the most unusual item I saw at Ron's Auction House in the several visits I have made. I did not stay to see if it sold. It works on the Billy Bass principle. The website, jinglejugs.com, was alive when I took this picture, but it is now down and redirects. That probably means that the only way you are going to get fine merchandise like this is in places like Ron's Auction house or the 2Bobs General Store or one of the other resale shops in Rensselaer. It might be a collectable!
You never know what you might find at an auction. To see what is scheduled in upcoming auctions, visit auctionzip.com.

The auctionzip site is a very nice site--I am impressed with its calendar and ability to show you auctions in the vicinity of any zip code. In contrast, I am disappointed in the city of Rensselaer web site at www.cityofrensselaerin.com. At the bottom of the right column is a link for "Public Document Access." It only works if you are using Internet Explorer on a Windows PC. Granted that about 75% of people do use Internet Explorer, but 25% of the people use Firefox, Safari, Opera, or Chrome. If you want to grant public access to documents, you do not restrict access to one browser. I would like to say that only governments do stupid things like this, but corporations who have incompetent web designers sometimes do as well.

Will Barbie graduate?

The displays in the historical society window and the library display case have changed fairly recently. The Historical Society is featuring a display of graduation things. Some are quite old, other not so old.
The library uses both of its display cases for a large display of Barbie and ken.
Barbie is seen in many roles. The one I did not notice was Barbie graduating, which would be seasonal.
But I guess little girls do not dream of graduating from high school in the same way that they dream of other things.

Tin roof

As the weather has gotten nicer, I have seen more people re-roofing their houses. I have also noticed a number of houses in Rensselaer that have abandoned shingles and gone to metal roofs. Below is a picture of two houses with metal roofs, and there is another done the block from them.

Metal roofs do not have to be drab--they can be quite colorful, as this red roof shows.Below is another red roof, but considerably bigger.
There are two or three green roofs that I have noticed.
Most of the houses with metal roofs are newer, but below is an older house with a steeply-pitched roof that is metal.The primary reason I notice metal roofs is that several years ago the roof on my ancient shed began to leak again. It has a fairly flat roof, and I was told the first time that I put a roof on it that I should not use shingles but rather roll roofing. But even that did not last, so I decided to try a metal roof.
This is about as big a roofing project as I am willint to attempt. The roof was not too high and it was flat, so my acrophobia did not kick in. And there was no need to cut the roofing into careful shapes.
Last time I checked, metal roofs cost considerably more than shingle roofs, but they are supposed to last a lot longer. They seem to be pretty standard on commercial buildings.

And speaking of roofs, SJC has been getting a new roof on the new addition to the field house.
The original roof was not installed properly, and there was leakage in the seam where the old roof met the new roof. The leakage damaged the insulation, so the solution was to take up the existing roof and do it again.

Memorial Day 2009

Here are a few scenes from the Memorial Day ceremony at Weston Cemetery. There was a nice crowd of onlookers there.

Black locust flowers

Blooming last week and this week is the black locust. I probably should have done this one before the tulip tree, since it seems to hit full flower a bit before the tulip tree. (Remember to look up at the tulip trees this week. They are blooming. If those flowers were bright red, they would be spectacular.) Though the individual flowers are samll, they come in bunches so they are quite noticeable.
This is the best time of the year to spot them, but I have not seen a lot, so they must not be widely planted. We seem to be a bit north of their native range. The one below is near Vine Street and Elza.
The more common locust tree seems to be the honey locust which has very unimpressive flowers that are almost ready to bloom.

I found the small tree or bush below out in the country. It looks like cherry, but I am not sure what kind. Could it be pin or fire cherry?
And for this week's obscure tree flower, here is a white pine. Do you think it is as attractive as the red pine?
In non-flowering news, the cottonwood trees have started shedding their seeds.

Planting

With the wet spring the area farmers have been slow to get the fields planted. I have not been out in the country much in the last month, but last week I was out at the right place at the right time to see some tractors in the fields.
Help me out, you farm experts. Is he disking?

The picture below is a bit blurry because the tractor was raising a lot of dust. It looks like he was planting.
I even saw some farm activity going on at the airport. A crop duster landed and reloaded with chemicals.

Several days earlier I noticed a truck parked by a field that had all the supplies needed for planting. I am not sure what the chemicals are in the two tanks, but when you do the no-till farming, you substitute chemicals for plowing.
Also on the truck were two varieties of seed corn, one shown below.

And more chemicals.
The point of all this is to get the field looking like the picture below, which shows that some farmers got their planting done a few weeks ago.




It takes a lot of work to get the crops planted. I struggle with a tiny garden--I cannot imagine doing hundreds of acres.

The 14 stations of the flags

Instead of going to church this Sunday's post, let us go to Weston cemetery, which is decorated for Memorial Day. For the past few days there have been many people placing flowers on the graves of loved ones, making it very colorful.
In addition, there are hundred of American flags throughout the cemetery, some with signs. There are fourteen of these signs or stations for you to read and contemplate as you make your way through the cemetery. At the eastern entrance are stations 1 and 2.

1) 13 Flags representing 13 original colonies

2) 19 flags representing Indiana as the 19th state

Following the road and taking the right fork, we get more stations.

3) Six rows of flags--six flags in the first row; two flags in the second row', three flags in the third row, zero flags in the fourth row, two flags in the fifth row, six flags in the last row indicating the number of veterans killed in the civil War 623026

4) Three rows of flags--seven flags in the first row, zero flags in the second row, four flags in the third row representing the number 704, the number of known veterans buried in the Weston Cemetery.

5) One (1) flag representing the missing in action (M.I.A'S)
Crossing the bridge and going south we find two more.

6) South side of Freedom Tree: Four (4) rows of flags in sequence of 4-2-9-6 representing the number of known military deaths in Iraq (4,296)
7) North side of Freedom Tree: Three (3) rows of flags in sequence of 6-8-6 representing the number of known military deaths in Afghanistan

8) Six rows of flags representing the number 116,708 the number of veterans killed in World War I

9) Six rows of flags representing the number 407,316 the number of veterans killed in World War II

10) Five rows of flags representing the number 36,914 the number of veterans killed in the Korean War

11) Five rows of flags representing the number 58,169 the number of veterans killed in the Vietnam war
12) Fifty (50) flags representing the 50 states.

13) Sequence of three (3) flags in a rows representing the number 1-5-4 the number of veterans killed in Iraq/Afghanistan from Indiana

14) Fifty (50) crosses with 50 flags in honor of a grateful nation and its time honored heros.
Our civic religion and our denominational religions are intertwined on Memorial Day. You can witness it on Monday at 11:00 a.m. when there will be a memorial service in Weston Cemetery.

The consultants' report

Did you get a chance to look at the planning report that was produced for the Park Board? Today I went to the library and skimmed through its 100+ pages. It begins with background and continues with a summary, full of charts, of the surveys that the consultants asked people to fill out. Then there was an analysis of each of the parks, which is where I thought it started getting interesting. Finally pages 97-99 had a summary of recommendations. If you do not have much time and want to know the gist of the report, start there.

Here are some highlights, sometimes with my comments. The park board wants to continue to pursue the purchase of more land, but it has no money budgeted to buy any. The consultants recognize that the east side of town in under-parked, with only Columbia Park. (However, this is ameliorated by the presence of the school corporations lands around the high school and Van Rensselaer. I did not see any suggestion that the park board and the school corporation cooperate more.)

A high priority is the development a trail system master plan. It sounds good in theory, but I do not see how a good trail system would fit in Rensselaer. Maybe they should think outside the city limits. The report suggests more horseshoe pits--do people still actually play horseshoes? I can see the reasoning for wanting dog parks within the existing parks--right now a lot of people exercise their dogs in the parks, and even though most are responsible in cleaning up after their dogs, maybe some are not. I liked the idea of adding some nature plantings in Brookside and Iroquois to reduce the need for mowing and maintenance. (Saint Joseph's College could save a lot of money with that idea--too bad they will never do it.) There was a lot about ADA compliancy.

The plan suggested improving the ball field in Iroquois. The ball field, though, is in a poor location, with a busy street on one side and fenced city buildings on the other. The proposal to add benches to Memorial Park seems sound, (maybe they could get some from St. Joe's, which is littered with benches) as does the proposal to contain the parking area of Laird's Landing. (Now pretty much the entire park is a parking lot.)

There was a lot more there, and some of the recommendations that did not interest me, may interest you. If you have a chance, take a look at the report. (It is too bad that they did not put a version on-line.)

Feel free to comment.

Facelift

In early April I noticed workmen busy on a building located on McKinley Street, aka U.S. Highway 231. They were putting wooden strips on a building that I believed once housed Culligan.

The main occupant of this building is Jazzercise, an exercise club or studio.
About a week later the entire building had been "stripped."
Two weeks later the front had a new look.
On the first of May it looked mostly complete, and there were expensive lawnmowers in front.


On May 21face lift looked completed and successful. The Jazzercise sign is back in place, and the business renting the lawnmowers is called "Big Dog Rental and Sales."
A bit further south on McKinley another building is having a face lift, the building of the Prairie's Edge. You can see what it used to look like here. A month ago the building had its old blue awnings removed (which were a lot like the new red awnings in the picture above) and looked like a work in progress.
About two weeks later the beginnings of a canopy were visible.
On May 21, the canopy looked mostly done and siding was being added to the building.
Another change that can be considered a face lift is the sodding of the yards disrupted by the Melville Street Construction project. The picture below was taken last week.

More fun at the elevator

Although the big crane that impressed me so much is not longer at the elevator, there still is a bucket vehicle (I am not sure what you should call it) that is helping the workers replace parts and paint old ones. This is an unusual vehicle because it can be driven from the bucket. I do not see any controls on the base, so maybe it can only be driven from the bucket.
A few days ago I saw it extended to reach the top of the elevators. The arm telescopes out--note the much greater extension of the low part of the arm in the picture below as compared to the picture above. I wonder how much more it can extend.Below is a closer look at the top of the arm. It took a while for me to notice that there was also a worker doing something up on the metal tower near the top of the picture below.
So I walked around to get a different angle. A person with acrophobia would not be very good doing this job.

Plaques: All who Serve

On the court house lawn is a small plaque honoring all those who served our country in the armed forces from Jasper County.
There is no information on the plaque about who erected it or when it was put here. It is a nice gesture, but I am more impressed with the memorial in Milroy Park honoring those who served in the Civil War, and the plaque in Flat Iron Park honoring those who served in World War I. There is also a more impressive memorial in the newest part of Weston Cemetery, and it is here that Memorial Day ceremonies are carried out.
If you cannot see it above, you should be able to see that the monument has a picture of the flag raising at Iwo Jima, that most famous of World War II images.Below is the other side of the monument. Rensselaer does not have specific memorials to those who served in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, or Iraq, and this and the small plaque on the court house lawn are the town's way of remembering their service.

Update: The Rensselaer Republican reported that the VFW and the American Legion will hold a Memorial Day service at Weston Cemetery at 11:00 on Monday, Memorial Day.

The house at the Fisher Oak Savanna

In February I wrote about burning brush at the Fisher Oak Savanna. While I was there, I had the opportunity to visit the large house that is on the property. It is one (and the best) of only five listings for Milroy township in the Jasper County Interim Report, which lists it as an American foursquare, c 1910. I was allowed inside because I went to the brush burning--it is not open to the public. So if you want to see it, you should look for volunteer opportunities at the Fisher Oak Savanna, and maybe you will get lucky.

What surprised me the most about this house is that it has not been lived in regularly for about fifty years. During that time it has been used as a summer residence. There is a much smaller house immediately behind it that is currently occupied. Why occupy the little house and not the big one? Because the little house has heat.

Notice, by the way, that this house has been kept painted and roofed, so it is in very good shape.
This old wood stove greets the visitor as he or she enters the back porch. Obviously it is no longer used, and you can see a much newer stove in the kitchen on the right of the photograph.
Inside the kitchen is this ancient refrigerator, turned around to face the wall. (Is it a safety hazard because a small child could open it, get in, and lock himself inside?) I have never seen an operating refrigerator with the condenser on the top like this one has. I think these were from the 1920s or 1930s. On the back you can make out lettering (not on the picture shown here) that says, "Refrigerator cabinet manufactured by the Heintz Mfg Co Philadelphia" and I cannot read the state.
The main room on the first floor is huge with a large fireplace. The room has two lighting fixtures, and though the French doors you can see the front door of the house.Below is a much better view of the front door. I love the oval window in the door.
The second floor has a full bath complete with grab bars for the tub (There is a half bath on the first floor.). Clean it up and it would be a decent bathroom. Of course the color of the paint dates it. This bathroom is not as old as the house. When do you think it was installed? 1960s?
Other than the bathroom, the rest of the second floor contains bedrooms. The floor was in excellent shape throughout the house, with a few exceptions, such as in the picture below.
The rooms are almost completely empty, unless you count this telephone in one of the bedrooms as a furnishing. Each bedroom, by the way, had a closet. Not the big closets of today, but the smaller closets of a century ago.
The door to the attic stairs was open, so I went up. The wiring in this building is like wiring in my house (which was built about the same time.) The two strands in the wiring are kept separate, not paired as they are today.
The attic had two chimneys. One was from the old kitchen stove, the other, shown below, was from the fire place. I have no idea why they built it with this slant.
The building has a half basement, and all that was there was a water pump and a hot water heater. Note the lack of a furnace. There are no radiators or heating vents anywhere in the house.
In the back there is an outhouse. Although the door is off the hinge, the paint looks great. I did not check out the interior to learn if it has been recently used. I hope you will forgive me for that oversight. I really should have checked it.
I like old houses, and being able to wander around this old house was a real treat, and payment enough for a couple of hours of pitching branches on an open fire.

(Look at the sidebar for an event coming on Saturday at the Fisher Oak Savanna.)

The tulips of the tulip tree

The tulip trees are beginning to bloom. With their huge flowers that look like tulips, you would think they would be quite spectacular. However, most people do not even notice that they are blooming. Most of the flowers are high in the trees, and the flowers are pale green and yellow, so they do not contrast well with the leaves.
Here is a better picture of the blossom. The tulip tree is the state tree of Indiana.
Tulip trees can grow to be very large, with trunks ten feet in diameter. I have not seen any like that around here.

5k Saturday

Below is the start of the Chloë 5K run for autism held Saturday. Results are posed at http://www.jeffrayburn.com/Home and if the past is a guide, soon pictures will be also.

Woodpeckers

Last week I went to the dentists for a check up, and I spent some of the time while I was waiting trying to get a picture of a bird at the bird feeder. After several missed shots, I caught this little woodpecker at the feeder.
Can you identify it? My guess is that it is a downy woodpecker, but I am not all that good at bird identification.

For the last week some bird has been hammering in one of our trees. There were wood chips all over the sidewalk in front of the house. He seems to have finished, and has been poking his head out. I caught him with my digital camera and see that he is a flicker. I wonder if he soon will be making the wild flicker noises as he tries to attract a mate.
I hope he finds a mate. It will be fun watching them come and go.

Update: A flicker may have built it, but it appears that a starling has claimed it. I will not be fun watching the starlings come and go.

Going to church the Milroy Baptist Bible way

(I thought it would be interesting to use Sundays to focus on Rensselaer's churches and to see how many Sundays I can go before I run out of material. Indiana is richly endowed with religious denominations, with influences from North and South, East and West. This is part of that series of posts.)

The Milroy Baptist Bible Church is located at about 10 miles southeast of Rensselaer on State Road 16 at county road 60 E. According to the "Church Services Directory" in the Rensselaer Republican, the pastor is Larry Piatt. Sunday Worship is at 10:00 a.m (Rensselaer time), and an evening service is at 6:00 p.m. There are other events and services.

I could not find any other information about this church on the web.

Dodging the bullet

Chrysler is abandoning 789 dealers across the U.S., but the Rensselaer Dodge is not on the list.
GM is also cutting lose dealers, but has not released its list of 1100 that got its notice on Friday.

Update: The Saturday Rensselaer Republican reported that Charlie Roberts Chevrolet was one of the 1100 GM dealers who will no longer be GM dealerships. Their contract will expire in 2010. Steve Roberts sounded both disappointed and bitter.

We have lost the Ford dealership, and Ford may be the only U.S. car manufacturer who will survive. With GM pulling out of Rensselaer, that will leave only the Chrysler dealership selling new cars, and Chrysler is not a viable company without government subsidies. Maybe it is time for someone in town to get a Toyota or Honda dealership.

I never have had a bad experience dealing with Charlie Roberts Chevrolet, which is not a statement I can make about all Rensselaer car dealers.

Looks like a parking lot

About three weeks ago I had a picture of construction activity around Monnett, and reported that someone had told me that an alternative school was going up there. I have been watching off and on what is going on, and the primary activity up to now has been construction of a ramp to the door of the administration building. The rest of the site looks like it is being prepared to be a parking lot. If it is a parking lot, a ramp would make a lot of sense.
I will be surprised if it is anything other than a parking lot.

Shopping the booths at Jasper Junction

In February I went shopping at Jasper Junction, but at the time did not look at what was in the booth part of the store. If you are not familiar with Jasper Junction, you may need some explanation. The north half of the main building is rented out to vendors who fill their spaces with whatever merchandise they have. A lot of it could be classified as flea-market merchandise, and I hope that that description does not offend anyone. The booth area is very much like the Greene's Antique Mall (which I need to get to this summer and write about). In both cases, the store does the selling, but the merchandise is provided by others. It is not quite the same as a consignment store, which is the business model of Irene's.

As you look down one of the two aisles, you see a lot of stuff.
Old signs like this Todd sign are the kind of thing I expect to see. Was this a seed-corn company at one time? People collect things like this.
I suspect that the Marlboro clocks are also collected. There is also a lot of stuff that is not collected. This car will probably be bought as a toy for a child.
This train could also be a toy, but it may also be something that people would collect. It is in very good shape for a toy, and it looks older than the car above.
The ultimate in things usable are socks. I doubt if anyone collects them. Well, not intentionally as a collectible.
I thought this lamp was unusual. Would it work for a little girl's room? When I was growing up, we had a round lamp in which the heat of the bulb spun a cylinder. The picture on the outside of the lamp was of Niagara Falls, so it appeared that the falls was in motion. If I saw one in good shape, I would probably buy it. But the fairy lamp presented no such temptation.
The last few times I have looked through the booths, there was a lamp that was made of deer hooves. I did not see it this time. If it had been there, I would have included a picture.

I do not know what this figurine is supposed to be.
There were a number of Indian figurines.
And there were at least as many figurines of death.
Is this cat the feline equivalent of the dogs playing poker?
I am too old to know much about the character below, but I do talk to parents who have young kids so I know it is Sponge Bob Square Pants.
I do not think these are really figurines. I think there are whiskey bottles.
Below is a meat grinder. My mother used to have one of these. I do not recall exactly what we ground up, but we used it quite a bit.
I have some antlers that I found in Nevada. Maybe I should buy the deer head and put them on it.
I have saved the best for last--amphibians with mammary glands.
Jasper Junction is a fun place to browse. It is too bad that it is six miles north of town or else I would stop by more often.

Crayfish

I was approaching the quarry on Thursday morning when I saw a crayfish on the road. It does not surprise me to see frogs or turtles or snakes on the road, especially when they are dead, but seeing a live crayfish was a surprise.
Perhaps the heavy rains overnight dislodged it from the river, though, it was a considerable distance from the river. I have no idea where it was going. It probably wandered around on the road until a vehicle ran it over.

Tree report, second week in May

This week there are a lot fewer trees and shrubs flowering than there were last week. I noticed some pink flowers at Saint Joseph's College and wondered why a magnolia was still in bloom, but when I checked it, I found that it was actually a pink dogwood.
On the north end of town, along Webster, there are some horse chestnuts that have prettier flowers than the ones I had last week.
The most noticeable flowering shrub this week is bridal wreath. Because I grew up in a house that was surrounded by them, I have a soft spot for them. I recall chirping sparrows nesting in them, and being fooled by cowbirds to raise young that were not their own. Seeing that taught me that nature had a harsher side.
A tree that is blooming in the woods is one of the cherries. There are quite a few around Lake Banet. There are several species of cherry trees. These may be black cherry because the trees are quite large. Black cherry is an interesting tree because the leaves can be poisonous to livestock, though the fruit is edible and is sometimes made into jelly.
While in the Lake Banet area, I noticed that the red pine were blooming. The flowers are not flower-like because the trees are wind pollinated. If you shake the branches, you will release big clouds of pollen.
Also blooming in a very inconspicuous way are the mulberries. There are a lot of them at Lake Banet and in many other places in town. The birds love the fruit, and I wish I did too because there is so much of it around Rensselaer. I have little mulberry trees that keep trying to grow, and I cannot kill them. I cut them back to the ground each year, and the next year they have sent up new growth.
The references I found on the Internet say that mulberries have both male and female flowers. I do not know which these are.

The Expo

On Wednesday I stopped by the 2009 Career and Business Expo in the National Guard Armory to see what what happening. It was not very busy. Maybe the rain kept people away. On this side of the room there was a booth for Purdue University trying to get people into school. I did sign up for a drawing to win free golf games at the George Ade course even though I do not golf.
You can see McDonald's in the back. Close to them was a table for the National Guard. In the front was a Mexican restaurant from Kentland. (Quite a few of the tables were for organizations in the surrounding counties.) There were also some people who wanted to help me find a job who are out of the picture to the left. If I had not looked so much like a derelict they maybe would not have offered.
I picked up factbooks for Newton and Benton Counties. Did you know that the largest town in Newton County is Roselawn. It had 3789 people in 2007. Second was Kentland with 1679, then Morocco with 1122, Goodland with 1005, Brook with 982, Lake Village with 823, and finally tiny Mt. Ayer with 131.

As for Benton County, in 2006 Fowler had 2272, Oxford 1206, Otterbein 907, Boswell 782, Earl Park 458, and Ambia 186.

I wonder what the numbers are Jasper County.

I picked up a brochure for the Jennie E. Caldwell Memorial Home, a place I had previously never heard of. It is outside "the quaint town of Earl Park." It appears to be assisted living for older women. To get in, a woman has to be single, 70 or older, in good health for her age, mobile and able to care for herself, and have a good outlook on life.

I should have asked why there were there, but did not. Their website is at http://www.caldwellhome.org/index.htm

Tree removal

The Rensselaer Republican beat me to the story of the removal of the tree blocking the river between Weston Cemetery and Iroquois Park. I had reported on this tree in several posts, such as here and here. Below is a picture of a backhoe that has started the process of tree removal. This is not to be confused with another backhoe at the site of the other tree across the river, the one between Weston Cemetery and Bicentennial Park. (Actually, the tree may be a bit beyond the cemetery boundry.)
And then the blockage was gone and the river flowed free again, or at least until it hit the tree a third of a mile downstream.

A new P.B.

In January I wrote about the Marina trucks that pass through Rensselaer on the way to a landfill over by Buffalo. The other morning I saw four of them coming along State Road 114 through the downtown. For me, that is a personal best. What is more, a few minutes earlier I had seen four others, two going in each direction.There are a lot of these trucks going through town every day.

Recycling Cans

I hope you enjoyed Monday's post on demolition because I have more of the same for today. When we left the story on Monday, the old oil tanks had been removed from the site on Walnut Street and were at the scrap yard of Rensselaer Iron and Metal, which is also on Walnut Street. I was wondering what they would do with them because there were warnings spray-painted on them saying that they had held fuel. So when I went by on Friday last week, I was a little surprised, but only a little, to see a worker with a torch cutting off the end of one of the tanks.
A while later I was by and the end was cut off.
And still later a worker was slicing the tank lengthwise to open it up. I guess that is what happens when you recycle really big cans, which is, after all, what the tanks are.
On Monday morning three of the tanks were piled in the back of the yard and this is what was left of the three cans in the first picture above.On Monday I was also back at the demolition site because I wanted to get some pictures. I arrived shortly after they had started demolition of the building. The giant claw was taking little bites from the building, and every once in a while it would get something stuck in its teeth. (Ooops--I am mixing metaphors. Sorry.)
I shot some video with my camera and edited it down to a minute and a half of destruction. It is not as good as being there, but for most people, it will have to do. (There were some people watching. It is not every day you get to see destruction on this scale.)



One of the trucks at the site was for groundwater and environmental services. I suspect that they need to test the soil and make sure it is not contaminated with oil in order to get a buyer. I know that a number of years ago SJC accepted a donation of a service station, and then learned that they should not have done that. Old service stations can have negative value. But the danger of contamination may be less with tanks that are above ground than with tanks that are in the ground.

A few more picture from bulk pickup

I showed a lot of pictures of last week's bulk pickup, but I have more, some taken after my post last week.

I thought I might call the picture of the picture below, "Art in the Alley." (Except that it was not in the alley--it was on the curb.)
Someone was pitching a piano. There was a sign, "Free," on it, and when I checked back before the caravan came, it was gone, hopefully to a good and loving home.Speaking of the caravan, here is a better shot of it than I had on my initial post.
The shot below is not as good, but it shows more vehicles--nine. You might have to click on it to get a larger version to count them all. The truck at the end had boxes, and I saw the guys throwing old paint cans into one of them. One of the trucks near the garbage truck was for scrap metal. The loader helped pick up branches for the truck that carried branches, and there was probably another for grass clippings. I suspect there was another vehicle for old tires.
There were even vehicles in the trash. Actually, I saw a number of little cars for kids on the curb, which probably means that they do not last very long.
The Rensselaer Republican announced that the police would be tagging vehicles that appeared to be abandoned, and I did find one that had a warning notice on its windshield.
Here it is below. I can see why it has the notice. I wonder what happened to it.

Update: According to the Rensselaer Republican (May 15, 2009), the city removed 209.67 tons of trash with 25 trips to the landfill, 45.5 tons of yard waste, 51.3 tons of brush, and 46 tires. In comparison, in 2008, there were 192.46 tons of trash, 12.79 tons of yard waste, 53.35 tons of brush, and 26 tires. Also, this year 39 loads of scrap metal were taken to Rensselaer Iron and Metal compared to 3 last year, and 28 appliances were picked up compared to only 5 last year. Apparently the city spent more time separating the scrap metal from the trash this year.

Tanks for Demolition

Last Wednesday I was riding my bike along Walnut Street and I saw that a big excavator had been busy taking down some old fuel tanks. Two were still standing, and one was on its side.
Several months ago I had taken a picture of those tanks, thinking there might be an interesting story with them. At some time they must have been used, but for what? Heating oil? Gasoline? Diesel? Who owned them? What was the business called? When did they stop being used? I thought that sometime in the future I might find answers to these questions and write something about these mysterious tanks.
There are some similar tanks that are still in use by the grain elevators. I know as little about them as about the rusted tanks but I doubt if they are fuel tanks.
On Thursday I went back to see what was happening and found the workmen had taken down the last two tanks and were playing with them using their big machine with the mighty claw. The machine could crush them and lift them up. I asked what would happen to them because there was a warning spray painted on them that they had held fuel, and that means that they might be dangerous to cut up. I was told that they were going down the street to the scrap yard.
A truck pulled up and they tried to load a tank onto it.
Wait--I have some video.

Here are two of the tanks in the scrap yard of Rensselaer Iron and Metal Company.

On Friday I talked to a workman and he told me that the property was owned by Exxon-Mobil. They were taking down all the structures and then would be selling the vacant lot. He also said that the tanks had not been used for about twenty-five years.

If you know anything about the history of these tanks, please leave a comment.

Going to church the First Baptist way

(I thought it would be interesting to use Sundays to focus on Rensselaer's churches and to see how many Sundays I can go before I run out of material. Indiana is richly endowed with religious denominations, with influences from North and South, East and West. This is part of that series of posts.)

The First Baptist Church is located at 2010 North McKinley Avenue, or on the highway just north or town. According to the Church Services Directory published in the Rensselaer Republican, the pastor is Daniel Hester, Jr. Sunday school is at 9:30 and Sunday services are at 10:30 and 6:00 p.m.
I could not find a website for this church, but did find it listed in a list of fundamentalist, King-James-only Baptist churches.
Rensselaer has two other churches that call themselves Baptist, the Harvest Baptist Fellowship and Bible Baptist Church. See those entries for links to information on Wikipedia and the religion maps at Valparaiso University.

At the Gene Edmonds Relays

Friday night Rensselaer Central High School hosted the annual Gene Edmonds Relays. I recall many of them in the past, and decided to wander out and see what was happening this year.

There were more teams than I remember being at this meet when my track-running sons were in high school.
In this meet everything is a relay. Above is the start of one of the 4x800 relays. Below the girls are getting ready for an exchange of batons. The starter has lined them up so they will be getting the exchange roughly in the order that they are arranged.
Below is the start of a sprint relay. Notice all the people paying attention in the background. They are the timers who are watching the starter so they can get their stop watches started with the gun. These are the people who make the meet run. I say that not because it is true, but because I watched high school meets for eight years from there.
However, when I worked the Gene Edmunds Relays I usually got demoted to a lesser job. Sometimes I was a turn judge, where you have to make sure that the baton is transferred in the zone, and also that runners do not step over the inside line trying to save a few inches. I recall disqualifying a few teams, and I always felt bad about that.

Above the the final turn in the 4x100.

The field events are also done as relays. The combined efforts of two performers determine the place. Here a jumper is flying through the air.
The real flying, though, is with the pole vault. Girls pole vault has only been contested a few years in Indiana. This was one of the last girls vaulting and she looks to be well over ten feet.
I like the pictures I got of her vaulting, so here she is again. (I checked the leader board at Indianarunner.com and saw that two Lawrence Central girls had heights over 11 feet, and one was ranked second in the state. There was also a Lake Central girl who could do 11 feet. That would explain these pictures.)When I attended the state track meet a number of years ago, I had a seat that had an excellent view of the pole vault competition, and there were several excellent vaulters. At least two went over the old state record, which at the time was 15 or 16 feet, but only the winner got his name on the new record. That record was broken a few years later.

Speaking of new, the refreshment stand, complete with decent toilets in the back, is new since my youngest son left the high school.

Below is the plaque. (I included it because my goal is to eventually record every plaque in Rensselaer.)
On almost all the result announcements while I was at the meet, there was a note that a new record had been set. This year the meet attracted some big schools, such as Crown Point and Fort Wayne Harding on the boys' side, and Lake Central and Lawrence Central on the girls' side. The best result I saw for Rensselaer was in the 9-10 distance relay, where the boys finished second, only a second or two behind the first-place team.

Update: Most of the results are here.

What is that? (Shopping the Town-wide garage sale (3 of 3))

A mere week ago we "celebrated" the town-wide yard sale, and I have saved the best for last. Mooo.
I did not have to ask what the saws were, but they are not something you see at many yard sales. DIYER at Duae Manus would probably like them.
I did not know what the bear was for until I walked around to its front. Then all the holes in it told me it was an archery target.
I had to get up close and look at this ladder to figure out that it belonged in a swimming pool. I thought it would be the only one I would see, but I was wrong. Another sale had one, though it was a bit smaller. (And then I saw still another out for bulk pickup.)
I was also able to figure out that this strange fish was a toy for a toddler. I had never seen one like this before, but then I the current crop of kids toys is very different from what was available when my children were small.
The skeleton, which moved and probably also made sounds, was at the same sale as the Frankenstein. You probably know what this netty thing is in the picture below, but I had to ask. It goes over a little girls bed. Does that make it a princess bed?
When I asked about these two machines, I was told they were squirrel cages. I then had to ask what a squirrel cage was and found that they were a type of fan for moving air in buildings. (Hence, when I saw one several days later on the curb at another house for bulk pickup, I knew what it was. I was going to go back and take a picture, but it was gone when I went back the second time.)
I asked what this was and was told, but I do not remember what the answer was. It is something that goes on a car engine to make the car go faster.
I never did ask on this contraption. It is electronic and seems to be music related.
If you did not go to the town-wide garage sales, aren't you sorry you missed them? And if you did go, are you already planning for next-year's sale?

Parks: Staddon Field

Last week I saw the kids practicing at Iroquois and Brookside Parks and the Susan Lot by St. Augustine's, so I knew that ball season was near. On Wednesday evening I went to Wal-mart to buy a part to fix a bike, and I saw one of the first tee ball games of the season at Staddon Field.
There were an amazing number of people there. Some were watching the game being played and others were there waiting for the next game.
The kids are so small! Someone waved at me from the bleachers and it took me a few seconds to recognize her. It did not seem possible that her baby was already old enough to play tee ball. Wasn't she a toddler yesterday?
I vaguely recall my kids playing tee ball. None of them were very good at it, and only one or two advanced to the next level. I also remember some parents taking it very seriously, yelling at the kids and coaches and umpires. In the longer run, it does not matter much or at all if your kid is good or bad at tee ball.

After making a purchase at Wal-Mart, I rode home the long way. I saw a game going on at Columbia Park in which the ball is pitched by a machine. (I need to take pictures of that.) There was a good crowd at Ron's Auction House--I had wanted to go to but just did not have the time. The Assembly of God Church parking lot was full--Wednesday night is the time for a lot of church meetings. And Brookside Park was full of people as well, with a men's softball game and a soccer game underway. Wednesday night was a busy night in Rensselaer.

Along the way I saw some demolition that will be the subject of a post next week.

Shopping the first farmers' market

The farmers' market opened on May 2. There were several vendors there, though they were not selling much food. I noticed that the basswood trees on the court house lawn had their leaves. They did not for the arbor day tree walk.
A vendor who was selling food was offering freezer beef. I do not think he had any on hand but was only taking orders. Another vendor had dried flowers.
There were several vendors with flats of plants for your garden or yard.
Another also had some house plants.
I was on the lookout for rhubarb, and saw some.
Although there was not much at this first farmers market, the selection of items does get better and bigger as the season goes on.

Flowering dogwood

Last week the redbud was in its prime. The trees are still looking pretty good, as are the apple trees. However, some of the trees that you might think are apples are not--they are flowering dogwood. Below is a nice one on the SJC campus, but there are many around town and this week is a good week to spot them.
Below is a close-up of the flowers. They have unusually big flowers for a tree, though not as big as magnolias, which have now finished blooming.
I learned on the Arbor Day tree walk that dogwoods are one of the few types of trees that have opposite branching, where two branches come off the main branch on opposite sides. You can see some of it below. The other trees around here that have opposite branching are ashes and maples. Did you know that?
Another tree that has begun to bloom is the horse chestnut (or maybe it is the buckeye. I cannot tell the difference. The buckeye is native while the horse chestnut is not. Since the flowers on this one are yellowish, it may be buckeye.) Despite the large flower spike, it is not all that showy.More of the wind-pollinated trees are also blooming. This may be chestnut oak, but there are so many oaks that they are hard to tell apart. It is in the white oak family.


I was trying to find some of these oaks, which are in the red oak family, closer to the ground but could not. So the picture is not the best.
When the oaks start leafing, it is time to plant tomatoes. So I think that is what I will do.

Shopping the town-wide garage sale (2 of 3)

The town-wide yard sale took place on Saturday, May 2 and I visited many (though probably not most) of the sales. Today I want to show you some of the fun things you could have purchased if you had been with me.

I thought this bed was very pretty. It is probably a double bed, and today no one wants double beds. Queen size seems to be the minimum acceptable size.What would town-wide garage sale day be in Rensselaer without some NASCAR goodies?
This sale had a nice assortment of prom dresses.
At some of the sales people wondered why I was taking pictures, and if they asked, I told them to google Rensselaer Adventures. At one sale I met people who said they not only read my blog, but also that of Desert Survivor. I am always a bit startled when I meet people who say that they read my blog.

The truck below was only $500. The most expensive item I saw was a pop-up camper for $2500.
I wonder if anyone bought the foosball table for $200.
Is that bike below a moped or a motorcycle or a scooter? Whatever it was, it was for sale for $500 and there seemed to be someone interested in buying it.
Below is one of several artificial fireplaces I saw.
The canoe was only $200.
I guess those are fantasy figurines in the photo below. I do not know what the audience is, except that I am not part of it.
Maybe the photo below should be in part 3, which will be called, What is that?" It will have the items that I thought were the most unusual or that I could not identify.

Bulk pickup

This is the week of bulk pickup, and it is always remarkable how much stuff some people haul out to the curb. Here are several piles that I thought quite impressive.
The pile below was just down the block from the first. It was almost as if they were having a contest to see who could have the bigger pile.
The people were still building this one when I took the picture. They had a big yard sale on Saturday and said that they were moving, so they have a good reason for a big pile.
I do not remember where I took the picture below. It looks like there are quite a few bags of clothes, and that gets me to one of my pet peeves about bulk pickup. A lot of what people throw away is trash, but some of it is still very usable. If it is usable, then they can find a better way to dispose of it. For example, Jasper Junction will take it. If that is too much bother, it is good for them to invite others to take what they want.
For example, I talked to the lady who was putting out this pile. She had a sign on the dryer saying that it worked and that it was free. I asked about the string. It came from a factory at which she had worked and she said it would be useful to someone who crocheted. The boxes on the dryer were computer software for the Microsoft Windows as well as a version of Linux. (I use a Mac, so none of it interested me.) There was also an old computer. A few years ago I picked up old computers for parts, but with the introduction of UBS and faster drive interfaces, few parts from old computers have any use. When I went by this house two days after I took the picture above, most of the items, including the dryer and computer software, were gone.

Below is a couch I saw on Sunday morning. It was gone by Sunday evening. We put out a recliner that has broken springs. It was gone within a few hours. I hope the new owners enjoy it.
Old chairs and old microwaves are the sorts of things that bulk pickup is designed for. I would be surprised if any of the stuff in the picture below was picked up by scavengers, but people do pick up the strangest things.
I was looking for a kitchen sink to photograph, but the closest I got was the broken toilet below.
Here is another big pile of clothes. See the comments above.
A house on Home Avenue had this sign out front. If you cannot read it, it says, "Do not go through the garbage. I will get your license and call the police."
Below is their precious trash that is too good for the scavengers. It looks like there is some clothing and other reusable items there. The city does have an ordinance that stipulates a $50 fine for scavenging bulk-pickup piles. I understand the purpose of that rule--there are some people who do scatter things and make a mess of the piles. However, scavengers perform a useful service by keeping things out of the landfills and by recycling usable items. I would be sympathetic to this household if what they were pitching was really trash and not, judging from the little that is visible, items that could be used by others.
I included the picture below because I thought the tank on the right was interesting. I do not know what it is.
There is always a variety of exercise equipment on the curb. I guess people buy it with good intentions, then find that they do not use it enough to justify the space it uses in their houses or apartments. I would be surprised if the two items below were still there when the city crews come by.
These chairs were once nice. If you had enough time, they could be restored.
When I was near Monnett School I stopped to take several pictures. As I was taking this one, a voice from the house cried out, "What are you doing?" I replied that I was taking a picture. The voice commanded me to stop and to get off the yard, which was strange because I was on the city street. Then the voice told me that she was going to call the police. I told her that that was fine with me. So if the police are looking for the guy who was on the city street taking a picture of someone's garbage near Monnett School, I probably am the guy they are looking for.
Perhaps the lady thought that scavenging meant taking pictures.

When the day comes that it is illegal to stand on the city street and take a picture of someone's garbage, freedom will have been extinguished in America.

On Monday morning the gals and boys of the bulk pickup were out in force. The lead vehicle is the garbage truck and the last is picking up branches. I am not sure what the others are doing, but each picks up something different. (Missing in this picture is the backhoe that also travels with the group.)
There is a poll on the sidebar. Please vote. And if you have good bulk-pickup stories, share in the comments.

Addendum: I had a poll in the sidebar when this post first ran asking if the city should discourage scavenging. Twenty four people responded: 4 said yes, 19 no, and I did not know what scavenging was. One comment noted that the scavenging ordinance would discourage lawsuits by anyone injured while scavenging, a good insight. Everything seems lawyer driving these days.

Do you think the city should discourage "scavenging" during bulk pickup?
	Yes
	No
	What is scavenging?
	I do not know.
pollcode.com free polls

Coming soon

Going through downtown Rensselaer this morning, I noticed a "Coming Soon" sign in a building that in January had a "For Rent" sign in the window. I do not know what is coming soon, but something is.

Shopping the town-wide yard sale (Part 1 of 3)

Saturday, May 2 was a busy day in Rensselaer. SJC graduated the class of 2009, sending scores of new alumni out into the toughest job market in two decades. And Rensselaer hosted its annual town-wide garage sale.
People could get maps for the sale at the fire station. To get their sales on the map, people had to pay $5, which supports the volunteer fire department. Someone there said that there were 104 sales, but in addition to those on the map, there were many others that were not on the map. Really, there were so many sales that it was impossible to visit them all.

Also at the fire station were representatives of the ministerial association handing out free donuts and bottled water. I took the opportunity to suggest a tour of churches. We see if that idea goes anywhere.
There were sales everywhere, and cars and trucks everywhere. This picture below is of Jefferson Street from the railroad tracks. There were about five sales in the area and a lot of traffic. Another area with a lot of sales and traffic was the Fleming Avenue area.
Some of the sales were very large. I asked the lady at this sale how she got all this stuff in her house and she admitted that it was not all hers. You can see lots and lots of clothes, and a chest freezer out by the street.
Here is another large sale, or maybe it was two large sales.
I took the picture below because I was impressed with how many rings were for sale. Ditto for the shoes at a different sale.
Some of the sales had more stuffed animals than this sale shown below, but they were not as neatly organized.
Most people priced items individually, but one sale I went to decided it would be easier to do the by-the-bag method. That is the method that some rummage sales use because they simply cannot price all the items they have.There were sales everywhere. In part 2, I will show you some of the bigger and more expensive items that were available.
The best story I have about the sales is a third-hand story. Some young man found a treasure at a sale and bought it for $15. Riding his bike home, he was stopped by someone from out of town and was asked about his purchase. The fellow who stopped him then offered him $150 for the item. Needless to say, a resale was made. I wish it had been me, but since I did not buy anything at all at the sales, there was no chance of something like that happening.

Backhoes and more

Last week I wrote posts about spring. Later this week I will write about the town-wide garage sale and bulk pickup. Today I am going to write about many things that involve heavy equipment such as backhoes.

Our first backhoe adventure is near Monnett School where progress is being made on the alternative school. The last time we looked the limestone base had not been dumped.
The tree blocking the river between Bicentennial Park and Weston Cemetery has received someone's attention. Last week there was a start in removing it, but then several days of nothing.
The view above is from the Bicentennial Park side of the river. The view below is from the Weston Cemetery side.
Going north into Brookside Park, there has been a roller parked by the soccer field for almost a week. I have no idea why it is there.
A couple of weeks ago the sidewalk along Kellner was ripped up. The power saw this workman was using raised a lot of dust.
There is a backhoe connection to this picture, because the truck in the picture was being loaded with cement slabs of sidewalk, as the picture below shows.

The bank renovation has moved indoors. A couple weeks ago I saw a delivery of paneling or drywall.
They had a lift on the trucks to move it off the truck into position so the workers could get it inside.
Over on Melville there is some activity in the block that someone told me was going to be duplexes.



Nothing was happening at the hospital construction site. All the work is now interior. I guess I should stop taking pictures and wait for the grand opening, but I liked the foreground of the backhoe buckets.
By chance I happened upon the first delivery of water pipe for the water-main construction that will add the new well to the city's water system.The workers had not begun to unload the pipes when I was there. Expect more on this project as later.

There are a few other construction projects that I have noticed, but this is enough for this post.

Going to church the Church of Jesus Christ way

(I thought it would be interesting to use Sundays to focus on Rensselaer's churches and to see how many Sundays I can go before I run out of material. Indiana is richly endowed with religious denominations, with influences from North and South, East and West. This is part of that series of posts.)

The Church of Jesus Christ is located at 406 Milton Street. According to the "Church Services Directory" in the Rensselaer Republican, the pastor is Howard Jordan. Sunday Worship is at 10:00 a.m, and evangelic service is at 6:00 p.m. There are other events and services.
I could not find a web site for this church, nor could I find any organization or fellowship of churches to which it belongs.

Rhubarb

Today the farmer's market begins its 2009 season. It will be interesting to see what will be available this early. One thing that should be there is rhubarb. This native of Asia is sometimes called pie plant because that is one of its most common uses. It really cannot be eaten raw--it is too sour.
The leaves begin to grow early in the spring, and on larger plants a seed pod will also form. If you are serious about using rhubarb, you should remove these seed pods as soon as you can. If allowed to grow, the plant will pour its resources into producing seed instead of producing nice succulent stems.Did you know that rhubarb leaves are poisonous? They contain oxalic acid, among other things. However, the oxalic acid does not stop Japanese beetles from eating the leaves.
On Thursday I decided the stalks on my rhubarb were big enough to harvest. It is exciting to get something so early from the garden. I used to have asparagus, which is also early, but a former neighbor killed most of it when she was trying to kill the dandelions in her lawn.I could have made pie, but that is too much work. I know of a much easier recipe on a great website called Dessert Survivor.And here is the finished result.
It needed a bit more sugar. Maybe next time I will get it right.

My mother used to make rhubarb upside-down cake that was very good. What do you make with rhubarb?

Chicks not wild!

Around Easter I was disappointed when I visited Smith's Farm Store and they did not have baby chicks for sale. This morning I was in the area and checked again and found them! They had a box of cute as little chicks that was labeled "ISA Brown Pullets Girls $1.65" Perhaps someone can tell me what the ISA Brown Pullet means.
The chicks were not as cute as the two ducks. And not only were the ducks cute, but they were probably pretty smart as well because they got to read The Wall Street Journal.
If you buy a chick for $1.65 and also buy the feed to raise it, will you end up paying more for your chicken than if you just bought it from the store? And could you really slaughter such a bird as cute as a duck? I could not. Of course I would have no problem eating it if someone else slaughtered it, but I could not slaughter it myself.

(When I was a kid growing up in Minnesota, the neighbor lady would kill and pluck chickens. I remember some of them running around with the heads cut off. My kids never got that experience. Did they miss something important or not?)

Shopping at Browns Garden Center

The change of seasons seems more abrupt in the spring than in the fall. When I reported on the Arbor Day tree walk, leaves were just starting to appear. A week later many of them were green. Even if we get some cold weather, it will no longer feel like winter. The greenness of the vegetation, the length of the days, and the angle of the sun proclaim spring has definately arrived.

One of the things that people do when as we head for summer is to plant trees, shrubs, flowers, and gardens. One of the places to shop for things to plant is at Brown's Garden and Floral on the west edge of Rensselaer.
I do not normally go past Brown's, but when the new Kirby Risk building was still interesting, I was there several times a week and I stopped in more than once. During the winter they are a floral shop, much like Brookside Florist.
You can buy flowers and all the things that people buy in florist shops and which I do not understand.But as spring approaches, they expand. They may have the largest selection of seed for both vegetables and flowers in Rensselaer. The farm store has quite a bit, and I have not checked Walmart. Woods Brothers no longer sells garden seed. I remember buying seed from them many years ago when they were located downtown where Stunt Dog is now. Back then I had a large garden near the old SJC farm. Thirty five years ago there were two acres of garden plots, but three or four years ago there was only one gardener left (me) and now there is none.
They also carry a variety of sprays to control plant disease and pests.
And now they have a large selection of plants ready to pop into the garden for those who want to garden the easy way. I must admit, though, that all there plants looks much, much better (and bigger) than my seedlings.
In the back they have trees. I think everyone should have a few fruit trees, but that seems to be a minority opinion. If you need instructions showing how to plant them, try here. Everyone should also have some rhubarb, and there is some up in the front of the picture below, next to the strawberries.
They also have shrubberies. You never know when you might need a shrubbery.

You can see the change of seasons by watching Browns. Below is what they looked like on April 4.
By April 15 a few things were starting to be put out.


And two weeks later, on April 29, all the shelves are full.Aren't you tempted to get out in the yard and start planting?