Labor Day potpourri

Before the remnants of Hurricane Isaac hit us, I took a picture of the Iroquois River from the College Street Bridge.

 We got about an inch of rain from Isaac, but a little more than a week ago we got about two inches. So the inch from Isaac made the rise in the river noticeable. (Check the tire rim on the left in both pictures.)

 I noticed a very large fungus in my neighbor's yard. It was due to moisture before Isaac.

 I have heard that people did not understand the technical problem with the pedestrian bridge. Below you can see one of the two middle crossbeams that has been modified. (I do not know what the beam in the background was for. Also, I try to keep my shadow out of pictures, but I failed here.)

 Below is the bridge with the modified beam put back and the other problem beam taken out. Again, the old bridge will not be bearing any of the load for the walkway. (The old bridge did hold the 7,000 pound I-beam without buckling, so it may be stronger than the engineers think it is.)

 The load will be borne by these seven I-beams. They have had fittings attached to bind them together and, on the outside, to support the glass wall that will serve as a rail. They not only will hold lots of pedestrians, but they should be strong enough to support large vehicles.

 I passed by SJC this morning and stopped to take a picture of what used to be the entrance structure on the east side of the highway.

 Continuing on, I found that the goslings had grown up and were waiting for the movies at Fountain Stone. I wonder if they are old enough to get into the R=rated movies.

 Maybe the theater needs some fake coyotes. These seem to be the geese that grew up near Donaldsons.

I noticed a bulldozer in the field east of Rico's. The area was full of stakes with ribbons indicating that ground moving is imminent. I have heard from several sources that a doctor's office is planned for the area. Maybe this is it. If I had not forgotten to go to an open house last weekend, I might know.

Rico's, by the way, seems to have a "For Sale" sign in front of it--it has been there for several weeks at least.

Another sign I noticed today was for Prompt Ambulance, which used to be Keeney Ambulance. The ambulances have had the Prompt signage for a long time, but it has taken most of the summer to get the signage on the building.

This afternoon the LaRue Pool closed for the season. Today it had an infestation of Sourthern Corn Rootworms. They are tiny beetles that farmers hate. I am not sure why scores of them found their way into the water. Perhaps someone who farms can tell us.

I would like to thank the pool people for opening the pool on the two days for which we were the only swimmers. I apologize for not being there that day when you had to close the pool because no one showed up, but the weather was really bad that day.