Digging--Updated

This is the time of the year for digging. I have begun digging in my garden. Farmers are in the field doing their version of digging. Steinke Funeral Home has been digging, planting shrubberies and trees.

 New trees are being planted at Potawotamie Park. On Friday (today) there will be an Arbor Day Celebration from 4:00 to 4:45 that will celebrate the new trees. These below were black alders, not to be confused with Black Adder.

 Speaking of trees, the magnolias are blooming, and some are past their prime. However, most trees still have not leafed out. I wonder if the harsh winter may have killed or damaged some of them.

The really interesting digging is taking place next to Brookside Park. On Tuesday the old culvert was removed.

A couple of hoses diverted the creek so the excavator could dig below the level of the creek.

 A couple truckloads of stone were then put in the hole to give it a smooth bottom.

On Thursday the sections of the new culvert arrived. The new culvert will be a lot bigger than the old one.

 Below is a good look at the water diversion.

 A large crane unloaded the trucks.

 As the trucks were being unloaded, the excavator was doing some final digging.

 A total of 12 sections of culvert were delivered by the end of the day on Thursday.  They are about ten feet by eight feet, but not all of them were equally wide.

In area news, Wolcott is getting a new water tower.

Update: A few days ago I saw a message from the Chamber of Commerce that Franciscan Alliance was going to open a Working Well office in Rensselaer. It will be in what was a dentists office directly across Grace Street from the hospital. Their goal is to have the office open in May, with a target date of May 12. Here is the press release.

I went out to see what the culvert replacement east of town looked like. The culvert there is much shorter than the one going in by Brookside Park. It also has only 7 segments, while there are 12 waiting to be installed in town.

The closing are not well marked. There are still lots of people driving up to the barricades and then being very surprised that the road is closed. From tire tracks you could see that a few people had driver around the closing, driving into the field.