Odds and Ends for Labor Day 2014

The mosquitoes in my back yard are horrible--they swarm me when I go outside. Are they as bad everywhere in Rensselaer, or is my backyard unusually bad?

There are lots of little things happening. The scaffolding on the bell tower at SJC is gone. Fair Oaks Farms is working on a water feature, has started erecting steel for the Pork Education Center, and is finishing up their bakery and market. South Shore Convention and Visitors Authority will be working with Newton County to help them promote tourism. MacAllister Equipment has not yet started moving dirt. I saw corn being harvested on Bunkum Road--I think it was seed corn because the field is owned by one of the seed corn companies. Despite the heat, we know that summer is fading away because twilight arrives a lot earlier now than it did a month ago.

There are some changes downtown. The small building between H&R Block and the beauty salon is being refurbished. I saw the people who were working on it and asked what they were doing. It will be a beauty salon that is presently in the office building south of the old Hoover House. That building is for sale by the owner. Since the only beauty salon on the sign board is Short Cuts by Kim, I assume that is the business that is moving.

 Down the block, the carpeting and flooring are finished in the new Rensselaer branch of Demotte Carpet.

 Further down Washington, the office of First Source Asset Advisors is now empty. Ms Beier has moved to 5/3 Bank. The information on the reception desk hints that 1st Source may be trying to find a replacement. When I deposited a check last week at 5/3, I noted a big beam down the center of the office. I asked and was told it was not remodeling but repair--they have had some roof problems.

At the intersection of Grace and College, the Fase-Kaluf building looks much better with its new exterior.

Across the street GRG Auto Repair has been repainted.

GRG Auto Repair is in an building originally built as a gas station. The Marathon Station by the railroad had a customer appreciation day a week ago and lowered gas prices about 15 cents. They were very busy, pumping almost 3000 gallons of gas in three hours.

The Taco Bell by the Interstate now looks like a Taco Bell. The building looks finished but the parking lot needs an inch or two of asphalt. Its opening will be a bit later than the planned August opening, but it should be very soon.

The RCHS Building Trades class has been finishing the house on Vine Street that was not finished last semester.

And on Scott Street south of Harrison, work has started for this year's Building Trade House. The School Corporation owns two adjacent lots there.

Do you read the City of Rensselaer Municipal Power News? The last issue, Vo 20 Issue 2, had a summary of new and proposed regulations from the EPA. After describing the proposed standards for new power plants, the column concluded, " Since carbon capture and sequestration has not been adequately demonstrated on a commercial scale, implementing the technology is cost prohibitive, effectively eliminating a utility's ability to construct future coal-fired generating units." My guess is that the EPA sees that as a feature, not a bug.