Miscellany 05-19-2016

As I began to write this post, I saw a hummingbird outside my window.

There have been school kids from the North Newton School District visiting Brookside Park in recent days. Also in the park, the swimming pool should be filled by now. Last night it was almost full. Now we need some warm weather so the water does not cause hypothermia for swimmers when it opens. It has been a cool spring.



There are free Tai Chi classes at Brookside Mondays and Wednesdays at 9:00 in the morning. They take place on the tennis courts.

The historical society met on Tuesday night. They re-elected their present officers for two more years. The Pioneer Village at the Fair Grounds will be open July 17, 19, and 21 from 1:00 to 4:00. I did not stay for the program (it conflicted with the County Council meeting), but the presentation was recorded and you can see it here.

The stump of the tree that was cut down next to the bridge in Weston Cemetery is now a bench. Try it and you will see that it is cut just right.


There are new trees planted in at least two places in the cemetery. The row next to river in the old part look like sycamores.

The field east of Weston Cemetery has a pool of water that probably is full of tadpoles. The yellow flowers blooming between the pool and the construction site are butterweed. There is a lot of it in area fields.



I drove past the hospital yesterday and saw a directional boring machine. At a couple of recent Commissioners Meetings there was discussion of a fiber cable that the hospital wanted installed, so that work must be finishing up.

I noticed that something bad has happened to leaves on my peach trees. It is caused by a fungus and there is nothing that can be done until the fall.


This year the National Speleological Society Convention will be held in Ely, Nevada from July 16 to July 23. How does this have a Rensselaer connection? A person who grew up in Rensselaer has written a mystery novel set in that upcoming convention. If you would like to know what kinds of things go on in a caving convention and cannot make to Ely this year, read the book. For more details, go to her website, gretchenbaker.com.

Finally, in the legals of the newspaper there was a notice for a meeting of Rensselaer's Board of Zoning Appeals on June 14 at 7:00 pm. The meeting is for proposed conditional use. The use is for campsites and the location is the former Biggs Fish Farm. The property is on the west side of the Interstate and is not in the city limits, but it may be that land bordering the city needs city approval for zoning changes. The Biggs property was sold at the beginning of the year to the owner of the Caboose Campground near Remington, and I recall speculation that the new owner would eventually make it into another campground.