Bleak winter

Our recent winter weather is beautiful if you can get past the inconvenience it causes.

The first round of snow fell when the temperature was at the freezing mark so it built up on tree branches.

A second round gave us more than the forecast amount and resulted school cancelations and delayed openings.

It fell with virtually no wind so it piled up in unusual ways, as this picture of a fire hydrant shows.

The City did a good job of clearing streets, but the cold has kept the remaining snow from melting. The snow and roads have kept me inside more than I would like.

There are a lot of icicles on roofs. This roof is on an unheated garage.

There is more snow in the forecast.

While we layer up to avoid the cold, we can think of summer. I stopped by B&D Pools and Spas in the Downtown Mall. They moved there about a year ago but until now I had not followed up with a visit; previously they had been on North McKinley. They were not busy.

I also stopped by the new, or rather reconstructed, Pilot station at the Remington/Wolcott exit.

The new building is quite impressive, with both Subway and Taco Bell franchises.

The two food vendors are next to each other in the interior. Taco Bell also has a drive up. In addition, Pilot also sells food.

Workers at the second Elza Street apartment building are framing and enclosing the second floor.

The tank car demolition on Walnut Street continues. As of Wednesday morning the claw was cutting up the second-to-last car along the street.

Below is a video of the sights and sounds of the Claw in action. It was taken when there were still about five cars left in the row.

I missed the Park Board meeting on Monday evening--the heavy snow of the evening convinced me to stay home. The Commissioners meeting scheduled for the morning was rescheduled for Friday at 8:00 am. The rezoning for the hog farm will not be on the agenda; it will be on the March agenda.