Snow day, February 2022

 Today, Wednesday, is a snow day. It will snow all day long. I expected more snow on the ground this morning, but the snow that fell was compacted and wet on the bottom, so there was more there than what a first glance suggested. It was a good day for those who plow snow.

The roads were being plowed, but freshly falling snow kept the roads at least partially white. The City streets were mostly completely white despite the plows.

The River looked strange.

There was little wind overnight so the snow stuck to branches creating the "winter-wonderland" look.

Everything will probably look very different tomorrow morning when the snow fall has finally stopped.

The Prairie Arts Council (PAC) relayed an interesting announcement on Facebook:

Markit Arts located at 108 W. Washington St. Rensselaer is hosting its first painting event on Valentines Day Monday February 14. Join us for a fun evening of pop art inspired painting. See flyer and painting example below. Register for the event at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/street-heart-tickets-249850378207

We are excited to be opening our doors for art experiences in downtown Rensselaer! 

Ryan and Lindsey Preston
Cameron and Crystal Moberg

108 W. Washington is the tiny building that used to be Clean as a Whistle. Cameron Moberg recently purchased it. 

A couple weeks ago I noticed a new building on the south side of East Walnut Street. Judging from the tracks in the snow, it is being used. It is owned by  Sycamore USA LLC. The lot at one time held oil storage tanks and was owned by the Mobil Oil Company. The tanks were removed in 2009 and here are two posts on that: here and here.

The Clinic of Family Medicine and its property changed ownership in December. The Doctors Service Corporation sold to Liberty Rentals LLC.

Frieda's Grill & Breakfast opened this week. It is located next to the Ritz Theater in the building that last housed Moonshiners. It is open Tuesday through Thursdays for breakfast and lunch. On Fridays and Saturdays it will be open later.

The main dining area will be in the building next to the alley. They would have opened a few months ago but had difficulty finding staff.

I keep waiting for the Iroquois River to completely freeze over. Where the current is slow, ice covers the River, but where there is current, the water still flows. For example, here was what the River looked like upstream of the Melville Street Bridge on Saturday, January 31:

The River looked completely different on the other side of the bridge:

There is no current in the SJC reflecting pond, so it froze last week.

There is no current in the Babcock Quarry, but its water is very deep and still has not frozen. Hundreds of Canadian geese hang out there.

On Monday the walls of the new Walgreens started rising.

A day later and they were more than half up. 

Workers were installing roof trusses that will support the walls. The panels are pre-assembled so this part of construction is going very quickly.

I did not check back later on Tuesday to see if they had completed the walls.

I stopped in Walgreens on Monday and asked if they would have a big moving sale. I was told that the merchandise would be trucked to other stores and that the moving date may be in May.

One last picture:

In early December Rensselaer had a storm that knocked over a number of trees, including a big one in Weston Cemetery. On Monday the trunk was trucked away.