Lots of pictures 3-23-23

EMS

On Tuesday I visited the construction site for the new EMS building. (It will be across SR 114 from the entrance to the Fairgrounds, in front of the Animal Shelter.) The concrete footings are in place.

While I was there a cement truck was delivering some concrete.

AppleTree

On Wednesday I received a tour of the new Appletree Childhood Education Center. The front door is locked and you need to press the screen on the post in front of the door to be buzzed in. You enter to the lobby, with some offices to the right.

The wall has the big Appletree logo.

From the lobby you can walk down the south corridor that has a kitchen and two bathrooms along it. The meals for the students come from the hospital. The two bathrooms are not mens and womens but child and adult.

Further along the corridor is a playroom.

At the far end is the nursery with eight cribs for infants.

A lot of the layout of the building is determined by State regulations. If a facility wants to be a licensed child-care center, they must be followed. That is why the capacity of this center is 75. However, in designing Appletree, Right Steps, which runs the day-to-day operations, had lots of input so it is the nicest of the centers that Right Steps staffs.

A four-seater stroller!

Most of the classrooms are on the north corridor. The room with the smallest toddlers was dark because it was nap time so we did not disturb them. The room for older toddlers had awake kids and we said hi. 

Like many schools, there is a policy that the children not be photographed, so the next place I took pictures was in an empty classroom for mixed ages. 

I could not resist a picture of the little potty in this room.

It is a beautiful facility. There were about 35 kids enrolled this week and another twenty are expected to join them next week. There is high demand for the seats for the youngest children because there are really no alternatives available in Rensselaer.

You can find more pictures and information here.


Art Show

The 34th Annual Regional Middle School Art show is now on exhibit at the Fendig Gallery. It will run until April 16. Gallery hours are Tuesdays noon to 4:00, Thursdays 3:00 to 6:00, and Saturdays noon to 2:00. The award program will be on April 16 1:30 at the First Presbyterian Church.

In middle school you begin to see potential in some of the artists.

The medium used here was scratchboard.

Other things

Local author Shannon Anderson was featured in a video produced by Lakeshore PBS. View it here.

There has not been a lot of work on the extension of the sewer line. Some work was done on the small lot that the City owns and the asphalt on the road next to it has been replaced with crushed stone. This is at the north end of Mattheson Street. 

Hopefully the very cold weather last weekend was winter's last gasp. The cold and strong wind seemed to depress the turnout at the Fair Boards dinner on Saturday.

Wednesday night and Thursday gave us more rain that we do not really need. At least it was not snow.

Another sign of spring: my rhubarb is starting to grow. 

I am ready for warmer weather.