Rain!!!!

 Rain!!!

We finally got much needed rain. 

On Thursday the radar showed an impressive band of rain coming across Illinois. It had a front of very heavy rain with a large area of moderate rain behind it. In the afternoon the dark clouds arrived. But the rain dissipated as it reached us and what had looked so promising gave us about a tenth of an inch of rain.

On Friday there was thunder in the afternoon and we got a few drops of rain. The thunder made the guards get everyone out of the pool, but then the thunder passed. By 3:45 when I went to the 15 minute adult swim, the pool was empty. Unfortunately ten minutes later there was more thunder so again the guards ordered the pool to be cleared. We got a few sprinkles as the main rain passed to our south.

Finally on Saturday morning a line of heavy rain hit Rensselaer, dropping more than a half an inch of rain. The rain delayed the start of the baseball games in Brookside Park, but they did get a nice afternoon for games. The games also had good weather Sunday morning and early afternoon. However, at about two o'clock a narrow band of showers began to train over Rensselaer and stopped the games. We got about another half and inch.

All that rain raised the Iroquois River by a whopping 3 inches. The ground was dry so there was little runoff. Now grass will start growing again and people will have to mow. This year the corn is only knee-high by the Fourth of July, and it was the knee of a person standing in the field, not of a person on horseback.

I have seen a few dead Japanese beetles in the water at the LaRue Pool, but they are not infesting my bushes and plants like they do on most years. Are they delayed this year or did the dry weather kill most of them?

Notes

I was sad to see that the wonderful mural on the back of the Horton/Yallaly  building has been scraped, apparently to make room for a new mural. This was one of the gems of the mural walk. I know that some of the paint was starting to flake off, but it still was one of the best murals we have or had.

I do not know if the I'm OK mural was also scraped or if the damage is natural deterioration. It is not one of the better murals that we have.

Big patches of paint on the mural in the alley next to Unique Finds are coming off. I never understood why one would want a mural on a road.

I was surprised to see a new building on the former site of the Indiana Department of Transportation on Oak Street. The site was sold by INDOT in October and the building is listed for lease.

Also in that neighborhood, a wall of concrete blocks is going up around a big lot on Walnut Street. The property will be used for vehicle storage by D1. The property was approved for this use in a Rensselaer BZA meeting in February and the wall was part of the conditions for the use.

Steve Tuohy celebrated his first anniversary as the owner of the local radio station. Congratulations.

CSX has been working on rail crossing. On Friday they had finished the Jefferson Street crossing 

but the Matheson Street crossing was torn up and the road impassable.

On Monday they were working on the Cullen Street crossing.

The fence for the Hyper Center looks finished.

The statistics that blogger keeps say that the number of views of this blog was the second highest ever in June. The only month that surpassed it was December of 2017. I am not sure what happened that month because I had no posts that had huge numbers of viewers. There was a train derailment that month and I was out of town when it happened so I only reported about it days later. Perhaps people were checking the blog to see if I had written anything about it?

I mentioned that my post on the Forsythe house was number 12 in all-time views. The post that is 11 is Horse Nettle, a very short post about a weed. I do not know why it got so many views but there was a large spike in views in 2022.

Commissioners meeting

The July meeting of the County Commissioners had a short agenda but most of the discussion was about things not on the agenda. After a couple of buried cable permits were approved, the Commissioners heard a request to sign a service agreement with Schneider to assess the Counties GIS system. The software used now is obsolete and will soon lack support and the data in the GIS system is used by other County systems. Data in the system will need to be converted to new software. The Commissioners approved the agreement but the Council will need to appropriate the money, probably in August.

The lady from Lakeside who last month complained about lack of County inspections of her home was back and said that even though she had been promised a visit, no one came. At the end of the meeting a fellow resident of Lakeside supported her complaint. Apparently her manufactured home was set too low. She has been promised another visit with the warning that she may not like the final results. 

There was a short discussion on the need for a grant writer. The Commissioners agreed that it would be better to hire a firm than an individual and will check with KIRPC to see what they recommend.

There was a short discussion of how the H.R. office should be located in the Courthouse and the Commissioners will meet with the H. R. officer next week to see what can be done. 

The Health Department wants to hire two part-time employees, one for emergency preparedness and the other for communicable diseases, and both can be paid from grant monies. The Commissioners approved. Later there was a discussion of how the Health Department might be rearranged to give these new people office space.

The Commissioners heard a presentation on the renewal quotes for County insurance. They reviewed a large packet. County property that is insured is valued at $66 million. The total insurance bill will increase by about 5%.

Construction of a new horse barn at the fairgrounds is being held up because it needs a permit from the Department of Homeland Security. It is required because the building will be open to the public. It is very unlikely that the building will be finished by Fair time.

In public comments a woman from the southern part of the County spoke about a proposed gun and noise ordinance. She has neighbors who have improvised shooting ranges on their properties and she was concerned not just about the possibility of stray bullets but  also the noise, especially when it continues throughout the night.

 A man from the northern part of the County wondered if he could get the County to install a "Slow Children at Play" sign. He was told that signs of this sort of signage for a specific residence was discouraged but that he could put up a sign on his own property.

The meeting was continued until July 11 at 4:45 if necessary.

Drainage Board meeting

The Drainage Board meeting on Monday afternoon had nothing of great public interest but still lasted almost an hour. A resident of or near Parr had a neighbor who was resisting having a mutual drain repaired. The Board attorney will write the neighbor a letter telling him that legally he has to allow the drain to be fixed.

At the last meeting there was a discussion about a ditch by the Pleasant Ridge subdivision that was overgrown but one resident objected when the farmer on the other side tried to mow it. The solution at this meeting was to have the farmer act as a contractor doing work for the Surveyor's office. A long discussion followed about the need for insurance. A date was set for a public hearing for the abandonment of a tile. It will be September 5 at 8:15 am. A petition to reconstruct a tile was referred back to the Surveyor so he could prepare a report. The Board decided to ordinarily have the Drainage Board meetings immediately after the Commissioners meetings. If there is a public hearing, it will be scheduled at 8:15 because public hearings need to be advertised with a specific time. Finally there was a discussion about whether lines over ditches for the NextEra solar project had been approved or not and other NextEra issues.

I hope you have an enjoyable Fourth.