The other is flying by the old jail. Now that the jail has moved, maybe no one is in charge of the flag.
My Great Basin Wildlife Safari
3 months ago
This blog reports events and interesting tidbits from Rensselaer, Indiana and the surrounding area.
Friday, January 23, 2009
More flags
A couple weeks ago I noticed a tattered flag at Brookside Park, which has since been removed. Today I noticed two others damaged by the high winds of winter. It is hard to tell that what is atop the Court House is a flag. Maybe they cannot remove it easily.
The other is flying by the old jail. Now that the jail has moved, maybe no one is in charge of the flag.
The other is flying by the old jail. Now that the jail has moved, maybe no one is in charge of the flag.
Shopping at 2Bobs
Almost every day I go past the 2 Bobs General Store, and I always have wondered what is inside a store with such an intriguing name. So one day I stopped in to take a look around.
Inside I found two friendly guys in a rather small store. It is like a large flea-market booth at a flea market. If you like flea markets or NASCAR or knick-knacks, you will probably enjoy it.
I have never figured out why people buy this stuff, but as they say, de gustibus non est disputandum.
They also have some stuff that is utilitarian.
Their store actually has two rooms. In the back room was more stuff, including fishing equipment and books and a lot more flea-market stuff.
I went back a little too far and found their office, where the shelves were just piled with stuff. I guess I should not have gone there.
The sign in the front gives the website address for 2Bobs, and from their website you can find their myspace page and their ebay page. Rensselaer has had a number of flea-market stores over the years, and they have all had fairly short lifespans. To be honest, I do not understand how a flea-market store can be a viable business here, but that view may reflect family history in retailing.
Michael O told me that I should mention the billboards on the building. They are in an Art-Deco style, which suggests that the building was built before 1950. However, one of my sources for Rensselaer history (Karen M) tells me that she remembers the building being built, probably in the late 1950s. For many years, and even when I came to Rensselaer, it was Wright's furniture. Now the major retailer is Fases, which will be the topic of some future post.
Inside I found two friendly guys in a rather small store. It is like a large flea-market booth at a flea market. If you like flea markets or NASCAR or knick-knacks, you will probably enjoy it.
I have never figured out why people buy this stuff, but as they say, de gustibus non est disputandum.
They also have some stuff that is utilitarian.
Their store actually has two rooms. In the back room was more stuff, including fishing equipment and books and a lot more flea-market stuff.
I went back a little too far and found their office, where the shelves were just piled with stuff. I guess I should not have gone there.
The sign in the front gives the website address for 2Bobs, and from their website you can find their myspace page and their ebay page. Rensselaer has had a number of flea-market stores over the years, and they have all had fairly short lifespans. To be honest, I do not understand how a flea-market store can be a viable business here, but that view may reflect family history in retailing.
Michael O told me that I should mention the billboards on the building. They are in an Art-Deco style, which suggests that the building was built before 1950. However, one of my sources for Rensselaer history (Karen M) tells me that she remembers the building being built, probably in the late 1950s. For many years, and even when I came to Rensselaer, it was Wright's furniture. Now the major retailer is Fases, which will be the topic of some future post.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Playgrounds in the parks
In early January I was in Indianapolis with family, and some of the adults wanted to take the grandchildren to a playground. The nearest playground was over a mile away and they had to drive. I realized then that Rensselaer had a good system of playgrounds. There are three city parks that have decent playgrounds, and there are also three elementary schools that have playgrounds that are open to the public.
Columbia Park, the only park on the east side of Rensselaer, occupies a full city block. Most of the park is taken up by a softball field, but along the south edge of the park there are a number of slides and swings. There is enough variety to keep most kids occupied for a half hour, which is what a playground should do. The view below is looking south along the west edge of the park.
We are looking west along the south side of the park in the view below.
Iroquois Park is one of our flood-plain parks (Bicentenniel Park, Austin Park, and maybe Laird's Landing being the others). It is not very conveniently located because the only access is via College Avenue. The first year we were in Rensselaer, the park abutted our back yard, but because of the fence, it was a three block walk to get to the playground. Several structures for the city water system break up the park, and the tail of land that is behind the park headquarters is isolated from the rest of the park. The playground may be the best part of this park.
Almost all of the equipment that is there now is relatively new. There used to be a really tall slide that looked rather dangerous.
Brookside Park has the largest collection of playground equipment spread over the largest area. The night shot of the slides is not all that revealing, but I liked it so that is what you get.
The wing is one of the oldest pieces of playground equipment in any of the Rensselaer parks. I have never quite understood what kids were supposed to do on it.
East of the basketball court there is additional playground equipment that is intended for small children. The little house was added this past summer. It only slowly went up as people occasionally worked on it.
In addition to these three park playgrounds, Rensselaer has three playgrounds attached to schools that give most residents a playground within walking distance. I will write about them in the future.
(This afternoon and tonight the Park Board is hosting sessions to get input on changes to make in the parks. I think the thing we need most is a sledding hill. What do you think?)
Update:
I attended the park planning meeting Thursday night, and there were not many people there so anyone who had an opinion was able to express it. I did learn a few things. The delay in installing the bridge to connect Weston Cemetery and Bicentennial Park is due to the heavy work load at Talbert. That is very surprising. Manufacturing overall is not doing well. Maybe Talbert has a government contract. Also, Bicentennial Park sits on an old garbage dump, which limits building there. I am not the only one who would like to see a sledding hill in the park system. Finally, there have actually been weddings at the gazebo in Hal Gray Park, which I thought was an absurd idea in a previous post. I apologize to anyone I offended.
Columbia Park, the only park on the east side of Rensselaer, occupies a full city block. Most of the park is taken up by a softball field, but along the south edge of the park there are a number of slides and swings. There is enough variety to keep most kids occupied for a half hour, which is what a playground should do. The view below is looking south along the west edge of the park.
We are looking west along the south side of the park in the view below.
Iroquois Park is one of our flood-plain parks (Bicentenniel Park, Austin Park, and maybe Laird's Landing being the others). It is not very conveniently located because the only access is via College Avenue. The first year we were in Rensselaer, the park abutted our back yard, but because of the fence, it was a three block walk to get to the playground. Several structures for the city water system break up the park, and the tail of land that is behind the park headquarters is isolated from the rest of the park. The playground may be the best part of this park.
Almost all of the equipment that is there now is relatively new. There used to be a really tall slide that looked rather dangerous.
Brookside Park has the largest collection of playground equipment spread over the largest area. The night shot of the slides is not all that revealing, but I liked it so that is what you get.
The wing is one of the oldest pieces of playground equipment in any of the Rensselaer parks. I have never quite understood what kids were supposed to do on it.
East of the basketball court there is additional playground equipment that is intended for small children. The little house was added this past summer. It only slowly went up as people occasionally worked on it.
In addition to these three park playgrounds, Rensselaer has three playgrounds attached to schools that give most residents a playground within walking distance. I will write about them in the future.(This afternoon and tonight the Park Board is hosting sessions to get input on changes to make in the parks. I think the thing we need most is a sledding hill. What do you think?)
Update:
I attended the park planning meeting Thursday night, and there were not many people there so anyone who had an opinion was able to express it. I did learn a few things. The delay in installing the bridge to connect Weston Cemetery and Bicentennial Park is due to the heavy work load at Talbert. That is very surprising. Manufacturing overall is not doing well. Maybe Talbert has a government contract. Also, Bicentennial Park sits on an old garbage dump, which limits building there. I am not the only one who would like to see a sledding hill in the park system. Finally, there have actually been weddings at the gazebo in Hal Gray Park, which I thought was an absurd idea in a previous post. I apologize to anyone I offended.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Picking up the branches
It has been over a month since the ice storm and almost a month since the wind storm of December, and the city is still picking up branches. This morning they were north of the railroad tracks on Walnut Street.
Martin Luther King Day march
Monday was Martin Luther King Day, a federal holiday, and this year, as in recent years, Saint Joseph's College sponsored a series of events that started with a march from the Court House to campus. Below you see some students getting on one of the three buses that transported people from the campus to the downtown.
And they are off, marching down the street. It was not especially cold, but there were flurries during the day, the result of lake effect snow off Lake Michigan. So let us see what the marchers are wearing.
The small kids were bundled up well. Some of the adults forgot their hats. I never thought of high heels as appropriate marching gear, but there was a bus trailing the group. I wonder how many of them ended up in the bus.
When they reached campus, there was program of music, awards, and short speeches surrounding a keynote speech by Jabari Asim, editor in chief or the Crisis Magazine, which is published by the NAACP. He also has written a book, What Obama Means: ...for Our Culture, Our Politics, Our Future, that was scheduled for publication on Tuesday. The pictures I took of him did not turn out well, but I did get an acceptable picture of the choir.
And they are off, marching down the street. It was not especially cold, but there were flurries during the day, the result of lake effect snow off Lake Michigan. So let us see what the marchers are wearing.
The small kids were bundled up well. Some of the adults forgot their hats. I never thought of high heels as appropriate marching gear, but there was a bus trailing the group. I wonder how many of them ended up in the bus.
When they reached campus, there was program of music, awards, and short speeches surrounding a keynote speech by Jabari Asim, editor in chief or the Crisis Magazine, which is published by the NAACP. He also has written a book, What Obama Means: ...for Our Culture, Our Politics, Our Future, that was scheduled for publication on Tuesday. The pictures I took of him did not turn out well, but I did get an acceptable picture of the choir.
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