Backhoes and more

Last week I wrote posts about spring. Later this week I will write about the town-wide garage sale and bulk pickup. Today I am going to write about many things that involve heavy equipment such as backhoes.

Our first backhoe adventure is near Monnett School where progress is being made on the alternative school. The last time we looked the limestone base had not been dumped.
The tree blocking the river between Bicentennial Park and Weston Cemetery has received someone's attention. Last week there was a start in removing it, but then several days of nothing.
The view above is from the Bicentennial Park side of the river. The view below is from the Weston Cemetery side.
Going north into Brookside Park, there has been a roller parked by the soccer field for almost a week. I have no idea why it is there.
A couple of weeks ago the sidewalk along Kellner was ripped up. The power saw this workman was using raised a lot of dust.
There is a backhoe connection to this picture, because the truck in the picture was being loaded with cement slabs of sidewalk, as the picture below shows.

The bank renovation has moved indoors. A couple weeks ago I saw a delivery of paneling or drywall.
They had a lift on the trucks to move it off the truck into position so the workers could get it inside.
Over on Melville there is some activity in the block that someone told me was going to be duplexes.



Nothing was happening at the hospital construction site. All the work is now interior. I guess I should stop taking pictures and wait for the grand opening, but I liked the foreground of the backhoe buckets.
By chance I happened upon the first delivery of water pipe for the water-main construction that will add the new well to the city's water system.The workers had not begun to unload the pipes when I was there. Expect more on this project as later.

There are a few other construction projects that I have noticed, but this is enough for this post.

Going to church the Church of Jesus Christ way

(I thought it would be interesting to use Sundays to focus on Rensselaer's churches and to see how many Sundays I can go before I run out of material. Indiana is richly endowed with religious denominations, with influences from North and South, East and West. This is part of that series of posts.)

The Church of Jesus Christ is located at 406 Milton Street. According to the "Church Services Directory" in the Rensselaer Republican, the pastor is Howard Jordan. Sunday Worship is at 10:00 a.m, and evangelic service is at 6:00 p.m. There are other events and services.
I could not find a web site for this church, nor could I find any organization or fellowship of churches to which it belongs.

Rhubarb

Today the farmer's market begins its 2009 season. It will be interesting to see what will be available this early. One thing that should be there is rhubarb. This native of Asia is sometimes called pie plant because that is one of its most common uses. It really cannot be eaten raw--it is too sour.
The leaves begin to grow early in the spring, and on larger plants a seed pod will also form. If you are serious about using rhubarb, you should remove these seed pods as soon as you can. If allowed to grow, the plant will pour its resources into producing seed instead of producing nice succulent stems.Did you know that rhubarb leaves are poisonous? They contain oxalic acid, among other things. However, the oxalic acid does not stop Japanese beetles from eating the leaves.
On Thursday I decided the stalks on my rhubarb were big enough to harvest. It is exciting to get something so early from the garden. I used to have asparagus, which is also early, but a former neighbor killed most of it when she was trying to kill the dandelions in her lawn.I could have made pie, but that is too much work. I know of a much easier recipe on a great website called Dessert Survivor.And here is the finished result.
It needed a bit more sugar. Maybe next time I will get it right.

My mother used to make rhubarb upside-down cake that was very good. What do you make with rhubarb?

Chicks not wild!

Around Easter I was disappointed when I visited Smith's Farm Store and they did not have baby chicks for sale. This morning I was in the area and checked again and found them! They had a box of cute as little chicks that was labeled "ISA Brown Pullets Girls $1.65" Perhaps someone can tell me what the ISA Brown Pullet means.
The chicks were not as cute as the two ducks. And not only were the ducks cute, but they were probably pretty smart as well because they got to read The Wall Street Journal.
If you buy a chick for $1.65 and also buy the feed to raise it, will you end up paying more for your chicken than if you just bought it from the store? And could you really slaughter such a bird as cute as a duck? I could not. Of course I would have no problem eating it if someone else slaughtered it, but I could not slaughter it myself.

(When I was a kid growing up in Minnesota, the neighbor lady would kill and pluck chickens. I remember some of them running around with the heads cut off. My kids never got that experience. Did they miss something important or not?)

Shopping at Browns Garden Center

The change of seasons seems more abrupt in the spring than in the fall. When I reported on the Arbor Day tree walk, leaves were just starting to appear. A week later many of them were green. Even if we get some cold weather, it will no longer feel like winter. The greenness of the vegetation, the length of the days, and the angle of the sun proclaim spring has definately arrived.

One of the things that people do when as we head for summer is to plant trees, shrubs, flowers, and gardens. One of the places to shop for things to plant is at Brown's Garden and Floral on the west edge of Rensselaer.
I do not normally go past Brown's, but when the new Kirby Risk building was still interesting, I was there several times a week and I stopped in more than once. During the winter they are a floral shop, much like Brookside Florist.
You can buy flowers and all the things that people buy in florist shops and which I do not understand.But as spring approaches, they expand. They may have the largest selection of seed for both vegetables and flowers in Rensselaer. The farm store has quite a bit, and I have not checked Walmart. Woods Brothers no longer sells garden seed. I remember buying seed from them many years ago when they were located downtown where Stunt Dog is now. Back then I had a large garden near the old SJC farm. Thirty five years ago there were two acres of garden plots, but three or four years ago there was only one gardener left (me) and now there is none.
They also carry a variety of sprays to control plant disease and pests.
And now they have a large selection of plants ready to pop into the garden for those who want to garden the easy way. I must admit, though, that all there plants looks much, much better (and bigger) than my seedlings.
In the back they have trees. I think everyone should have a few fruit trees, but that seems to be a minority opinion. If you need instructions showing how to plant them, try here. Everyone should also have some rhubarb, and there is some up in the front of the picture below, next to the strawberries.
They also have shrubberies. You never know when you might need a shrubbery.

You can see the change of seasons by watching Browns. Below is what they looked like on April 4.
By April 15 a few things were starting to be put out.


And two weeks later, on April 29, all the shelves are full.Aren't you tempted to get out in the yard and start planting?