Ouch!

A gallon of gasoline now costs more than a pack of cigarettes in Rensselaer.

Depot almost finished (Updated)

When we last visited the construction site of the Amtrak depot a couple of weeks ago, the brick work was mostly finished. Visually, not a lot has changed--from the distance it looks pretty much the same. However, a lot of concrete has been poured. A week ago the floors inside the structure were being prepared for a concrete pour.

 By the end of last week, those floors were finished, as well as a new ramp leading up to the station, and the area around the depot was being prepared for concrete.

At the end of yesterday that concrete was in place and the forms had been removed. The little room at the east end will apparently house the electrical box that is now standing by itself to the west of the building.

Installing doors and finishing the roof looks like the last big things that need to be done as well as redoing the railings.

In miscellaneous news, I heard third-hand that the Historical Society's Tea Party on Sunday was a big success. (They weren't even audited by the IRS.) A fireworks store is preparing to reopen in the old Sears store so people can stock up for the Fourth. SJC has refinanced its long-term debt with financial institutions that have a local presence. Yesterday Little Indiana was filming around Rensselaer for a show that may air on June 11 13. Places she was filming included the Court House, the General Milroy statue, eMbers, and the Willow Switch.

Also, today is the last day of school for the local schools.

I forgot to mention that the June 1 Country-Western night at eMbers was a success with over 250 people attending. Bub's BBQ ran out of food early in the evening--and they started with 700 pounds of meat. The next public event is a comedy show on Friday, June 28. For details, see here. 

Update 2: On Friday I checked progress and it seems that the west end of the station will be enclosed. A door with glass and one window are installed, and it seems that next week the rest will be installed.

The middle room probably was originally meant to be a rest room. It will be interesting to see what it will be in the finished station. It now has a door. The little compartment on the east, which contains the electrical boxes, also has a door. A metal roof is mostly installed, and the railings are being re-arranged.

Little toads (Updated)

The river has flooded the field east of Weston Cemetery again, and I noticed that along the shoreline there were small tadpoles. I caught one and was surprised to see that it was almost done with the tadpole stage. It had front and back legs, but still had a tail. The tadpoles were tiny--you can see two of them in a cap from a Power Ade bottle.

After I took the picture, I noticed that there were some tiny toads without tails in the grass. They will soon be crossing Lincoln Ave and hundreds will be run over. I caught a few and transplanted them to my garden. I hope that they stay and do not move on. They are certainly more welcome than the bunnies--I have four little ones and several big ones that like my yard.

The Iroquois River has peaked and is beginning to recede. Its peak was a bit higher than its peak earlier this year, but it never was high enough to put water across Lincoln Avenue or flood Potawatomie Park.

Update: The new pedestrian bridge is a popular place from which to view the high water in the Iroquois.

 This is the view looking to the Washington Street bridge.

A lot of rain (Updated)

We just got a lot of rain in a very short time. As a result, my basement looks like this:

You can see my pump pumping the water out, but the water gushed through cracks in the floor faster than the pump could handle. My side yard is flooded, so it may be a while before my basement is dry. And it looks like we will get more rain tonight.

(It has been several years since I have a flooded basement. This has been a very wet spring and we just got an impressive downpour.

I do not have a rain gauge.  Anyone know how much rain we got?

Update: When the water in the sewer receded, I got rid of the water you see above. However, the rain that came at midnight reflooded the basement, though not as badly as the first time. The water in my standpipe was a couple feet above the level of the floor. This morning I found that most of the basements in my neighborhood got water last night, some from sewer backup and some from seepage.

A quick look around town showed lot of branches down and also a few trees. The tree below was snapped off and the cemetery workers were busy removing it from the road.

 On Milroy Street a large tree was uprooted, taking some of the sidewalk with it.

 It did some damage to the hood of a car.

 A neighbor said that a truck trailer was blown over at Hopkins Trucking and that the Dairy Queen had roof damage.

The ground is completely saturated, so any additional rain, even if it is minor, will cause problems.

Update 2: A tree fell on a house at the corner of Scott and Leopold, doing damage to the roof. A pick-up truck nearby had a branch fall on it, doing considerable damage. There were a lot of downed branches in this neighborhood.

The gym floor at Saint Augustine School got considerable water even though it is at ground level. The west door does not seal and the wind blew water from the parking lot into the gym.

The river is still rising. Flood stage is at 12 feet and as of this writing (Saturday evening) it is at 13.34. There is a line of rain to our west but it may be weakening. We do not need more rain.

Remington news

Last weekend I passed through Remington and noticed a new building on US 24 west of the US 231 intersection.

It houses the offices of two dentists practicing as Remington Family Dentistry, a fitness center, and some kind of rehabilitation center. The building was constructed by Sayler Construction of Rensselaer.

 Work continues on the Monsanto plant north of Remington, which is undergoing a $30 million dollar upgrade or expansion. I had noticed it earlier this summer, but this week I paused to take a picture.

 The new fire station was dedicated back in 2011, but I never paused to take a picture of it until this week.

The town of Remington has occasional news items here.

The town has moved an old truss bridge that will eventually be part of a trail system, and though I saw it along side of the road, I did not get a picture of it. You can find a picture of the bridge in its original location here and the removal here.

Remington's big festival, Water Tower Days, takes place next weekend.