SUPER BLUE BLOOD MOON

After being right in the path of the total solar eclipse in August of last year it was a bonus to learn there would be another show put on by the moon at the end of January.

 Astronomers were saying this kind of lunar event hasn’t been seen since 1866---or 1982. 

So I got up before dawn to see the second full moon in a month (blue moon) happening when the moon is supposed to be larger and brighter because it is closer in its orbit (super moon) which ALSO coincided with a total lunar eclipse (blood moon)—BUT the sky was cloudy.

Since I was already up I decided to put on my warm clothes and go for a walk.

 I walked out into the street just as the clouds were beginning to break up so I got a good view of the moon coming out of the earth’s shadow.

  

By the time I’d crossed Main Street and made my way to the park…

…the day was beginning and the big full moon was returning to its normal brightness.

In other news…

 This neighborhood which was leveled in the spring of 2016…

 …now looks like this.  It is with mixed feelings that I watch our little town turn into a big town.  More stores mean more convenience.

More businesses, services and schools mean more opportunities.

 But more people also brings more traffic and more crowds.   We try to hang on to the small town friendliness but it seems to be leaving with our open views of the skies.

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

I guess there is no one to blame

We're leaving ground

Will things ever be the same again?

It's the final countdown.--Europe

Less than three days until the path of totality of Eclipse America passes over our town. I still can’t help wonder if it isn’t over-hyped fake news.

But there are big preparations for an invasion of apocalyptic magnitude here anyway. Reports from Yellowstone Park and Jackson Hole, Wyoming are that hoards are arriving and backing up traffic for miles.

Here, not yet. 

No one has to stand in line for early morning donuts, made fresh daily.

Local businesses are extending hours and some which are usually closed on Sunday will open their doors to provide for the anticipated crowds of shoppers.

This probably has nothing to do with a solar eclipse but there are appearances of painted rocks in random places around town. Just a fun way to occupy those who have extra time on their hands in the summer.

The city decided months ago on an upgrade to Center Street and Main. They’ve replaced water lines, widened sidewalks and plan to put in new trees. "We are hoping the revitalization will attract more foot traffic and businesses," the mayor said. I think the plan was to have the construction crews out and the street paved by Eclipse Day.

They’re going to have to put in some overtime to make that deadline.

However, other construction and paving projects are finished and look great. Our own destroyed street is not included in that group.

The flowers which are placed on Main Street every year are at their peak.

This photo is added because I just liked the shadows cast by early morning sun.

Another non-eclipse photo. This one is of the big antique steam tractor in one of our parks. It’s a monument to the pioneer farmers who broke up the fertile ground covered with sagebrush, planted wheat and potatoes, and make this valley prosper.

These signs are everywhere.  All first responders are on high alert.

In our newest park the Vendor Village is gearing up for a weekend of business. Visitors and locals will have plenty of opportunity to shop in the perfect summer weather. Partly cloudy is the forecast for Eclipse Day. Hoping the only shadows from the sky cast on that morning will be from the moon.

THIRTY DAY CHALLENGE--Day Twenty-Two

Extreme Spring Cleanup

 Last Thursday, April 14, there was an apartment building standing at the corner of Second South and First West across from the university stadium.

 The view toward Porter Park from that corner looked like this.

 At the end of that block stood four homes.  The whole block had been bought up by a developer. The time had come for some spring cleaning.

 By Wednesday, April 20, the apartment was a heap of rubble.

 Only two of the houses were still standing.  The shade tree looked a little battered but was hanging in there.

 Today this is the view toward the university stadium.  The buildings are coming down to make way for more student housing.  There will probably also be some shops on the street level.

The homes are gone; nothing but rubble.  But the shade tree has put on some new leaves. 

 DH said it looked like someone dropped a bomb on our fair city.  I guess the bomb went off when our two-year college was changed to a four-year university in June of 2000.  For good and ill, the town has been on building steroids ever since. At the same time this is happening the girls' dorms are coming down for more parking space.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just down the street from us a four-story building is being added to an assisted living complex.

 And around the corner from our home the last of three houses is being carted off to a new location to make way for something else.  At least these buildings weren’t smashed into smithereens.   We’ve endured enough backhoe mayhem over the past months with the repositioning of the canal across the street.

“There are things in life we don’t want to happen, but have to accept; things we don’t want to know, but have to learn, and people we can’t live without, but have to let go.—Nancy Stephan, The Truth About Butterflies

R.I.P Purple Prince

BIGGERING CONTINUES--EARLY MARCH EDITION

In January I put up a post about the loss of our scruffy but shady trees along the canal by our house.

As the trees went down the girders went up for a multi-story addition to the assisted living complex nearby.

 The construction workers have put in long hours assembling this big structure.  They wake us up before sunrise with banging and rumblings and are still toiling away long after dark.   It looks like a life-size K’nex Toy set at this point.

 At the same time a new bridge is being built to provide access across the canal.

 Manufacturing skills of all kinds are being put to use.

A variety of heavy equipment such as cranes, fork lifts, bull dozers, and cement mixers come and go all day.

 No matter what the weather the workers have been busy making this job happen.  A few weeks ago the outside walls started going up in a shocking shade of green.  We’re hoping there will be an outside layer to cover that up.

 We watched three stories and an elevator shaft take shape.

 Then some kind of rooftop decks appeared.  Oh, great.  Now there will be neighbors watching from above as we come and go.

 

They brought in the big gear to rip out the tree stumps and move the canal over so our street could be widened.  A wider street with curb and gutter may be nice but it will also bring more traffic to our quiet neighborhood.

 Another backhoe arrived to take on shrubbery which had overgrown the canal banks.

 The debris was cleared and hauled off in dump trucks.

 One day there were so many rigs at work that it looked like the sandbox at a daycare.

 There were three backhoes in the canal, plus a front loader, dump trucks and a compactor.  There was also the beep-beep backup alarm from the crane and clanging from girders coming from the nearby building construction.  At least when this is all over the new neighbors should be very quiet.

 It was entertaining to watch this backhoe operator work and work to loosen and pull up the old tree stumps.  Even though there is only a city block of canal bank to clear, we are guessing they will be at it for days.

 Still, it is amazing what can be accomplished by one guy in a piece of heavy equipment.

BIGGERING

Over the years trees have sprouted and grown along the canal across the street.

 As their branches grew they became homes for birds in the summer.

 Squirrels scrambled among the leaves and sometimes small dramas played out as we watched from our front porch.

 Most of the trees along the canal are box-elders; quick growing scruffy trees which spread lots and lots of seeds in the winter winds…like Truffula seeds.

 But trees stand in the way of construction, so the other day a guy with a grin brought his yellow wood chipper.  (A wood chipper with the same name as a great Dutch master painter seems so wrong.)

 His companion had a super-ax-hacker which roared into life at the tug of a string.

 With a growl and snarl he sawed and he whacked. 

The machine worked four times as fast as an ax.

 The guy with the grin took down a whole trunk.  

It creaked and it groaned and then fell with a thunk.

 They dragged off the limb to their chipper machine.

 The branches went in with a wail and a scream.

 More sawing, more sawdust more crashing of limbs.  

It sounded so bad and it looked mighty grim.

 They blocked up the logs as fast as they could.

And chucked all the chunks in the wagon for wood.

 So DH went out to “bring in the mail.” 

 The guy with the grin explained in detail.  

The street was too narrow, the trees in the way.  

They all had to go and without delay.  

They will bigger the buildings and bigger the road 

and bigger a bridge to carry the loads.

 They came back the next day in the sleet and the snow.  

The trees would come down.  The trees had to go.

 They got a new tool to trim branches quick.  

Wonder of wonders, a saw on a stick.

 The super-ax growled the super ax hacked.  

The last of the trees went down with a smack.

 No more trees. No more shrubs.  No more work to be done.  

So the guys with the saws said, “Goodbye everyone.” 

They gathered their tools and jumped in their trucks. 

I was thinking bad words.  Out loud I said, “Yuck!”
(Thanks to Dr. Seuss and the Lorax for inspiration)