Month: August 2019

August 29, 2019

Morning sun tags the laundry basket.

August 27, 2019

Shocking that eleven days have passed since my most recent entry. Yes, I can explain. I am at home with a severe summer cold that was incubated on a trip to Nebraska that followed by trip to Pennsylvania. I’m too old for such scampering.

But let me tell you, the trip to Beatrice, Nebraska informed and inspired me. Mil Penner, a close friend whom I met at Shalom Mennonite Church, wanted to show me his beloved project — the conversion of a meadow in his family’s farm into a nature reserve to bring back the plant life of the original prairie and all the while, to invite school children to  come there for nature study. I was not his only guest; the former pastor at Shalom, Dagne Assefa, completed our troupe.

I shall tell you about the trip and the reserve with the aid of photos.

Bridges? Yes, over the Illinois River, the Missouri River, the Bib Blue River and of course the Mississippi. I took the picture of The Mark Twain Bridge from Hannibal. 

Mil’s family lived on a quarter section west of the town of Beatrice. Here is my photo of an arial view taken a number of years ago. 

In the middle foreground are the house and dairy buildings. The 25 or so registered Holsteins walked daily from the barns along a narrow path that led  toward what seems to be the upper right corner. This arial photo does not show the woods, meadow and creek.

Mil and his wife built a little house in that meadow —  house, cabin nature study room, sewing room, etc..

From the front door of the house one can see the high-grass meadow, flowers, new trees and the woods.

 Ruth has successfully planted many flowers  

 

 

 

Nature has contributed lots of other vivid plants. 

 

 

 

The woods is wonderful, consisting of old trees, trails, The Cook Shack and recently planed trees.  

   

It’s a good place and it now has a name — The Nature Connection — and a brochure featuring its programs for school children. I hope I’ve adequately explained my absence.

 

 

 

August 16, 2019

What made the day so nice?

1. Home-brewed coffee after days on the road.

2. James, the neighbor, came to cut up a big limb that while I was gone.

3. Big Boy is bustin’ his gut.

 4. Ingrid, in Lowell, Massachusetts, answered the happy birthday phone call.

5. Ben, back from hiking with Sam in the Peruvian Andes (17,000 feet at the highest) ate lunch with us.

 6.  The other J. Daniel Hess and I met for the first time this past Tuesday. We have been in contact for more than a decade but never met. He is a dad, a doctor (near Wilmington, Delaware) and a most gracious gentleman. Our fathers were related, our mothers were related, and we were born within miles of each other. Today he posted this photo on Facebook.

 7. 13,599 steps today led me past many flowers along Pleasant Run. Here are just four.

August 15, 2019

More bridge photos

Bridge- 17 Jewettsport Ford Bridge, Tippecanoe County, Indiana

 

While searching for the confluence of the Tippecanoe River and the Wabash River, I came to this bridge and had to stop to wait my turn  because it’s a one-lane structure. Its deck width is only 14.8 feet.

Built in 1912 and rehabilitated in 1998 this through truss bridge over the Wabash River on IN 225 begged for further background. OK, the design: (4) 8-panel, riveted Pratt through truss spans… the length of the largest span 157.8 … total length 641.6 feet … average daily traffic as of 2009 — 960.  (bridgehunter.com)

This bridge borders the Prophetstown Battleground and State Park.

 

Bridge- 18  The John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge 

The John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge, originally known as the Cincinnati-Covington Bridge spans the Ohio River between Cincinnati, Ohio and Covington, Kentucky. When opened on December 1, 1866, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world at 1,057 feet (322 m) main span.Mr. Roebling studied the suspension bridge in Wheeling (Bridge- 15) in designing this one. When walking riverside with my brother Hal, the bridge becomes center point. What a beaut!

 

Bridge- 19 Shearer’s Covered Bridge 

I am now in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania traversing the land of my youth. I shall share with you in the next three entries three bridges that raise my pulse. The real name of today’s entry is “our covered bridge.” As a child living along Colebrook Road, I often walked to our covered bridge, often climbed its curved arches, and crawled below to find snakes. I drove tractors, sprayers, corn pickers, trucks and cars through the beloved structure. Our covered bridge was built in 1847 by Jacob Clare for about $600. As Colebrook Road became busier and traffic faster, the bridge, set perpendicular to Chiques Creek, but cockeyed to the road, was deemed dangerous. Thus Rapho Township moved our covered bridge in 1971 to Memorial Park in Manheim. The photo was taken there.

Bridge- 20  Martic Forge Trestle Bridge

My dad says that his boyhood friends boasted that they could throw a stone over the Martic Forge Trestle of the Enola Low Grade Railroad. Empty boasts, of course. The very high track, now remade into the highly regarded Enola Low Grade Rail Trail, was originally the Atglen and Susquehanna Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad, built between 1902 and 1906. Its purpose was to ease congestion on the Philadelphia main line to Harrisburg and connect to the Columbia & Port Deposit line. It was also used for freight traffic that was hampered by much steeper grades on the main line, which is how it became known as the “Low Grade.” However, it did require some feats of engineering that involved the construction of two large trestle bridges. The Safe Harbor Trestle, which is approximately a mile long, carried trains over the Conestoga River, while the shorter Martic Forge Trestle, shown here, connecting Martic and Conestoga townships, carried rail traffic over the Pequea Creek. (LancasterCountyMag.com)

August 14, 2019

More bridges

Bridge # 9  The Ambassador Bridge

 

The Ambassador Bridge is the busiest international border crossing in North America in terms of trade volume, carrying more than 25% of all merchandise trade between the United States and Canada. The bridge carries 60 to 70 percent of commercial truck traffic in the region. (Wikipedia)

The McClintic-Marshall Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – that would later build the Golden Gate Bridge – was chosen for the project, completed in 1929, months ahead of schedule. Composed of Art Deco and Gothic styling, the bridge’s total length is 7,490 feet. The structure is built mainly of steel (21,000 tons) and has a roadway that rises as high as 152 feet above the Detroit River. At the time of its construction, the Ambassador Bridge was the largest suspension bridge in the world.(Encyclopedia of Detroit)

In a hotel and park on the Windsor side we enjoyed two days with the Linds from Toronto and yes, walked to and under the Ambassador.

Bridge # 10   Concrete arch bridge over Pleasant Run on Ritter Avenue in Indianapolis

 

It’s a personal love affair — a place I cherish. This bridge, close to our house and my route to Elllenberger Park, is modest and yet it has its credentials:

    * Built in 1929
    * Design: arch    Length: 52.2 feet    Deck width: 34.1 feet
* Average daily traffic: 9659
*Overall condition:  fair
(BridgeReports.com) 

Bridge-11  Trans Canada Highway double bridges, Alberta.

 

A family reunion took us to Brent and Jan Steckly’s house in Canmore, just outside of Banff National Park. One of my hikes went up into bear country, another to the Bow Flats Natural Area where I walked under these massive twins.

Bridge- 12   The Thomas J. Hatem Memorial Bridge

 

In traveling from Lancaster to Baltimore, I typically use Interstate 83. But a wish to see a Mennonite Disaster Service unit in Crissfield, Maryland  dictated a more easterly route. Fortunately. The old but elegant Hatem Memorial Bridge impressed me enough to leave U.S. Route 40 so that I could admire it from the banks of the Susquehanna River. I didn’t mind having had to pay toll. 

Built 1939 … rehabilitated 1988 . average daily traffic (as of 2017)

28,997 .… design: cantilevered steel through arch … length of largest span: 456.1 ft…. total length: 7,749.4 ft. (1.5 mi.). (bridgehunter.com)

August 13, 2019

Oh grief. So long since I entered a blog. I am now in Pennsylvania, visiting family and friends. And checking out my favorite bridges. For example Shearer’s Covered Bridge.

Its real name is “our covered bridge.” As a child living along Colebrook Road, I often walked to our covered bridge, often climbed its curved arches, and crawled below to find snakes. I drove tractors, sprayers, corn pickers, trucks and cars through the beloved structure. Our covered bridge was built in 1847 by Jacob Clare for about $600. As Colebrook Road became busier and traffic faster, the bridge, set perpendicular to Chiques Creek, but cockeyed to the road, was deemed dangerous. Thus Rapho Township moved our covered bridge in 1971 to Memorial Park in Manheim. The photo was taken there. And I shall share two more photos of our covered bridge.

August 8, 2019

Nature … naturally

Yesterday after weeding and picking up sticks (and nursing a hornet? sting), I took a stroll through the garden at The Juniper Spoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“If there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things.”

 

 

August 7, 2019

Nature … naturally

1.  beside the river

2. at the window

3. in the field

4. by the woods

August 6, 2019

More bridges

Bridge # 5  Freedom Bridge, Delphi, Indiana

 This blue bridge caught my eye as I headed northward on Indiana 25. On the return, I stopped to get a photo. At home I learned that the bridge served the Monon High Bridge Trail. Built in 1898 by Lafayette Bridge Company, the bridge structure is “Metal 16 Panel Pin-Connected Pennsylvania Through Truss, Fixed.” It is 303 feet long.

Bridge # 6  The Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge, Boston, Massachusetts.  

When daughter Ingrid goes in to Boston or to Logan International Airport, she drives the Zakim Bridge. It’s impressive. Of ten lanes, using the harp-style system of nearly-parallel cable layout, coupled with the use of “cradles” through each pylon for the cables, the main portion of the Zakim Bridge carries four lanes each way (northbound and southbound) of the Interstate 93 and U.S. Route 1 concurrency between the Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill Jr. Tunnel and the elevated highway to the north. The bridge and connecting tunnel were built as part of the Big Dig, the largest highway construction project in the United States. The northbound lanes were finished in March 2003, and the southbound lanes in December. (Wikipedia)

 

Bridge # 7  Stone arch aqueduct at Shenk’s Ferry Wildlife Preserve, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. 

 

A Facebook reader and second cousin, Lois Nafziger, helped me to learn the name of this aqueduct. I had visited the site with my brothers years ago. A project of Lancaster Conservancy, Shenks Ferry offers a trail beginning near the culvert at Grubb Hollow. The trail is approximately 1.7 miles in length and is renowned for wildflower walks in the springtime. A connector trail joins the Shenks Ferry Trail to the Enola Low Grade Rail Trail. Grubb Run empties into the Susquehanna River.

 

Bridge # 8  The Sherman Minton Bridge in southern Indiana

 

We were celebrating the 50th birthday of daughter Ingrid. We stayed in an Airbnb cottage for rural stuff and commuted on I 64 into Louisville for urban stuff. That put us onto The Sherman Minton Bridge, a double-deck through arch bridge spanning the Ohio River, carrying I-64 and US 150 over the river between Kentucky and Indiana.  The bridge was opened in 1962. (Wikipedia)

 

 

August 5, 2019

Nature doesn’t charge for entering its gallery; nonetheless many people pass by uninterested.