respublica

Road work musing

Yesterday I drove over to Collinsville for the first time since IDOT closed two lanes on the east end of the Poplar. I've driven since they've started, but it's always been on a Sunday or Saturday when no work was being done. The traffic was jammed up from the middle of the bridge to the east end of downtown East St. Louis. There were only two open lanes and they were on the left side of the bridge so I got into the left most lane along the separation wall.  The lane to my right was filled with big semi's.

This jam eventually had to move into just one lane (the left) where the actual work was being done at the east end of ESTL. I was so glad I chose the left lane on the bridge so I didn't have to deal with all the big trucks trying to move over at the end.

However, I have to say, for whatever reason the traffic moved through that area. Not fast, it was a slow crawl but it was moving. IDOT has a way of doing highway work so much better than MoDOT. The difference between how the two do things is very obvious.

Boxing Day

Not a mattress or ladder today, but this was unexpected enough to mention. A big Amazon box fell on to route 364 and Highway K.

Also, St. Louis is weird in its name some highways with just a letter.

Those nasty biting gnats are everywhere

The Wall Street Journal (June 17) had a story on the biting gnats we've been dealing with for several weeks. Things have not gotten any better, these buggers are still around and swarm each time we walk out the door. According to the story, the midwest is ground zero for these tiny creatures know as black flies or buffalo gnats. The wet weather and flooding we've experienced is the number one reason there are so many this year.

Rather than puncture the skin as a mosquito would do, these gnats slice open a wound with its mouth and laps up the blood. This causes a very itchy welt that can hang around for days. I'm telling you from experience. This is true. The one item which is recommended in every story on the gnats to keep these things from biting you is vanilla. There are other things you can try, Deet, lemongrass, citronella, bug spray, but the vanilla keeps them away the best in our experience here on the campus.

Problem is you have to re-apply it frequently if you're outside for any length of time. Our grounds people keep a spray bottle of vanilla body spray in their Gators.

You can make your own by combing equal parts vanilla and water. If you aren't a big outside type of person, 1 tablespoon of each and a cotton ball to dab it on with is fine. But these days you might want more and if you go looking for the vanilla body spray, you may find it sold out. Vanilla body products have been flying off the shelves.

I'd link the Wall Street Journal article but it's behind a subscribe wall, but stories like this are everywhere right now.

Visiting St. Salvator

Yesterday, Father's Day, Dale and I drove out to Venedy, Illinois for St. Salvator's annual Chicken dinner. St. Salvator was where Dale began his ministry and where our children were born. It's always a joy to go back there. It's fun to walk up to where the people are and still know everyone by name even after all these years. The church is very old, (1842) in fact, it is one which sent its first pastor to be part of a meeting in Chicago to create our church body, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod. This was way back in 1847. The church and school still stand, much like it has for all these years. There are people buried in the cemetery behind the church who were born earlier than the creation of the church. It's amazing.

The organ has it's own history, purchased from Old Trinity in St. Louis and carried by horse and wagon to Venedy. That organ had come from Germany with the original Lutheran immigrants. It is still used to this day.

The one room school house that stands today was built in 1872

The parsonage we lived in next to the church was torn down a couple of years ago and a nice fellowship hall was built and where the chicken was served up.

The inside of the church, much like it's been forever.

When we lived there coal was still the way the parsonage and church were heated. The coal drop is still there.

But now a more up to date heating system is in place as well as this which surprised me.

air conditioning!

Here is organ up in the balcony

Here are the steps you need to climb up into the balcony

And then if you want to go up into the bell tower there is a steep wooden ladder and a trap door at the top which opens to the bells. There is also a sort of room like area up there where Dale spent many a day working on his Ph'd dissertation. Crazy times.

The cemetery is beautiful in a serene spiritual way. The ancient burials were right behind the church and as years went by the plots filled up row by row.

What amazed us was the growing number of new tombstones with pictures engraved on the front which tell of the person's life.

Coal miner

Excavator

And farmers.

Venedy is a blessing.

Down came two trees...on purpose

Here at the seminary there were two trees on the east side of our house, one on each corner. That side is where our bedroom is located. One tree was a huge thick pine that was about 70 feet tall and very top heavy with branches. The other was an older Birch. The Birch was the messiest trees ever, constantly dropping small branches and limbs. It was also leaning more and more toward the roof. The Pine did some scary dances in the wind we've had this year, twisting side to side and up and down. Ever since the huge evergreen tree next door to us fell onto our cars in January, I've been...well..paranoid. So yesterday the east side trees came down.

I have to say, Gateway Tree Service is one of the best. They are skilled, fast, and clean up so that you'd never know they'd been there.

Here is the birch work

Then the pine

 

Now that they're down and gone, we can sleep easier. At least I will, Dale never loses sleep.

 

The danger of Wild Parsnip

Came across an article today on Wild Parsnip and the burns it can cause on contact. This was an eye-opener for me since this plant look a lot like the ones which grow wild around here. Wild parsnip grows in large patches or as scattered plants along roadsides, in abandoned fields, on pastures, on restored prairies, and in disturbed open areas. It has yellow flowers which many weeds do.

Contact with this weed can cause serious burns which look awfully painful. When the plant’s juices come in contact with the skin, and are exposed to ultraviolet light, it results in severe burns, scaled areas on the skin, blisters and long-term discoloration.

Wild Parsnip is found all over north America and looks rather like the very common Wild Mustard.

Be careful walking in nature areas.

 

Don't believe the experts

This morning I came across an online post from USA TODAY Sports in which their hockey experts made their predictions on who would win the Stanley Cup game 7 championship. Here are their guesses:

Kevin Allen, Bruins 3, Blues 1:  Home ice advantage. Big-game experience. Hot goalie. Dangerous power play. The Bruins have too many factors going for them. They are confident after going into St. Louis and beating the Blues 5-1 to force a Game 7. The Bruins’ trademark this season has the been the consistency of their effort.

Jimmy Hascup, Bruins 4, Blues 2: Tuukka Rask and his .938 playoff save percentage on home ice against a rookie netminder? A top line that reawakened with four points in Game 6? A future Hall of Fame defenseman (Zdeno Chara) logging shutdown minutes like he's in his prime? Yeah, give me Boston to finish this off.

Mike Brehm, Bruins 3, Blues 1: Would love to see a Bruins defenseman score in overtime, go flying through the air and get a statue outside TD Garden. But Boston should get this done in regulation. Blues goalie Jordan Binnington, who rebounds well after a loss, will keep the game tight, but Tuukka Rask's strong play and the Bruins' experience should win out and Boston will get an empty-netter to make the difference.

Jace Evans, Bruins 3, Blues 0: Tuukka Rask has been unfairly maligned by a segment of the Boston fanbase for years. But a shutout in Game 7 of a Stanley Cup Final – which predecessor Tim Thomas accomplished in 2011 – that would come with the Conn Smythe Trophy would be a good way for the winningest goalie in Bruins history to cement his legacy. A shutout would also be impressive based on the Blues' road dominance: they're 9-3 away from Enterprise Center these playoffs, and they have already won two games in Boston this series. 

So....Their experts went 4 for 4 in being wrong. So so satisfying. It's kind of like when all the political experts had Hillary Clinton to win in 2016

Thank You Blues

This Stanley Cup championship is one of the more thrilling and satisfying things to happen to St. Louis in a long time. Talk about bringing almost everyone together! The Rams Super Bowl win back in 2000 may compare, but can anyone believe it's been 19 years?

This Blues championship run is like something I have never seen before in this town and this picture I saw last night is my favorite. There hasn't been a credit given to whoever created it, but thanks to him or her.

Too much celebrating

To begin with I want to make it clear I'm thrilled with how far the Blues have come and want them to win tonight. But there has been way too much celebrating since they won last week and went ahead 3 games to 2. This has been aided by non stop local media promoting every party and tally on how many fans were attending. Even dogs in Blues sweaters have been leading the news.

This just can't help the team concentrate at all, gives the Bruins some extra desire to beat the heck out of St. Louis and leads to huge depression if the Blues should lose.  Celebrate tonight if they win.

Tally update

There has been a rash of mattresses hitting our highways in the past week. Must be moving season.

Mattresses 61

Ladders 57

Also a wheelbarrow last week on 255 near Horseshoe Lake Road, but this is just an add on, not part of any tally.