27 February 2011

High Water




It's high, but not as high as it was in 1993. Back then, the water submerged all of Serpentine Wall and pretty much most of the flagpole portions seen in this photo. The concession stands were under water. Mehring Way and Pete Rose Way were under water. The Lytle garage was at that time a surface parking lot and I remember seeing the gate sticking out of the water.

And even that doesn't come close to the Mother Flooder of 1937 which turned all the downtown streets into canals.

And now another rainstorm has begun just as I am typing this...

21 February 2011

Fossils

Some years ago I dated a woman whose parents were hippies. They lived down the street from a responsible alcoholic, a gentle and kind man who could never quite conquer his demons but always cared for his cats and had enough sense not to drive a car. So when he visited, he did so on his riding mower, puttering the quarter mile or so along the side of the road.

One summer day I was over there hanging out when the neighbor rode over. He came inside and had a mumbling conversation with the mother for a few minutes as I listened, amazed that she could understand any of the words. Eventually they decided to go down to the nearby creek for a swim and I tagged along to play with their new puppy.

When we got to the creek they took off all their clothes and got in. The mother asked me if I wanted to swim but I hadn't really prepared myself psychologically for skinny dipping with my girlfriend's 55-year old mother and an alcoholic neighbor. Fortunately, Ohio was covered by a shallow sea 450 million years ago so I was able to excuse myself from the situation by looking for fossils in the creek bed.

I didn't find anything there, but I did find the cool rock below on a hike in the woods last weekend. It seems like there is a little bit of everything in here... based on my thorough research (i.e. looking at some pics on this page), I think there may be brachiopods, snails, clams and cephalopods, and maybe more.



14 February 2011

This is not a Toliet