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Showing posts from April, 2020

Earth Day Ride(s)

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Preparing to plant the field with soybeans Rich black soil produced from glacial till and thousands of years of blue stem prairie grass vegetation, which added humus and produced the dark color First harvest of the season -- that pile of rocks wasn't there yesterday Boulders pushed to the surface from the glacial till below by freeze/thaw action during the winter They tend to do bad things to farm equipment Can you find the golf ball included in the mass of rocks? Some practice golf at the high school -- someone hit a good shot for it to land here View southwest toward the Hoopeston Wind Farm Green energy --- apropos for Earth Day Said to be able to produce 98MW, enough energy for 30,000 homes -- and the last several days, Ill bet it has been doing just that The black vehicle is on Illinois Route 1 -- a branch of the Dixie Highway running to Chicago North Fork of the Vermilion River Other forks are the Middle Fork and Salt Fork Doesn't qu

Windy Rides

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The wind has been relentless for days on end (The flag at the nearby school tore loose from its grommets) Its been worse, but 15-20 mph today is bad enough At least on an out and back the back part is pretty nice Daffodils/Jonquils/Narcissus ?? They had been thru a chilly/frosty night and had not yet fully warmed up Pink field of Henbit Henbit germinates in the fall and grows thru the winter Very invasive although kind of pretty right now The Round-Up is comintrg  (little do they know) d Difficult to see Turkey Vulture attacking refuse in a plastic bag Or Trying to figure out how many miles were lost from that tire doing the burn-out (click to enlarge) TV in the ditch Problem is, they are hard to get rid of properly Good news is, they threw it in the ditch rather than the North Fork -- easier to retrieve and no pollution of the water Anyone with a black Silverado from the Sullivan-Parkhill dealer in Champaign, your tailgate is in the ditch
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Covid 19 Mask

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Oh Boy!     😱 Closer look  -- I wouldn't touch that thing with a 20 foot pole! What the HELL are people thinking???

Around the Neighborhood/Across Town/and Out of Town

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Our little enclave built mostly in the 1950's - 60's Engineers at FMC designed it and its known as FMC subdivision A high water table in this area makes the acronym mean "Flood My Crawlspace" more accurate (click on photo for a larger view) View east on Sprague Road Named for Sprague-Sells which was an agricultural machinery producer eventually purchased by FMC Encouraging sign to persevere thru Covid-19 Turning south onto Wilson Avenue Never have discovered who Wilson was or what he had to do with FMC Cul de Sac named for the Sells of Sprague-Sells wi Wilson turns west, then intersects with Euclid Ave Thats Sprague Road going to the right So we have made a loop around the subdivision Now headed west on Elm street Many homes here are prefabricated ones made in Lafayette, IN Playground at Maple School Where the FMC plant used to be Tremendous fire destroyed the building when a subsequent t

Early Spring Rides

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Hopefully the last snow of the season Meeting Dave at his place for a cold and windy ride across town, circle the park and return Blue sky is not something we have seen much of Raleigh sees its shadow but it doesnt matter much now Schwinn recovered from JR's Recyclables and refurbished by Dave It will be donated to the Multi Agency thrift store when it reopens It didnt look quite like this originally Barren fields south of town, but the grass is greening up Algae and weeds in a pool near the Township Garage, its nice and green  Ditch lilies beginning to grow Tiny white flowers blooming New graffiti at Party Bridge Deadnettle about ready to bloom Poison hemlock beginning to grow Under story beginning to green Henbit -- entire fields can be infested and turn purple with it blooms Glyphosate takes care of the problem View east across the Central Lowland  -- land fill rises in the right background More algae