Hyacinths

Easter seems to be a good day to post flowers, don't you think?  It was raining today when I went out to take a look at the Hyacinths that I took a photograph of when the first green shoots came out of the ground and were only one inch tall. The First Shoots That was on March 21st which was 14 days ago. Now look at all these blossoms!  Notice that these blossoms don't look normal and that's because all the blossoms are covered with rain drops!  Maybe the blossoms are not as pretty, but they are interesting with the rain on them. Don't forget to click on the picture to see it larger.

 

What is This?

This is an interesting photograph.  At least to me.  It is interesting because whatever it is, is not obvious.  And the colors are interesting and the brightness differences between the two objects in the photograph are interesting.  I think it is an abstract image.  I am actually not sure if this is interesting at all!  I do like that the top piece is reflected in the water adding some interest.  So I will leave it up to all of you to see what you think.  OK, so here is the answer.  You know there is a place I have photographed so many times called "Scudder's Pond" that is right next to the road along the seashore.  The water enters the pond from the far side, away from the road, and this object is right next to the road and there is a concrete "bridge" kind of thing that allows the water from the pond to go under the road and into the harbor.  This object is part of what holds the water level constant.  This is a concrete ring like they put in your backyard for a cesspool.  You have seen these concrete rings on trucks when you are driving, right.  So this is only a small part of the ring which is about 5 or 6 feet in diameter and goes down into the water about 4 feet.  So you can all be the judge whether or not this is interesting at all.

 

The New Pipe

So this is the pipe that is being used to replace the steel gas line that has been in the ground carrying gas to Sea Cliff homes since the 1950's.  This bright yellow pipe is called "Medium-Density Polyethelene." it is widely used for natural gas and propane distribution, because it is flexible and corrision resistant.  I wasn't able to see it being "welded" together for this project, but I saw a similar type of pipe being welded together for a sewer line on Shore Road 3 or 4 years ago.  They carefully trim the ends of two pieces of pipe and then put both pieces in a "jig" and the two pieces are brought together and then surrounded by a device that I think uses ultrasonic waves to heat both pieces and when it is done the pipe joint is as strong as the original pipe

Here is an entire trailer full of long sections of the pipe.  They are welded together above ground tha then the long sections are buried in the trenches in the street.

If you enlarge this, you can see that this kind of pipe is much thicker than a steel pipe would be.  Aren't you so glad to learn all of this information about gas lines in the street?

 

Digging Up The Streets

There has been a lot of street construction going on in Sea Cliff.  There is excavating equipment that digs a trench in the street then men are working in the trench, then the excavation is filled in and asphalt fills it all in.  Turns out they are replacing natural gas lines that one of the workers told me, were installed in the 1950's and are getting old. I was driving down the street and saw these old cut up gas lines covered with dirt and had to stop and see them close up.  You can see the filled up trench in the road, to the right.

Here is a closeup of a group of the old gas pipes.  If you look at most of these, they are cut off clean with a saw and you can see that the steel looks pretty solid. But the pipe at the very top has a ragged end to it that doesn't look good.

I don't know what this pipe was connected to, but how could this pipe not be leaking gas with the ragged end showing?  I will show you a couple of photographs of what this pipe is being replaced with tomorrow.

 

The Old Tree at Dusk

I parked my car at the Vanderbilt Museum and as I was taking my computer and other things out of the trunk for the meeting, I happened to look over to my right and saw this tree off to the right.  My sense is that the tree is really old, based on its shape and the condition of its branches.  I have no idea what kind of tree this is  - maybe in daylight when it is leafed out I might hazard a guess.  What made the photograph as well are the high overcast clouds that silhouette the tree. Against a plain sky I am thinking that the photograph would not be as strong. Please click on this to see more detail.