Right After Flood Number Six

If you've come here looking for an update on last week's "armed robbers on the loose on the Riverwalk" post, you've come to the wrong place. I never did hear another word about the incident. I read a little blurb in the newspaper about the Ironworks security guard's having been robbed at gunpoint at about 5:30 that morning, but that's all I know. Sorry. I'm usually a better news gatherer than that. It's been a busy week at school.

Okay, back to the Riverwalk. We're in FLOOD NUMBER SEVEN right now! Yes! Parts of the Riverwalk are under water as I type. I very much enjoyed Chuck Williams' article about the flooding in last Wednesday's Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.

While I was looking back online for Chuck's article, so that I could post that link up there, I discovered this article about four Columbus High School kids who got themselves stranded out on the rocks right below the 13th Street Bridge! Apparently it happened on January 15, and somehow I missed that in my walk as well as in the paper. My newshound skills are failing me this week.

Those kids who got stranded out there said that they were out there to take photographs, a noble cause indeed.

Speaking of photographs, I took a few last weekend, right after Flood Number Six:

I agree with what Chuck Williams reported in his article -- that the clean-up crew is pronto on the job after a flood. Please don't assume that this debris was evident for very long. I was down there very soon after the water subsided, on the weekend. The crew was down there first thing Monday morning to start cleaning up.

Does this "ladder thing" look familiar? It ought to. I've taken a couple of photos of the thing-which-is-not-a-ladder over the past few weeks, as it's been floating around down near the Powerhouse. I don't know how in the world it got up here onto the Riverwalk, up under the Dillingham Street Bridge. I have a feeling that there was human involvement, as there's no evidence that the water rose this high in Flood Number Six.

New graffiti on the sign directly in front of our house, and it's a shame, too, as folks really use this map, and now it's obscured --


And, now, for some more pleasant images before I sign off --

My "little spot" has been patched as neatly as it's ever been patched --

I love the perfect way that the water is lapping onto the floor of the south fishing well. If the weather hadn't been so chilly, I'd have taken off my Asics and waded.


I love the bark on this tree --


And the oft-documented gimp tree is gettin' ready to bust wide open into bud!


While the Railroad Bridge enjoys a front row seat.

Trouble on the Riverwalk Last Night (or this morning)

When I poked my head out my front door at 6:00 this morning, to grab my newspaper off my front porch, I noticed that the light and fog were particularly beautiful -- so I left my front door standing wide open while I went back in and fetched my camera. Here are the photos I took:



I did notice, as I shot the last photograph, two police cars drive up and park near the Promenade Amphitheatre. Armed with big flashlights and I don't know what else, the officers got out and walked toward the River, obviously looking for somebody. I figured they were rousting some homeless person, but thought that a little odd, as they don't usually occupy themselves with that task. At any rate, if you want to see a policeman's flashlight, go back to the third photograph and look at that little light on the far right.

I stood there and watched the police for a few minutes, but they went into the bushes, and it was chilly and damp out there on the front porch, and I got a little paranoid about what they might think if they found me on my front porch, in my crossword puzzle pajamas, wielding a camera.

So, I came inside, read the paper and worked the Cryptoquote and the crossword puzzle, and then checked e-mail where I found a message from my friend and neighbor Virginia. Virginia's message was a warning that when she had set out to walk at 6:00 this morning she had been stopped by police officers who explained to her that there had been an armed robbery at the Trade Center and that the perps (Remember -- I watch cop shows.) had escaped and were armed and in the vicinity of the Riverwalk. The officers advised Virginia not to walk on the Riverwalk this morning.

So that's all I know at this point. I'm keeping an eye out over there, but have seen no other action. The police cars are gone now, the sun is up, and I've gotta get myself up and outta here and to work on campus. I'll check out the Riverwalk later this afternoon, weather permitting.

A Discovery, Columbus!

Monday, Dr. King Day, was a beautiful day on the Riverwalk, and quite a few folks were out and about walkin', bicyclin', skatin', fishin', readin', gazin' ... My own walk started out as "normal" as my walks ever manage to be, except that Fred was with me, which is not always the case, and he right away spotted a relatively interesting remaindering:


Our walk continued with no major surprises as we walked past the Coca-Cola Space Science Center, noting that the observatory is much more visible from the walkway in the wintertime ...

I'm taken with how some of the flood jetsam has created sculptures ...


I've become interested in this little building near the railroad overpass and assume that its function has something to do with the railroad. I plan to come back to it later and check it out closer.

The supports under the railroad bridge sported some new graffiti ...


I snapped a Cameranocular shot over toward Alabama ...

... checked out progress at Eagle and Phenix ...

And now, dear readers, it's DISCOVERY time. And I must pause here long enough to reluctantly admit to you that I myself did not initially make this discovery. No, alas, my path was blazed by a group of men. Here's the story: Several days ago Fred and his walkin' bud Billy Winn were joined on their regular walk by our friend John Lupold, historian extraordinaire. Now, Fred and Billy are historical, too, but John, well, he is not only historical himself, but he has a specialty in COLUMBUS MILL HISTORY. Uh-huh. So, according to what I heard, Fred and Billy and John were walking around in the Eagle and Phenix area when John showed the other two that one can walk THROUGH a passage in the lobby of Eagle and Phenix Lofts -- pictured here --


and emerge into this neat little park, all enclosed and with a terrific new perspective of the Powerhouse and the Riverwalk and ... Okay, I'll just hush and show you some photos ...



The little park is really lovely. I didn't manage to get as good a shot of the whole park area as I'd have liked.
Over on the River side of the park -- The walkway out to The Powerhouse! It was locked, of course. Years ago I went out that walkway into the Powerhouse, on a guided tour. No tour today -- so I admired from outside the locked gate -- and fantasized ...Lookin' out ...


And down ...
A whole new perspective ...

And straight down ...

I kept feelin' as if somebody was lookin' at me ...
Seriously -- I wondered if this might be a private area, since we did walk through the Eagle and Phenix Loft foyer to get there. But I noticed that the park is also accessible directly from Front Street, right to the north of the lofts, and there are no "private property" signs, and there is even a sign that says, "Eagle and Phenix Lobby and Parking" -- so I felt better about being there and about suggesting that you might visit, too.

Just a recap on how to access this very nice spot -- You can enter on the north side of Eagle and Phenix Lofts, into the parking area for the folks who live in the lofts, or you can enter as we did, by walking through the entrance and passageway on the south side of the E&P Lofts, right "up under" the silver water tank:
I didn't take any photos inside this lobby because I felt as if I were inside somebody's house, but there are some really interesting exhibits and spaces in there. If you're interested in mill history, you'll definitely enjoy a visit.

Dead of Winter on The Riverwalk -- and Two Big Surprises

Okay, I'm just gonna go ahead and admit it right here and now: When it comes to cold weather, yours truly is one full-fledged, all-out, tee-total WIMP. Yep. I simply cannot do cold weather. When the outside temp dips below, say, about 60 degrees, you're gonna find ol' Cathy Fussell curled up in her chair readin' or writin' or crochetin' or quiltin' or watchin' cop shows on tv -- or in the kitchen cookin'. I just simply cannot do cold weather. THEREFORE, since the temperature has been down in the *&^% TEENS!!! for the better part of three weeks, there have been no walks on the riverbank, thus no posts.

However, day before yesterday the temp crept up close to 60, I did venture out for a short spell, and I was amazed at the changes in the vista in just the past couple of weeks. Here are some photos to show you:

The first difference I noticed was that the water level had dropped considerably. It's far below the feet of Fred's man:

I hadn't seen this rock in so long I'd almost forgotten it was there ...


The whole landscape was certainly "deader" looking than two weeks earlier. There were far fewer leaves on the trees ...

Just to put leaves (or lack thereof) into context, I'm going to go to the archives and show you a progression of this, the so-named "gimp tree." Here are some photos from the past few months:




And here's gimp tree number two -- day before yesterday --


And a few weeks ago:


Okay, now -- Back to the present.


The shadows were particularly interesting this day. I was walkin' at about a little after five in the afternoon. Here's ol' Christopher Columbus holding up that bird. Is that me on Chris's left? Ooh. Bad form.


Since my self seems so eager to get into the picture, I guess I'll just go ahead and give you a photo of my whole self -- almost. (Ooh, Queenma, what long legs you have!)
Here's Mr. John Amos ...

This spot up underneath the Dillingham Street Bridge really does feel cozy. I see why homeless folks seem to wanna live there.

Speaking of the Dillingham Street Bridge, there was ice still clinging to it! I told y'all it was too cold to be out walkin'!



Okay, now I'm about to show you the two big surprises. Here's the first one. The photo below is from several weeks ago. It's of that piece of machinery I call "the stomach," in the lower section of the Powerhouse. I've taken upteen photos of it, 'cause I'm so fascinated with and afraid of it. Here it is on a normal day:

And here it was day before yesterday! What in the world?! It looks as if it's about to explode! Water was gushing from every possible crack, creating these weirdly shaped fountains and spouts that I didn't very well capture in this photograph. Anyway, the notion of that thing's exploding so freaked me out that I moved right along ...
... but not before I got a chance to look on up ahead to discover ...


PROGRESS!!! Can you believe it? Despite all the floods and the freezing weather and the economy and everything else, progress is being made on extending the Riverwalk through Eagle and Phenix! I am impressed! I am just dyin' to be one of the first folks to set foot on this new part when it opens. Me and Tricycle Man. Rollin' and strollin' right along. Y'all come join us, okay?