Thursday, July 3, 2008

Better Living Through Natural Chemistry

A few pics from the last week or so, that needed to be posted or wasted...and I hate to waste...

The rebuild of the infamous Parker St. railroad underpass, in Indian Orchard Springfield, is nearing completion.



Only the abutments to the old bridge remain, for now...



Here's the south side of it, looking much more completed...



Strange, but part of me will miss the old narrow, flood-prone, tractor trailer-dismembering underpass. It's been there much longer than I have lived, and kind of a familiar icon of the area. It was also the eye of the needle that cars had to thread their way through, to get to the shopping meccas of Boston Road nearby.

Cheerios has taken to putting toys back in their cereal boxes. Awesome.



I guess these toys aren't quite the educational, baking soda-filled, miniature floating submarine toys of my youth. But still, I like that they're at least moving back in that direction...

Over in the flora department, some recently applied mulch has added a touch of landscaped flair, to Kelly's modest herb and flower garden:



And up in Northampton recently, this guy braved rush hour traffic to tend to his garden...





This car has a sticker on the back, saying it's one of those that have been converted for use with used vegetable oil as fuel. I wonder what it's towing...are they, vats of oil?



The vegetable oil cars are becoming more abundant. Apparently they do work (though a diesel engine is required), and make good recycled use of used restaurant oils and such. But the ones I've seen appear mostly experimental, and it must be a messy endeavor filling the tank. I have yet to hear of any of the conversions getting backing from any big money companies yet, but we'll see what develops when gas gets above 6 bucks...

Speaking of experimental, and messy, I discovered this gallon of milk behind my seat, where I had forgotten it, oh, about a week ago...Yikes! Very carefully, and with trembling hands, I set the bloated jug atop the dash for a quick pic, before disposing of it in the nearest dumpster...



That was close. It could have erupted in the car, at exactly the wrong moment...

6 comments:

VanDog said...

Dear lord Tony! Do you have a permit for dangerous explosive devices?

It's big of you admit your mistake. I have yet to tell the embarrassing, and messy story of the hard cider explosion in my pantry last Fall.

Tony said...

A hard cider explosion? That sounds like a blog post waiting to happen...

Cecil said...

If that carton got opened up....we'd be watching a biohazard team cleaning up your Jeep on the evening news. Good thing you found it when you do.

I was in East Longmeadow a couple of weeks ago and thought I'd drive back to Amherst via Indian Orchard. I had forgotten they were still working on the overpass. How long have they been at it? Has it been a couple of years?

Tony said...

It could have been ugly...

The whole project, which included the widening of Parker St. all the way to the Ludlow Bridge, has been going on since early 2006; though it feels like it's been going on for a lot longer...

AdamH said...

Thanks for the pictures of the overpass project. I can't wait till it's done, as I use Parker St. every day on my commute.

And thanks for your pictures in general. I enjoy them - they're so good. I love your nature shots, especially the ones from Mt. Tom. Keep up the good work.

Tony said...

Thanks Adamh. I feel your pain, Parker street has got to be one of the worst 'stop and go' streets as it is..(I'm thinking Sumner ave. and Memorial Dr. in Chicopee are also in the running...)