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Sauk Centre This Season

Sauk Centre Journal

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Thursday, May 8, 2008. This post s a day late. No excuse, but I've got an explanation of sorts. This has been a crazy week for me. I wrote about what's been happening in another blog:

seriously in "Stiff Upper Lip? Imperturbable? Ha!
and not-so seriously in " My Wife Washed My Coffee Cup!"

Ash Street isn't the only place in Sauk Centre that's been getting refurbished. 12th Street South got new power poles this week.

Utility pole replacement on south 12, Sauk Centre, Minnesota
Spindly-looking things, those cherry pickers. I imagine it's quite a balancing act, moving them around without tipping over. May 5, 2008.

The lowest wire on the new poles is higher than the top of the old ones. The fellow in the cherry-picker has a great view, but I'd just as soon not have his job. May 5, 2008.

The Ash Street Project is still a preoccupation for me. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that around the first week in June, I'll be able to take photos of the project from my front stoop.

Mystery process on Ash Street, Sauk Centre, Minnesota.
I have no idea what these guys were doing. The machine was holding a slab of concrete quite level, about six feet off the ground. May 5, 2008.

Digging around trees on Ash Street, Sauk Centre, Minnesota.
I'll say this for the outfit that's doing the work: They're trying to work around some of the trees. I hope their efforts pay off. May 7, 2008.

Now that I'm back i

Pipes piled on Ash Street, Sauk Centre, Minnesota.
Piles of piping catching the morning light. Just getting stuff stockpiled
for the day's work is a job. May 7, 2008.

Coils, crates, and pipes on Ash Street, Sauk Centre, Minnesota.
Coils, crates, and more pipes on Ash Street. May 7, 2008.

Setting up for the day's work on Ash Street, Sauk Centre, Minnesota.
More stuff getting unloaded on south Ash. May 7, 2008.

Starting work on the north end of South Ash, leaving the south part until after school is out for the summer probably has something to do with that gymkhana of cars and assorted vehicles that pours out of the high school parking lot every day.

Sunday, May 4, 2008. I've been out of town since Friday. And, since I live on Ash Street South in Sauk Centre, I'm a bit preoccupied with the Ash Street Project.

That explains why there's nothing by photos of Ash Street to show today.

Rain or shine - this project has a schedule
Dig those crazy pipes. May 1, 2008.

A big, noisy, indespensible machine
They're big, they're noisy, they're not very easy on the eyes, either:
but without them, the Ash Street Project wouldn't be done this summer. May 2, 2008.

A couple days later, and there's been some progress. May 4, 2008.

Ash Street this summer. It's not going to be one of those 'having a great time, wish you were here' seasons. May 4, 2008.

Now that I'm back in town, I hope to get around a little and see what's been going on. See you Wednesday night.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008. The Ash Street Project started today. They got the street torn up from South 8th to Sinclair Lewis Avenue. This is going to be a very interesting summer.

(My webcam on Sauk Centre's south side, at the corner of Ash and 9th Street South, should a fine view of some of the Ash Street Project's work - when it gets down here. Meanwhile, I'm hoping for hummingbirds.)

House near Lake Wobegon Trail, Sauk Centre, Minnesota
That's one good-looking lawn, on Ash Street near Lake Wobegon Trail. April 29, 2008.

Red house in Sauk Centre, Minnesota.
This household was moving their plants yesterday. I'm hoping to avoid that, myself. We're going to loose five trees and a shrub, but aside from that we should be okay. April 29, 2008.

Corner lot in Sauk Centre, Minnesota.
When you start looking, there are a lot of lawns up and down Ash Street, where people took trouble to make things look nice. April 29, 2008.

What a season to buy in Sauk Centre, Minnesota.
This is not the summer I'd have chosen to buy a house on South Ash. April 29, 2008.

Preparations of Ash Street in Sauk Centre, Minnesota.
There's been a lot of planning and preparation going on: equipment set in place, pipes (I think) laid out. April 29, 2008.

Mystery wrap on storm drains in Sauk Centre, Minnesota.
And then there's this. It must have something to do with the Ash Street project. April 29, 2008.

'Blind' intersection, sort of, in Sauk Centre, Minnesota.
Won't be long before we'll have a front-row seat on construction, at this end of the street. April 29, 2008.

That last picture, the one with the caption that starts, "Won't be long," Shows part of our yard. Some people have lawns: we have a yard. Those three trees that the red van is hiding behind? A photo of them was used by the City of Sauk Centre to illustrate how some trees would have to be removed.

That was when I realized that I didn't have much of a chance of negotiating my way into keeping them. Apparently they keep people driving on Ash from seeing vehicles on the cross street. Okay, I can see that, sort of. I'm going to miss the shade, though, on summer afternoons.

The road-eater in Sauk Centre, Minnesota.
It's got another name, but I call this the road-eater. April 29, 2008.

Road Closed sign in Sauk Centre, Minnesota.
"Road Closed to Thru Traffic?" That sign doesn't make much sense, looking from this point. April 30, 2008.

Road work on Ash Street, in Sauk Centre, Minnesota.
Here, it makes more sense. I just about drove into this, this morning.
April 30, 2008.

Not that the Ash Street Project is the only thing going on in town.

Construction across from the golf course in Sauk Centre, Minnesota.
Construction going on, across from the golf course. What it is, I haven't a clue. Maybe I should read the paper more often. April 30, 2008.

Iron Man advance showing in Sauk Centre, Minnesota.
Downtown, "Iron Man" has an advance showing tomorrow night. April 30, 2008.

And, the United Methodist Church addition, near the Ding Dong Cafe, is moving along.

I'm not lazy:
I'm efficient!

Easy Griller
Grilling year-round with simple equipment and almost no skill

Through One Dad's Eye
Raising a family and building websites in small town America
"Small Town America: Central Minnesota"
A webcam on Sauk Centre's south side

Starting a Small Business Without Losing My Mind
The continuing adventure of publishing online....
Or, getting laid off for fun and profit. Behind Every Website, There's a Webmaster
Me, at a computer

Another War-on-Terror Blog
(As if we needed another one.)

Sunday, April 27, 2008. The school referendum passed, by quite a margin this week. The Ash Street Project starts next week.

Signs were getting set up Thursday. At this end, the sign near Ash and south 12th was the first to get set up. April 24, 2008.

A crew from Sauk Centre Public Utilities was here ten days ago, getting an idea of where the sewer line for our house went.

Public utilities crew checking the sewers
Sauk Centre Public Utilities: More of the people who keep things going. April 17, 2008.

When they were done, the Minnesotan phrase, "it could be worse" pretty well summed up the situation. The line apparently was laid before sewer service extended beyond 9th Street. The thing heads north, then northwest: under two trees and a bush we were hoping to save.

I'm pretty sure people on Ash are having similar experiences.

One of my webcams, "Small Town America: Central Minnesota"
gives a pretty good view of the corner of Ash Street and South 9th.

Sauk Centre public utilities, tracking a sewer line
I think the crew was testing out some new equipment. Their sensor wands made some very odd sounds. April 17, 2008.

"Minnesota doesn't have a climate: It has weather." Our spring showers closed Interstate Highway 94 from Osakis to Fargo for a while, yesterday.

Springtime in Minnesota: snow on April 26.
Minnesota: Whatever else you may say about our weather, "boring" it isn't. April 26, 2008.

I heard someone say that wooly mammoths would be heading into our region next week, but I think he was kidding.

Optimistic hummingbird feeder.
A hummingbird feeder. Set out just a little early. April 26, 2008.

Yesterday's snow is something I'm glad I didn't have to drive through, but it was just about ideal for snowballs or snowmen. I made a small snowman, about nine or ten inches tall, while grilling lunch yesterday.

Small snowman in Sauk Centre, Minnesota.
Not much of a conversationalist, but few snowmen are. April 26, 2008.

There's already quite a bit of spring-green grass showing through the snow. Maybe we'll get a reasonable facsimile of summer, yet.

Wednesday, April 24, 2008. This has been a beautiful, warm, sunny day. There are more colored marks and little flags on and around Ash Street, a reminder of what's coming after school lets out for the summer. And, there's more about the school referendum vote in the Sauk Centre Herald. Including a passionate letter to the editor or two.

I also read that a sort of committee of 10th, 11th, and 12th graders from the school painted a mural on a wall of the bus garage. I haven't seen it - the mural, that is - but I'll try to get a photo.

This is a very short entry, I see. What can I say? I've been distracted. That will change, like everything else in this mutable cosmos.

Sunday, April 20, 2008. What with one thing and another (Through One Dad's Eye gives a little detail), I'm at the end of Sunday, and still don't have any photos ready.

Ash Street South has more marks painted on it now: I think there's a very good chance that they'll get this project started shortly after school ends in May.

Deacon Kaas helped celebrate Mass at Our Lady of the Angels church this Sunday - with a walker. He explained that his knee had gotten twisted again, and a muscle was spasming. Doesn't sound pleasant, but he's getting around pretty well.

I'm pretty sure that isn't all that happened, but it's all I can think of at the moment.

If I think of more, tomorrow, I'll be back.

If not, I'll be back Wednesday: whether I've got anything to say, or not.

Wednesday, April 16, 2008. You may have expected some photos to go with this entry.

So did I.

Maybe later.

Meanwhile, I got a call from somebody with Sauk Centre utilities. The other day, they had a crew out here with a crawler and a camera, getting up close and personal with the sewer. Turns out, the sewer arrangement for this house is a little odd. Their best guess is that after in goes out the west side of the house, it heads north to ninth, then on into the Ash street sewer.

They want to do a little work, which will get done tomorrow morning, to give them a better picture of what's going on down there. It involves putting a sort of tape in our sewage pipe, and having a crew outside play 'find the signal.' Should be interesting.

I also learned that they'll probably doing some core sampling at the south end of this block. That's my phrase, not what I was told. It seems that there may be granite down there. One of our neighbors is not going to be happy about that.

With this Ash Street Project coming, I really feel sympathy for people on Ash who have put special effort into fixing up their front yards.

Being a relatively small town doesn't deprive Sauk Centre of experiencing today's problems. There's drug and gang information meeting coming up Tuesday, April 22, 7 p.m. at the Sauk Centre High School Auditorium.. The Sauk Herald has more information about it.

I suppose, as a responsible homeowner, I ought to go.

Earlier Sauk Centre Journal entries are in the Sauk Centre Journal Archive.

The idea, when I started this page, was to have a little journal, where I recorded events as they happen here in Sauk Centre.

It grew.

Above, you'll find this Sauk Centre journal. I update it twice a week.

Brian H. Gill, Webmaster, Brendan.s Island

Mary Quite Contrary
"Growing up has never been so surreal"
Online comic by Brigid's World