Optimism

Hmmmmm….someone has some optimism. (Planting in March.) I thought we weren’t safe from a freeze until after Mother’s Day, which is  May 13 this year.

Grey Sunday

The sky and the lake were grey on Sunday, quite the contrast to the bright blue skies we had yesterday.
.This scene looks out over Central Hillside. In the center of the photo is Gloria Dei Lutheran Church. Last I heard, they were committed to staying in the Hillside. To the right and behind the church, more near the Lake is Miller Dwan Medical Center, which is now part of Essenita Health.  Miller Dwan has an interesting history and used to be considered the “County” hospital The Essentia website says it ” is a 165-bed specialized-care facility in Duluth, Minn. Its range of specialties includes burn treatment, rehabilitation and behavioral health. The hospital also offers a full range of primary and specialty care at its Duluth Clinic locations.” Essenita Health is the new name of St. Mary’s Hospital. The Essentia Health system has hospitals in Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota and Idaho.

In the center of the photo is a basketball court used by residents of the Central Hillside.

I took my dog for a walk today. He slipped and fell, since he’s a basset hound he didn’t have to fall too far… only about a couple inches. It was kinda like he just rolled over. Here you can see an almost perfect outline of his body. This is an icy driveway that we were walking past.

Because of the problems of water running into the sewer the city required homeowners to install sump pumps in their basements. Most sump pumps drain out onto the sidewalk which is causing horrible ice dams. Even though I had been avoiding this spot for a couple weeks. I miscalculated, slipped an fell hard at  this spot two days ago.

From Lake Superior Streams.com The reason for the sump pumps is because the footings in old houses were connected to the sanitary sewer which causes overflow during rainstorms.

If you own an old house footing drains were connected to the sanitary sewer system, and are now one of the causes of overflow problems in Duluth.

While old footing drains are good at keeping water away from the foundation of the house and help to keep basements dry, they are one of the largest contributors of clear water to the sanitary sewer system. Footing drains should be redirected to empty into a sump pit. The water can then be pumped out by a sump pump into the yard where it can be dispersed into the natural soil-groundwater and then flow harmlessly away in the storm sewer system

In keeping with the theme of the City Daily Photo project, I am posting the only photo I took outdoors on the 30th I took a bunch indoors that you may see on my Naomi’s Duluth Adventures blog. The past few days I’ve noticed logging trucks heading east on Superior Street. It took me a while to get make camera out of my bag, but you can see the truck of logs on the left hand side.

The lines were long in the Post Office in Lincoln Park on Monday. But they move pretty quickly and the postal employees as well as the customers were in nice mood. Many were telling acquaintances, “Merry Christmas!”

I was so surprised to see this “spring green” tree near the end of October that I had to take it’s photo. As you can see the leaves next to it are all crinkled and have turned brown or fallen. I’m not sure why this tree still has the bright green leaves.  This tree is downtown in an alley.