What I Saw - June 30, 2011

 Non convertible convertible at Scott's Automotive 

 Sidewalk work at 6th and Locust 

 Time to empty the trash on 200 block of Locust 

 Colton on duty at B&T Sportswear, Locust Street 

 Ventilation on the 200 block of Avenue I 

 A mess of wires at 2nd and Avenue I 

(I think they've been lying there for several weeks.) 

 This pipe is still just hanging there. 

(100 block of Avenue I) 

It's been that way for at least several months. 

It's supported only at the top and can easily be moved 

back and forth.   

 Fountain at 5th and Locust 

Time to get out the Round-Up 

(Manor Street School Apartments) 

What I Saw - June 29, 2011

 Just when I thought it was going to be a crappy day . . . 

. . . I saw this dragonfly . . .

. . . and a cut-out being snapped by a photographer
who was losing altitude . . .

. . . and what was left of a beautiful sunset.  

What I Saw - June 21, 2011 - Columbia River Park

 The water level was 225, two feet below normal.  

 Crayfish remains lay on the shore. 

And it looked as if the place was for the birds.

Ai Weiwei Freed

Another reason to celebrate during the upcoming Fourth Fridays events:  Artist and activist Ai Weiwei has been released by the Chinese government.

Click HERE for more info on his release.

Click HERE for the back story that appeared on this blog.

Plowing the Susquehanna

Lancaster Newspapers has an article on how farmers and others used to plow the Susquehanna in the winter to harvest the ice.  The article also mentions Columbia's former ice houses.
Go HERE.

Mystery Solved

I think I've finally gotten to the bottom (so to speak) of the low pants fad.  Recently, a friend who grew up in (and still lives in) a section of Lancaster I call "The Ward" and he calls "The Hood," and who has known a variety of rough characters in his day, explained to me what it's all about.  Allegedly, when a prisoner originally wore his pants slung low, he was advertising to other prisoners that he was available for sexual relations.  In the parlance of my friend, the prisoner is saying he is willing to be another man's "b----."  He even said he had to explain this to his son, who was starting to engage in the practice.  When I asked why so many young men follow the fad, he said it's because they misinterpreted the message.  "They saw these guys wearing their pants low and thought it was cool," he told me.  I didn't accept the explanation immediately as fact, so I did some research, and this is what I found . . . 

The practice is called "sagging," and it is indeed a means of advertising one's availability for - shall we say - certain interpersonal interactions.  Click HERE and HERE for more info.

Apparently, new prisoners routinely have their belts removed, because they can be used as weapons or to hang oneself.  But unless you wear your pants several sizes too big, they will NOT fall below your buttocks unless you deliberately pull them down to that level FOR A SPECIFIC REASON.   In a way, sagging is similar to the "rump display" that some animals in the wild use to initiate sex.  So, it all begins to make sense.  The low pants display sends an unmistakable message.  

I'm not making any moral judgments about anyone's lifestyle, but I do wonder how many of the low pants faddists I see waddling around town with their pants under the buttocks really understand the message they're conveying.  The lesson to be learned is this:  If you're going to advertise, make sure you know what you're selling.

The Car Show

I didn't go to today's car show, because they're all starting to look the same to me.  Sorry, but it's true.  If anyone wants to look at last year's pics, they are HERE.

If you want to see what the 50 ugliest cars of the last 50 years are, go HERE.

Weekend Wrap-up - What I Saw This Week

(Click on pics for larger views, better detail, etc.)

 More open burning last Sunday morning near the Columbia Water  Company, as has occurred on several previous Sunday mornings.  

So much for an "open burning" ordinance.  

Guess I'll be follow suit and burn my 

trash in my backyard from now on.   

 A bald eagle WAY UP HIGH.

 Another victim of the mesh along the river shore.  

 Reflections

 A rabbit right outside my door. 

 A wide load that got stuck on the Wright's Ferry Bridge. 

 Unfinished business on Fourth Street 

A young mourning dove waiting for the A train 

out of Columbia 

And today . . . 

 Wrightsville had its own sort of car show. 

 Why haven't the docks been installed at River Park?  

 Well, why haven't they? 

 I don't think it's supposed to be done this way. 

 Zebra swallowtail 

 Out for a swim

 I guess this is what they mean by getting your 

ducks in a row.  

 Yeah, yeah, everyone's a critic.  

 Is that Thomas Foster Hermansader strolling with 

a stroller . . . 

 . . . and possibly expounding upon one of the 

finer points of artistic technique?

 Apostrophe abuse at the bait shop on 441 

Facilities available for your comfort and convenience 

when you visit your dearly departed loved ones at 

Holy Trinity Cemetery 

And Now . . . from the WTF Dept. . . .

Click HERE.

What Else I Saw - June 11, 2011

 This car got stuck in high water near Anvil 

at Route 462 and Malleable Road. 

 A nearby storm drain could barely handle the 

volume of water.  

The car was eventually saved from the drink.  

What I Saw - June 11, 2011

Yesterday, a Columbia Borough spokesperson said that 

PPL had been called about the downed trees.  

Today, they are still there, at Columbia River Park . . . 

. . . and at Plane Street. 

What I Saw - June 10, 2011

Damage from last night's storm . . . 

 Broken tree 

 And another  

 A light post broken "clean off," as 

Dirty Harry might say. 

 The grounds crew attended to this.  

 Damaged bark 

 This light post lost its head.  

This was supported only by electrical wires 

on the left side (bottom of Plane Street).