Swinging bridge

It was a lovely day, not too hot, not too cold, and i felt the urge to get out, so i thought i would go to the bridge and see how the river was. There were lots of things covered up around the entrance, and i was curious what was going on, and seeing an article in the paper about how they are going to do work on the foundation, now i know. This is one of the markers to the side of the bridge on the south side. I always feel nervous when it gets bouncing a lot, and it really does when people walk on it.

Not 'quite' River Falls

This wasn't actually in River Falls, but was close, and interesting enough that i wanted to share. In Hudson (less than 10 miles away) there were replicas of the Nina and Pinta ships that Columbus sailed on. It was something i found interesting, especially since i guess i always pictured them larger. Must have been quite the experience to cross the ocean on them. I have a hard time driving a far distance some times, hard to imagine getting on a boat that size, out in the ocean where you are pretty much out of luck of anything goes wrong, and no facebook or anything. ;) It was quite the hot day too, with temps in the high 90s (33 or so C) and very high humidity, so being on a black boat wasn't the most comfortable, but it was interesting. I have more pictures of the ships in a flickr set here.

Flooding

This is Hoffman Park on the north side of town. We had very heavy rain, over four inches and it caused quite a bit of flooding. This is deeper than it looks, and what's scary is that there is more rain predicted for tonight. Not looking forward to that as i already have water in my basement, and this is already the wettest summer on record, with a month or so to go.

Interesting fact, this is the same place i took the pictures of the fireworks, for a different view of how it looks dry.

Molting?

Saw this blue jay on my deck, and it seriously freaked me out for a bit. Not sure if he is molting, which i'm guessing as the fuzzy feathers on the back look like the young ones, or if he's ill. Either way, it's very hot and humid again, and i feel for the birds and animals out there.