A Unique Farm; A PCB Cleanup Party; Fabulous Ice Cream and Younger Than You Look; Sousa's Navy Band; Two Ways to Trim a Tree

 This morning’s PT was a long bike ride on another local bike path. This one took us from the base, in an industrial area, into farmland just a few miles away. We passed this farm that looked unlike any other I had ever seen. It had this house and a stable with a bell tower, among other out-buildings.  

As I was taking photos, a very dignified-looking lady in her 70’s drove out the gate. As her car window was down, I commented on how beautiful her farm was. She smiled and waved in appreciation. 

While Suzanne was connecting with two ladies from Wisconsin and The Villages back at The Bus, I went exploring Waukegan, Illinois, just north of the base at Great Lakes. I found a pretty harbor, and stopped for a look around. I saw two ladies carrying US flags, and asked what the celebration was about. Susie Schreiber (on the right) and Tammy Mitchell told me about the history of PCB pollution in Waukegan Harbor. PCB sediments were so bad that the inner harbor was declared a Superfund site. The final phase of cleanup is now underway, and the rejuvenation of the harbor and deepening of the channel will help the town draw more tourists and boaters to a new marina, and larger ship traffic to the industrial area of the port. It’s about to become a real success story thanks to the hard work and dedication of Waukegan citizens, but efforts to fully clean up the harbor have taken almost 20 years. 

Further walking around Waukegan Harbor led me to an ice cream shop, where a lovely young woman named Lauren, who looked like a model, served me a Mackinac Island Fudge ice cream cone. I asked her when the shop closed for the winter, and she said that would be in October. When I asked her what she would be doing then, Lauren said that she also worked a second job as a bartender. I was surprised, because she looked about 17, but she confirmed that she was actually 22. I mentioned that she would be happy to look much younger when she’s 50 and looks 30, and she laughed. I was very impressed by Lauren’s work ethic; how many people work two jobs to get ahead?  I have to also mention that Cedar Crest ice cream, like Lauren, is from Wisconsin. It was amazing, as good as any I’ve ever had. 

While walking our dogs on the parade ground, we came upon this bandstand. I always look at markers, and this one got my attention. The bandstand was a replica of the one LT John Phillip Sousa, US Navy, used while leading the Great Lakes Navy Band in the early 20th Century.

I have always been a fan of John Phillip Sousa and his marches, but had forgotten that he led the Great Lakes Navy Band as a Lieutenant here starting in 1917. The Navy Band Great Lakes then was 321 men strong. Here it is marching in a 1918 parade. (Note: I was not present to take this photograph myself).

There are lots of very large, old oak and maple trees near the parade ground. Occasionally, they need trimming. Here are two photos showing different solutions to the tree-trimming problem. We watched the crew at work in the first photo, which illustrates the standard, boring way to remove dead limbs from tall trees. It’s called a bucket truck, with a worker wearing safety goggles, a hard hat, hearing protection, and a safety belt/harness in the bucket, operating a chainsaw, and often using a rope tied around the limb being removed to safely lower it to the ground. There is also a safety observer or two on the ground keeping gawking tourists/neighbors away from falling limbs. This is the slow, methodical, unimaginative way to remove tree limbs. It might be called “The Army Way”. 

The more imaginative, exciting, think-out-of-the-box method is The Navy Way... within 50 yards of the bucket truck stand two Navy Mk 5 Tree Removal Ordnance Pieces, commonly called cannon, that are far quicker, cheaper, and less manpower-intensive than the first method. Of course, they are not as surgical in nature in removing individual limbs...