Ice on Lake Erie
Three weeks ago Lake Erie started to freeze, but the weather got warmer and I haven't seen ice again until today. It's been cold all week, and I've been so busy with school that I haven't been walking, so probably it started to freeze a couple of days ago.
In this picture, looking north (almost the same view as the banner at the top of the page) you see the red and white "crib" that marks the water intake for the Garrett Morgan Water Treatment Plant whose red tile roof is in the center foreground.
The crib is now a wind monitoring site for studying the feasibility of generating power with offshore wind turbines. This video gives you a closer look at it than I've ever seen, since I'm not a boater. Note the tall mast that holds the monitoring equipment.
High in the water
I've seen this ore carrier on the Cuyahoga River many times, but rarely like this. Tied up for winter, the American Courage is riding so high that the crosswise tunnel housing the bow thruster is completely out of the water.
When loaded with iron ore the waterline is that lighter band just below the anchor at the bow of the ship. This puts the thruster well below the surface where it's used to push the bow to either side. The ship's captain is able to "drive" around the river's many curves instead of having towboats at bow and stern as they did before the invention of the thruster.
In March the ship, similarly unloaded, had to rely on towboats to make its way down river, just like in the old days.
Cloudbow?
As I walked through the Flats on my way home the sun was low, near the horizon. A small patch of clouds to the northwest was lit up brightly with bands of color similar to a rainbow. Unfortunately no matter what I did my view was always partially blocked by bridges or other structures so this is the best picture I could get.
This colorful phenomenon is called a circumhorizon arc. Here's a more dramatic version seen in Idaho. Still, modest though it was, I'm happy to have seen this one.
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