Subj : flood stuff was: Vacation To : Nancy Backus From : Barry Martin Date : Thu Oct 31 2019 12:39:00 Hi Nancy! BM>> Davenport is older; Bettendorf originally was a 'bedroom community'. BM>> As for why Kimberly Rd. makes that right angle turn, no idea other than BM>> a guess of finishing the street off. It's about forty blocks parallel BM>> to the Mississippi River and has always been a major east-west BM>> thoroughfare. Maybe years ago (before Bettendorf) it made sense to BM>> make a turn at the end of Davenport to allow the road to finish some BM>> place logical, or at least connect to the other east-west roads. NB>> As good a reason as any... :) BM> "That's my story an' I'm stickin' with it!" To me would be one of BM> those fun side-excursions to ask/find out why but I wouldn't want to BM> get deeper than the surface. First question would be "who is BM> 'Kimberly'?", and then "we're off!" style>. NB> It's the sort of thing that a local history section of your NB> library probably would have information on... :) More than likely the Downtown/Main Library in Davenport; I have not been there but have heard they have an excellent reference section for Davenport history. (Good news: the Library was not affected by the flooding.) BM>>> ...If one continues straight from Davenport's Kimberly Rd. goes into BM>>> Bettendorf's Spruce Hills Drive. It is hilly, maybe was a patch of BM>>> spruce woods originally? NB>>> I'd guess that Kimberly Rd was the original road, and when they NB>>> wanted to put in a road up the hill, it got the new name... and might NB>>> have been plenty of spruces there originally... or at the end of the NB>>> road... ;) BM>> Or "we spruced up that hill" and got contracted! NB>> I like my guess better... BM> See what happens when on starts asking questions? NB> People start getting silly....? Who?! NB>>> We did it for our 40th, to be a little different, and then again NB>>> for our 45th because it had been so much fun... We did the Sam Patch NB>>> one first, and then a slightly larger one, on a different section of NB>>> the canal, the second time... :) BM>> Sounds like a good celebration! NB>> It was... :) And well enjoyed... :) For our 50th we did the NB>> dinner at a party house... and had a good time there, too... :) BM> Good. :) ...I'm trying to think of a 'party house' around here. Know BM> you're not implying the wild college toga event but a BM> banquet hall type event in a home environment. ...Probably are some. NB> Not so much a home environment... It's a banquet hall that is NB> free-standing... and the restaurant there only used for events, NB> such as weddings, anniversaries and reunions and the like... NB> Around here we call such an establishment a party house.... quite NB> a few of them around here, but mostly in the quieter areas of the NB> suburbs... This particular one was tucked down a dead end road NB> off a major thoroughfare, in an almost rural setting.... I'd NB> brought my niece to that particular place for a wedding before we NB> used it for our school reunion.... :) Ah, OK. Regional terminologies. We do have similar sites locally; OTTOMH not sure about the kitchen but there is essentially a house on the nearby golf course and park one can rent for receptions, etc. Davenport has the Credit Island Lodge - yes, that got flooded but had been rebuilt a few years back due to a fire and the first floor level is more or less minimal so when it does flood not too much to move out (to upstairs) and repair. (The island was a site for fur, etc., trading back in the Indian Days and hence the name.) NB>>> I guess they'll just have to weigh the risk/benefits... Short of NB>>> moving the whole business section further from the River, I'd NB>>> guess they'd want to stay where the business is... :) BM>> IMO yes. Several decades ago may have been a good time to move BM>> Downtown as was pretty much deteriorating: "everything" moved to the BM>> Malls and 'shopping Downtown Davenport' was no longer. Recently a BM>> return to Downtown, so would be difficult/expensive to move it. BM>> ...They'll figure it out. NB>> I'm sure they will... :) BM> They might want to get movin': the Mississippi has above flood stage BM> by about half a foot the past couple of weeks and predicted to stay BM> above for at least another few weeks. Some roads were closed but all BM> have re-opened; just some land along the River is home to fishes. NB> That doesn't bode all that well for next spring, does it.... There is a current concern which I hadn't hadn't heard of until lately. Some of the area rivers including the Mississippi are still at flood stage and that is causing a potential problem for the roadways nearby. The road bed is rock, gravel, etc., to allow good drainage, but that also allows the water from the river, stream. etc., to flow in to the road bed. Water expands when it freezes, so if there is water in the drainage bed could expand and damage the road this winter. BM>> Right. The current/recent flooding is hitting our news because is a BM>> local item; not going nationally as not overly spectacular. LeClaire BM>> Park along the River is flooded - pretty much floods to some degree BM>> every year. NB>> So a certain amount of the flooding is just to be expected... It's NB>> only when it is extra high and persistent that it really is NB>> newsworthy... BM> Yes: not unusual to see parks, trails, etc., along the River under a BM> little water in the Spring/early Summer; when it starts to lap at the BM> streets alongside we've got another major flood going on. NB> Is the current flooding less usual, then....? Generally right at flood stage, so generally no surface problems: riverside parks and streets are open. LIS a bit ago, some of the elevated water levels isn't allowing the road bed to dry out. IIRC the Mississippi has been at or over flood stage for most of the year. BM>> The website comments have been updated but only as to storage by BM>> month/ season. I take a quick look every so often at the webcams but BM>> haven't seen any activity. Well, does look like the cameras have been BM>> electronically moved: backed off some - not doing a close-up. NB>> The season for nesting won't be until the spring... now things are NB>> more on hold naturally... ;) BM> Are you saying things have cooled off?! ...36ø this morning (Friday, BM> October 25th); they're talking about the probability of a hard freeze BM> late next week and maybe some snow flurries; ansiweather has a BM> snowflake for Monday's forecast. Might be time for me to stop BM> considering wearing long-sleeved shirts and start wearing! NB> Just might be... I don't think we've had a hard freeze yet, NB> although there've been some lows near-freezing... and so far no NB> snow here, either, although the forecast for Sat night and Sunday NB> contain the possibility of rain or snow showers.... shouldn't be NB> sticking yet, though..... ;) Still snowing; snow plow went by about a half-hour ago. And yes, I did switch over to long-sleeved shirts - for some reason I do feel warmer! ¯ ® ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ® ¯ @Q.COM ® ¯ ® .... Writing Rules: Understatement is always best. --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47 þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462 * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1) .