Subj : Miss.RvrDamBreach-Davenpt To : Nancy Backus From : Barry Martin Date : Fri Mar 13 2020 09:40:00 Hi Nancy! NB>>>> Maybe this year they'll be better prepared to deal with things... BM>>> Hopefully! I do recall having a half-thought some time back of why BM>>> the barriers didn't have a better seal at the junctions (between and BM>>> under the individual units): can't possibly line 'em up that BM>>> accurately. Some sections did have plastic sheets (probably Visqueen BM>>> or equivalent), but even then if gets punctured by debris shooting down BM>>> the River..... NB>>> Let's just hope that they've used this time wisely to refine the NB>>> materials and figure out solutions to the problems last year.... :) BM>> Hey: we're working with the government here! Do you really think...??!! NB>> Sigh... you do have a point there.... ;0 BM> Unfortunately.... OTOH they should have a lot of reminders to get BM> things done by downtown residents and business owners. NB> So maybe by the time the floods actually start, there'll have NB> been some progress made... ;) In the intermim there have been announcements of more meetings, so the better preparations are probably in progress. One news item was of a meeting where one of the local NWS (National Weather Service) people was speaking about the flood probabilties - quite sure there was discussion on what to do to hold back the waters, just not covered in the news item. BM> tracks, fight with the railroad to lower, get lowered, flood, BM> raise.... Plus with the yearly flooding I'm quite sure the Downtown BM> would slowly be abandoned, or at least the half closest to the River. BM> (Maybe that's the secret! Do nothing, the problem section goes away.) NB> More likely the merchants and all would band together to make NB> some sort of fix... Serve the government right if they were NB> presented the bill afterwards... ;) It would! Probably get hit back with "you didn't get this properly permitted so here's that bill plus penalities". BM>> Another item is creation of a 'destination park' (??) along the BM>> riverfront. To be six or so blocks long with play and game areas. BM>> When the River rises the plan is to just let it flood so made to BM>> withstand water and any damage easily repaired. With what I've heard BM>> about river flooding this does makes sense: allowing the flooded river BM>> to spread over land helps alleviate downstream flooding by slowing the BM>> flow some, plus the extra water spreads out rather than up: 10 cubic BM>> feet of water covering 10 feet is only 1 foot high but the same 10 cu BM>> ft confined to 5 feet is 2 feet high. Easier to build a short wall BM>> than a tall wall, plus less water pressure on the short wall. NB>> That does seem like a practical and useful plan... how close are NB>> they to implementing that....? BM> I think they were going to start with Phase 1 soon, as in sometime BM> this month or April. Other phases following, I assume partially on BM> money available, land acquisition (not sure if some of the project is BM> currently in use as residence/business). Would also make sense to BM> build a section and test: this material holds up, this one has a BM> problem; more shade needed for the picnic tables..... NB> You'll have to make reports on how that progresses... ;) Might be doing on-the-scene if Autumn wants to investigate! NB>> Yesterday, one of the radio announcers kept saying that today we'd be NB>> getting 2 to 4" of snow... the forecast from NOAA at the airport was NB>> saying maybe a trace... Looks like if it comes, it won't be until NB>> this afternoon... and likely isn't going to be much of anything.... NB>> and won't stick long anyway since tomorrow is supposed to be sunny NB>> and not as cold... and then Sunday and Monday are warming up.... BM> We've had high's in the 50's and almost 60ø this first week of March. BM> Definitely a wind chill factor: couple of days ago the average wind BM> speed was 20-25 MPH and did have a record gust of 61 MPH. NB> So we got about an inch of snow, started Friday NB> afternoon/evening... sat there on Saturday looking pretty... and NB> was mostly gone by Sunday afternoon, totally by Monday... Monday NB> was almost 60ø.... We did get some winds, but not as bad as NB> yours... Has been nice this week -- upper 40's/lower 50's. This morning's forecast is for a half to three-quarters of an inch of snow ... Saturday? That's tomorrow and seems too soon but Sunday doesn't sound right either. Guess I'll be surprised! Is supposed to melt and be gone by the end of whichever day. South of here forecasting an inch. BM>>>> At this point looks like mid-June. NB>>>> That would be visiting your Aunt, not just your Mother....? BM>>> Correct. NB>>> Ok.... are you visiting your Mother before that...? BM>> At this point no. She is super-concerned about the Coronavirus, BM>> though oddly not to the point of wearing a mask and gloves or use of BM>> hand sanitizer when going out. A little while ago she had been talking BM>> about us visiting my Aunt (in Vienna) in May or June; now nothing to do BM>> with airplanes so that trip is postponed. NB>> Probably safer that way... I do know some people that are still making NB>> their accustomed flights here there and everywhere, pretty much, but NB>> if it's postponeable, it's probably a better idea, especially when you NB>> are talking somewhat elderly travelers.... Perhaps by May or June, the NB>> scare will have died down, and be more contained... :) And life will NB>> go back to somewhat normal.... ;) BM> Yes, I'm certain things will be back to normal by Summer, though BM> probably slightly modified to check for fevers and maybe better BM> cleaning of surfaces. NB> There's quite a lot of containment edicts being made now... NB> hopefully it will be effective, and not too counter-productive NB> otherwise... This morning's news also announced the formation of a committee to coordinate the ... well I decided to grab the blurb form the TV station: A press conference is expected to be held in the Quad Cities on Friday, March 13 in regards to the new coronavirus, COVID-19. The conference will be held at 10:30 a.m. by the newly formed QC COVID-19 Coalition. The group includes hospital administration, public health officials, the Quad Cities Chamber and Visit Quad Cities. The group plans to talk about ways to stop the spread in the event it is to hit the Quad Cities area. Not mentioned but I hope Dr. Katz is strongly involved -- local health official who is on top of things, level-headed, and is pretty good at steering people away form paranoia and rash decisions. BM>> Not sure when she will be released; problem is no one at her home BM>> (apartment) to take care of her; does have visiting nurses but needs BM>> almost constant care/oversight for quite a while (I know from BM>> experience!) I did call yesterday and she sounded happy and in good BM>> spirits. NB>> So she'll be in some sort of rehabilitation for a few weeks/months NB>> until she can resume her own care on her own...? BM> My Mother had called my Aunt earlier this week and found she was going BM> to be transferred to a Kurhaus (rehabilitation building) by the end of BM> the week. So basically a type of assisted living site. NB> A "cure house", I see... ;) That would be the easy word! :) BM> Was given the BM> telephone number by the staff. A few days later I called that number: BM> ring ring ring -- short message in German, fortunately followed in BM> English: essentially the number does not exist. Check: dialled right. BM> I call the hospital (original - Krankenhaus), explain, get the same BM> number. Great! I try to ask for the name of the Kurhaus but they BM> just give me the phone number again and then pretty much hang up. BM> Call my Mother to explain what's going on. She tries later (different BM> shift?!) but same problem. She calls a couple of neighbours to my BM> Aunt to see what they can find out and eventually do get a valid BM> number: the last digit was wrong, though was the last digit of the room BM> my Aunt was transferred to. I'll try calling later this morning. NB> Crazy... can see how the mistake could happen, but still.... Right: almost would like to ask them so if you were in my shoes how would you feel? BM> In the meantime while my Mother was calling to get the number I was BM> trying to do Google searchs for a potential lead. My Mother had BM> obtained the name of the facility but that didn't come up with BM> anything. (I might try a reverse search now that I have a valid BM> telephone number to see if I overlooked something.) NB> They might not want to be too easily found, just for safety NB> concerns... I never did get around to the reverse look up option. ...Right now thinking I'd like to find out how their telephone numbers are structured. There seems to be some 'coding' in the way given: spaces in the print version, grouping in the vocal; LIS they don't use the same convention as we do here U.S. (3-3-4: area code, exchange, line). BM>> I too take less pictures - less opportunities in general (Vienna trips BM>> aside: click-click-click-click-click!!!). OTOH when I do take BM>> pictures I take more as "plenty of film" and if take two or three of BM>> essentially the same one will have someone's eyes closed, another will BM>> have an odd shadow, .... NB>> Makes sense.... usually I'm with others who are busy taking the NB>> pictures... and with their digital cameras or phones, so the NB>> results are just about instantaneous.... BM> Right, my Mother has had that also; people say they'll print a few BM> pictures to give to her and they never do. NB> One picture that was taken at one of our family campings, my NB> sister sent it to me as a text to my phone... It's still on my NB> phone, a picture of me and my four sisters that were there that NB> year... The problem is my Mother barely uses her cell phone -- I hope she remembers to charge it every so often! BM>> Also take for fun stuff. Local 4 o'clock 'happy news' had a segemnt BM>> on a polar bear cub at the Vienna Zoo. Take a picture of the screen, BM>> transfer to a letter to my Aunt. ...OK, I'll admit it's easier if the BM>> show is recorded and can get the camera! I don't have the phone's BM>> camera on and me watching TV through the camera screen! (Jeopardy! is BM>> on locally at 4:30: record that and tell MythTV to start early.) NB>> Yes, viewing after the fact from recording does make it easier to stop NB>> and get the camera out to get the shot... :) BM> And I don't know if my Aunt has seen those pictures: I think the BM> letter was to arrive about the time she fell, so might be in her BM> mailbox. NB> Hopefully she'll at least see it eventually... Eventually! ¯ ® ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ® ¯ @Q.COM ® ¯ ® .... Before an airline changes a procedure they have a pilot project to find out --- 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) .