Archive for the ‘Allegheny River’ Category

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And So It Is…

December 31, 2011

 

For the last day of the year the River continued to enjoy her warmth. Quiet except for the birds singing and the geese squawking. A final barge made her way up River in the morning and by the end of the day, Fred capped a perfect end to the year by showing his hibernating pose atop the harbor pier.

Thank you for tuning in on TOTAR these past two years, My goal when I began was to share the beauty and joy that the River brings to me and I am really proud of this blog and hope that you have gained some of the pleasure that the River has to offer every day.

I received my Blog stats from Word Press this afternoon

  • 533 blogs in total over the past two years..an average blog posting on 1 every 1.33 days
  • Over 1500 photos posted
  • Over 4300 visitors to the blog this year

It has been a joy to watch the River and to share a bit of her blessing with you. I expect that I will post irregularly to TOTAR based on the River’s bringing me her unique and inspiring activities.

Richard

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Thank you, thank you very much…

December 31, 2010

Our family had a wonderful holiday and while I thought every day about posting for Today on the Gulf of Mexico, my vacation energy just did not permit it to happen. Thanks to those of you who checked in during this interim period.

I am pleased to have brought 60+ degree weather to the ‘Burgh back from the South and a beautiful New Year’s Eve day was found all around.

The River was a lake today. Restful, calm and lazy, just like so many of us enjoying our “last” day of holiday before we begin anew.

It has been a year now that I’ve followed the way of the River and I’ve decided to continue to report on the ways of the beautiful Allegheny. I started this blog as a spiritual journey for myself wanting to find a way to heighten my observations, lower my angst and enjoy more of the moment. The River has returned that and much more and I am grateful to her and to all of you who have shared this with me.

I woke up a few weeks ago realizing that 10 or 20 or 50 years from now, it will be fun to track the ways of the River to see how she was early in the 21st century…so we continue on. Thanks for joining and enjoying this journey. One of my goals this year is to increase our viewership so please pass TOTAR onto your friends who love the River.

My wish to all is a healthy, happy, and prosperous New Year (in that order!).

Bill on the Water

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Summertime

June 20, 2010

Neighbor Fred’s comments…

Another day that began with wonderful weather and bright sun.  Very quickly, however, the temperatures rose and humidity returned and by the afternoon it had become somewhat uncomfortable.  Observing the river today, I noted that it appeared much lower than I had remembered it to be.  The waters had somewhat receded from the banks allowing some discarded tires hidden up to now to be seen near the shore.  The traffic on the waters, though, was quite busy.  It seemed that many were taking advantage of the nice day to enjoy the river.  Several boats could be seen from the shore along various points in the water.  Some were fishing others just enjoying being on the glistening river.

…and Today on Seabeck Harbor…

At low tide, the eagles come to the Harbor and feed on the oysters and fish that are revealed. On some days, it was reported, hoards of them show up but today the tide was not that low and just a few eagles and GBH’s showed up. I’m not sure I could have handled more than just these few anyway…No comments necessary

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Just…the River

May 28, 2010

So today was one of those days when the River was on display for herself. No barges, birds, boaters or buzzards to distract us to attention. The River moved down all day until the stormy winds shifted and changed the surface flow…and then it was back down towards the Gulf, perhaps bringing some of our clean Western PA water will help them reclaim their water.

Most of my life is filled with what I call “regular stuff”. Nothing too dramatic or exciting, just a regular flow on down with an occaisional push in the other direction. I hope I move like the River accepting the travails and going with the flow.

One of my early learnings came from a poet named Barry Stevens who wrote a book entitled…”Don’t Push the River: It flows by itself”.

On this memorial day weekend we can all learn to go with the flow and to take time to remember an honor those who have helped us live the blessed life we have in our land.

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The River keeps moving

March 15, 2010

I always find it hard to think about “not much happening on the River today”, but so it was. The River remained high at about the same level as she has been the last couple of days but with cloudy skies, not much wind and cool temps, it was one of those ‘Burgh” days…but there are a few more signs of Spring

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A little freezing in the morning, but then the sun came out…

February 8, 2010

Is this the calm after or before the storm. New predictions for 5-8 inches tomorrow and into the next day. The River continues its quiet pondering

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The River is Still High

January 27, 2010

I did a little comparison shooting today taking a similar picture from last week (1/21/10) so we can see how “high” the river is. It’s probably easier if you benchmark this against a bridge support or at some official stick stuck to the River floor. I presume they do this down at the Point.

From my venture point I would hazard that the River is up a couple of feet. I found this official posting about flood levels on the Allegheny on the NOAA website. 

THE FLOOD ADVISORY CONTINUES FOR
THE OHIO RIVER AT PITTSBURGH.
* UNTIL THURSDAY MORNING.
* AT 10AM WEDNESDAY THE STAGE WAS 19.7 FEET.
* FLOOD STAGE IS 25.0 FEET.
* FORECAST...THE RIVER FALL TO NEAR 18.0 FEET LATE TONIGHT.
* IMPACT...AT 20.0 FEET...WATER IS UP TO ONE FOOT DEEP IN THE LOWER
AREAS OF THE NORTH SHORE RIVERWALK

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Another quiet day

January 22, 2010

It was quiet on the River today. On calm days like today, the water surface has an interesting quality where part of it is smooth and calm and part moves and creates little waves.

As I was watching the River, I turned to see bracing on the shore, stones, metal walls. How long have they been there and how did the former tenants use this part of the River?

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Gray Day

January 20, 2010

When I first moved to Pittsburgh 5 years ago, people told me that I better get use to gray days, particularly in the winter time. I always enjoyed gray and even rainy days so I didn’t think it would cause me any concerns. And while I can’t really say that the 17 or so gray days we’ve  had this year bother me, keeping the blog on a daily basis has pointed it out to me!

The River was calm today. Little wind, some left over ice lazily floating on down and more barges creating some gentle waves lapping on the shore

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The Guy who Checks the Water

January 18, 2010

So there I am walking the trail down along the river and taking some close up shots when I come across a fellow with two pails and some instruments. After greeting each other as we River folks do, I find out that he does a bi-monthly (e/o month) water sample of the River. He’s been doing this for 30 years and has seen how much the River has changed over that time.

He told me the story about going up to Mt. Washington one January 1 and how the Allegheny and Ohio were frozen but the Mon was not. “what does that tell you?’ he asked…”that the Mon was 55 degrees” I answered. He laughed and said “it was not quite that warm but with all the Mills upriver, it was sure a lot warmer than the other two!”

My only mistake was not getting a picture of him before we parted ways…thank you Mr. Check the River Guy for your many years of environmental services.

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