Double dipper

I am a double dipper. Got TDAP in my right arm, covid booster in my left. Walked two miles back home from the pharmacy and drunk four full glasses of water. Got to hydrate!

Upcoming Moon Cycles

Upcoming Moon Phases:

Day Month Day Phase Moon-Rise Moon-Set
Saturday December 18 Waxing Gibbous πŸŒ” Tuesday 9:34 am
east
80°
Tuesday 9:54 pm
west-northwest
282°
Sunday December 19 Cold β˜ƒ Full 🌝 east-northeast
75°
west-northwest
287°
Thursday December 23 Waining Gibbous πŸŒ– Sunday 1:26 pm
east-northeast
64°
Sunday 12:59 am
west-northwest
296°
Monday December 27 Last Quarter πŸŒ— Thursday 4:46 pm
east-northeast
72°
Thursday 4:21 am
west-northwest
290°
Friday December 31 Waining Crescent 🌘 Monday 7:53 pm
east
95°
Monday 7:28 am
west
268°
DOW Month Day Phase Moon-Rise Moon-Set
Monday January 3 New 🌚
Thursday January 6 Waxing Crescent πŸŒ’ Sunday 12:37 am
east-southeast
116°
Sunday 1:08 pm
west-southwest
244°
Monday January 10 First Quarter πŸŒ“ Thursday 4:30 am
east-southeast
105°
Thursday 4:54 pm
west-southwest
258°
Thursday January 13 Waxing Gibbous πŸŒ” Sunday 6:48 am
east
88°
Sunday 7:08 pm
west
275°
Monday January 17 Wolf 🐺 Full 🌝 east-northeast
68°
west-northwest
293°
Saturday January 22 Waining Gibbous πŸŒ– Tuesday 1:51 pm
east-northeast
67°
Tuesday 1:25 am
west-northwest
295°
Wednesday January 26 Last Quarter πŸŒ— Saturday 4:59 pm
east
86°
Saturday 4:35 am
west
277°
Saturday January 29 Waining Crescent 🌘 Tuesday 7:26 pm
east-southeast
105°
Tuesday 6:58 am
west-southwest
258°
DOW Month Day Phase Moon-Rise Moon-Set
Tuesday February 1 New 🌚
Saturday February 5 Waxing Crescent πŸŒ’ Tuesday 1:28 am
east-southeast
111°
Tuesday 1:54 pm
west-southwest
251°
Tuesday February 8 First Quarter πŸŒ“ Friday 3:59 am
east
96°
Friday 4:20 pm
west
267°
Saturday February 12 Waxing Gibbous πŸŒ” Tuesday 6:53 am
east-northeast
74°
Tuesday 7:14 pm
west-northwest
288°
Wednesday February 16 Snow ❄ Full 🌝 east-northeast
63°
west-northwest
297°
Sunday February 20 Waining Gibbous πŸŒ– Wednesday 1:21 pm
east-northeast
73°
Wednesday 12:57 am
west-northwest
289°
Thursday February 24 Last Quarter πŸŒ— Sunday 4:26 pm
east
96°
Sunday 4:01 am
west
267°
Sunday February 27 Waining Crescent 🌘 Wednesday 7:07 pm
east-southeast
113°
Wednesday 6:37 am
west-southwest
249°
DOW Month Day Phase Moon-Rise Moon-Set
Thursday March 3 New 🌚
Sunday March 6 Waxing Crescent πŸŒ’ Wednesday 1:04 am
east-southeast
104°
Wednesday 1:28 pm
west
259°
Thursday March 10 First Quarter πŸŒ“ Sunday 4:05 am
east
81°
Sunday 4:25 pm
west-northwest
282°
Monday March 14 Waxing Gibbous πŸŒ” Thursday 7:08 am
east-northeast
65°
Thursday 7:31 pm
west-northwest
296°
Friday March 18 Worm πŸ› Full 🌝 east-northeast
67°
west-northwest
291°
Tuesday March 22 Waining Gibbous πŸŒ– Friday 2:33 pm
east
88°
Friday 2:09 am
west
275°
Saturday March 26 Last Quarter πŸŒ— Tuesday 5:55 pm
east-southeast
111°
Tuesday 5:25 am
west-southwest
251°
Tuesday March 29 Waining Crescent 🌘 Friday 9:02 pm
east-southeast
116°
Friday 8:28 am
west-southwest
243°
DOW Month Day Phase Moon-Rise Moon-Set
Friday April 1 New 🌚
Tuesday April 5 Waxing Crescent πŸŒ’ Friday 2:16 am
east
88°
Friday 2:37 pm
west
274°
Saturday April 9 First Quarter πŸŒ“ Tuesday 5:15 am
east-northeast
69°
Tuesday 5:37 pm
west-northwest
293°
Wednesday April 13 Waxing Gibbous πŸŒ” Saturday 8:32 am
east-northeast
64°
Saturday 8:56 pm
west-northwest
295°
Sunday April 17 Pink 🌸 Full 🌝 east
79°
west
278°
Wednesday April 20 Waining Gibbous πŸŒ– Saturday 1:59 pm
east
98°
Saturday 1:34 am
west
265°
Sunday April 24 Last Quarter πŸŒ— Wednesday 5:43 pm
east-southeast
116°
Wednesday 5:11 am
west-southwest
245°
Wednesday April 27 Waining Crescent 🌘 Saturday 8:51 pm
east-southeast
112°
Saturday 8:21 am
west-southwest
246°

35 years to life

35 years to life

They call then lifers were I work. People who put their whole career in with the state, from college to their retirement 30 odd years later. The organization man, as they say. While I have worked at the same job, downtown for more the 14 years now, I can’t imagine being there 30 years or living the life I’m currently living forever. I figure do my best every day today, save for a better tomorrow, and that some point make the leap.

Paying My Respects to the Lake Champlain Bridge

Notes on the Re-Run for Thursday, December 22nd.

It was almost two years ago when they blew up the old Lake Champlain Bridge…

— Andy

Yesterday, I drove up to Chimney Point, in Vermont outside of Addison to witness the sad but historic passing of the Champlain Bridge. The massive 80-year old span was imploded into the frozen lake, after two piers where discovered badly damaged, and was determined to be likely to fail catastrophically without a controlled demolition.

Old Lake Champlain Bridge

It is sad to see such a historic landmark go. Nobody really wanted to see such a landmark go up into a pile of rubble. As I stood there on Chimney Point, I stood next to many farmers and other local residents who had been alongside of and over the Champlain Bridge thousands of times. It’s such a big landmark, that stands out over the landscape, with it’s arches reaching 130 feet above the flat landscape around. Pictures simply don’t do justice. Many had grown up seeing it’s majestic spans and beautiful archways, and just assumed it would always be there. Some of the oldest residents might even remember back 80-years ago to 1929, when the bridge was under construction.

Walking to the Bridge on VT 128

It was truly a community event. I swear every person from the very rural Addison County, VT and surrounding areas had to have been there. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many pickup trucks with dairy-farming related bumper stickers, men and children with muck boots on, Carharts and seed-hats. It was such an amazing group of people, with such a complicated mix of emotions about the demolition of the bridge. People where sad to see it go, but also hopeful for the new bridge. Some where cynical that something ever as great could be built again.

Clean Car States

The wintry weather made the span almost invisible from the site about 3,000 feet away from the bridge where I was looking at. Chimney Point had probably the best viewpoint of the Champlain Bridge on a sunny day, your back would be to the sun, and with a back drop of the Adirondack Mountains. You could see the bridge fade in and out like a ghost as the snow squalls blew out and blew in. What you could see was so massive, so beautiful. Yet eerie, because all that was left was the lightest silhouette of the old bridge. The silhouette was so light, that it was hidden from the camera.

Silluote of the Bridge

Then there was the loud bang, right at ten in the morning — a thunderous roar lasting less then a second or two, that shook the ground and sent ice soaring a foot into the air on Lake Champlain, even as far away as we where. The energy wave forced upon the lake and the surrounding landscape shook the parked cars so hard that it set off car alarms. It was not like listening to a firecracker going off, but more like a wave of energy coming at you. In the wintry blizzard-like weather, you barely saw the bridge fall, but it was still the most remarkable feeling at you felt the thousands of tons of steel and concrete hit the waters of Lake Champlain.

Vermont 127 and Vermont 17 where one way during the day to allow for parking, so leaving everyone had to drive by the fallen bridge. The once majestic bridge was little more then just a pile of rubble sticking up from the frozen lake in a wintry fury of the snow. I looked like something out of a war photograph, although it was much bigger and much more realistic. It was a bit scary that we as a society could convert such a massive and beautiful structure to just a pile of rubble.

Bridge Remains

On the 400th Anniversary of Samuel de Champlain’s discovery of Lake Champlain and the fertile plains that surround it, it’s sad to see such a man-made landmark go. Yet, it’s also a reminder of how man made landmarks come and go, and only natural wonders like the mountains and the lake remain. While people since 1929 have looked out across the lake at Chimney Point at the engineering marvel of Champlain Bridge, much of the rest of the landscape remains unchanged since the day Samuel de Champlain first made his voyage in 1609.

A new bridge will replace the first Lake Champlain bridge, and service the automobile, truck, pedestrian, and bicycle needs of the 21st century, but it will be little more then an impermanent landmark that must someday fall and be destroyed like the first Lake Champlain Bridge. Nobody can foresee the demolition of the new bridge, in some future century, but it will ultimately be gone just like the first bridge is now gone.

(this picture taken just north of the bridge was taken in March 2006).

Blue – Bridge
Yellow – My View
Green – Where I Parked


View Champlain Bridge Demo in a larger map