Looking for community, looking for meaning.

It had been raining steadily the last couple of days. I mean HEAVY rain. Here is the result of the downpour and all the melted ice and snow.Allegheny River where the road should be,no visible walkway by PNC Park . West End Bridge The Point is covered with water

via Pittsburgh Rivers Rise Due to Heavy Rainfall — Ruth E. Hendricks Photography

The research team has driven on this road, now underwater! Be sure to take a look at the rest of Ruth’s photos.

Brent Panepucci writes “In regards to the feral feeding cat station at Pike Island Locks and Dam, these cats and their houses were ordered removed because the lockmaster said it would prevent them from getting grants as they want to develop the fisherman access I area into a park. I’m typing this as I am trying to trap the 2 cats that have made their home here. They have been here for 4-5 years and were trapped and released here as part of a trap-neuter-return program. This deeply saddens me as I have taken care of these cats for 3+ years.” (October 2017)

This raises the question: What is a legitimate park animal?” Squirrels: yes. Chipmunks: yes. Bison: yes. Birds: yes. Stray dogs: no. Raccoons? Hmmm … at a distance, yes, close by digging stuff out of the garbage, no. So which category do the feral cats fall into? If they’re running around with rabies biting people, no. But if people have cared for them enough that they don’t reproduce and don’t carry diseases, why not? How is a treated feral cat, with an outdoor home, different from a squirrel or a chipmunk? The research team actually was tickled to see the feral cats there — it was an additional attraction to an already charming park.

And — the research team ARE interested in public education! — a sign about the feral cats could lead the general public to learn more about them, and learn how to spay and neuter their own cats.

Whatever happens, thank you, Brent, for taking care of these cats all these years!

No park at the end of this road! It looked promising — a road running straight for the river. And it used to go there — to what must have been a ferry between Tobinsport in Indiana and Cloverport in Kentucky. But no more. We can see the town on the other side, but we can’t get there. Have to go around via the bridge at Cannelton. This is one of the many points along this part of the Ohio River where the family of Abraham Lincoln is alleged to have crossed from Kentucky to Indiana in 1836.

The Ohio River has many colors. Silver is one of them. Silver in the river, silver in the sky, silver on the ground, the silver car.

Let’s sit on a swing and have a quiet talk. This one is in the Hargis Hafele Riverwalk Park in Cannelton, Indiana.

This is the picture postcard view of the Cannelton Locks and Dam from the Eagles’ Bluff Park and welcome center.

It replaces the former Cannelton Locks and Dam park, which was closed for security reasons,

The new park is right nearby.

The Welcome Center is a beautiful building nestled in the woods.

And the park is very peaceful.

A leafy view of the Ohio River, from Fort McIntosh Park in Beaver, Pennsylvania

At the Yankeetown public access site, someone has been fishing. Bass? Maybe the ones they took home were bigger.