Clayton Road Resurfaced

  Those of you who don't live on S Clayton Road or don't travel on it won't find this interesting. But for those of us who use it daily - or simply look out the window - it's something we've been hoping for for many years.

 I don't know when it was last rehabilitated but it's certainly been a couple of decades (at least). I wish they had removed the hill to my north as it's a danger to us when we pull out of the driveway. But at least the surface is new and all the cracks in the asphalt are gone.

 Here's how it looked on July 30.

Looking north

Looking south

 Since the end of July workers have removed old drainage tiles from beneath the road (corrugated metal in all cases) and replaced them with corrugated PVC pipe.. They've marked the road with paint and last week workers dug deep rectangular holes (first of the east side, then on the west) and refilled them and covered them with gravel and then asphalt. One of those holes was dug across the road at the end of my driveway.

08/06/25

08/06/25

 Then there was a delay until September 9 when work began in earnest.

  Above is the repair that was done at the end of my driveway. When the picture was taken, only the east side had been dug.

 The idea of doing a side at a time was to allow us to get in and out with our vehicles. But it was too much of a mess (this shot was looking north on 09/09). How to get around all that equipment? Go south, I suppose ... but nothing looked completely open.

 Today (09/12) it looks like the "final" work is done. The roadway had been chipped away and the old asphalt hauled away in dump trucks. The road was brushed clean with portable blowers and a  machine with wire brushes.

 Just before noon it appears the barricades were removed and the road opened to traffic. Here's the same views as my first two pictures. Call it "finished".

Looking north

Looking south

Note: I now understand that asphalt will be laid atop what is there next Wednesday (09/17).. I drove to the New Lebanon library this afternoon and found at least a 2" drop at Hemple Road. It's even worse at the end of my driveway. So a layer of asphalt will even that up. More later.

09/18/26: I woke (about 6 am) to trucks beginning to pass on the road. Was it just trash pick-up or was work begun on the road again? A short while later (about 8 am) I went out for my walk and saw that strips of liquid (what?) had been applied to the surface and I saw trucks gathering both north and south of me.

 The strips remind me of the "beet juice" which is applied in the same way when winter storms are expected.

 A little later. What is being done?

 Early morning I mostly saw trucks assembled at the south end of the road but I could see the work area coming north. Here it is about 1 pm as it reaches Millie's lane.

 That large truck in front carried the hot asphalt and he tipped it into the yellow machine behind. That spread the asphalt very evenly. A roller followed and flattened the asphalt out, smoothing it perfectly in the process.

 Just passing Millie's lane and becoming even with the south edge of Pinehaven.

The Supervisor

 During all this action Parker watched - and barked - as the workers passed our house.

Finished!

Lines painted 09/19/25

Later: Back on 09/30 to add gravel to both sides of the road. Is it finished now?

Lois Masters 99th Birthday Celebration

  We've been going to Lois Masters birthday celebrations for a many years but this one is just one away from the century mark.

 There was quite a line waiting to give regards to Lois who was seated at the front of the room at Bennett's Publical in downtown Miamisburg.

Chris Boyer (l-r), Bill Schmidt, Tom Buhler. Lois Masters seated

 Great sweet cupcakes and soft pretzel bites. There was also plenty of veggies and meat items.

 The napkins picked up on Lois's favorite color: lavender.

 Miamisburg Vice-Mayor Steve Beachler (not shown) read a proclamation honoring Lois's lifelong devotion to the city of Miamisburg.

 It was a good chance for me to meet with my cousins and other friends who I have not seen in years. It seems the last birthday I posted here was Lois's 90th in 2016. Mom attended this during the last year of her life. Click here to see that post.

Astrophotography Tests

  My new Samsung  Galaxy S25 is said to be suited for decent astrophotography. I suppose for anyone with dark skies, that would be the case. Here we have light pollution that pretty much ruins any attempt. I am Bortle Class 5 and that is halfway between the darkest and the brightest night skies. Not good ... but also not impossible,

 Bortle Class 5 is considered "suburban". It's a challenge to get anything photographed at night but for  the moon, planets and brighter stars. But that doesn't mean I won't try.

 My first try on August 14 looking northeast. I was aimed roughly towards Cassiopeia in hopes of seeing a smudge for the Andromeda Galaxy. I didn't. Looking NE puts me directly in line with Dayton so that is my most unfavorable direction,

 My second try on August 18. This is looking due north and the Big Dipper can be seen centered in the lower part of this shot. The "green" coloration can be removed by adjusting the white balance but this is what I get with no changes.

On Sunday (08/24) I adjusted the white balance to get rid of the green and I shot in the direction of Sagittarius to see if I might be able to capture the center of the Milky Way  galaxy. 

 Though I'm posting just the JPG versions of each photo, I'm also taking them in RAW. And that gives me a little more resolution if I ever get a decent photo editing program (such as Lightroom). You can see that the green is gone and replaced with a more natural view of the night sky. Unfortunately the light pollution is still there.

 The Milky Way is in the upper right portion of this picture.

 So what happens when I zoom in on the Milky Way and do a little adjusting?

 That makes a big difference (even with the free photo editor I'm using - IrfanView). The Milky Way can be seen streaming across the top of this shot. By the way, the sky was clear and cloudless when I took this picture.

 So, bottom line, the astronomical wonders are there, just hidden behind Dayton's light.

 Winter might be a better time to take pictures, just after the passage of a cold front which should clear the air and give me as good a condition that is possible here.

Final Clean up?

  I didn't expect to ever have the last of the limbs cleaned up from our June 18 storm. The ones still lying on the ground were huge - too big for either of us to move - and I figured they were also  too large for our small electric chain saw (the gas-powered Poulan won't start).

 But Tom said the cooler temperatures on Sunday (08/24) were encouraging him to get out and see what he could get done. By the end of the day the worst was not only cut up but hauled to the burn barrel. While Tom cut I fired up the barrel and began burning the smallest of what he cut.

 Here's a look at some of the activity:

 Yesterday the last was burnt and the storm damage is cleared.

 And so the last of the limbs (and logs) are removed. It's time for the next storm.

Lunch for Tom's 69th Birthday

  Yesterday Eric offered to stop by and show me how he makes Eggplant Parmesan. When he arrived we went out to the garden and picked a couple of eggplant. They can't get fresher than this.

 Eric says he prefers eggplant pealed, that the peel is bitter (most restaurants do not do this step). 

 We dipped each slice of eggplant in an egg wash, slightly diluted with a little water. And then Eric quickly fried them in a small amount of vegetable oil. I think I would like them just this way, too ... without baking the result in a 350° oven, smothered with layers of shredded Parmesan cheese and tomato sauce.

 The final dish was quite spectacular, crispy-edged eggplant  beneath tomatoes and cheese.

 We also had homemade bread that I made yesterday.

 And Tom's favorite Coca Cola cake made the day before ...

 I also bought a head of iceberg lettuce and we had no salads with Italian dressing, too.

 All told it was a nice birthday lunch and I picked up another kitchen skill to boot.

Coconut Cake with a Twist

  I think of all the easy desserts I make, I enjoy the Coconut Cake best. It's so simple and yet seems somehow elegant to me. One square of the cake just fits the bill for a heavenly dessert.

 I have considered a number of times making a change. Why not add different kinds of puddings to the topping? I've always used vanilla. I decided I wanted to try pistachio first. It produced a pastel green topping that is striking ... and delicious!

 For as simple as this is, it'd make a memorable dessert for any occasion.

 The cake always turns out perfectly in a 9x9" metal pan. After frosting I cut it into nine equal slices.

The finished cake is almost too pretty to slice. But the 3x3" squares seem the perfect size for a single serving.

 What's next? Lemon for sure. But what about butterscotch or banana cream?

Sunflower Slashers Uncovered

  We were proud of our nice stand of sunflowers at the north edge of the garden. They were all planted by our birds who dropped seeds from the feeder at the edge of the garden.

 Every day I'd take Parker out and as I'd pass the garden I'd find more sunflowers lying down, even in the yard. What was causing this wholesale destruction?

 So last evening I set one of my Wyze security cameras up on a strategically-placed ladder. I set the IR lighting to come out after dark and I set motion detection to let me know if it saw anything.

 

It did.

 Between 1 am and 2 am things got pretty active beside the sunflowers. It was raccoons, one after another.

 Technology can be very useful.