Sunday, February 27, 2022

What Freezes Up Must Melt Down

The Pony was lucky to be off for the two days that we had sleet and a tiny bit of snow. He returned to work on Friday at 5:00 a.m., and hit the streets around 9:30 on the route he previously had a hold on. The Backroads route that includes Country Mart.
 
I made it to town, all roads being clear except our gravel road, which was solid sleet. It was 30 when I left at noon, and only sections of the road in the sunlight showed faint tire tracks as T-Hoe rolled over it.
 
When I was stuffing groceries in T-Hoe's rear outside of Country Mart, a vehicle pulled up close. It was THE PONY! In his right-hand drive Metris, to deliver the mail. We had a brief chat. The Pony looked remarkably happy for someone who had been working since 5:00 a.m.
 
Of course that schedule meant The Pony was off by 5:00 p.m. He can't work over 12 hours in a day. It's a union thing. At home, he showed me a picture he took at the plaza across from Hick's Storage Unit Store compound.

 
The Pony actually had a video. It was quite relaxing, the sound of that water flowing out. I used to do a demonstration for my students like this, when we were learning about PRESSURE. I'd poke a high and a low hole in a styrofoam cup, and ask the kids which stream of leaking water would shoot out farthest. Sometimes they said both would be the same. Nope! The lower hole has more pressure on the water.

Anyhoo... Hick says the drainage system is blocked. I imagine the whole brick support thingy full of water, but I don't know if that's the case. I agree with Hick that our recent freezing and thawing will tear up those bricks. Like vertical potholes, only smaller. And hopefully nobody drives over them!

It's times like these that I regret being a technology simpleton. The Pony had a cool video.

8 comments:

  1. I don't think you're a technology simpleton. After all your demonstration in your class displayed exactly the same result as the photo of the brick pillar above. I would not have known that but your explanation makes perfect sense, even to an 81 year old student.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I will give you an 'A' on this lesson!

      I'm a technology simpleton because I can't post the short video of the water flowing.

      Delete
  2. Woo Hoo, I guessed the lower hole because of pressure...now I have to pee.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I guess you can have an 'A' on this lesson, too. But you'll have to use one of your three allotted tardies for the quarter if you want a bathroom pass.

      Delete
  3. I love the colours of the bricks in those pillars. Having water spout out like that is unusual, right?
    Hey, it just started raining here, 1:53pm on Monday 28th. it smells nice outside now, I just checked.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The brick colors are nice. No water should be coming through the bricks! It means there are cracks in the mortar.

      I'm glad you have rain. It's much too common around here lately. When it's not frozen. We've had a couple days with 2+ inches. That makes the creek go over the bridges.

      Delete
  4. Don't stand under that roof and especially not close to that pillar!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Most of these shops are vacant, so maybe The Pony was just passing by.

      Delete