Toppled

I was up early this morning and made my way down St Clair Avenue to a spot near the High Bridge. Xcel Energy decided to take down their 570 foot smokestack which has stood for 36 years near the Mississippi River. There were many other Minnesotans with the same idea, but I found a decent spot for the 20 second long spectacle. They dynamited a spot in the base of the structure at 7:30 a.m. and it toppled like a very tall pine tree. The smoke stack was constructed of poured concrete and I've wondered several times how they managed to get it built without a skyhook. There are thousands of pictures of this baby showing up on the internet today in picture and video form, but these images came from my camera. The first photo shows the smoke from the instigating explosion.


Photo two is a couple of seconds later as the topple begins.


The third photo is very near the actual contact with the earth. I managed to get the head of the guy in front of me in the photo. There was a loud noise and a big dust cloud emerged which chased the spectators on the High Bridge from their viewing positions as the big cloud came their way.


Photo four shows the beginning of the dust cloud spreading around the site of earth contact, a spot that had been prepared with several piles of sand, a target that they nearly hit.


The big smokestack has been part of the skyline for 36 years, but I'm not going to miss it.

After the spectacle I played some tennis with the geezer group. There was a smattering of rain as we began, but it passed by and blue sky appeared for a couple of hours. Later, after three sets were completed, the rains came again. I am in need of a day off from the game I play. I've managed to play six consecutive days, partly inspired by Wimby and partly due to my inability to say "no" to play opportunities. I played on a level somewhat south of average for me, but it was fun.

My predicted winners at Wimbledon, Venus Williams and Raphael Nadal are still in contention at the end of the first week of play.