The iron bridge

Posted on January 5, 2015 by Mark P

The iron bridge over Armuchee Creek just north of Rome was built in 1935.

This photo was taken on Sunday after a weekend of rain, so the creek is running high. On a normal day you can wade across the creek.

The bridge is not quite as old as it seems, but it’s still kind of a thrill to drive over it.

This bridge is located on Scenic Road, which I think used to be Little Texas Valley Road before Little Texas Valley Road was rerouted to enter US 27 a few hundred yards south of the creek. Highway 27 crosses the creek over a modern bridge, from which you may be able to catch a glimpse of the iron bridge a few hundred yards upstream. I usually take the old road.

The bridge is a Warren pony truss bridge. According to dictionary.com, a pony truss bridge has its deck between the top and bottom chords and has no lateral bracing at the top. It is a Warren truss bridge because it has multiple triangles in the truss. It was redecked about seven years ago, but you might not think it when you look carefully.

According to Bridgehunter.com, it is rated as structurally deficient. This site says that it has average daily traffic of 600 vehicles, which is quite a bit more than I would have expected.

Armuchee, which I have always heard pronounced as if it had a second “r” before the “ch” (“Armurchee”), is a fairly nebulously-defined area today. It used to be a town with its own power-generation dam right about where the iron bridge stands, and quite a few businesses, including a railroad depot. Scenic Road becomes Depot Street when it crosses US 27.

I won’t be surprised if the county decides one day to close the bridge rather than try to update it. Today it really serves no purpose other than nostalgia.

Heads in the clouds

Posted on January 4, 2015 by Mark P

It has been rainy and cool here for what seems like weeks. Saturday was a dreary day. When the drizzle stopped, the fog moved in.

This was taken at the intersection of Lavender Trail and Fouche Gap Road, looking up towards where the driveway enters our new lot. The official visibility in Rome was 10 miles, which is essentially unlimited. The visibility up here on the mountain was not much more than 100 yards; we were actually up in the clouds.

It has rained so much and we have had so little sunlight even when it’s not raining that the ground remains saturated. Neighbor John’s bulldozer has sat on our lot since the work he did more than two weeks ago. The ground is way too muddy for clearing.

You can just see John’s bulldozer about a stone’s throw from where I took the picture.

The temperature rose through the night Friday, and it’s supposed to continue to rise this night, Saturday. A squall line is supposed to move through the area sometime around midnight. After this round of rain, the temperature is predicted to drop. The predicted high on next Thursday is 28 F. There is sun in the forecast for at least a week, so maybe John can start clearing again before too long.

First and last

Posted on January 1, 2015 by Mark P

It was cloudy, cold and windy all Wednesday morning, but the sun finally came out this afternoon. When we opened the curtains in the bedroom the temperature went from 66 to 68 within a few minutes.

Despite the sun today and the predicted sun on Thursday, the ground will not have dried by the time the next predicted rain comes on Friday. So, there won’t be any more clearing for the new house for a while. Neighbor John’s bulldozer is still sitting quietly on the lot.

This coming year will have some landmark events. I will reach one more milestone on the way to old age: I’ll qualify for Medicare. I look forward to that, because my health insurance costs should go down significantly. Leah will be on a Medicare Advantage plan for the first time since she qualified for Medicare through a disability. Her old Medicare supplement was very expensive; the new plan will save us quite a lot of money in premiums. That will be nice.

Another big event will be (we hope) the completion of a new house. From here and now the process looks like an arduous climb up a steep mountain. Maybe not Everest, but at least Wheeler Peak. But I think we’ll both be pleased with the results.

I hope we can take a couple of trips in the coming year. We had to cancel our last trip because of Leah’s continuing problems with an intestinal blockage. That problem seems to be in abeyance. Leah has an appointment with her surgeon next week; maybe we’ll learn more then. Aside from that, I don’t expect any big events, good or bad, in the coming year. I think I like it that way.

This will be the last post written in 2014 and the first that appears in 2015. I have not been satisfied with my rate of posting in the last few months. Maybe I can change that in the new year.

In the meantime, Leah and I hope you all have a great new year.

Christmas morning 2014

Posted on December 28, 2014 by Mark P

We spent a quiet day on Christmas. Leah is still watching her food to try to prevent further digestive problems, so we didn’t have a big Christmas dinner. We didn’t see relatives or friends until my brother, his wife, and his older son came down on Friday. We expect New Year’s Eve to be about the same.