Baby Eagles

The first egg hatched yesterday at the Davenport Alcoa Works on the Mississippi River.

Asian Carp Must Go

Interesting story in Business Week about those ugly Asian Carp.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-02-17/the-carp-must-die

 

 

Three Eggs in the Eagle’s Nest at Alcoa

Alcoa upgraded its webcam this year.  The nesting eagle pair has laid three eggs so far.

Check this out:

http://www.alcoa.com/locations/usa_davenport/en/info_page/eaglecam.asp

New Upper Mississippi Navigation Charts

The Corps announced new navigation charts.  They can be purchased in a bound volume or downloaded for free.  The last update was 2001,

http://www2.mvr.usace.army.mil/FullStory.cfm?ID=1202

Barge Traffic on Mississippi, Ohio and Tennesee Rivers

This is an interesting story from Fortune magazine on river barge traffic.

http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2011/12/16/river-barge-transportation/

 

 

Riverboat Queens Returning to River

Nice story from the Quad City Times on passenger cruising riverboats.  Let’s hope they can stay in business.

http://qctimes.com/business/renovated-queen-riverboats-to-cruise-heartland/article_3574be7a-44a5-11e1-9d6c-0019bb2963f4.html

Dawn January 6 2012

Dawn over the Mississippi River at Pool 14 LeClaire

Cottage is toast!!

Okay, it has been awhile since I posted.  Just got busy practicing law, boating, RVing and other stuff.   But the cottage did not really survive the 2011 flood, at least in our opinion.  FEMA says it can be repaired.  The water came up into the living area and then the main center support beam cracked and caved in.  We did have flood insurance, and it is expensive.  So we filed a claim.   FEMA subcontracts out the adjustments to specialists and then has very complicated formulas for reimbursement.  FEMA does not consider anything totalled unless it was under water from the tip of the top of the chimney on down.  So we got $15,000 on our claim.

Along the way, all the other occupants of our big house on the hill moved out, so it is really too big for just two of us.  Along with three acres of land to take care of, and I just turned 60 years old.

So we have been working with Aspen Homes in Bettendorf to come up with a new house on the river, after tearing down the cottage.  It will be a retirement home.  We have firmed up the plans and are currently running it through the city of Leclaire for approval.  As required by flood plain rules, it will be elevated five feet.  After the city approval, we will need to run it through the Army Corps of Engineers in Rock Island.

More updates and pictures later.

 

Birds Point–New Madrid Floodway, History

The lower Mississippi River flood protection is more than just super levees.  It also has an emergency back up plan, floodways.  The Corps has not had to use that back up plan much, but this week they breached the Birds Point levee, which is all part of the back up plan.

There is a long history here;  it goes back to when Cairo was a much bigger town.

The Corps has put up a history which is quite interesting, check it out:

http://www.mvm.usace.army.mil/publicaffairs/News/press_releases/bpnm/BPNM_paper.pdf

Crest Day, April 21, 2011, Mississippi River

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