Bridge at South Wayside

[Gary S]

Boy, Gary! It looks better and better with each Fo-Toe. This is looking to be another gorgeously everyday mundanely beautiful bridge.

Thank you Sir. I'm kinf of amazing myself about how fast I am going tonight. I suppose with the previous experience I have on sandpaper roads and making concrete out of styrene, I just dove right in, started slapping on washes and powder and Krylon clear matte, and then took the hair dryer to it. Must have four applications on this. Next step is the finishing touches of stripes.

... and ,uh ... my bad ... the fish were so small on the screen that I didn't look closely enough to see that tremendous underbite that is so "Largemouth!" I was going on color and fin location. But once I made a snudge on the laptop screen with my nose, I could see that protruding lower jaw. That little guy hitting a lure almost as big as it was ... so typical! If it's shiney and it moves, they have no fear ... hit and run is their game! Bass are so much fun!

Like you noticed, yep, the big lower jaw gives it away. The one that Vicki is holding seems even more pronounced than normal. We don't have smallmouths this far south, I don't think they can handle the warm summer temps. But the smallmouths are some beautiful fish.

The largemouths in this lake are even more aggressive than normal, as being overstocked, they are in fierce competition for food. It's a shame really, they are rather stunted, and the lake needs some management. But gee it can be fun. As you mention, these bass love a fast moving flashy-shiny crankbait. Drives them nuts. I actually prefer topwaters, but was too windy today. Love those days when it is glassy calm and you can work a Rebel Jointed Minnow real slow, just twitching it on top.

I was just thinking about the concrete "down in the dip" and wondered if there is a drain somewhere down under that bridge! I don't know if you guys get the same gullywashers that drown frogs across the Gulf there in Tey-Hahss, but it seems to me that without a drain of some sort under that bridge, only HumVees and Jeeps with snorkle intake and exhaust would be able to negotiate that street during a downpour!

Oh yeah, we get some floods that even put houses under water!

... HMmmmmm! I think I spotted a very small (easily stopped up with a little trash) gutter drain about midships under the bridge. I'll assume there's another on the side we can't see. I don't see that sad excuse for a gutter drain doing much in a real downpour, but it's probably better than no drain at all.

I noticed that too, the gutter drains are really small. But notice the manhole covers in the bottom too. Probably some big underground storm drains under there, which run out to Brays Bayou which is about a mile from this bridge. Still doesn't look like enough drainage though.

On the Forest Hill bridge (the road underpass with the green concrete sides) there are some new electrical pipes and small manholes in the sidewalk, which most likely are sump pumps. I am guessing that the gravity drain wasn't enough, so they fairly recently supplemented that with the powered pumps.