Domestique cover

This "domestic" cover was seen in the grass beneath our feet.

Couverture DOMESTIQUE dans la pelouse

This 12 x 12 square diamond with a 24 diamond ring and four square holes manhole cover was made by Mueller Industries.  The cover is labeled "DOMESTIQUE" for use in Quebec, where Bill 101 applies.  

Shiny bright

A freshly paved street does not warrant a brand new manhole cover.  

Buffed bright

This cover has served faithfully for so many years that the raised surface has been buffed to a gleam.  Sunlight reflecting off the cover makes it stand out against the freshly laid asphalt.

Striped cover

10 x 12 x 10 drain cover 

The parking lot striper was doing so well until the encounter with the uneven ground by this 10 x 12 x 10 drain cover.  The depressed drain cover sent the line awry.

Probably fake

Paintings by well known artists are sometimes faked.  It often is difficult to discern if one is seeing a fake or a real.

Probably a fake? 

In this case, we can be fairly sure that this is not by Mark Rothko.  Rothko always painted on rectangular canvases, and this is a quadrilateral.  But here, maybe he was exploring new shapes, possibly polygons?  One wonders.

Sidewalk basement covers

Basements can extend under the sidewalk.  These extensions have covers that provide access and aeration to the subterranean space.

Safe to walk on 

Holey edge

Swiss cheezy

Wear and tear of these  sub-sidewalk basement covers can be accelerated by exposure to the elements and the integrity of the material.

Wet pavers

Wet and dry 

Seen in the street near our feet, these partially dry paving stones create a unique pattern of grey and stepped rectangles. 

H is for hydrant

H or I?

The H in a circle with an arrow pointing towards the curb indicates that a hydrant is located there on the sidewalk.  A similar symbol, without an arrow, is used to indicate a helicopter landing pad.

Stripes for the striper

Lined and ready

After the street is paved, lines are laid out and then spray painted.  These striping marks  then await the arrival of the stripers, who will put in the crosswalk and stop lines.

Base eight

 
Red drip

Green cover-up 

These seemingly haphazardly painted octagonal street light pole bases provide a welcome change from the usually drab silver-grey of HDG (hot-dip galvanized) steel.

Pour date

1973 vintage 

This one section of the sidewalk was poured in 1973.  No pour dates were provided for the two lower sections.  Judging from their wear and content, they pre-date 1973.  The filler patch appears to be the newest to have been poured.

Awaiting completion

Empty - but not for long

This empty store has been renovated, the sheetrock has been taped, and it awaits a tenant for whom it will be completed.

This view is presented in a relaxed view 3d stereograph.

Checkerboard floor

Checkers or chess

The floor of this empty store seems like it is an invitation to play some kind of board game - checkers, chess, or...

This view is presented in a relaxed view 3d stereograph.

Green dragon

Bushes outside 

The orderliness of the roof and clapboard and windows is interrupted by the bushes growing next to the foundation.

Seeing the curtains, sharp eyed readers will note that this is the outside of the inside seen in the previous post.  Everyone else can follow the link back. 

One could imagine a green dragon there:  the open mouth with the branches being the tongue (or flames!), the teeth formed by the leaves, the two curved horns, the prickled hump of the back that sweeps down to the tail, which itself extends to the right and out of the image.

Curtain awry

At the ready

Sunlight through a curtained window highlights the stacked chairs as they await the next social function at this hall.

The outside of this inside can be viewed here.

Store door

Not in use 

Although it is no longer used, the steps and the doorway are periodically painted and swept so they are in harmony with the rest of the storefront.

Plastic basket

Plastic basket window display

This display window that is filled with plastic baskets is at the rear of the dollar store.

There are 45 courses of brick visible on the left side of the window and 46 courses visible on the right side.  That does not explain why the left side seems higher than the right side.

N.B.  The interior of this store, prior to becoming this "dollar store" can be seen here.

Convoluted corners

Downspout elbow 

Door painted shut 

After a building is built, additions are often added.  Some of those additions are used and then not used.  These can result in convoluted corners and painted shut doors.

Shutter dogs

Church window 

The two shutter dogs tell us that at one time this stained glass window had shutters.  Without them, their curves add an interesting element to the window and clapboard lines.

Sign of the tomatoes

Plum Tomatoes 59 </ LB

The plum tomatoes are your everyday tomatoes from a truck farm in New Jersey.  The sign is not.  A lot of thought and talent went in to creating that:  the "O"-s are little tomatoes, the letter color is almost  the same color as the tomatoes, some of the letters are shaped like tomatoes, and, there is the innovative use of the "<" and "|" to represent the "cents" symbol.

Lemony pink

Lemon and pink 

Pink and lemony

At the street festivals, lemonade can be had in two flavors - lemon and pink.  They each taste the same - they just look different.

Brown eye butterfly

Common ringlet butterfly 

This Common Ringlet (Coenonympha tullia) butterfly was flitting through a meadow in northern Vermont, never staying on one flower for too long.  Eventually, it got close enough to capture lensatically this small brown butterfly with an "eye".  

Walnut yum

Hickory Tussock caterpillar 

A Hickory Tussock moth (Lophocampa caryae) caterpillar munching away on one of its favorite foods - a black walnut leaf.

Two flowers

Sometimes you do not know what kind of flower it is, it just is there.

A light purple lilac colored flower

Some type of a sunflower?

 They were growing in a field in way northern Vermont.

Update:  The first may be the "Common Soapwort" (Saponaria officinalis).  The second (yellow one) may be an "Ox Eye" (Heliopsis helianthoides).

 

Four water

Plain WATER 

Buffalo Repair Lid Water 

Mueller Water

NO 1 WATER 

Four more water utility covers:

- Plain WATER 

- Buffalo Repair Lid Water 

- Mueller Water, and

- NO 1 WATER  with the horseshoe "U" and a missing penta bolt.

Water water

Blue WATER WATER 

Rusty WATER WATER 

Having the water utility cover name appear two times on the cover makes it easy to discern the purpose of  the cover from either side of the cover.

Water inset

Generic water utility cover 

This generic water utility cover is inset in the concrete sidewalk of the street beneath our feet.

Water and bricks

The street beneath our feet was paved with bricks.  Seen amongst the bricks were these water utility access covers.

GFI WATER with horseshoe U 

WATER with two accesses 

CF-B WATER with two accesses 

TRUMBULL WATER 

These included: 

- a GFI WATER with projecting horseshoe ("U") protecting the pentagon shaped bolt head

- a plain WATER with two access cutouts

- a CF-B WATER with two access cutouts, and

- a TRUMBULL WATER with a pentagon shaped bolt head.  

That five sided bolt head (or screw head) is also called a "penta screw" or "penta bolt".

Worn water

Worn down water cover 

Seen in the street beneath our feet, this worn down water utility cover is just legible enough to tell us of its function.

Keystone water covers

RUSSCO Water cover 

Water cover 

Two variants on the "keystone" water utility cover - one by Russco and the other not marked.  The Russco cover features circular cement smoothing around the cover.  Both were seen in the street beneath our feet.  

Ford water

Star pattern meter box 

This star pattern is one of many water meter box designs and shapes made by the Ford Meter Box Company.  The company was founded in 1898 and is presently located in Wabash, Indiana. 

No 1 water

No. 1

Dappled sunlight draws our eye to this CALDWELL BOSTON NO 1 WATER utility cover that appears in the street beneath our feet.

Other cast iron Caldwell covers can be seen here (gas) and here (water).

Three sigma

Three Sigma water service boxes 

Three closely spaced SIGMA WATER curb and service boxes are seen in the street beneath our feet.  They are made by the Sigma Corporation of Cream Ridge, New Jersey.  

Sigma water utility cover 

A fourth one allows for a closer view of what is now their current VB-747 curb and service box.

Spotted in the knapweed

Spotted knapweed 

What looks like a "C" on the left side of the spotted knapweed flower is a green caterpillar.

Scripted typography

Edelbrock header covers 

Those orange gasoline hoses are connected to the manifold seemingly not in order.  

Chevelle trunk lid emblem

The font type for this 1971-72 Chevrolet Chevelle trunk lid emblem is based on a series of vertical swoops.  In previous years, they used an italic script.