Sunday, August 19, 2007

And the Walls Came Tumbling Down!

This post is about quilting in that it is about quilting distractions. I had started quilting early Saturday morning and I was making great progress on a customer quilt when my DH interrupted to suggest that we head uptown to watch the demolition of one of our small town's landmarks. Now remember, this is a small town and we have very little local entertainment. This truly was an opportunity not to be missed.

So we jumped on our bikes and pedaled the few blocks it takes to get uptown from our house. When we arrived, there were already some local residents who had positioned themselves across the street from the demolition.

This is a picture of the side of the local feed mill and farm store . A mural was painted on the side of this building many years ago. Fortunately I had the foresight to take a picture of the mural the week before the building was demolished. The old feed mill was starting to become a real eye sore but it is a shame that we had to loose this mural.

The following are pictures of the demolition as it was taking place Saturday morning.


The equipment operator was truly skilled and it was a pleasure to watch him operate that huge piece of machinery with such finesse. He could use that bucket to remove just one cinder block at a time or he could use the weight of the machine to knock down large sections of the walls at a time.


Given that the highway passes directly next to this demolition, it was a credit to the machine operator that the wall fell inward and not out onto the highway where someone could be seriously hurt.

Rumor has it that this location will soon be the new home of a grocery store.

By the way, I did finish that customer quilt later in the afternoon!

7 comments:

  1. Isn't it amazing that a building can be there in the morning, and in the afternoon it's gone. Wouldn't it be fun if they built a quilt store in that spot? I guess that's a bit much to ask.
    *hugs*
    Tazzie
    :-)

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  2. How did he do that and leave the sign side standing? I guess that came down after you both left though since the lot will need to be totally cleared to make room for what comes next.

    Really too bad about that mural art. Whoever painted the first one may not be around to re-do it on another building in town. I love how they included the mountains in the work.

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  3. It's always sad to see a work of art demolished. We live near a small town too and would do the same for entertainment although it would be a ten mile drive for us. Life in the slow lane!

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  4. Oh darn - it's too bad that grocer couldn't have renovated the old building. They really are treasures with a story to tell. At least you have preserved it in photographs . . . so all is not lost.

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  5. Sad to see it go I know, but wasn't watching that really cool! What is it about watching buildings being knocked down!

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  6. Thanks for your comment on my blog. I love your "frog" quilt. It's a good idea for a boy's quilt. Frogs make me think of the "Ten Plagues."

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  7. What a great mural...too bad it had to come down.

    Last week they imploded a high rise in downtown Salt Lake City, but they told everybody to stay home because there would be so much dust. Two different worlds...lol!

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