Detachment, fire hydrant edition.

The weather was lovely high summer this morning as I walked from the car into church.

However -- as is usual when I have to park more than a half-block or so away, I was confronted by this reminder of the coming storm.

I kind of hate Minnesota fire hydrants in the summer.  

Memento mori...

no, not quite... 

Memento ninguat, they seem to whisper as I pass.

Are you from warmer climes?  Do you know what that funny spring-like protrusion is, bolted to the upper flange of the hydrant, on the left?

I'll tell you.  Round about mid-October, someone from the city will come by and they will insert into that springy thing a "hydrant marker," which is a tall, red-and-white striped, flexible pole.  I grabbed this photo of a Minnesota hydrant  from pinterest here:

And you know what that's for, right?  

So we can find the darn things come November or December when the first sparkly flakes come wafting down, followed by a few trillion of their closest friends.

I wish they could make the springy holder thing blend into the background a little better.  I don't want to think about the impending doom, not now while the sun is shining and I have my sandals on.

Comments

[Jenny]

I have never seen anything like that. I'll bet the feeling of doom becomes palpable when the big sticks are installed every year. And such rejoicing in the spring when the sticks disappear again.

Fun fact about my neighborhood: 400 house subdivision out in the county. Two fire hydrants. #thingswedidntnoticebeforebuying

[bearing]

I'm not sure where the closest fire hydrant is to my house, actually. But the fire station is literally around the corner.

[jenny]

Yeah... I was hoping you'd tell us what those are. In New Orleans, we have giant vertical rulers painted near roads so you can see how deep the water is when it floods. They're sort of like those stickable rulers you see on the door frames of convenience stores so the clerk can tell the cops how tall the Bad Guy was.
To each his own bad weather, I guess!

[Bearing]

Jenny (in NOLA), that's hilarious.