Warning: Sewage Overflow

Ewww. Holmes Run may contain sanitary sewage.

Warning signs are posted throughout the park.

For days, the smell emanating from the stream was noxious. Daily walks are not pleasant. The signs have been up for a while. I think I’ll wait a good long while before I let the dog back in the water.

This isn’t sewage, although it looks pretty nasty. It’s just algae.

Let’s clean up the park

Twice a year, the Friends of Dora Kelley Nature Park invite neighbors and park visitors to help pick up garbage that’s accumulated along the water, by the rocks, among the trees, on the trail and anywhere in the park.

For the past few years we’ve lived in the neighborhood, we’ve participated a few times. I look forward to these events because I always see people I’ve never seen  before. Last year, I saw a group of students from a nearby middle school pitching in. The more people come out, the more awareness we’ll have of the damage litter can do to such a beautiful park.

Some young folks pitching in.

Volunteers picked up everything from cigarette butts, plastic bags, food wrappers, old bicycles and other garbage at last year’s clean-up effort.

Under construction

I’ve been waiting with eager anticipation for the completion of the Chambliss Street and Holmes Run Crossing Project. According to a sign on the building site, the project was scheduled for completion this spring. Perhaps rain and other weather events have slowed construction.

May 16, 2013

Since the deadline has come and gone, and the project looks nowhere near completion, it’s anybody’s guess when the bridge will finally connect the two sides of Holmes Run. The bridge will mean we won’t have to go through the hilly neighborhood to get to Glen Hills Park, where another  trail along Holmes Run leads all the way to Columbia Pike.

July 1, 2013

Planning for the project started more than five years ago. If you want details of the construction project, and can decipher blue prints, then you’ll appreciate this. The bridge looks very sturdy, and is raised well above the water.

July 7, 2013
This side, Dora Kelley. That side, Glen Hills Park.

 

Warning!

A warning sign was posted today for yellow jacket wasps in the middle of the park.

The warning says there’s an underground nest near the sign. Yikes! Watch where you step.