urbanSTL

I'm deeply curious if hedge apple/Osage orange would make a decent baseball bat. Like Ash, it's apparently good bow wood. Not sure that means it would make a decent bat. Might be too heavy. But it looks like we might need something sooner rather than later.

quincunx wrote: ↑

Mar 13, 2018

I guess, I'm not good at identifying tree species.

Per MSU, you can identify Ash trees by a few characteristics:

They have opposite branching, i.e. twigs will sprout from both sides branches symmetrically:



They have compound leaves, i.e. instead of one large leaf like a maple tree they'll have typically 5-9 smaller leaflets per leaf:



And ash trees have a characteristic diamond pattern to their bark:



Ash trees when mature will grow to be 50'-80' in height depending on the variety.



-RBB

And since we're being nerdy, the species that's wreaking havoc is the Emerald Ash Borer, a native of northeast Asia. It was accidentally introduced to North America in the late '90s and has been spreading rapidly, originating in Michigan, since 2002.
There is also an Ash Borer that is native to North America, which is not wreaking havoc across the U.S. due to evolution of the Ash tree. Thanks Darwin.

symphonicpoet wrote: ↑

Mar 14, 2018

(Also, I feel your pain. I have two lovely mature trees directly in front of my house and a string of others that are more or less coeval up and down the street. I worry that they'll all end up as firewood at about the same time. We really need more diversity of both age and variety.)

Had a 40-50' tree cut down not too long ago just about in front of my house and a smaller one next to it. We'll see if this summer will feel hotter in the house. Definitely changes the look on the street. Luckily my block only had a couple of these. Time to fancy up my yard I guess.

Bricks going up

Nice find. I added it to the nextstl post.

You know, I actually kind of like the one all the way to the left with the brick balcony and screen. Not too bad, as infill goes. Quite a lot better than some of the faux-historic stuff.

quincunx wrote: Another round of apt building rehabs by WUSTL coming-
304 Skinker $2M
6170 PERSHING $1M
6020 WATERMAN $900k
6031 WATERMAN $900k
6146 WATERMAN $900k
6015 PERSHING $900k
6156 PERSHING $900k
6164 PERSHING $900k
6176 PERSHING $900k
6030 PERSHING $900k
6021 PERSHING $900k
6142 WATERMAN $500k
6132 PERSHING $400k
6134 PERSHING $400k

The building permits have been issued

Looks like these buildings on Skinker are about to get some major work:

The one on the right is a part of the latest round of  WUSTL rehab.
The one on the left is not.

^They just did a gut rehab of that one on the right a little over a decade ago.  I wonder how they plan on spending another $2 million.

They didn't close the sidewalk. Amazing

quincunx wrote: ↑

Oct 18, 2019

They didn't close the sidewalk. Amazing

Yup; that's what caught my eye. This is how they do it in other cities, while here in STL we let 'em shut down sidewalks, traffic lanes, you name it (I'm lookin' at you, Link in the Loop )

I suppose I still would have preferred a single multifamily across these lots, just to add more density, but these turned out really well: 

Wait, is that a rendering? Looks pretty good.