Boot, Stick, Hen, Dog

Among the dust. And a few rocks.

Cryptic.

Keystone Towers Kaput

As of 8 a.m. today, Keystone Towers is no more.

About 750 pounds of dynamite and other explosives were ignited, therefore imploding the abandoned building on Indianapolis' near northeast side.

I had written about Keystone Towers and what it had meant to me before in this blog. For those who'd like to know what I said, please click here.

I had driven by the building Saturday morning because I wanted to see it one last time.

I was surprised; it was a bare skeleton of itself.

All the glass and about 600 tons of steel had already been removed. Some constructions workers were wrapping the building in layers of fabric and chain-link fence to force the building's remains inward during the operation.

I wasn't going to see the implosion in person, even though two public viewing areas had been set up north of the site. I didn't think it was necessary for me to witness it.

Besides, I had seen Market Square Arena in downtown Indianapolis imploded on July 8, 2001: Just a little more than two months before 9/11. Looking back, it gave me an eerie preview of the falling of the World Trade Center.

Advanced Explosives Demolition, of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, was in charge of the Keystone Towers implosion, and also for the one at Market Square Arena.

(Photo from indystar.com.)

The Transmission

When the radio astro-physicists of the world heard the transmission, they were surprised and puzzled.

It went like this:

P'ssssss-up ... if tee ... so thirty ... then thirtythree ... so eighty ... then eightyeight ... nnnnn ... mmmmm ...

Then it changed into static for about 35 seconds when it repeated itself.

This went on for about three days ... more exactly, 68 hours, 48 minutes and 12 seconds ... before it stopped.

A Few Notes On The Season ...

The end of summer, that is, for that is what people usually call late August and name it in their minds, even though summer doesn't end until September 23.

Two things happen around this time:

The first is the beginning of school for kindergarten through grade 12. That started for some school systems in the area about two weeks ago. This is much earlier than when I was going to school and is a precursor of all-year school.

The second is the college football season. Most schools will be playing on Thursday through Saturday of next week. Indiana University, my alma mater, will start its season against Ball State on September 3 at Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis.

Also ... four months from today will be Christmas. And the year will be two-thirds over at 4 p.m. next Tuesday.