A day by the river

Adam and I decided to spend some father-son time looking for a particular boat today. We found it, but before we did we saw other things.

Such as the M/V Earl Jones.

Something I'd not noticed before. A boat pushing loaded coal barges UP the Big Sandy River.

An open hatch -- or whatever it's called -- on a barge.

And what we were looking for: the M/V Dan Elder.

Before the Elder got there, I had a couple of seconds to get this pleasure boat going under the bridge.

And that was our excitement for the day.

Asian carp invasion

Remember the zebra mussel invasion that was supposed to be an ecological apocalypse in the Ohio River? The mussels caused problems early on, but you don't hear a whole lot about them now that some ducks and other critters find them yummy. And there are other things that keep the populations down.

On land, we've had to deal with multiflora rose and Asian lady beetles. So invasive species can either be bad, a nuisance or no big deal.

The latest invasive species drawing attention is the Asian carp.

Here is an editorial from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about the carp, and here is the news story it references. If the Asian carp has been found in the Greenup pool, that means it's moved into my neighborhood.