The Paterno Statue Site

This morning I walked across campus to see the site where the Joe Paterno statue had been. The statue was removed over the weekend, and early this week the groundwork and walls around the statue were destroyed. Two levels of barricades surround the site. A police officer stands guard.

I’m sure the bowl-themed banner will come down soon.

A pile of soil sits where the statue used to reside.

It’s a far different scene than the last time I was at this location.

What the area looked like the last time I saw it.

Remembering Joe Paterno

This afternoon I walked across campus to Beaver Stadium. As I walked toward Beaver Stadium people were beginning to gather along Curtin Road in preparation for Coach Paterno’s final procession. I was surprised at how happy most people seemed; I expected to see more somberness and sadness.

A flag flies at half mast near the Creamery.

The sign in front of the Bryce Jordan Center had a special message this afternoon.

The BJC sign.

My destination was the Joe Paterno statue on the far side of Beaver Stadium. As I got close the crowd grew thicker. Beaver Stadium threw a shadow over the statue, making it dark and cold. The (unedited) picture below captures that. You can see the bright sunlight to the south, but in near the statue it is dark.

It was cold by the statue.

I had to wait for an opening in the crowd to get a picture from the front.

The Joe Paterno statue by Beaver Stadium.

I did not stay to watch the procession. When I left campus I had to bike across campus to a point west of the library to cross Curtin Road. The crowds of people along the procession route were too thick to navigate with a bike. (This included the street, the crowd went right across Shortlidge Road, there were cars wanting to drive through but the crowd did not move, forcing the drivers to backtrack and find a new route.)

Coach Paterno had a legendary career at Penn State. He gave much to the university. In his passing he reminds me of how much of an impact one person can have. I am also reminded that even those we think of as heroes are just human.

A Saturday Campus Mosey

Today I had a few hours of work to do on campus. After I finished it up I decided to walk around campus and collect a few plant pictures. My collection of plant pictures has steadily grown over the past several years. No matter how many I take there are always more that I need. So today I decided to add to the collection.

Over the past couple of months I have noticed many rabbits on campus. They have blended in with the normal squirrel population. I decided to shoot a few today (with my camera, of course).

This rabbit seemed a bit paranoid.

Nice ears.

I wished that I had a carrot because this one was friendly.

This one took one look at me and ran away very quickly.

This fellow was guarding an abandoned loaf of bread.

If I had wanted to I could have taken hundreds of pictures of rabbits and squirrels (and that is not an exaggeration). They were like political signs in November.

But furry critters were not my primary targets. I took many plant pictures, though I will exercise self control and only show you a few.

This is a shot of white oak gall, also known as hedgehog gall, on a white oak leaf. It looks pretty cool.

White oak gall (hedgehog gall)

Here is a nice planting of Acorus (sweetflag). I love the texture of this plant. While tracing plant lineages can be controversial and contradictory, it is thought that Acorus is the earliest monocot we have left.

A planting of Acorus.

Echinaceae purpurea is called purple coneflower. Strangely enough there are white purple coneflowers. And here is proof.

A sea of white purple coneflowers at high tide.

As I walked past the HUB I noticed my reflection walking alongside me. And then there were two of me. The angles of the mirrored wall create a clone. I had to photograph this.

I always suspected there might be two of me.

A Prompt Notification

Bicycle registration at University Park runs on a June-May schedule. I’ve registered my bike for the past three years, each time well before the May 31 deadline. This year I did not. I stopped by the little kiosk on Pollack Road a few times in the past week, but no one was there to handle the registration.

This morning before I left for campus it occurred to me that my registration had expired. Since my schedule was very full today I decided to postpone renewing my bike registration until Tuesday. This thought ran through my mind: the campus parking police are not going to be out checking for expired registrations on bikes one day after the deadline.

I forgot how slow things get on campus during the summer. Evidently the campus parking police needed something to do. They decided to inspect bicycle registrations.

At 12:26pm I walked past my bike on the way to the Life Sciences Building. I noticed a small yellow tag hanging from the handlebar, which was a notice of expired registration. No fine. Just a reminder that I needed to register my bike. So that means less than five hours after I parked my bike the campus police found it. Impressive.

By the way, when I left campus today at 5:30pm I discovered that the notice had been removed from my bike sometime during the afternoon.

There is a good chance you really do not care about this. In fact, you probably shouldn’t. But this is my blog and I reserve the right to post mundane stories from time to time.

Blue + White = Smurfs?

This afternoon the annual Blue/White football game was played. I strolled around Beaver Stadium and saw most of the game. Penn State won.

The weather was beautiful. The mood around Beaver Stadium was festive. There were circus rides, food, and all sorts of good things.

Here are a few pictures:

 

 This picture was taken from a concourse, so everyone around me was in the shadows and the field was brightly lit. I enhanced the contrast a bit, but this isn’t very far from the original.

This is Stephfon Green breaking free for the first touchdown of the game.

The Nittany Lion made many young fans happy by signing autographs in the endzone during the game.

Pat Devlin scans the field. The quarterbacks wear red jerseys during the blue/white game (so I guess it is really the red/white/blue game).

Tubas look like they belong in a Dr Seuss book. Just look at them. Don’t they make you smile?

Collin Wagner prepares to blast the extra point through the uprights. Notice that the holder is a millisecond away from spinning the laces away from Wagner. Things happen quickly on a kick attempt, and the holder has a demanding job (just ask Tony Romo).

Pat Devlin swings the ball out for a nice gain.

I did not see a single smurf at the blue/white game.