Saturday, April 19, 2008

Aedan and the Giant Peach

"These foods are rare beyond compare - some are right out of reach;
But there's no doubt I'd go without
A million plates of each
For one small mite,
One tiny bite
Of this FANTASTIC PEACH!"

On the way back from dropping my mother-in-law off at the Charlotte airport, we decided to stop to see the Gaffney, SC water tower which was built to look like a giant peach. I remembered that I had seen a picture of it in a past Reader's Digest where they featured unusual water towers and so we thought we better take a picture while we could.
They both look sweet!

"And thus the journey ended."
(quotes from James and the Giant Peach)

So I know how water towers generally work (water towers are tall to provide pressure, the tank is enough to provide the community with a day's worth of water...) but of course I wanted to find out more and I found some interesting facts. I found a website that explains howstuffworks:

"In a city, tall buildings often need to solve their own water pressure problems. Because the buildings are so tall, they often exceed the height that the city's water pressure can handle. So a tall building will have its own pumps and its own water towers"

"Another interesting fact about water towers -- they can affect your insurance rates! During a fire, the water demand increases significantly and may greatly exceed the capacity of the pumps at the water plant. A water tower guarantees that there will be enough pressure to keep water flowing through the fire hydrants. Fire insurance rates are normally lower in a community in which the water system has water towers."

Well, here are a few other fun looking water towers that I haven't been to but I need to watch out for:

Basketball in McHenry Co - IL, Pineapple in Honolulu - HI, Catsup bottle in Madison Co. - IL

Coffee pot in Montgomery Co - IA, Globe in Montgomery Co - MD, Dixie cup in Fayette Co - KY

3 comments:

  1. That is so funny! Thanks for the pics of water towers. I am such a dork that i didn't even know what a water tower was until I moved to the midwest. That peach reminds me of the book/movie James and the Giant peach. Yum!

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  2. those water towers are pretty cool. And Aedan is so adorable!

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  3. Jackie - I wasn't going to comment because heaven forbid I comment on every single one of your posts - but that photo of Aedan was just TOO cute! I had to let you know it was a great shot :)

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