THE LITTLE TUG THAT COULD

TUG PUSHING BARGE WITH CRANE IN ASHLAND HARBOR

Friday, 9:30 AM.  41 degrees F at the ferry dock, 38 on the back porch.  Wind variable and light.  The sky is overcast, the humidity 87%.  The barometer is falling, now standing at 30.01". Despite appearances, it should be a decent weekend weather-wise.

   We were sitting in the truck yesterday at the Ashland power plant boat ramp, eating ice cream cones, when this barge loaded with large stones and a crane was pushed across the harbor by a little red tug (seen at the rear of the barge).  It was an almost comic sight, like something out of a child's story book.

   But the work is real, and the building of a new breakwater for the Ashland marina is the result of negotiations between the city and a contractor working on a pollution abatement project funded in part by the federal government.  

   The short version of the story is that the contractor said it was no more expensive to build a new breakwater than to remove the old one, which was part of the project, and they would be happy to do so.

   The city accepted the offer and the new structure is being built.  The tug and barge are evidently transporting materials for the new breakwater to the worksite.

   Perhaps the story should be called, "The Little Tug That Could."