It Is Finished

Not the most artistic photo but I wanted to take a break from the usual scenery. This is Merimere Reservoir, looking toward the north end. Apparently Meriden is still using Merimere as its water supply vs. the Broad Brook Reservoir, as Merimere's level continues to drop. I'm sure we're not in danger of needing water, but it's interesting to see the change of the shoreline as the water recedes.

I stole the title for this week's blog entry from The Bible, New Testament, John 19, verses 28-30:

"Later, knowing that all was completed, and so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty." A jar of wine vinegar was there so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus' lips. When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."

Of course my work was not so important and I hardly suffered as much, but I felt relief just same.

Visit #970, Saturday 5 September 15, 8:00-10:00AM, 3.8 miles.
Temps in the low 70's, sunny and dry.

Visit #971, Labor Day, Monday 7 September 15, 10:50AM-1:20PM, mileage n/a.
Temps in the 80's, sunny and dry.

I was on-call through Sunday so I didn't stray far. I walked the road from the park all the way to the north end of Merimere Reservoir, cleaning one side of the road. Then I turned around and picked up trash on the opposite side.

Traveling north, I found this tract "explaining" those "chemtrails" all the conspiracy theorists rant about. To save you some typing, here's a link to the web site if you want a little diversion from your typical web surfing. I recommend wearing a tinfoil hat; it protects against the effects of chemtrails as well as those nasty radio waves.

Anyway, I made it back to the park with quite a heavy, full bag.

I returned on Labor Day to hopefully complete my euphemistic "Five Year Plan" which I actually completed in two years. This plan to trim the roadsides to Castle Craig and West Peak was nearly complete; I only needed to finish a portion of the West Peak parking lot. I reserved holidays to exclusively perform this work; if I picked up trash at the same time it would take all of those 5 years.

I threw a stepladder onto my car, loaded up the usual tools and headed out to put a period on this sentence. The object is to clear the foliage back so cars can park against the road's edge and hikers can walk along the edge without concern for oncoming cars and getting hit in the face with branches. Sight lines are improved and overall the parking area and the approach will look nicer.

Here's what it looked like before I started on Labor Day.

I present to you a number of photos because one or two does not well convey the improvement.

I either used loppers or my chainsaw, and the stepladder when needed, to clear back to the far side of the guardrail and improve headroom.

Early on a group of twenty-somethings exited the cars you see in the left of the photo and one of them remarked, "I hope they're paying you good for working on a holiday!" You should have seen the look on his face when I told him I wasn't getting paid at all; he looked like I just took away his smart phone...

There was a very kind couple visiting West Peak on Monday. While I was working, they stopped by and asked if I wanted a bottle of COLD water. While I had already packed enough water for today's work, it was no longer chilled. When I heard the word COLD, I jumped at the offer. I can't say thank you enough to whoever it was. Glug, glug, glug- Cheers!

Now to views of the completed project. My work extended maybe 200 feet and down around the corner to the right of the photo.

Today's work matches well with my work during the July 4th holiday when I began this last segment of my Five Year Plan. Here you can see the opposite end of the parking lot. I only wish I had a taller stepladder.

Done, I took an inventory of the parking area. First, I noticed the lock I reported missing back in July, on the gate protecting the microwave tower had been repaired with tyraps. I'll keep an eye on it because I'm curious how long they'll last.

I also noticed a lot of trash in the parking lot. I could have spent another hour cleaning up the area. I felt bad, particularly about the broken glass. I wondered whether today's time would have been better spent policing up the area rather than trimming.

I guess the trash will have to wait until another weekend unless the Meriden Parks Department cleans it up in the interim.