Buzzkill

Merimere Reservoir on a spectacular late summer day.

Visit #1036, Saturday 17 September 16, 12:00-1:40PM, 3.1 miles.
Temps in the mid-70's, sunny and idyllic.

I brought the chainsaw with me this week to remove the two trees I discovered last week, which had fallen across the Main Trail to the left of the picture above.

As I walked up the Soap Box Derby track, I saw a man behaving strangely near the wooden guardrail. By the time I reached the guardrail, he was 200 yards away at the other end. I looked down and found a piece of trash-a Gatorade bottle with water and ice cubes in it. I emptied the bottle and put it in my trash bag.

Then the dim bulb in my head turned on and I formed a reasonable conclusion the Gatorade bottle likely belonged to Strange Behaving Guy and on further observation it appeared he was doing some sort of workout. I walked up to him and confirmed it was his bottle, then I 'fessed up. He was pissed but he didn't get hostile toward me. I offered up my own waterbottle but he refused.

Hey; when I'm out there, EVERYTHING that's not nailed down looks like trash to me!

I probably killed his workout buzz.

I reached the Main Trail where the two fallen trees should be and had my own buzz killed.

Somebody, somehow, managed to move the large tree off the trail. Now I couldn't use my manly tool of destruction to dice it up and clear the trail. Same for the smaller tree from last week.

I turned left onto the Green Trail and rejoiced-I got my buzz back!

This branch was partially obscuring the trail, giving me reason to fire up the chainsaw and create some buzz of my own.

I hiked past the Halfway House and over I-691, where I discovered one of the two flags has been removed. It was likely taken down because it wasn't in very good condition. In fact, neither is the remaining flag. I plan to return next week and remove it.

I returned to the park and dropped off my bag of trash for the week.

 

Just as I thought my day was over...

You see, the City of Meriden got the bright idea to pass a resolution declaring all Meriden Parks tobacco-free. The Meriden Record Journal reported on the issue here and here.

Quoting the second article: "While councilors debated the feasibility of enforcing the ordinance, its proponents argued that it would be largely self-policed by park users."

If the city council really thought this ordinance would be obeyed, and self-policed, they were being naive.

So when I saw a woman STANDING RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE SIGN getting ready to light up, I was dumbfounded. I'm also a realist and know that telling a smoker they can't smoke, even if it's the law, is akin to poking a hornet's nest.

But hey; the sign was so obvious and I was dying to see her reaction so I poked the nest.

Who knew that woman could swear like a drunken sailor.