The Nip Bottle Problem

The Meriden Green isn't the only location in town where nip bottles are found.

Visit #1181, Saturday 23 February 19, 11:35AM-2:25PM, 5.3 miles, <1lb. of litter.
Temps in the low 40's, sunny but clouding up.

Last week the Record Journal reported about a problem with nip bottles being discarded in large numbers at the Meriden Green, and the city's attempt to deal with them.

I regularly find them while collecting litter in Hubbard Park, and even reported about it once.

Today I decided to revisit the issue and document how many nip bottles I found.

It didn't take long.

I left the parking lot and headed west toward the I-691 walkbridge. I walked barely 1/4 mile when I found my first bottle, seen above. But that was the only bottle I found on Saturday.

My other goal was to remove a couple bent over trees on the right side of a short trail leading to West Main Street. The trees suffered damage during this winter's ice storm. I thought a bow saw would easily take care of these two trees-I was wrong.

Sawing was a grueling exercise; the wood was not dry and whatever moisture inside was frozen.

But I'm a stubborn lad and the first tree eventually succumbed to my effort.

The second tree gave me similar grief but met the same fate.

It was while trying to wrestle this tree off the trail that a kind neighbor from across West Main Street had been watching me and came to my aid. Together we quickly dragged the tree away. The kindness of others.

Good to go until the next ice storm.

I turned around and hiked over the highway, up to West Peak, and down the last trail I needed to clear of ice storm damage. It was mostly picking up branches and tossing them aside.

I reached the end of the trail and followed the road around Merimere Reservoir and back to the park. I did not see any Big Foots (Feet? Sasquatches?), despite this warning.

I removed the sticker leaving hikers at great risk.

Returning to the park without finding another nip bottle, I deposited my trash for the week.

But that nip issue-the story doesn't end at Hubbard Park.

When I ride my bike, I often ride north up Yale Avenue, crossing Swain Avenue, past the Kogut property at the corner of Swain and Miller Avenue. The number of nip bottles I see discarded there is laughably staggering, as you dear reader, are about to see.

So later on Saturday I took a bike ride to the spot with a grocery bag to collect all the nip bottles I could find. Well, I waaaay underestimated the problem and quickly filled my bag beyond capacity. What to do?

Litterers to the rescue! I figured if I can find nip bottles among all the other discarded trash on this section of road, I could probably find another bag. I hated to think this way but unfortunately it's true.
And it took mere seconds to hit the "bag jackpot".


I hauled my booty home and took inventory.

That Walgreens bag weighed 8.6lbs. I know what you're thinking: "Hey Pete; what does 8.6lbs. of nip bottles look like in your bathtub?" Funny you should ask!

211 bottles, to be precise. I can't imagine what the Meriden Green looks like.

A Quickie

It was treacherous out there, unless you were prepared.

Visit #1180, Saturday 16 February 19, 11:30AM-1:00PM, 2.6 miles, 3.0 lbs. of trash.
Temps in the low 40's, sunny.

Today wasn't necessarily a long session but it didn't need to be. There's always something to give me purpose and today was no exception.

Last week as I left the park I noticed the flag on I-691 walkbridge, over the eastbound lanes, was no longer serviceable. I would hike west to the walkbridge to remove it.

As you can see from the photo above, the trail was icy. But I came prepared, and here get to make my annual pitch to suggest you, dear reader, to get a pair of decent ice cleats for hiking, or even for shoveling your driveway or cleaning snow off your car. I let my neighbor borrow mine and she was smitten-with the snowshoes, not me! This week I used my Stabilicers. You could Irish Stepdance on Mirror Lake with these things and never miss a beat.

I reached the torn flag.

I couldn't fold it properly until I was at home. It was the best I could do considering the flag was no longer full-size. I plan to find a place that will properly dispose the flag for me.

I turned around and hiked to the small parking area off West Main Street, where I discovered two trees bent over, presumably from the recent ice storm.

I trimmed the low hanging branches from the trail, but will have to return next week with heartier tools to completely remove the tree.

Here's the "after" view from the opposite direction.

I returned to the park and hiked around the Soap Box Derby track and the retention ponds, and depositing my trash at the playscape.

Payback

It was warmer on Saturday than an ice-covered Merimere Reservoir would suggest.

Visit #1179, Saturday 9 February 19, 12:00-3:25PM, 5.6 miles, 4.7lbs. of trash.

This week I got my act together and installed a faster cutting chain with a different profile, on my chainsaw to deliver payback to that fallen tree.

If you remember last week, I suffered a setback in my progress clearing ice storm damage, when I encountered a particularly large fallen tree across the trail. It consumed all my weekly allotted time and I didn't finish.

I was going to win this grudge match!

I hiked up the trails to the Halfway House where I found another fallen tree before even before I reached my objective.

With my chainsaw on steroids, this tree was not a problem.

I reached the obstinate tree, and just as I was unpacking the saw, along came a hiker I've seen before but was not familiar with. He recognized me as well, and seeing I was about to perform some work on the trail he would benefit from, he eagerly offered to help. He didn't have to ask me twice!

With one person cutting while the other cleared the wood away, removing this tree from the trail was a breeze. Except for the stump, which was a bear to move.

Here, my newly hired assistant Chris admires our success.

Chris mentioned in passing there was another newly fallen tree west of here, by the beehive fountain. He was unable to move it himself. Since he so kindly offered to help me with this large tree, I was eager to pay him back, so I followed him about a half mile in the opposite direction from my itinerary to remove this other tree.

This tree wasn't heavy but the trunk was still in the ground so it wasn't going anywhere. Unless that is, you have a chainsaw...

I thanked Chris for his help, he thanked me, gave back my bag of trash and I performed a turnabout to regain my original route.

On the Blue Trail near East Peak, I found these ornaments spelling "LOVE" hanging from a tree, except "OV" was missing.

Reaching Castle Craig, I noticed a remnant of the recently held Tradition Run. It doesn't look like it was officially sanctioned. I hope the parks department considers power washing it away in the spring because it looks cheap.

My Find of the Week was adjacent to the finish line.

My detour finally brought me back to the Blue Trail above Merimere Reservoir, where I could complete clearing the trail of ice storm damage.

And sometimes I forget to take After photos, as I did with these two trees.

Reaching the north end of the reservoir, I walked the road back to the parking lot, and deposited my bag of trash for the week.

On Sunday, I returned to Hubbard Park on my mountain bike to inspect the one remaining, seldom used trail, for storm damage.

I found some, but nothing I can't take care of with a bow saw. I'll return to this trail in two weeks to clean it up, assuming it doesn't snow before then.

Until next week, maintain.

Learning A Lesson

I found this card at the Halfway House on Saturday. Who knew that Trivial Pursuit had a Sex Edition?! Also, it goes to show there's always something interesting to see in Hubbard Park.

 No skipping ahead- the answer is at the end of this blog post, so read your way through to see how uh, "smart" you are!

Visit #1178, Saturday 2 February 19, 12:40-3:10PM, 3.3 miles, < 1lb. of trash.
Temps in the low 30's, sunny.

I returned to Hubbard Park this week properly equipped with a chainsaw, to deal with all the fallen trees and branches from the recent ice storm. Had I not been so lazy and brought it last week, I would have been ahead of the game. That'll teach me a lesson.

So I planned to schlep my chainsaw on the exact same route I hiked last week, seeking to eradicate what fell across the trail.

It all started innocently enough. The first one was easy.

I had to remove that leaning sapling too; it wasn't going to square away its posture problems on its own.

 Shortly after this, I turned right, and upwards, toward East Peak and a couple smaller trees which succumbed to last week's ice storm. Remember these?

Well, so did I, and I was prepared to make fast work of them. That is, until Mother Nature decided to teach me a lesson for being such a slacker last week.

She decided to add to my fun sometime during the week.

I spent the next hour and a half or so trying to undo this. At one point I made a critical cut with my chainsaw. Look where the tree wound up.

The entire trunk rolled down the slope and swung 90 degrees, stopping dead smack in the middle of the trail. Watching something that large roll was fun, especially since I wasn't in its way!

I ran my chainsaw out of fuel cleaning up the area, so I'll have to return next week to finish the job. But at least it's passable.

 I shagged myself over I-691 and back to the park to drop of my bag of trash for the week.

And now, for what you've all been waiting for, the answer to the Trivial Pursuit Sex Edition question!