Ferreting Out Things

It was a breezy Saturday in Hubbard Park, as the choppy water will attest.

Visit #1186, Saturday 30 March 19, 1:40-2:50PM, 2.6 miles, 2.7lbs, of litter.

Temps in the mid-60's, sunny and breezy.

I had dog sitting duties this week and I hated to leave Henry home, bored and alone for long, so I kept this week's outing brief.

Henry commandeered my couch.

As I was hiking to my objective for this week, I ferreted out (person's name on the prescription label withheld for privacy) this medicinal marijuana container.

Bonus: The container wasn't empty!

Smelled like the theater at a Cheech and Chong movie.

After that whiff I had a contact high, and got a hankering for Cheetos and Twinkies...

During last week's outing, I spied an unusual painted rock formation which I could have sworn I'd seen and painted over a long time ago.

So I checked my records and sure enough, I encountered this "graffiti" back in July 2017.


Sure seems like someone re-painted over what I tried to cover up almost two years ago, but why?

In any event,  I hiked directly to the spot and rather than just paint over them again, I decided to flip them over and paint just what was visible. That way, if "whoever" moves them back, I'll know by the visible white paint.

So I flipped them over and painted them gray again.

It was while uncovering the rocks that I came upon my Find of the Week.

Apparently someone made these rocks the final resting place for their pet ferret. Not as cute as Henry, but much more dead. Although looking at Henry on the couch above, you could argue otherwise.

I trudged on, picking up litter until I returned to the park, which was absolutely packed with people enjoying the first nice day of spring.

It was while photographing my weekly bag of litter leaning against the trash can that I interrupted a man scrounging through the trash can for redeemables. Despite driving a late model Nissan Sentra, he said he had no retirement money, which is why he was searching for cans and bottles. I regret not having a longer conversation with the man to hear his story.

Mucking About

I got this. Right...

After last week's episode, collecting litter along the brook paralleling Hubbard Park Drive, I learned my lesson and decided to come back better prepared, to finish the job.

To protect my clothing from all the thorns and brambles, I added a pair of coveralls. But what to do about all the soggy ground as well as trudging through the brook when necessary? I thought about it for a while and stumbled upon a solution-muck boots! But where could I pick up a pair around Meriden?

More thought ensued and I came up with a source, Tractor Supply of Wallingford. If you're not familiar with the store, it's Walmart for the "Green Acres" set.

So I removed all my teeth, married my sister, and drove down there with my pet pig in the passenger seat. Scored the beautiful pair you see above. I couldn't wait to try them out.

On Sunday morning I suited up in the parking lot and strode over to the brook to show it who is boss.

It was while cleaning up the eastern bank that I spied some trash in the water.

With my new muck boots on, this will be a piece of cake. I walked right in to the brook...

... and promptly slipped and fell bass ackwards on my butt into the brook.

Much cussing followed. The only bright side was I fell facing downstream, so my boots didn't fill with water. However, my clothes were soaked and my testicles were now a pair of frozen cue balls.

Which reinforces the adage that no good deed goes unpunished.

But I got that trash!

As if that was the most painful thing to happen to me that day, it was quickly eclipsed by finding this CD.

I'll tell you everything I know, just don't play George and Tammy!

I'm pleased to say I finished policing up the brook.

I removed the drenched coveralls and the muck boots, but would have to continue with wet jeans, underwear, and gloves.

I dropped off those two bags of trash and started another as I walked up the road toward Merimere Reservoir. It was getting kind of full for the trip ahead, so I left it at the water treatment plant.

The remainder of the trip of the road was pretty uneventful.

I hiked the trails down, where I found Season of the Missing Glove 2018/19, Exhibits 7 and 8, and a dog-chewed pair of sandals.

I returned to the park a little drier by now, and dropped off my last bag of trash.

Doubly Blessed

Hubbard Park had a lot of visitors, even on a chilly Sunday morning.

Visit #1184, Sunday 17 March 19, 8:00-10:00AM, 3.8 miles, 25lbs. of litter.
Temps in the high 30's, partly sunny.

I took a bike ride through Hubbard Park on Saturday, entering from the Berlin end and riding past Merimere Reservoir.

As I approached the gate, I was surprised to see the bollard at the pedestrian gate was missing.

This post is necessary because it denies road access to motorcycles, dirt bikes, etc. but allows people through, and I have personally seen motorcycles TRY to wiggle their handlebars through the barrier. Now it's gone, as will the wiggling if it's not replaced.

Here's what it should look like:

I find it hard to believe someone actually cut the post at the base. I looked on both sides of the fences but didn't find the post. Perhaps it was sold for scrap?

 Anyway, it needs to be replaced.

Here's what the pedestrian access at the other gate looks like.

So I returned to the park on Sunday to take the photos above. I then walked up the road and cleaned up the roadsides. As I was doing so, a group of early morning walkers passed by and one said to me, "You will be blessed!" I wondered whether she was psychic.

I moved along, around the retention ponds, past the Soap Box Derby track, and picked up the trail west, parallel to I-691.

I wonder whether we could identify the deceased by their dental records?

 At the West Main Street end I turned around and hiked other trails back to the park.

It was while cleaning up the parking area in the northwest corner of Mirror Lake that I came upon my Find of the Week.

I could always use a decent shop rag, and this towel would work quite well.

But when I turned it over, I changed my mind.

I was even more surprised to find another half dozen condoms in that parking lot. It seems we have a serial onanist in Hubbard Park, and I'll bet you didn't know there was such a thing! Who says you can't learn anything from this blog?!

I returned to the parking lot and dropped of my first bag of litter.

But I only spent 1 1/4 hours so far and felt I had another 45 minutes in me.

When I drove to Hubbard Park this morning, I noticed a lot of trash along the brook on Hubbard Park Drive. I spent my remaining time cleaning up both both banks of the brook.

While I was doing my thing, a woman walked by and said to me, "You're going straight to heaven!" I thought for sure it was a curse and my pacemaker was going shut down immediately, when it occurred to me she really meant it as a compliment. I responded, "I'd really like to have some fun HERE first!"

I took it as a good omen that I was given TWO heavenly compliments in one day, so I went out and bought a Mega-Millions ticket tonight. If I win, you'll be sure to hear about it here.

My two hour window closed before I finished cleaning the banks, so I'll return next week and finish the job.

The Nip Bottle Problem, Part III

Meriden enjoyed a warm, sunny Saturday, but overnight the weather was forecast to turn precipitous. Viewing east over the city from the Halfway House.

Visit #1183, Saturday 9 March 19, 3:30-5:05PM, 3.3 miles, 4lbs. of trash.

Temps in the low 50's, sunny.

The last two weeks I've been posting on the state of Connecticut considering increasing the variety of items subject to a bottle/can deposit, including nip bottles. The Meriden Record Journal reported a problem with nips littering the Meriden Green, and I wrote about my experience proving the theory that nip litter is definitely a problem.

After last week, I thought it would be back to normal and I would blog about other things. But circumstances returned me to the nip-o-sphere.

With warm temps resulting in mushy snow on the trails, I didn't expect to find much litter as only the heartiest of hikers would be out on the trails.

On the return leg to the park as I crossed over I-691, I discovered the torn American flag I recently removed over the eastbound lanes of the highway, had been replaced by the mysterious flag-replacer.

Whoever does this is pretty detail-oriented based on the extra, evenly spaced and reinforced grommets affixed to the flag as well as the double zip-ties.

Then I found my first nip bottle; a portent of things to come.

As I returned to the parking lot I'd only spent an hour and a quarter. I prefer to hold myself to a two hour minimum, so I chose to spend 45 minutes walking the various roads around the park and picking up trash.

My route led to the greenhouse, where I found a small bag of trash. Among the items was this letter:

Seems poor Alfred failed to get his Timberland shoes warrantied, without success. I like to think it was a case of preexisting karma for dumping his trash in the park. Alfred also needed a new starter for his Nissan Sentra, which he purchased from Chuck and Eddy's for $52.

Over at the greenhouse itself, I discovered more nip bottles.

To complete my rounds, I walked the road around the playscape, where the hits kept coming.

A nip bottle deposit can't come soon enough.

The Nip Bottle Problem, Part II

Finally; some snow blankets over a frozen Merimere Reservoir.

Visit #1182, Sunday 3 March 19, 11:25AM-12:50PM, 4.2 miles, trash weight not measured.
Temps in the mid-40's; pleasant with sunny skies.

This week is something of a follow-up to last week's report on the nip bottle problem in Meriden, as well as elsewhere in the state. It's more like a REVENUE problem that has a litter problem.

I walked the road around Merimere Reservoir not expecting to find much litter or nip bottles due to the snow cover, and I was right. No matter; I had something else to keep me busy.

The weather was perfect, bringing out brought out many people with their dogs. I met one of them later on.

Enroute to my work site, I found this Carhartt microfleece hat perched on a guardrail.

Someone's loss will be another person's gain: I'll take it home, wash it, and bring it to Goodwill.

At the sharp bend in the road where the climb to the peaks begins, I reached my task for the week.

I wanted to remove the graffiti and I wasn't messing around. I brought the big guns of paint remover, and it was a little too strong.

 It started to remove the sign! A gentler touch prevented any more damage.

At the top of the road I hiked trails down and to the Halfway House, where a snowman stands sentry. "Colt" was such a happy dog, playing with every stick he could find. He wasn't camera-shy either.

As I returned to the parking lot my trash bag had only a few wrappers in it. I thought today would be a bust, until I found a couple cardboard boxes on the Soap Box Derby trail.

I didn't find any nip bottles in Hubbard Park this day. If you'll recall last week, I scoured the roadside near where I live and see many nip bottles, taking inventory as I collected them. But last week there was still some snow on the ground no doubt reducing my haul. Also, I felt bad that I neglected to pick up the other trash along this property. So later on Sunday I returned to the area and picked up ALL the trash, counting the nip bottles I didn't find last week.

Another reason to do this today was 5-9" of snow is forecast overnight and there's no telling when I'd see the ground again.

While I didn't have the means to separate the litter and photograph this week's haul of nip bottles, I CAN give you the following numbers:

I collected and weighed 40lbs. of litter in two bags, of which I calculated 6.4lbs. were nip bottles, or 158 of 'em.

Add that to last week's collection and you have 369. At a future 5 cent deposit per, I could have made $18.45! I wonder how many nip bottles I could buy with that?