Mucking About

 

Put on your muck boots boys and girls; it's gonna get mucky!

Visit #1298, Saturday 27 March 21, 6:40-9:30AM, 1.5 miles, 23.3 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the mid-40's, sunny and warming up to the 60's quickly.

Once or twice a year I try to clean up Crow Hollow Brook as it flows through Hubbard Park. This week was ripe for the deed, but first I had other tasks to attend to.

I was in the park early, heading up the road toward Castle Craig. A large tree branch had fallen on the trail and needed some chainsaw love.

I turned around and returned to the water tank, where last week I was unable to remove one piece of graffiti.

I brought the heavy artillery; lacquer thinner. Resistance if futile.

As I headed back toward the park, I noticed so much new graffiti on the guardrail that I had to address it while I had the all the tools such as rags, brushes, lacquer thinner, and Goo Gone to complete the job.

Goo Gone goes to work almost instantly, and works best on smooth surfaces such as this sign.

You've got to wonder what prompts these people to persist with their graffiti. I cleaned this guardrail of graffiti as recent as two weeks ago, yet the same tags keep reappearing.

It's still Season of the Missing Glove, 2020/21, and here's entry #15, a lucky pair.

Back at the parking lot I donned the muck boots and followed Crow Hollow Brook toward West Main Street, cleaning the banks and stepping in the water when necessary.

The daffodils are starting to conduct business.

After following the brook down to West Main Street and cleaning one bank, I about-faced and cleaned the opposite bank. It's easier to do this early in the season while the vegetation is not in full bloom, despite the cold water. It flows pretty strongly too, especially noticed when you're standing in it!

I dropped off my bag of trash and put the muck boots away until next time.