Playtime!

 Strike while the iron is hot, they say. It wasn't exactly hot, but it definitely was time to make tracks.

Visit #1348, Sunday 30 January 22, 8:25-10:10AM, 3.0 miles, 0.0lbs. of litter.

Temps in the low teens and sunny, a day after a blizzard dumped 12" on snow on Meriden.

I took advantage of Saturday's snowstorm and devoted Sunday to just play by breaking out the snowshoes.

While I certainly arrived early at the park considering the low temps, I figured I wouldn't be the only one to treat myself to virgin snow.

But where were all the fun hogs? I arrived to an empty parking lot...

Like a good student I did all my homework (snow shoveling) after the storm abated Saturday afternoon so I was free to play on Sunday morning.

As I arrived at the park the only other creatures enjoying the rising sun were the ducks and the pigeons. Ducks, pigeons, and me; small brains think alike.

And yes; despite the cold temps, I could feel the sun's radiant energy warming my cheeks. Spring is out there, lurking in the bushes.

As I started my snowshoe hike I noticed the gate at the south end of the Soap Box Derby Track has been breeched. I'm assuming it was nefarious work by the snowmobilers as they left their footprints. I could not find the chain or the lock. The truck tracks puzzled me, and the lock at the opposite end of the road was not broken so there's no explanation for the truck tire tracks.

I was going to snowshoe off-trail but changed my mind, realizing I should inspect the trails for fallen trees and branches, considering yesterday's blizzard was accompanied by strong winds. While I didn't find much, I did find something on the trail behind the water tank, which I removed.

The seriously high winds stripped away any snow accumulation at the south end of Merimere Reservoir.

Impressive.

At the Halfway House is where I felt the sun's warmth. It was a simple pleasure.

When I returned to the parking lot, other people were just starting to gather for a snowshoe outing. It was their time to play.

The Tradition Run 2022

 

While the runners participating in today's Tradition run were either still in a warm bed or just making their first bowl of granola, somebody was already in Hubbard Park making the place look pretty. Squint real hard and you can see my parked car.

Visit #1347, Sunday 23 January 22, 6:30-9:10AM, 6.6 miles, 7.6lbs. of litter.

Temps in the low teens, rising to the low 30's today, sunny.

With today's Tradition Run, I wanted the park to look spiffy so I arose early to clean the roads and parking areas in advance of the event. When I arrived it was still too early to see any litter so I sat in my car until it was barely light enough to see. Then I walked all around and did my business.

The start line was dark and empty.

The Grecian Temple looked beautiful in the twilight.

One Find of the Week was this bucket. Just getting rid of this eyesore before people arrived made the early start worthwhile.

Who knew Cinderella ate at Taco Bell? If I knew she wore such ugly shoes, I wouldn't go looking for her, that's for sure!

It took me just under one hour to scour all the roads and parking areas, etc. in Hubbard Park. I dropped off my bag of litter and opened another one for Part II, but didn't expect to find much. I was right.

Now it was on to the Tradition Run route-the road around Merimere Reservoir up to Castle Craig.

It's Week #7 of The Iron Scraps I Left At The Water Treatment Plant Naively Thinking The Meriden Water Department Would Take Them Away. Peruse previous weeks' entries for the history.

Finally, progress!

While the water department employees haven't made the effort to actually remove the iron, employees apparently got tired of moving them out of the way when I would slide them under the gate. They did the minimum necessary and pushed them aside, inside the fence line, and left them there. I'll be interested to see how long they stay there. You put one quarter in, and you get one turn of the wheel...

The sun was just beginning to crack over the ridge of East Peak.

But the real story was the ice.

Part of the Tradition Run's allure is weather conditions be damned; this run IS ON!

Well, the runners were certainly in for an adventure.

There were long stretches of ice around the Merimere Reservoir, as were dry patches. Maybe you could dance around them, but from my observation, it wasn't that easy.

It was when the north facing road turned uphill that things got real ugly. The city had sent a highway truck in advance to sand the road. In my experience, the sand didn't improve traction one bit. Which is not to say I didn't appreciate the effort, but at least without the sand's presence you would not assume traction must be good, and you could at least see you were trodding on an ice covered road.

It would have been worth pitching a lawn chair somewhere along the climb to watch runners do the Curly Shuffle when they ran on the ice!

 

 I wonder how many slips, falls, pulled groin muscles and hamstrings, and swear words there were.

The highway truck was VERY GINGERLY inching down the road after sanding to Castle Craig, and wisely so; the sand wasn't helping him either.

I had already engaged in some traction enhancement.

Along the way up, I found Season of the Missing Glove 2021/22 Entry #3, the Cinnamon Sugar Edition.

Castle Craig was empty when I arrived. I took a minute to enjoy the view south toward Sleeping Giant State Park.

Hiking down from Castle Craig, I happened upon another Find of the Week. I'll wash this hat and take it to Goodwill.

It paid to take the trails back to the park. Enroute I found a small fallen tree across the White Trail, which I removed.

When I finally returned to the parking lot, I found all the runners had finished their granola and arrived to continue the tradition of the Tradition Run.

Into the Brrrrr!

 

It was cold enough to freeze over Mirror Lake. Not cold enough for skating, but many people couldn't read the sign. I wonder if we'll have a Darwin Award winner in Hubbard Park this year?

For some humorous entertainment, click on the link above and read about some other Darwin Award winners from 2021 and years past.

Temps were in the single digits on Sunday morning. I tried staying in my jammies until temps rose to something more reasonable (seasonable?), but the temperature wasn't getting out of bed fast enough for my liking, so at 11AM I gave up all hope for warmth and ventured out to Hubbard Park in the mid-teens.

I brought my pole saw this week to finish trimming overhanging branches on the last hundred feet or so on one side of the road, having started at Castle Craig several months ago. 

One side down, 3+ miles to go! Admittedly, this last stretch doesn't look pretty, but unfortunately there were too many stubborn tangled vines, and I never planned to clear cut this segment anyway. We'll see how it looks come springtime.

That one hundred feet or so consumed a bit over an hour of my budget. I returned to my car and dropped off the pole saw, switching to litter-pick-up mode. But first...

...In the saga of The Iron Scraps I Left At The Water Treatment Plant Naively Thinking The Meriden Water Department Would Take Them Away, I was dying to see if there was hope for humanity or if one of Darwin's theories would hold sway over common sense.

The score on Week #6 is Darwin-1, Common Sense-0.

I'm giving them Chance #6.

The strange thing is, I can hang a bag of litter on the fence and they'll take IT away pronto. However when it comes to this iron, there must be a mental roadblock.

Any wagers on whether it will still be there after Week #7?

My Find of the Week:

It took me a minute to conclude what it was-a chisel being used by the crew working on the I-691 underpass.

I stuck it in the man lift so perhaps they'll be reunited with it. However, if they're anything like the water department employees, they'll just drop it on the ground and continue on with their work.

I returned to the park and walked all the roads around Hubbard Park, picking up litter.

Here's Season of the Missing Glove 2021/22 Entry #2, The Found In The Snowbank Edition.

Whether trimming trees, pushing iron under the fence, or picking up litter, it all generated some body heat and made the cold more than tolerable.

This last find is for Kathy M.; it's your favorite! 😏

I'm On Vacation

 

Less than twenty-four hours after a snowfall, and hardy people are already enjoying Hubbard Park.

Visit #1345, Saturday 8 January 22, 11:10AM-1:15PM, 4.6 miles, less than 1lb. of litter.

Temps in the 20's, very sunny with a light breeze.

As I arrived at Hubbard Park on Saturday I was approached by a friend and reader of this blog, who gave me a good-natured ribbing on "arriving late" to the park.

True; I usually prefer to start early in the morning, but momma didn't raise no dummy-it was COLD and I was waiting for more sane temps!

It was actually warmer than the thermometer displayed, and I wound up shedding layers while working up some heat from hiking.

While I came prepared for the snow, bringing snowshoes and crampons, talking with my friend I learned the trails were already heavily used and snow-packed, so snowshoes would likely not be needed. He was right.

Deep snow keeps the poseurs away so I won't have to worry about picking up lots of litter until the spring. Therefore you could say winter is my vacation time.

And on Saturday it was time to punch in on the Fun Clock.

I hiked up to the Halfway House at one point deviating from the trail. The sunlight was so bright reflecting off the snow that only by imitating my best Clint Eastwood cowboy squint could I see.

And yes, even I was surprised at the amount of trail usage so soon after Friday's snowfall.

Once I reached the Blue Trail, I took in the views, and the long descent to the north end of Merimere Reservoir.

The road around the reservoir had long stretches of ice, but I could stitch together enough dry spots to walk safely.

The primo sledding spot appears to be the water tank.

Remember those pieces of iron I found and brought all the way down from below Castle Craig, way back in mid-December? Those pieces of iron that I naively left at the water treatment plant, thinking the personnel would pick them up and dispose of them? Those pieces of iron that sat there week after week even though I put them directly in front of the gate to motivate a water department employee to get rid of them?

This week I thought for sure by now a worker would have picked them up and disposed of them properly.

Then I spied the lumps in the snow.

Apparently picking up this material must not be in their job description. They'd sooner just keep tossing it aside.

I'd sooner just keep tossing it back. This is week number 4. Let's see how long this back and forth continues...

I returned to the parking lot and, not having picked up any litter, I relieved my backpack of my snowshoes, and myself of the poles and crampons, and walked around the park to pick up any litter I could find. Just two bottles.

Starting 2022 With A Foggy Bang

Meriden is out there, somewhere.

Visit #1344, Saturday 1 January 22, 8:50-11:50AM, 5.7miles, 20.8lbs. of litter.

Temps in the low 50's, very foggy with intermittent light drizzle.

You woke up New Year's morning with your party hat still on your head. And what you thought was a suppository-that's the noisemaker you brought to bed and slept on last night.

I arrived at Hubbard Park at what I thought would be a late start and fully expected to see many people beginning their New Year's Resolutions, burning some calories. Instead, Meriden was still in bed. The parking lot was deserted.

I hiked over I-691 and up to West Peak. The fog was everywhere-what did I expect?!

Reaching West Peak, I tidied up the area and the parking lot, then treated myself to some solitude by hiking down toward Merimere Reservoir via a trail rather than the road.

Exiting onto the road around the reservoir, I encountered quite a large number of runners trickling by, so I asked a passing runner what the deal was. Turns out the Meriden Parks Department and the Meriden Running Club teamed up to host a 5k event and to top it off, it made the TV news (click on the preceding link). From the number of runners and walkers I met, it was quite well attended and every participant was clearly in a cheerful mood, considering the weather. Can't blame 'em...

I got my mileage in as well, albeit at a slower pace.

As a side note, I did visit Hubbard Park on New Year's Eve, continuing my roadside overhead tree trimming.

I walked by the Little Library posted at the playscape and peaked inside, only to discover more than just books.

It would be interesting to learn the backstory on how this little library has evolved to include canned goods.

It's the third week that the Meriden Water Department has not collected the wrought iron I left there.

In an effort to motivate the water department to pick up the iron and remove it, I relocated it to a spot that SHOULD annoy them and spur them to action. We will see...