In The Weeds

 

Well, at least I got into it BEFORE the season's weeds sprouted.

Visit #1356, Saturday 26 March 22, 8:45-11:30AM, 1.8 miles, 20.2lbs. of litter.

Temps in the low 50's, sunny but clouds moving in, with possible showers in the afternoon.

First, a huge thanks to the Meriden Parks Department. Last week I reported a lot of trash was floating in Mirror Lake, where currents pinned the ugliness to a north wall. I considered cleaning this up myself but was lacking the appropriate tool, which I thought would be a pool skimmer. Well, I mentioned the problem to Meriden Director of Parks and Recreation Chris Bourdon and he sent his crew to the spot not with just a pool skimmer, but with an Arnold Schwarzenegger industrial sized pool skimmer! My informants told me it was impressive to watch, as were the results:

Last Week:

This week:

This week I would do a little mucking about in the water myself but without any Arnold Schwarzenegger-sized equipment.

Before the banks of two brooks flowing through Hubbard Park get crowded with weeds, I would clean the banks on both sides.

One brook flows from Merimere Reservoir, past the site of the old petting zoo, to where it merges with Crow Hollow Brook near West Main Street. I would start near the petting zoo spot and wind my way to where Notch Road exits Hubbard Park.

Wearing muck boots and coveralls, I was equipped for ALMOST anything.

Just about reaching the Grecian Temple, I had filled one bag of litter so I dropped it off and opened another one.

At Notch Road I crossed the brook in my waterproof muck boots and started cleaning up the opposite bank. But my muck boots weren't quite tall enough and at one point took on water! I had to remove the boot and wring out my sock.

GRAPHIC IMAGE FOLLOWS, INCLUDING PARTIAL NUDITY

VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

I dropped off a second bag of trash at the Grecian Temple on the return trip.

If only this century-plus old walkbridge could talk...

I reached the end of my work without getting my feet wet again.

But my work pales in comparison to the story I'm about to tell.

Nearing completion of today's fun, I met a man who remarked if I were an Eagle Scout I must be earning a Merit Badge. During the conversation that followed, I learned a lot.

Joe (not his real name) is a life long Meriden resident, who told me his story of how he moved from Guilford as a child, and from 14-17 years of age, helped his father build a house in Meriden. After graduating from Wilcox with a certificate in machining, he worked in an apprenticeship program with the City of Meriden. When the apprenticeship ended, so did his deferment, and he was drafted in to the Army and sent to Vietnam.

In Vietnam he was assigned to the 82nd Airborne, and spent his time on night ambushes or night time 81mm mortar grid barrages. He slept with his M60 machine gun. Two Purple Hearts. One day, after a night of dropping mortars on a map grid, a Vietnamese woman approached their camp, dumping the body of her dead husband in front of him and blaming the camp for his death.

Joe's wife was his "bedrock" who kept his PTSD at bay. But his wife died around Thanksgiving last year, and her death removed the backstop to his PTSD. He's being treated by the VA, and part of his therapy is walking in Hubbard Park every day.

Lastly, his wife's grandmother was a Hubbard from Middletown, where Walter Hubbard was born.

Spring Arrives

 

Spring arrived at 11:33AM this morning. I was in and out of Hubbard Park before the moment, but I did enjoy the warmer, spring-like morning on this first day of Spring.

Visit #1355, Sunday 20 March 22, 7:20-10:00AM, 4.1 miles, 14.4lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 40's to low 50's, mostly clear but clouds moving in.

I switched out last week's chainsaw for my pole saw, I guess making this a Pole Saw Weekend® as I continue to trim the roadsides of low hanging branches.

And just how low are these branches?

Yeah, the road definitely needs a haircut. I'm working on it, but the park has a big head to cut. Today I reached almost to the jersey barrier in the background.

I worked for an hour, then turned around and returned to the parking lot to drop off my pole saw, then performed some limited litter pickup within the park.

Today's score included Season of the Missing Glove 2021/20, entries #13 and 14, Vernal Equinox Edition.

Near the Grecian Temple, I discovered this plaque I never noticed before. There are a number of them interspersed within the park. For being "just" a greenskeeper and park foreman, Mel's dedication must have made quite an impression on people to deserve such a remembrance.

Coming around to the north end of Mirror Lake, I was disappointed to see the amount of trash floating in the water. At first, the only way I could think of reaching it would be in a boat, then a more convenient solution hit me: A POOL SKIMMER! Unfortunately, I don't own a pool...  I'll mention it to the parks department and see what can be done.

My litter collection today was packaged a in a tidier fashion.

As an aside, near the end of my workday on Friday I had about an hour to kill so I stopped at the Berlin Public Library to find something to occupy my mind. In the New Books non-fiction section I found this:

"How To Suffer Outside: A Beginner's Guide to Hiking and Backpacking" is actually pretty funny, as the author intended. While I didn't check out the book from the library, I definitely found it entertaining; hardly dry, boring, technical reading.

Apparently, I Wasn't Thinking

 Visit #1354, Sunday 13 March 22, 7:45AM-12:15PM, 7.4 miles, 0.0lbs. of litter.

Temps in the low 20's to start, rising to the 30's, sunny and quite breezy.

Time to make wood chips!

Having discovered a fallen tree across a trail last week toward the north end of Hubbard Park, I was going to schlep my chainsaw there to remove it. 

The weather wasn't going to make it easy.

Saturday's rain turned to snow as the temperatures dropped hard and fast. What would result is a sheen of ice over the trails and the roads.

I had enough foresight to wear crampons so I wouldn't imitate a pig on ice.

Well, it never occurred to me that last night's frosty high winds would bring down even more trees. I didn't get much farther than the south end of Merimere Reservoir when I found my first tree on the Green Trail. This wasn't what I was expecting. Apparently, I wasn't thinking.

You can see the rising sun just clearing the tops of the trees. By the time I was done clearing the blow down 35 minutes later, I was basking in sunshine.

I hiked up to Castle Craig and turned right, onto the Blue Trail overlooking Meriden.

Descending the trail, I arrived at the first tree that was on my original agenda. Small, but it had to go.

At the north end of the trail I turned left, and halfway up to East Peak I reached the other fallen tree on my schedule.

Notice my loppers hanging off a branch. Remember them...

While cutting up this tree, my chainsaw got stuck in the kerf. Now what?

I used my felling wedge to engineer a way out of this jam (pun intended!) and after 5 minutes of rasslin' I was free. Now I could finish the job.

I thought that would be the end of my Power Tool Weekend®. What was I thinking?

I reached the end of the trail, turned right, and ran into another fallen tree.

Of course, I did what anyone would do if they were carrying a chainsaw and hiking.

While packing up I discovered I could not find my loppers. I must have left them at the previous tree, which was 20 minutes back down the trail. So, off I went to retrieve my loppers.

But when I arrived, I couldn't find them. Did I leave them at that last tree, above, and just didn't look hard enough?

Back up the trail I went; another 20 minute hike.

I arrived, and STILL couldn't find them.

I decided to change my route and hike back down the trail AGAIN, and if I couldn't find them I would write them off and just exit the trail, and walk the road around Merimere Reservoir back to the park.

After just a few minutes on my second reverse trudge, I found 'em! $100 saved.

In the process of moving that bent tree off the trail I dropped the loppers, which were strung around my neck. That's 45 minutes I'll never get back!

I reached the bottom of the Blue Trail and turned right, heading toward the I-691 walkbridge. But I wasn't going to get there without a fight. I soon met yet another fallen tree.

The hemlocks are dropping like a hooker's skirt.

Finally, I made it across the I-691 walkbridge, only to have one more fallen tree taunt me.

I still had fuel in the tank.

I didn't inspect all the trails, and I asked a passing hiker if they had seen any fallen trees; he couldn't recall seeing any. But for all I know, he wasn't thinking.

Rounding the Corner

 Visit #1353, Saturday 5 March 22, 0820-1055hrs, 5.3 miles, 9.8lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 20's, rising to the low 40's, sunny with a light breeze.

With spring a few weeks away, you can hear the ice cracking on Merimere Reservoir as it melts. The sound is reverberant and eerie.

From a distance, looking at the bare hillsides you would think the trails were clear to hike. I was going to find out by hiking a lesser used trail at the north end of Hubbard Park.

I walked around Merimere Reservoir, crossed over the Maloney Canal, and picked up the trail. It was all hardpacked snow and ice, which would have been too slippery for most people. But I wisely brought my crampons which were a necessity and a godsend.

Halfway up the trail I found a fallen tree, which I hope to remove next week in a Power Tool Weekend®!

Above is a good depiction of how ice/snowbound and slippery the trail was.

I reached the top of the trail and hiked back to Hubbard Park.

Adding to the Season of the Missing Glove 2021/22 collection, are entries #12 and 13!

Last week I was talking to a relative who walks their dog regularly in Hubbard Park, and they were amazed at the frequent smell of marijuana they would encounter. I agreed; during last week's adventure, when I arrived at the park BEFORE 7AM,  I could smell it from a passing car.

What we both experienced is apparently not unusual, as I found while picking up litter, and so close to the playscape, too.

With little litter collected on the road around the reservoir and on the trails, I took some extra time to clean up the block surrounding the playscape, and inside the playscape as well, thus the final photo from the inside of the playscape fence.