So How Was YOUR Thanksgiving?

 

Visit #1396, Thanksgiving Day, 24 November 22, 12:45-1:00PM, mileage and litter n/a.

Temps in the high 40s, sunny.

Visit #1397, Sunday 27 November 22, 7:00-9:00AM, 1.4 miles, 5.7 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the high 30's, increasing clouds with rain predicted for the afternoon.

Recreation Coordinator for the Meriden Parks and Recreation, Kathy Matula, mentioned to me someone placed stickers on a kiosk in Hubbard Park and she could not remove them.

So on Thanksgiving Day I had some spare time thought I'd try my hand at removing them.

About a week ago I tried applying Goo Gone to the stickers with the same results Kathy had. I decided the colder temperatures were making things difficult. This time I came prepared.

I applied more Goo Gone then used a wallpaper scraper. Not only was it not working, the scraper's blade was scratching the plexiglass. That would not do.

First, I tried something a little more gentle than a sharp blade. Big Y to the rescue!

While it wasn't scratching the plexiglas, it wasn't progressing well.

Plan B. I needed HEAT.

I soaked a rag in some near-boiling water from a thermos and applied held the rag over the stickers for less than a minute.

It worked so fast it had me laughing!

That's why I only spent fifteen minutes in Hubbard Park on Thanksgiving Day.

On Sunday I resumed roadside trimming on the road to Castle Craig.

After an hour, I stopped and picked up litter around the castle and the parking lot.

So how was MY Thanksgiving, you ask? Other than the joyous success of removing stickers from the kiosk, let me tell you how my day went.

I'm not a fan of tradition, and that includes turkey and all the trimmings on Thanksgiving. What I planned to do instead was to bake a pumpkin pie, and eat the entire pie within Thanksgiving Day. My calculations and training said it was doable, probably before lunch.

I bought the one-can pie filling, evaporated milk, and a pre-fab graham cracker pie shell.

I mixed up the batter and poured it into the shell. There was more batter than would fit into the shell so I was going to lick up the excess batter. I stuck my finger in the bowl and gathered up a taste of pumpkin pie filling-I FORGOT THE SUGAR!

No biggie; I'll just pour the batter back out of the pie shell into the bowl, add the sugar, and return it to the graham cracker crust.

Things were going wonderfully-until the crust slid out of the pin tin and into the batter.

So how was YOUR Thanksgiving?

Denial of Access Attack

 There is such a thing you know; a Denial of Access attack. A web site is flooded with requests through nefarious means so that legitimate users can't access a web site. It is malicious in intent.

Visit #1395, Sunday 20 November 22, 6:50-8:35AM. 3.8 miles, 10.7 lbs. of litter.

Temps on the low 30s, sunny and breezy.

This week I was informed Hubbard Park would be closed this weekend so parks crews could install the Christmas lights. There are so many displays to be installed that I could understand the need to give them unfettered access throughout the park. They would need to institute a temporary Denial of Parking.

As I drove by the park the day before, I could see the ONLY available parking would be at the skate house, and at 9AM is was already full. So in order to guarantee I could find a parking spot on Sunday, I would have to arrive early.

And even when I arrived at the early hour of 6:40AM, I was still beaten by others. Nevertheless, there were still parking spots to be found.

With these temporary parking restrictions, I changed my weekly plans and rather than venturing out to the trails, I remained completely within the park proper and picked up litter.

Walking around Mirror Lake in the early morning, the ducks engaged in a Pavlovian Parade as I walked by, as if I had pockets full of cracked corn to give them. I gave them a Denial of Food Attack instead.

From the "Joke Was On Me" Department: I looked across Mirror Lake and couldn't believe my eyes; some meathead put a boat on the water and was fishing! It took me quite a few minutes to come to the realization it was just another Christmas display. I had a good laugh over that!

Something else I couldn't believe: despite the roads leading to the park being barricaded, people were STILL managing to drive into the park.

Now how could that be? I eventually came to two conclusions: Either they drove in through the one way, exit only Notch Road, or they moved one of the barriers aside.

The first conclusion seems reasonable, and was witnessed by another park goer I talked to that morning although it's still stupid behavior. The second conclusion seemed reasonable as well as I soon found out.

Now I have only one rational explanation the second conclusion-presumably the parks crews would be coming to work on Sunday to continue installation of the lighting displays (although I never saw anyone), and some employee left the barrier open for the other workers' convenience.

To back this up, I noticed the gate across Hubbard Park Drive, leading to Castle Craig, was unlocked.

This lead me to believe there must be a crew at Castle Craig installing the Christmas lights there, and they didn't bother to latch the chain behind them.

Both excuses spell "lazy". The end result is people getting into the park when they shouldn't be there, and possibly opening the gate and driving up to the peaks because "hey; it's unlocked!"

My Find of the Week:

Looks like a catheter of some sort, with a valve at the top. No 'splainin' what it was doing in Hubbard Park.

But my biggest Find of THIS Week was:

With most of the identifying information redacted by me, I found this ID in the dirt parking lot in the northwest corner of Mirror Lake. And in the world of coincidences, this card owner JUST HAPPENED to live in the same condominium complex that I do! When I returned it to him this morning he was definitely surprised to see it and said he lost it "some time ago." I didn't press for details and went about my day.

In other news, Kathy Matula of the Meriden Parks Department told me there was a new trailhead kiosk on Hubbard Park Drive at the Gate. And there it is.

I eventually found my way back to the my starting point, the skate house, where hungry pigeons naively thought I had bird seed for them. Apparently the ducks didn't inform them of my miserly ways. I gave the birds a Denial of Bird Seed Attack.

Happy Thanksgiving; Hubbard Park's lights go on Wednesday, 23 November 22.

 

Tropical Storm Nicole

Well now, I guess Nicole explains why I was rained on both Saturday and Sunday.

Plaster your nose right up against your phone and you might see the gold dome of city hall.

Visit #1393a, Saturday 12 November 22, 8:10-10:30AM, mileage not recorded, 3.2lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 60s, light rain reducing to sprinkles by hike's end.

Visit #1394, Sunday 13 November 22, 6:50-9:55AM, 5.5 miles, 9.0lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 50s, light steady rain dissipating by hike's end.

Saturday's hike was supposed to be off-the-record with no trash pickup or trail maintenance but once I saw the first piece of litter, my Pavlovian response kicked in and all bets were off.

I hiked off-trail because last week I spied something unusual which needed further inspection.

It's a car part for sure, and if you saw where I found it you'd be scratching your head as to how it got there.

I'm trying to identify it and have put out some feelers; we'll see where this leads.

Anyway, once I grabbed the car part, I emerged from the trail near Castle Craig and walked down the road toward Merimere Reservoir.

Passing by the water department gate near the Maloney Canal, I see they have replaced the missing lock I reported last week, and sent an e-mail to the water department advising them of the issue. And as predicted, no acknowledgement from them.

Speaking of the Maloney Canal, Nicole has it flowing like the shopping crowds on Black Friday, into the reservoir. As a sixty year old male with typical age related prostate issues, I DREAM of flowing like this!

Checking on the status of the Merimere Reservoir Alligator, I see despite Nicole's efforts, it's morphed into a flat-billed playpus.

And not only did Nicole bring rain, she brought wind, too.

I was able to move this off the road. Forgive the blurry photo.

However, I was unable to move this.

I returned to the parking lot and decided I'd rendezvous with this tree on Sunday with my chainsaw.

So on Sunday morning I came back to Hubbard Park under similar gray skies and rain, with my chainsaw.

But when I arrived at the fallen tree I discovered someone(s) had managed to move it aside. I guess they didn't have a chainsaw with them. But now I did, so I gave the tree a proper send off.

The other reason I wanted to bring my chainsaw was, I was informed by a park-goer of another fallen tree on a trail.

It was 8:30AM now still raining, but that didn't stop me from removing this fallen tree.

I hiked until I connected to the Blue Trail, where on Saturday I found graffiti on one of the Blue Trail markers.

Using Goof-Off and a plastic brush I was able to remove most of the ink and leave most of the paint. The trail marker is plastic so I couldn't flatten it.

Making my way back to the park, I stopped at one of the kiosks and found this ahem, uh, interesting poster. Whoever posted it actually had it sealed in plastic. I think their thoughts were sealed in something too.

Here's hoping you voted for the right "midget spirits"!

My 2nd (or maybe 3rd) Job

 

Besides maintaining the trails and trimming the roadsides to East/West Peak, occasionally I remove graffiti.

Visit #1393, Sunday 6 November 22, 6:15-10:25AM, 5.8 miles, 6.6 lbs. of litter.

Unseasonably warm for November-temps in the 60s at 6AM, rising to the low 70s. Very breezy, mildly humid, and mostly cloudy.

A few weeks ago I climbed the stairs to Castle Craig and was surprised at the amount of graffiti on the stairs, the walls, and the parapet. In addition to my normal weekly duties, I loaded up to remove what graffiti I could.

Daylight Standard Time began this morning so my start was mostly in the dark.

Shortly after beginning up the road around Merimere Reservoir, I came upon what I first thought might be dumping, but concluded must be construction supplies for I-691 bridge work. It will be interesting to see this develop.

There were a lot of "findings" this week. I barely made it half way around the reservoir when I found this bulky blanket, as you see it.

If it comes out clean after washing, I'll bring it to Goodwill.

Update on the Merimere Reservoir Alligator- it's grown so large it no longer has a tail. I think that's the lowest I've ever seen the water level at the reservoir.

Reaching the gate at the Maloney Canal, I discovered the lock has been cut again. I sent an e-mail and photo to the director of the Meriden Water Department. I've done this before; I usually get no response, no thanks, then a new lock appears.

That's my bag of litter behind the iron post.

A couple of early morning mountain bikers ride up the hill. I eventually caught up with them at the top of Castle Craig and we chatted for a while.

Those mountain bikers passed by my next Find of the Week and didn't bother to pick them up.

These Foster Grants are polarized with nary a scratch on the lenses. If I didn't wear prescription glasses I'd be stylin' in these. If anybody wants them, e-mail me; I'll hold on to them for one week.

At Castle Craig I began to address the graffiti using the various solvents and tools I carried including the steel, and brass bristle brushes above. No "after" photos today as I think some of the graffiti will need a revisitation. I spent an hour finding and removing what I could, in addition to removing stickers and whatnot.

This was what caught my attention and prompted me to focus on graffiti today.

This graffiti was after I wet the area down with Goo Gone and before I applied elbow grease.

This graffiti removed easily using lacquer thinner.

Leaving Castle Craig I found this forgotten childrens' hoodie. Hopefully it will follow the blanket to Goodwill.

There were a lot of people out on the trails today, enjoying the gifted temperatures and the fallen leaves. The gift won't be long lasting however, as more seasonable temperatures will return later this week.