Project Complete!

 Visit #1453, Saturday, 25 November 23, 7:30-9:30AM, mileage n/a, litter < 1lb.

Temps in the high 20s/low 30s, sunny.

I was so close to finishing my project, started 2 1/2 years ago, of trimming roadside branches along the road to East and West Peak, that I abandoned hiking and drove up to complete the last hundred yards or so.

My project's finishing point was where the road diverges to East/West Peak. It also happened to be the location of one of the signs posted for last week's 3 Peak Challenge. It seems they forgot to remove ALL the signs posted along the route, and missed this one. Doh! No problemo; I removed it.

While finishing my project near this spot, Meriden Parks Department employee Rob Zebora happened by. He was heading up to Castle Craig to lower the flag to half staff in memory of First Lady Rosalyn Carter, who passed away this week at the age of 92.

During our chat, Rob noted the two trees along the road around Merimere Reservoir which had fallen. He was concerned they would make plowing the road difficult should it snow, and planned to notify the proper department to have them removed from the road.

I told him to not bother; I would take care of them on the return trip.

Quality work at volunteer prices!

Surprises

 

A pleasant fall day for a hike, whether five miles or nine.

Visit #1452, Sunday 19 November 23, 7:30-10:25AM, 5.1 miles, 1.2 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 40s rising to the low 50s, sunny and calm.

Today, the Meriden Parks and Recreation Department was hosting a hike (The date was changed to Sunday the 19th due to Saturday's weather). I had no plans to attend although the lure of pizza was difficult to resist. Instead I started early and planned to be done before I might cross paths with the hikers.

Instead, I was caught in the act of my roadside trimming by Kathy Matula, Recreation Director for the Meriden Parks Department, and Dave Cooley as they were driving by in a city van posting directional signs for the hikers. Boy, was I surprised!

I finished an hour of trimming then hiked toward Castle Craig. Enroute I came upon my first Find of the Week.

I passed by this spot enroute to my trimming so it must have been lost between 8:00 and 8:15. The Cosworth embroidery reminds me of the Cosworth Vega, Chevrolet's mid-1970's attempt at a sports car, and the font is similar but I can't tell whether the hat is related. I'll wash the hat, drop it off at Goodwill, and always wonder whether the owner's name was Cosworth.

Just a bunch of feet away from the hat was one of the directional signs placed by Kathy and Dave.

I continued walking up the road you see and came upon Find of the Week #2.

Surprise- it's a dead black snake, roughly five feet long, using my pole saw for comparison. I imagine the snake had a late night on the town and couldn't find his way back to the den or his wife locked him out, and he froze to death.

(Aside-I rode my bike up to Castle Craig yesterday and the snake wasn't there at three-ish Saturday afternoon.)

Well, what's a guy with a sick sense of humor to do with a dead snake? How about give the hikers something to talk about?

Surprise! Unless he comes back to life or sobers up, he should be a topic of conversation among the hikers!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Checking Off That "To-Do" List

 

Did I get everything done on my list? Yep.

Visit #1451, Saturday 11 November 23, 7:30-10:15AM, 3.8 miles, 2.3 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 40s, rising to the low 50s, sunny with a slight breeze.

One month ago, I reported on a stolen Meriden Water Department sign at the south end of Merimere Reservoir. I sent in a work request to have the sign replaced, via the city's work request web link.

After several weeks of no reply or results, I took matters into my own hands. I contacted the Meriden Parks Department instead and asked for them to hook me up with a sign that I would install myself. They came through with flying colors.

But when I picked up the sign I was expecting a metal sign like this one:

Instead, I was given this flimsy plastic sign. This would never last. Budgets must be tight.

So as to not seem ungrateful, I bit my tongue and accepted the sign with a smile. Then I set out to correct this faux pas.

I bought a piece of galvanized sheet steel and glued it to the sign. First I had to prep it.

Hopefully the 3M Super 77 will withstand the environment.

 I even spray painted the exterior wood screws and washers, although in retrospect I think it was overkill and a tad visually unappealing.

I packed up my modified creation and set out for Hubbard Park.

Last week I received an e-mail from Kathy Matula, Recreation Coordinator from the Meriden Parks Department. The parks department was hosting a hike in Hubbard Park and she requested some trail maintenance on one particular trail. Happy to oblige,  I would pack my chainsaw for Saturday's hike.

Lastly, I wanted to continue with my roadside trimming along the roads to East and West Peak. I'm almost done with this multi-year project. So along with the sign and the chainsaw, I brought along my trimming tools.

Now to put it all together and wipe off that To-Do list!

First was to attend to Kathy's trail request. Late in the week I received a phone call from her; she and some friends marked the trail and removed some of the fallen branches and trees that I was initially tasked with removing. Did she take the gravy and the turkey bones for me?

I was reminded of the lyrics from Nils Lofgren's song, "Keith Don't Go". Keith is Keith Richards, guitarist for the Rolling Stones. Keith's drug use was affecting his health and his death was a distinct possibility. Nils's song was a plea for Keith to get his act together so as to not die and abandon his fans.

(Besides a long solo career, Nils Lofgren is the lead guitarist for Bruce Springsteen's band).

The song line goes-

Keith don't go

Don't take my fun

Well, did Kathy and crew take my chainsaw fun away?

I found some of their trail markings.

I also found the stencil they used for other trail markings. Took me a while to figure out what it was because at first I thought it was a self-cleaning litter box 😀. I trust leaving this was unintentional. I packed it out along with other litter I found.

Anyway, while I did use my chainsaw a few times, I saw nothing which would label me a trail hero.

Reaching the bottom of the trail I walked the road back up to West Peak and cleaned up the parking lot.

Among the litter there was my Find of the Week.

I almost violated HIPAA laws and didn't obscure the patient's ID!

Besides back problems they have kidney, heart, and ahem, "other" issues. It's nice to see they're concerned about their health, taking Vitamin C and a multi-vitamin, although author Catherine Price would take exception to supplemental vitamins. I've read this book and it is truly revealing about the vitamin industry. She also writes about our addiction to our smart phones. I've read that as well.

Links to the drugs and their usage are below.

medical cannabis

Nitro-Bid

Nitrofurantoin

Oxybutynin

sildenafiL What's interesting here is the paper lists the sildenafil ending in a capital "L" yet everywhere

else I look it's lower case. Maybe the "L" represents the erection you'll get when you use it?! Maybe it's just a typo.

I then turned my attention to my roadside trimming for an hour. I had previously trimmed around this sign for improved visibility but was not satisfied, so I returned and trimmed some more.

Now on to replacing that missing sign.

I hung it a bit higher, out of reach of idle hands.

Daylight Trail Standard Time

 Visit #1450, Sunday 5 November 23, 7:20-9:00AM, 3.3 miles, 4.1 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 40s, sunny and rising to the low 60s.

Caution: Disturbing graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.

During last week's rain soaked hike, I found some graffiti in the form of stickers on a guardrail at the north end of Merimere Reservoir. On Saturday I returned via mountain bike to remove them. 

During that prior week's hike, I performed a brief test and determined it would take extra tools and effort so on Saturday I packed accordingly.

The thermos contains the secret sauce; the gloves protect my hands from the secret sauce.

1. Apply the sauce to a rag.

2. Place the rag on the sticker.

3. Wait one minute.

4. Scrape.

The chisel was the right tool to remove the stickers as the adhesive was very aggressive. the blade scraper wasn't cutting it.

Roughly fifteen minutes to complete the job.

Afterward I took a bike ride up to Castle Craig, and was disappointed to have cars passing me on the way up.

You see, the road is listed as being closed for the winter beginning November 1st and myself, like many other park goers I know, look forward to enjoying a car-free road for at least a portion of the year.

I don't know why the road was open and I imagine many others were disappointed as well.

I left Castle Craig I and pedaled around the reservoir to pick up the trails to the wooden walkbridge on the west side of the park. I wasn't sure whether I spied a fallen tree from a distance last week and wanted to verify what I saw so I might know whether to pack the chainsaw for Sunday's hike.

Yeah, I'd have to pack the chainsaw.

So Sunday morning I loaded up and hiked in over the I-691 walkbridge.

On the bridge I stopped to remove some new graffiti I found. It was easier than removing the stickers Saturday.

Just beyond that was someone's leftover Halloween candy. Looks like they visited the cheap houses.

Then, a most unusual find.

I wouldn't consider pickles trail food but I guess different strokes for different folks.

Also on the walkbridge I found a refrigerator magnet.

Now here's something I wouldn't throw away. I collect them, and put them where else, but on my refrigerator! I should get a life...

Now let's get to work on that fallen tree.

With that literally out of the way, I hiked on.

Passing the Halfway House, I spied someone (thing) that forgot to set their clock back.

Or maybe they're a third shift worker on overtime.

Now here comes the squeamish part.

Hiking back to the park on the Soap Box Derby track I saw a blanket and a couple garbage bags underneath the overpass and thought they were just litter. I picked up the blanket and found THIS.

Someone had dumped a dog, now deceased. No telling whether it was alive when it was dumped there, but the body was cold now.

I picked up the blanket and bags and left the corpse with really no idea what to do.

But luck was on my side. As I was driving out of the park I saw a parks department employee in a golf cart picking up litter. I stopped him and informed him of my finding and asked if he would help me remove it. Brandon/Brendan/Brandan (sp?) checked with his boss who told him to remove it, vs. contacting the local animal control officer. We placed the body in a large garbage bag and he disposed of it.

Relaying the story to someone else on Sunday, they suggested perhaps the dog was microchipped and was dumped instead of being properly euthanized for fear of the owner being reported. We'll never know.

How sad.