"Water, Water, Everywhere But, Not A Place To Stand"

I've inserted this song in my blog before, but it's worth repeating this week.

Visit #1488, Sunday 21 July 24, 6:15-9:25AM, 6.8 miles, 3.1 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the low 70s, sunny and moderately humid, reaching the mid 80s.

Interesting news in the Meriden Record Journal this week: Merimere Reservoir has a prostate problem and the state of Connecticut is helping fund the repair surgery.

I guess a lot of water is leaking from here:

Down to here:

And on to here:

And further, through here:

...instead of reaching Meriden's citizens.

This kinda makes sense to me because, as reported by the National Institute of Health, by the age of 85, 90 percent of men will have prostate enlargement and the issues that go along with it. I can only conclude two things:

1. Since Merimere Reservoir is over 85 years old, it makes sense it will have BPH.

2. Since the reservoir is experiencing this ahem, leak, the reservoir must be male.

I walked the road up toward the reservoir this morning and found some some new graffiti on the gate near the water treatment plant, which I removed  with some handy sandpaper and muscle.

At the north end of Merimere Reservoir I found a sticker on the gate. Stickers are just as offensive to me as graffiti so I removed it. In the photo I've blurred the information on the sticker so as to not give advertising to the owner, who I contacted and gently notified them of their trespass.

Once I left the road and picked up the trail, I soon found my Find of the Week but as you'll see, it wasn't my best find.

Why I would find a steak knife on a trail is beyond me.

Reaching the top of the trail was my goal this week.

These poles were placed at the trailhead at my request back in 2014 because I had found cars driving down the trail for some discrete activities. Occasionally I would find them moved slightly but not to the degree shown above. This week I brought some tools to assist repositioning them.

A couple logs were too heavy to move so I will return with assistance to complete the job.

But it was on my walk down the road back toward the reservoir and the park that I came upon a "Can You Beat This" Find of the Week.

I dreaded carrying this back to the park because I fully expected everyone who saw me thinking I was some Yo Dude skateboarder. Well, it didn't take long because the first person I encountered asked me that question, "Are you a skateboarder?!" Sheesh.

Closer examination when I got it home revealed one lame wheel bearing which freed up nicely with some WD-40. The bearing seal was broken but otherwise, it seemed serviceable to me although I wasn't about to test it. I'm gonna post it for free on craigslist and see if there are any takers.

In the meantime, I'm going to brush up on my skateboarding slang. Dude...!