Do The Right Thing II

 Visit #1507, Sunday 1 December 24, 7:00-9:40AM, 4.0 miles, 10.1 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 20s, partly sunny.

I returned to the scene of last week's crime to address the carving on a tree near Merimere Reservoir.

Here's how I left it last week. Look closely and you can still see the bas relief.

Using sophisticated tooling, I removed the bas relief then gave it another coat of paint.

Remember the swan I saw swimming (say THAT 3x fast!) last week?

It appears they were looking for a spot to pass away quietly.

I must have found over a dozen of these leaf stickers this week, some in places where I had previously removed them last week.

I also found more of these painted hearts on trees and rocks along with a bunch of tree decorations. I'll have to return to remove them all.

Inside this can was a note.

Here's what the note said, spelling and grammar as original:

"I'm sick of tired of u removing my marks on the trail. I made trail for everyone to use so leave it alone. If not I will cut every tree over trail no one will use it mind your business. I'ts not hurting u."

"I know your hunting up here Im waiting to get a good picture of u so I can send to Deep."

Another reference to "Deep" on this log (Department of Environmental Protection I assume.)

What I interpret that to read is, "DEP watching Hunters".

"And quit taking the painted rocks There There for people to enjoy not take home u stay out"

"And leave the cairns alone they don't hurt u mind your business. Cut the trees that are blocking the white trail by park make your useless ass useful"

I guess I'm useless. Sigh...

On the way back to the park I found graffiti on a rock at the dirt parking lot adjacent to Mirror Lake.

I took care of it with my brush and my magic elixir.

                                   

This parking lot was a popular place to dump all the post-Halloween/Thanksgiving pumpkins. I found at least a half dozen of 'em.

Did you know only 15 percent of the pumpkin harvest is eaten? Eighty-five percent of pumpkins sold are bought for decoration. I heard that on NPR this week.

And at the kiosk at the same parking lot, I found this scarf, which I will eventually drop off at Goodwill.

It appears all the trash bins in the park, or at least at the playscape, were removed. So I took this week's trash haul home.

As to that "Do The Right Thing II", here's the Part II.

I was driving home from work the other day. There's a paved trail behind Thomas Hooker School on Overlook Drive which connects to Miller Avenue. I spied a tree fallen across the trail. So on Saturday I stopped by to survey the damage and hopefully remove the tree.

As it so happened, as I was approaching the tree there was a man ahead of me walking his dog and the owner had to climb over the tree. So I'm sure my work here was the right thing to do.

Above is looking toward Miller Avenue and the entrance ramp to Route 15 South. The fence on both sides took a real beating. I was able remove the tree without a problem.

I don't know who is responsible to repair the fence but I'll drop a hint to city personnel.