Klieg Lights, Epilogue

 

As you can tell, we're deep into fall.

Visit #1627, Sunday 7 November 26, 6:00-8:15 a.m., 4.0 miles, 3.2 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 40s, partly sunny.

I love the word 'epilogue'. The first time I saw the word was as a kid, watching the TV show, The FBI.

The show was based on real crimes. I vaguely recall the show broken into segments I, II, and so on, and the last segment being The Epilouge, which would reveal the end result of the case. As young as I was I never knew what the word meant!

Today would be the epilogue to the Case of the Klieg Lights That Shut Off Way Too Late.

I had been on this case since late September and the parks department eventually took up my suggestion and replaced the photocell which governs the lights' on/off function. This morning I would see if it made any difference.

I was on the road heading to Hubbard Park in the dark at roughly 5:30 a.m. and confirmed I could see one of the lights illuminated as I drove down East Main Street.

Hiking up to Castle Craig I passed by the Halfway House and saw the parks department has mowed the area so fall hikers can enjoy it. Nice job.

I reached Castle Craig at 6:37 a.m. and the morning light was just beginning to overtake the area.

And the klieg lights - wait for it...

YES! Even adjusting for the recent change from Daylight Savings Time to Daylight Standard Time, that's over a two hour savings of electricity, and that's just the morning, the same must hold true in the evening, not to mention wear and tear on the lights themselves. My thanks to the Meriden Parks Department for listening to my complaint and for their follow-through.

After this wonderful discovery I policed the area and walking around the castle I see there's a new bench installed, with a view south.

Here is the dedication plaque.

I knew the family casually, but even as a high school lad I was greatly influenced by their poise, professionalism, and standing in the community. As an adult I would see Jane as a volunteer at local blood drives. Besides her conversational charm, the peanut butter bars she baked for the drives were enough to make one want to donate a second pint! May hat's off to the family for their donation.

While cleaning up I found two discarded MRE packets. That's military-speak for Meal Ready to Eat.

 For any true veteran, myself included, it's common knowledge that along with eating the meal, you carry out ALL the packaging. Leaving behind anything the enemy might find would give them knowledge of your operations. Clearly, whoever ate these MREs were military poseurs at best, litterers at worst.

I ventured on to inspect one of the illegal trails our park vandal has been littering with strange notes and whatnot, to see what I might find.

These appear to be Tibetan Prayer Flags.

I found several more of his Thank You notes.

Since they were still wet after Friday's/Saturday's rain, they were fragile so I gently stowed them and when I got home, I put them in the microwave to dry out.

They all begin with the same words; "Good morning universe..." then proceed to express thanks and love for a woman he hikes with, who is not his wife...

Reaching the walkbridge over I-691 I discovered some new graffiti on the bridge abutment.

I periodically would check this area because as you can see by the gray paint, I previously covered over other graffiti. I'll address this in the next week or two.

At the other end of the walkbridge I found and removed Cat's Patootie #52 Since November 2016.

This tree previously had a backwards swastika spray painted on it. At the time of discovery, all I had on me was a can of black spray paint. Today I had gray paint with me to somewhat improve the appearance. Once the gray dries it blends in better.

Ending this hike on a good note (at least for me; not for the person who lost it) I found a knit beanie. Just in time for the cooler weather, it was soaked from the recent rain. It's currently on a drying rack in my basement. I'll wash it, then off to Goodwill, where hopefully someone will give it a head to rest on.

I Could Not Believe What I Saw!

 

Visit #1626, Sunday 1 November 26, 7:10-9:05 a.m., 5.5 miles, 5.4 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 30s, rising to near 60, sunny.

This post contains adult language. Parental discretion is advised.

As I was driving down East Main Street early this morning enroute to Hubbard Park, in the vicinity of city hall, I can usually see one of the illuminated klieg lights that have perturbed me as of late.

However on this particular early morning, before the rising sun could reach Castle Craig, I could NOT see the klieg light. Hmmm; I wonder if...

So as part of today's hike I stopped at Castle Craig and, at 8:05 a.m. the klieg lights were off, AND A NEW PHOTOCELL WAS INSTALLED!

Compare the old, cloudy one to the new one:

Regardless of this morning's switch to Daylight Standard Time, there is certainly a difference in the performance of the circuit. My hat's off to the Meriden Parks Department for addressing this issue! I may have to trip up to Castle Craig in the early morning to test its performance but I'm confident we're cooking with gas now.

I started my hike up the road around Merimere Reservoir and was surprised to find the signage announcing the road was closed for the season beginning November first, to be already up. Talk about being on time! I was impressed. Bonus; hikers and walkers get to enjoy the road unencumbered by cars.

So, as I was walking on the road I was slowly catching up to a man. He was holding a coffee cup in a manner which told me he was done drinking from it, and his body language as well as his walking style alerted my Spidey senses (Both Peter Parker aka Spiderman, and I share the same first name which could be more than coincidental). I suspected he was looking for a place to turn that cup into litter.

I followed him for a few hundred yards while carrying the bag of litter I had collected so far.

Sure enough, as he reached the metal guardrail near the north end of the reservoir, he began to place the cup on the ground, discretely hidden. 

At that point I opened my mouth.

I hollered,"NO! NO! DON'T EVEN THINK OF IT!"

So what does this character do - he sees my trash bag and hands the cup to me as if I'm his personal garbage man, to which I replied, "YOU CARRIED IT IN; YOU CARRY IT OUT. DON'T PULL THAT SHIT!"

He never said a word to me; he just wore a Harpo Marx grin on his face as if he didn't understand me.

He walked on carrying the cup but I didn't follow him up the road so I'll never know if he ditched it elsewhere.

I followed the Blue Trail up along the western edge of the reservoir, which was a good choice of route today as I found a fallen tree that I was able to remove with the tools on hand.

At Castle Craig, a birch tree I'd previously attended to, has lost another trunk.

I may have to give this the attention I gave the last piece.

Heading back toward the park I chose to check on an illegal trail where our park's persistent vandal likes to post things on trees. I wasn't disappointed.

If I recall, the REAL Spiderman was never called an asshole by the Green Goblin, Sandman, or any other villian. So why me?!😉

No matter; it is a good time to introduce you to a new addition to my trail toolkit, and introduce it to Hubbard Park.

Called a "cats paw" it is the perfect tool for this kind of work. Works like a champ.

Elsewhere on this particular trail, I found this note tucked in to a tree.

It was not worth salvaging but I was able to read it.

What is says is, "Who ever is hunting here I'm going to catch you on my camera."

Another note I found, left by the same person, was this:

I have found many of these before. They give thanks for this and that, and pray for other things.

This one starts out, as most do, with " Good morning universe. Thank you for another great week this year..." See if you can decipher the rest.

Be careful hiking; the leaves are slippery and I took a tumble as well as a couple stumbles today.

Big Johnson and The Angry Chain

 Visit #1624, Monday 19 October 26, 5:15-5:55 p.m., mileage n/a, 7.5 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the upper 50s, sunny.

Visit #1625, Saturday 24 October 26, 7:10-9:55 a.m., 4.1 miles, 1.7 lbs. of litter

Temps in the 30s, sunny.

I received an e-mail last week from a park regular telling me about some new graffiti on a trail. I wasn't going to be able to take care of it this week because of tree cutting duties so I took some time after work on Monday to address it, and my e-mail contact felt it was offensive enough to need attention soon.

Their directions were good; I had no problems locating it.

First I used flat black paint, then gray. 

I wish I had a better color match.

Because of my experience, I thought it wise I should check the rest of this trail just in case, so I walked all the way to the I-691 walkbridge. Enroute, sho' 'nuff...

I returned later and added some gray to the black.

But that wasn't all. On Saturday I found a THIRD. I returned early Sunday morning briefly to address it.

If you've been paying attention so far, you've noticed the swastikas are backwards. This was likely intentional. My in-depth investigation has learned there is an extremist group growing in America-

Dyslexic Nazis of America

Done with covering the graffiti on Monday, I took the time to clean up the dirt parking area. In the Halloween vein, I found this dismembered doll. Scared?

I dropped of my bag of litter, most of which was picked up in the parking lot.

Now I was free to concentrate on removing that tree I found fallen across the trail last week.

I had to make special preparations, including a longer bar on my chainsaw and a more aggressive chain. I also packed a spare bar and chain because bad things can happen when cutting large trees.

But I wasn't prepared for this:

I hadn't even reached my target tree and I find another very large tree across a trail. Sheesh.

One tree removed, one to go.

In the process, things can happen.

I was prepared for this. It can happen when swapping bars and chains.

Now, pack up and head to that second tree, and hope I have enough fuel left to remove it.

Yes! I was thrilled I was able to remove this without complications, and with enough fuel remaining.

I made my way to Castle Craig and cleaned up the parking lot.

AND- I checked on the kleig lights. It was 9:11 a.m. and they were OFF. Someone's contention is they will shut off earlier on a sunny day such as it was on Saturday. I will still argue if the highway lights are shutting off early on cloudy mornings, then the kleig lights should not shut off two hours later just because it's cloudy vs. sunny.

On Sunday morning, while I made the brief excursion to address that third swastika, I found Cat Patootie Graffiti #51 since November 2016 and removed it.

Perfect hiking weather is upon us, colors and temps. Don't waste it!

Klieg Lights, Part III

 

Guess where your humble narrator was at 6:33 a.m.?

Visit #1623, Saturday 17 October 26, 6:00-10:35 a.m., 5.3 miles, 1.2 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the low 50s, cloudy.

In the past few weeks I've complained about the klieg lights at Castle Craig remaining on well after sunrise, which absolutely makes no sense to me. Last week I reported them still on at 8:45 a.m. Yet I received a report claiming they were operating correctly. Really?! This week I decided to perform a more in-depth investigation.

The photo at the top is looking east over Meriden from Castle Craig. I hiked up there using a headlamp and waited, admittedly under-dressed for the chilly morning.

By 7:20 a.m. I could no longer see ANY streetlights on along I-691 or in any of the neighborhoods. Streetlights are all governed by photocells now as they are more energy efficient; you can see the photocell as a protrusion on top of the lamp itself. Timers have gone the way of the Dodo bird.

What do you think; should those klieg lights still be on when it's this bright out?

Yet the klieg lights remained on.

Since I expected the lights to remain on after last week's 8:45 a.m. record, I decided to hike a short loop then return to check on them.

On the Blue Trail I found a very large fallen tree, which I'll remove next week.

When I returned to the peak the lights were STILL on so I took the time to remove some graffiti on the transformer.

I then tested the photocell myself by shining a flashlight at it. The thirty second delay accounts for unusual circumstances such as lightning, and I could hear the relay inside the cabinet open. I removed the flashlight and the klieg lights turned back on in seconds - and it was 9 a.m.!

Talking to a retired state highway electrician he said typically you can expect photocell operated lights to work within five minutes of each other. At least that's how the state's highway lighting worked when he was employed. Some photocell circuits provide user programmable delay timers but my test clearly shows it not to be the case here. I stand by my claim the photo cell is defective, likely due to age and clouding of the cover over the photocell. I relented and post a picture of the photocell here.

So at 9:25 a.m., WITH THE LIGHTS STILL ON, I left. IF STREETLIGHTS SHUT OFF AROUND 7 a.m. ON A CLOUDY DAY AND THE KLIEG LIGHTS ARE STILL ON OVER TWO HOURS LATER then something isn't right. The relay is functioning, there's sufficient power for the three lights, so the only component left is...

For more evidence, on a clear sky Sunday morning I observed the streetlights in my condo association. One light, heavily shaded by trees, turned off at 7:13 a.m while the next light in the row, in open sky but shaded by terrain and not receiving direct sunrise, turned off at 7:16 a.m.

 

(As a side note, I have a state low voltage contractor's license (C-5). It's not an E-1 license so I don't handle AC equipment, but I have a basic understanding about how this stuff should work.)

Incidentally, those klieg lights are 500 watt LED models, built in 2021 so they were installed roughly six years ago. I was hoping to warm my cold hands over them but LEDs don't generate much heat. Peer inside without getting blinded and you can see some of the individual LEDs in the array which make up each light, are failing, but they've got a long way to go before requiring replacement.

Maybe next week I'll visit even later to see if they remain on even later in the morning or perhaps all day.

I left my light vigil and returned to the park via another route. Along the way I found a bent over tree which I cut away.

And down by the Merimere Reservoir gate was a fallen tree which I managed to swing off-trail.

Then came a real surprise and my Find of the Week.

Somebody dumped an e-bike in the brush on the side of the road. With the proliferation of these things in Meriden and beyond, I was wondering when I would see them dumped on the side of the road as they are relatively cheap to purchase and my assumptions about people after seeing how they ride these abominations. Never did I expect to find one in the park. It did not operate.

On 9 October I received an e-mail from the Kathy Matula, Recreation Director for the Meriden Parks Department. Here's what she said:

"I hope you are well. I need your expert opinion.  The circled tree had a white trail marker behind all of the poison ivy. Is poison Ivy removal in your repertoire? 

If not, we need to figure out a clear spot for two white marks for turning off the Soap Box Derby Road."

Well, I forgot about it until this morning, and after I was done with my klieg light investigation and was returning to the park I checked out the area because I wasn't sure what she was talking about.

I found the tree.

No Kathy, it's not normally in my repertoire. But for you I made an exception. Replace those trail markers before it grows back! (It's better than the photo presents it to be.)

For those not in the know, urushiol is the chemical irritant in poison ivy. After contact, you should go home and wash your clothing and take a shower. To ensure you won't get that nasty rash, you can wash with Tecnu, available at most supermarkets and drugstores. So guess what I did when I got home?

Of course, when I returned to the park I tossed the e-bike and my litter in the dumpster.

I thought about the environmental impact of the batteries and the bike's metal but I drew the line at paying for the proper disposal of it when it was not on my property. I'll probably go to hell for that.