Re-work

 

"On A Foggy Night" (Morning, actually) would be appropriate for today's hike. Tom Waits would best set the mood.

Visit #1419, Sunday 16 April 23, 6:40-8:55AM, 4.2 miles, 2.5 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 60s, cloudy and very foggy.

It seems I'm not paying attention to my work in Hubbard Park, and due to such poor quality control on my part I was doomed this week to return and tie up the loose ends.

I rode my mountain bike into the park earlier this week specifically to retreive one of the pink ribbons I had neglected to remove on last week's hike. I eventually collected three or four more during the ride.

The graffiti I supposedly removed last week-well, I didn't do such a hot job as I could still see it when I entered the park on my mountain bike. This morning I would have to finish the job.

A second round of elbow grease did the job.

Next on my re-do list: During last week's hike I found a street sign had been uprooted. I don't believe it was vandalism but probably bulldozed over by by a careless worker while stacking logs nearby, or the sign was just plain in the way.

So on this Sunday morning as I walked up the road I searched for the sign and hoped to secure it before it disappeared.

The sign hasn't moved.

I wanted to secure it to something until it could be reinstalled, so I brought some ty-raps with me and lashed it to an existing sign.

Since this sign has a gimpy leg I imagine it will need a new post. I'll give the Meriden Parks Department a heads up so they can restore it to it's original resting place.

Further up the road I spied something stashed behind a tree.

Laid out on the road, I saw it was a hoodie. If it comes through the wash clean, I'll take it to Goodwill otherwise it will wind up in my rag pile.

At Castle Craig I found some new graffiti on the outside. I removed it hoping it won't require re-work.

Then it was back to the re-work.

In trips past, I had missed covering this illegal trail marker.  There's no After photo, but I did cover it.

And in the "Re-work the Re-work Department" I discovered this tree across the trail last week but failed to remove it. And I brought the wrong tools this week to remove it! So yet a third trip to this trail will be required. Fortunately it's easy to walk around it so removing it is not urgent.

By now the fog was lifting. Well, from the park at least.  My foggy brain which lead to all this re-work still needs to clear.

Is This Long Enough?

 Visit #1418, Saturday 8 April 23, 7:15-9:15AM, 4.2 miles, 1.0 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 30s, rising to the 50s today, sunny and breezy.

I had a blog reader comment to me that last week's post was "kinda short".

Well, I understand how you can get addicted to the suspense and excitement I build in to every week's post, and how you can feel let down when instead you read something like last week's post about nothing but picking up litter on the banks of a brook.

Hopefully this week you'll find this week's post long enough, and be riveted to your seat as you follow this week's adventure.

My hands were damn near freezing when I started out this morning. I wore non-insulated leather gloves and they did nothing to keep my hands warm. I was counting on the sunrise and an uphill hike to warm me up and it couldn't come soon enough.

In March I reported finding two trees down across a certain trail at the north end of Hubbard Park. This week I would hike that trail and remove the two trees but first I would hike a parallel trail and inspect for other fallen trees, if any.

I planned well, for I DID find a fallen tree, which I removed with my chainsaw.

Near the top of this trail I found this tree tagged with pink tape. Assuming it was for a legitimate surveying purpose, I left it alone.

I was wrong.

As I hiked the original trail back down toward the two fallen trees, I continued to find these markers. It was then I knew something other than surveying was afoot, and I removed all the tape, which I found on trees spaced roughly every 100-200 feet.

I eventually reached the first of the two fallen trees on this trail.

Rather than develop their log-hopping skills, mountain bikers took the easy way out and built a log ramp over the fallen tree. POSEURS!

Well, I made it even easier and removed the tree altogether.

I never found the second tree. It will remain a mystery why someone removed one but not both trees.

Exiting the trails and walking the road back to my car, there was one thing left on my To Do List.

On the way in this morning I noticed a lot of new graffiti on the gate at the north end of the park. I was prepared to address it.

Just as I was packing up my graffiti removal kit, a frequent hiker in Hubbard Park stopped by for a chat and informed me one of the two resident snapping turtles in Merimere Reservoir had passed on. He escorted me to the funeral parlor where I paid my respects.

 All you ever need to know about Connecticut's snapping turtles can be found  HERE on the CT DEP's web site. Interesting stuff.

Here's wishing you a happier Easter than the turtle's.

Hubbard Park Special Projects Unit

 

The team (me) was fully equipped for the mission.

Visit #1417, Sunday 2 April 23, 6:35-8:50AM, 2.25 miles, 38.6 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the low 40s with a stiff, chill breeze. Sunny.

Once a year I break out the dapper shoes you see above and clean both brooks feeding the Lower Pond in Hubbard Park. It should be done before the Daffodil Festival so the park looks purty, and before the vegetation blooms.

In my favor, this year it seems the parks department trimmed back all the plants on both banks. This was probably done in advance of the dredging of the Lower Pond, scheduled for this year.

Crawling along the banks this morning I found at first what I thought was merely litter, were instead markers for this upcoming project.

On a walkbridge over the brook, I found some graffiti; literally gone in sixty seconds!

Good for another year. I can't wait to see the results of the dredging project.

Now That's More Like It

 

Truly enjoyable weather today. No sense in looking back; spring is ahead of us.

Visit #1416, Sunday 26 March 23, 8:35-10:35AM, 4.8 miles, 4.9 lbs. of litter.

Temps in the 40s rising to the 50s, sunny with strong breezes from the south.

The winds from the south carried me around Merimere Reservoir.

This large piece of styrofoam I found wanted to fly away like a kite. To keep it from doing so, I pinned it under a traffic cone at the water treatment plant.

Every once in a while I find something which makes all my looking down and picking up litter worth it.

Today it was an unopened can of Coke®!

I picked up a trail at the north end of the reservoir and while hiking up, found two fallen trees.

I won't be able to remove these trees until Easter Weekend. Thank you for your patience.

At Castle Craig, I found the cover over the flagpole winch has been partially removed. I have some plans to remedy this but I will have to take some measurements. We'll see.

The warm temps brought out a lot of hikers today. Good weather indeed.

I went home and replenished my energy stores with a sandwich. Guess what I washed it down with?

Next week I'll be working with the Hubbard Park Special Projects Unit. Stay tuned...