the sun is certainly welcome during these naturally cloudy and precipitation prone months, but it definitely hasn't been out much these past few weeks. and people have been pretty grumpy!
not that i am ever all that grumpy, but my general remedy for any malady is to grab some tools and head for a trail that needs work. sawyer was here the end of last week, with saturday free. of course it was raining when we headed out--with our tools.
we wound our way up the west side of town hill, passing through a gap i had built in a stone wall the week before--in the rain. today's heavy drizzle grew steadily wetter as we climbed. at the top, the proverbial 'sky opened up' with an unbelievably, massive amount of water coming down, beating loudly on the leaves. in seconds i was soaked--quick enough to forgo pulling out my rain jacket from soy's pack. it wasn't cold enough to be miserable, but it was definitely wet.
so wet that water ran off my eyebrows in huge drops, making it almost hard to see. fortunately, only almost. looking through the downpour had a lens effect, the light seemed to magnify the yellows and browns of the remaining leaves. the resulting glow got sawyer to let out a happy sigh, "it's so beautiful!" that was an understatement.
both rain and glow softened up a tad as we tipped down toward bear pond road and the blowdowns we had brought saws for. we set up with the two-person cross cut on a section of a huge poplar that i had been cutting at for a couple years now. taking out that chunk made a path round the remaining giant piece we left for another day--maybe even a chainsaw.
not that i am ever all that grumpy, but my general remedy for any malady is to grab some tools and head for a trail that needs work. sawyer was here the end of last week, with saturday free. of course it was raining when we headed out--with our tools.
we wound our way up the west side of town hill, passing through a gap i had built in a stone wall the week before--in the rain. today's heavy drizzle grew steadily wetter as we climbed. at the top, the proverbial 'sky opened up' with an unbelievably, massive amount of water coming down, beating loudly on the leaves. in seconds i was soaked--quick enough to forgo pulling out my rain jacket from soy's pack. it wasn't cold enough to be miserable, but it was definitely wet.
so wet that water ran off my eyebrows in huge drops, making it almost hard to see. fortunately, only almost. looking through the downpour had a lens effect, the light seemed to magnify the yellows and browns of the remaining leaves. the resulting glow got sawyer to let out a happy sigh, "it's so beautiful!" that was an understatement.
both rain and glow softened up a tad as we tipped down toward bear pond road and the blowdowns we had brought saws for. we set up with the two-person cross cut on a section of a huge poplar that i had been cutting at for a couple years now. taking out that chunk made a path round the remaining giant piece we left for another day--maybe even a chainsaw.
the next stop was working a ditch with improvised stick-shovels to let a large-ish puddle drain some. a few blowdowns later and we were at the beaver dam--our turn around point. on the way back past the somewhat reduced puddle, we got the sticks out again and dug the ditch out more. i am guessing that playing with water like that, is a basic human trait.
as we started hiking homeward, the rain actually stopped, the wind came up, and you could see blue patches of sky as the clouds scudded by. i won't pretend we were dry when we came in the house, but we were happy--and not just because sadie and otavio were coming for dinner.
and an excellent dinner it was, even though i don't eat roast 'beest'--spelled that way it's too close to cannibalism. add to that a good night's sleep and i was ready to go out again. bonus--it wasn't raining. but i took a few tools anyway, plus a warm jug of water, and drove up to cardigan. the warm water was for the clivus bacteria. i was hoping this might be the last 'stirring of the composting toilet' i would have to do.
after seeing to the clivus, i grabbed the rake and started up. raking drains had already been done on west ridge, but i figured i would hit all the ones on the ski trail and redo any i ran across on the main path that were clogged again. the wind and rain had been furious last night, which more than likely brought a lot of oak and beech leaves to ground.
just about every drainage was full of leaves and water was starting to spill over the bars--it was a good thing i brought the rake. while i was cleaning out one spot, a group of four hikers went by--two of them that i recognized, the drummond boys, noah and speight, with friends deena and elaine. oh, and benny the lab was with them. seeing them prompted me to rake a bit faster so that i could get up to the top before they started down. i try to show as many folks i can the 'girl chasing her handkerchief' carved at the ledge she fell over. at least that's how the story goes.
it's a fine story and the carving is a classic--i was glad they were still there and game to take a look. i snapped the photo with noah pointing to the fading image, elaine next to him, speight and deena flanking benny. there is a very faint date of 188-9 or -4 or -7 or something just to the right the carved skirt.
we decided to walk down the ski trail together so the boys could dream with me about winter and skiing fast through the woods. on the way down, it took a few pics of the water bars in action.
it was a fine day to be out given that the next two days were again cold and rainy--sometimes even snowy. finally, wednesday dawned sunny and lasted all day. while i worked, i thought, if it's nice tomorrow, i'm going biking!
oh my gosh, two sunrises in a row! as i ate breakfast, i enjoyed the sun streaming in through the windows and doors--they weren't open, it was in the low 20°Fs. i was out pedaling by 10:00a and as you can see looking out over tewksbury pond, it was indeed glorious!
the clouds were building in the west, but for now i was casting a sharp shadow. i bopped off onto the rail trail to take the picture above and discovered two 'grafton little libraries' posted along the path. i picked two books to feature in these photos, hoping someone would 'check them out'.
my main mission, besides enjoying the sunny day, was to alter the usual big block route, looping 4, 11, and 4a. the plan was to cut through the back roads of danbury and wilmot, hoping to find sawyer road. i had a map in my pocket to help. from an adventure standpoint, i was fortunate to lose the map. the first time i stopped to check , my bearings, it was gone. oh well, already turned off rt 4, i kept going.
pedaling along a beautiful stream mostly paralleling roy ford road, i junction-ed with walker brook and frazer, two names i remembered. i took a right and pedaled on. passing a couple of guys roofing a cottage, i stopped and chatted them up. "you two look like you're locals, do you know a sawyer road or white pond?"
that seemed to puzzle them and they looked at each other shrugging their shoulders--not a good sign. but one of them thought they might have heard of white pond. one of the guys drew me a quick map on the back of an old envelope and they sent me off with waves and smiles.
following the map, i pedaled uphill toward north wilmot on, conveniently, the north wilmot road. a couple miles up, i raised my arms in victory--"yes! sawyer road!!" (some of you will know why this particular sign was prized...) icing on the cake, not too far up the road, i spotted white pond!!!
a pair of hooded mergansers skittered away when i stepped out on a bridge to take this picture. in the reflection, i noticed the blue sky had pretty much disappeared and it was starting to cool down.
i got back on the bike, looking for the church in north wilmot that, according to the roofers, the north wilmot road t-ed into. sure enough, it did. and bonus, piper pond road took off from one side of the church. that was another name i remembered and followed it. at this point, all the roads out to 4a had "not maintained in winter" signage, but for now that wasn't an issue.
in a half mile though, i ran into a different weird problem. i came up to a car that had passed me earlier, now parked in a turn off. i stopped and talked to the women about getting to 4a. she convinced me to turn back and take tewksbury. she seemed mostly concerned i didn't bother her dog, who was 'walking' itself down piper pond road. i didn't really care, i sorta knew where i was going now.
checking on google maps later, i got in an extra 3+ miles, by not challenging the dog for space on piper pond road.
when out on 4a, i had few miles of uphill to warm me, but as soon as i hit the high point and started down, across springfield and into enfield center it was noticeably cooler. i stopped to take one more picture of a rushing cascade of water--the plentiful rain was gathering and 'falling' to the sea.
it looked pretty cool down in there, someday i will stop and check it out. for now though, i bee lined it to drummonds for my weekly sweep. robbie and corey were in the back, each with a bike on the stand. dick was off riding bikes in california, hopefully avoiding fires.
finished sweeping and visiting, i hopped back on the bike and headed home. given the likelihood of at least one rainy day before we saw the sun again, i was extremely thankful to be "outside and playing"!
as we started hiking homeward, the rain actually stopped, the wind came up, and you could see blue patches of sky as the clouds scudded by. i won't pretend we were dry when we came in the house, but we were happy--and not just because sadie and otavio were coming for dinner.
and an excellent dinner it was, even though i don't eat roast 'beest'--spelled that way it's too close to cannibalism. add to that a good night's sleep and i was ready to go out again. bonus--it wasn't raining. but i took a few tools anyway, plus a warm jug of water, and drove up to cardigan. the warm water was for the clivus bacteria. i was hoping this might be the last 'stirring of the composting toilet' i would have to do.
after seeing to the clivus, i grabbed the rake and started up. raking drains had already been done on west ridge, but i figured i would hit all the ones on the ski trail and redo any i ran across on the main path that were clogged again. the wind and rain had been furious last night, which more than likely brought a lot of oak and beech leaves to ground.
just about every drainage was full of leaves and water was starting to spill over the bars--it was a good thing i brought the rake. while i was cleaning out one spot, a group of four hikers went by--two of them that i recognized, the drummond boys, noah and speight, with friends deena and elaine. oh, and benny the lab was with them. seeing them prompted me to rake a bit faster so that i could get up to the top before they started down. i try to show as many folks i can the 'girl chasing her handkerchief' carved at the ledge she fell over. at least that's how the story goes.
it's a fine story and the carving is a classic--i was glad they were still there and game to take a look. i snapped the photo with noah pointing to the fading image, elaine next to him, speight and deena flanking benny. there is a very faint date of 188-9 or -4 or -7 or something just to the right the carved skirt.
we decided to walk down the ski trail together so the boys could dream with me about winter and skiing fast through the woods. on the way down, it took a few pics of the water bars in action.
it was a fine day to be out given that the next two days were again cold and rainy--sometimes even snowy. finally, wednesday dawned sunny and lasted all day. while i worked, i thought, if it's nice tomorrow, i'm going biking!
oh my gosh, two sunrises in a row! as i ate breakfast, i enjoyed the sun streaming in through the windows and doors--they weren't open, it was in the low 20°Fs. i was out pedaling by 10:00a and as you can see looking out over tewksbury pond, it was indeed glorious!
the clouds were building in the west, but for now i was casting a sharp shadow. i bopped off onto the rail trail to take the picture above and discovered two 'grafton little libraries' posted along the path. i picked two books to feature in these photos, hoping someone would 'check them out'.
my main mission, besides enjoying the sunny day, was to alter the usual big block route, looping 4, 11, and 4a. the plan was to cut through the back roads of danbury and wilmot, hoping to find sawyer road. i had a map in my pocket to help. from an adventure standpoint, i was fortunate to lose the map. the first time i stopped to check , my bearings, it was gone. oh well, already turned off rt 4, i kept going.
pedaling along a beautiful stream mostly paralleling roy ford road, i junction-ed with walker brook and frazer, two names i remembered. i took a right and pedaled on. passing a couple of guys roofing a cottage, i stopped and chatted them up. "you two look like you're locals, do you know a sawyer road or white pond?"
that seemed to puzzle them and they looked at each other shrugging their shoulders--not a good sign. but one of them thought they might have heard of white pond. one of the guys drew me a quick map on the back of an old envelope and they sent me off with waves and smiles.
following the map, i pedaled uphill toward north wilmot on, conveniently, the north wilmot road. a couple miles up, i raised my arms in victory--"yes! sawyer road!!" (some of you will know why this particular sign was prized...) icing on the cake, not too far up the road, i spotted white pond!!!
a pair of hooded mergansers skittered away when i stepped out on a bridge to take this picture. in the reflection, i noticed the blue sky had pretty much disappeared and it was starting to cool down.
i got back on the bike, looking for the church in north wilmot that, according to the roofers, the north wilmot road t-ed into. sure enough, it did. and bonus, piper pond road took off from one side of the church. that was another name i remembered and followed it. at this point, all the roads out to 4a had "not maintained in winter" signage, but for now that wasn't an issue.
in a half mile though, i ran into a different weird problem. i came up to a car that had passed me earlier, now parked in a turn off. i stopped and talked to the women about getting to 4a. she convinced me to turn back and take tewksbury. she seemed mostly concerned i didn't bother her dog, who was 'walking' itself down piper pond road. i didn't really care, i sorta knew where i was going now.
checking on google maps later, i got in an extra 3+ miles, by not challenging the dog for space on piper pond road.
when out on 4a, i had few miles of uphill to warm me, but as soon as i hit the high point and started down, across springfield and into enfield center it was noticeably cooler. i stopped to take one more picture of a rushing cascade of water--the plentiful rain was gathering and 'falling' to the sea.
it looked pretty cool down in there, someday i will stop and check it out. for now though, i bee lined it to drummonds for my weekly sweep. robbie and corey were in the back, each with a bike on the stand. dick was off riding bikes in california, hopefully avoiding fires.
finished sweeping and visiting, i hopped back on the bike and headed home. given the likelihood of at least one rainy day before we saw the sun again, i was extremely thankful to be "outside and playing"!
