Front Steps

 

  Since I fixed the posts on the front porch, I've been thinking of how to make the step more manageable.  The big, cut stone just wasn't enough to make an even step and it was a high step on its own, but I was reluctant to add another.  I went ahead and added another.   An unused bench from the garden seems like a good choice, plus, it pleases me to use the stone carrier. 

  I'm not sure it's done, but it's an improvement.

Be Prepared, Be Safe

 

  Thanks to the Cayuga Trails Club, I got to go to school for a weekend near Hammondsport, NY at the Birdseye Hollow Park and State Forest.  It was to get certified as a sawyer, a requirement by the club and NY State to use a chainsaw on the Finger Lakes Trail on state land.  The class was incredibly informative, let's hope I remember something I learned next time I'm holding a chainsaw and the only limb cut off is from a tree.  The sad part of the weekend was there was no shortage of ash trees to practice felling and bucking.

  I was the only one in the class to take advantage of using the Scout House in downtown Hammondsport.  There was plenty of room for the whole class.

New Steps

  Back in 2012, Cornell Outdoor Education teamed up with the Natural Areas Commission to install some steps in the wildflower preserve.  It was kind of a new trail to replace one and reduce erosion and stress on trees whose roots were exposed and walked on by too many people.  Due to circumstances, the steps didn't get done quite right, but the new trail was a hit.  Since most of the stones needed for the steps were still right there, I just hauled gravel to set them better this time in the hope that they'll last more than 10 years.

 There was nothing in it for me other than having the pleasure of building another set of nice stone steps and knowing a little less sediment will end up in the creek.  But (there's always a "but"), if any of these stones end up in my garden, well that would be such a nice reminder of the steps.  These curbing stones were cast aside when a culvert was replaced under the access road near the steps.

Easter

   Easter Sunday I ventured to Dansville to see siblings Jim, Chris, and John.  The next generation was represented by Stacy, Stephanie and Jake.  We had a fine dinner, inside.  Unfortunately, when I set up the camera for the group photo all I got was Jim's new wheelchair ramp (for his impending immobility).

  I left Ithaca early enough for a stop in Watkins Glen to walk the Rim Trail, a first for me.  The gorge trail was closed due to the remaining ice on the walls, but the new sights were interesting to say the least, certainly worth going back again.  I don't know how many trestles the public is permitted to walk across, but you can do it there.

  I've yet to get to the Curtis Museum in Hammondsport honoring Glenn Curtis.  He set land-speed records on early motorcycles and was a pioneer in early aviation.  Pilot's license #1.  The museum has an exhibit about Art in War coming in 2021.

Corning and COVID

   After a year of isolation, Gail got us out to visit the Corning Museum of Glass after getting her second vaccine dose.  Despite traveling through Corning hundreds of times, neither of us had ever been there.  The take-away for me was that it could easily be three museums.  We loved the contemporary exhibit, lots of photographic stuff there.  In the historical wing, I was quite taken by the piece depicting St. Peter's Square with thousands of individual bits of glass.  In the end, the high water level from Hurricane Agnes in 1972 was almost as impressive as Gail's salad.