Dr. Joe

  Sorry for the mundane post about going to the dentist.  It's just that Gail and I didn't realize that by having the first appointment of Farmer Joe's day we would have to help out with the milking.
 

Grilling

 

  A work day with some friends allowed me to lead a team to rebuild the grill station on the deck.  It doubles as a cozy seat.

Should Have Happened Long Ago

   I've been driving and biking through Danby for 31 years and never took the time to stop at Jennings Pond, part of Buttermilk State Park.  What a knucklehead, nice place.

Funny Halloween

   I revived an old Halloween costume from college and went to work as a stand-up comic.  No joke:  When I wore this to a party at IUP, a friend who was a safety science major lit me on fire.  No such problem at IHS.

Sitting Around Doin' Nothing

  I've been taking it easy as much as possible this fall, spending a lot of time sitting around: after I rented a chainsaw and cut up a log for some friends and rolled the chunks across the ditch.  The log sat for a year since I offered to cut it so it's seasoned now. The reason for rolling them is that it's too muddy to split the wood where it was.  I'm not sure if they've gotten anyone to split it up, or if they'll fit in the fireplace and be burned as is.

  I did get some help moving a few more pieces of sandstone curbing.  Andy and I got two in his truck for him to use somewhere, and he helped me get one on a hand truck and bring it down the street to our house.  I was told by a neighbor 15-years-ago if I could move it, I could have it.  All I had to do was borrow the hand truck and find an old guy to help.
 

Creek's Are Rising

  As always, the creeks are changing.  Another chunk of the bank along Six Mile Creek was washed out in a storm, when the soil washed away, a tree using it to stay anchored came down and blocked what's left of the trail.  The reroute is working well and should as long as the creek doesn't jump the bank and flow down the existing trail.

   Downstream, Bolton Water is continuing to make a mess of the creek to add a water pipe under it to serve South Hill.  There's hope they'll finish before winter and the bank will be skiable so when the creek freezes there's a viable crossing.

   A piece of concrete below the 30' dam that has been getting battered by high water since 1903 finally got knocked out.  I can barely remember the message that was spray painted on it.

  Watkins Glen has undergone some changes since this photo was taken.  I'm not sure about the date of this pic, or how many winters those stairs lasted.

  Fall Creek reached levels not recorded since 1996, at least that's how the data looks from the USGS, but they're a sneaky bunch.  More of the diversion dam above Ithaca Falls washed away, I can barely remember the message that was spray painted on it.

Walking About

  A popular section of the Finger Lakes Trail in Danby got a much needed fix-up.  The Abbott Loop is a rough trail over quite a bit of rolling terrain cut by streams, I ran it once to impress a woman and learned running eight or nine miles is different than hiking the same distance.  After that, I was pretty sure Gail would stay with me whether I ran it or not and haven't tried again.  So far so good.  This is a new section of puncheon over a stream that shifted.

  We rebuilt two sections that had deteriorated beyond safe use.  It couldn't be done without getting in the mud a bit.  Wood and stone have combined for happier trails.

  I tested out an impressive stone carrier and came home and started shopping for one.

   Ross spent the most time in the mud.  Thanks for a valiant effort to him and everyone else who showed up, including Cornell students who helped haul materials a half-mile from the road.

  On a drier day, the largest group in the 48 years of the Caroline Walk About embarked on a jaunt that took us to a section of the FLT in Caroline/Berkshire.

  It's gotten so short, it doesn't get underway until late morning so Gail and I followed the old schedule and had a couple hours to hang out with Connie and Andy.  Nice to chill in their kitchen with them again.

    Will we make it to 50 years?  Stay tuned.

Out In the Woods

  A fantastic rock washed down the stream and came to a rest along Kari's property in Danby.  They put it on the carrier and have set it along a trail.  She and Peter are so meticulous about things, they even had to use a rope to match the rock to move it.

  I went out to spend a night in my hammock and picked the day the septic was being put in.  It was good to have upgraded facilities.  They were done working by the time I got there so no engines running, but the backhoe made the banging noise they make when they settle into the ground if they are parked like this.  Probably a few times an hour all night.

I worked on what I hope to be a new ski trail the next day.  It went great until I got to the far end and encountered a yellow jacket nest under a log I moved.  Good thing there was a nice new trail to use to get to the pond and jump in after several stings. 

  The same storm that brought the striped rock took out the bottom of the steps I made last spring.  A rock weighing several hundred pounds is gone.
 

Live Music Again

   How nice to be catching live music on a regular basis again.  Inside and out now, and it seems Richie keeps showing up.  He played solo at South Hill Cider one evening, and then opened for and joined Willie Watson for Willie's encore at the Hangar.  There have been several fine shows at the Hangar, I haven't made it to the State yet.  Willie selected a solid group of locals for his gigs in the area, glad to see Sam Schmidt with him here.

Stepping Up

 

Years ago, a trail in the Wildflower Preserve was marked to get people up a steep hill in a better way.  I keep thinking I've found the last of the trail markers I used, maybe this is it, I came across it after trying to put finishing touches on the rebuilt steps.

  Nice rocks, it was a shame what gravity was doing with them.  That little tool is officially an anti-gravity tool.

  I really hope I'm done with these for awhile, but I know gravity isn't.

  This one might look good at the top, and it's only 100' away.

   Voted Most Likely to Roll by its classmates.

New Murals in the Hood

 

  Look at what showed up in our neighborhood!  The East German style apartment building next door has been a target for graffiti over the years and we always hoped to see a mural there.  Ithaca Murals has a great track record of getting bold and beautiful works done, and Gail became an ally of theirs when she took on another COVID endeavor of trying to visit all of them in town.  Word went out they were looking for accommodations for an artist coming to town to paint next door, but we regretted not having a better guestroom or second bathroom.  When no one else offered to host, our couch became good enough.  The artist, Annabelle Popa, was a delightful guest (and our first in over a year) and preferred the couch and a shared bathroom to sleeping in her car for almost a week.

  Caleb, the driving force behind Ithaca Murals was on hand for the start and a frequent visitor during the process.  Paul helped get things going at the start and showed his grid-painting skills.

   Besides co-hosting, I had some modeling duties.  All free of charge.

  One rainy day Annabelle hung around the house and put her focus on Nina and the result was striking.  Nina thinks we should have someone on our couch all the time.

 

                                 

  It was great getting to know Annabelle and support her while she worked to make our community a nicer place.  Nina was happy to have her around and to have a purpose of protecting Annabelle while she worked and Gail and I were happy to look out the kitchen window to see the progress, and now finished work.

 

  A local friend, Mary Beth, was commissioned to do another mural on an identical wall across the street.  She was a frequent visitor to our house while working as well, which led us to start refering to the bathroom as The Artists' Bathroom.  Good to see Mary Beth a bunch and help her put up the scaffolding.