Trails Update

Hi again! I just thought I'd pop and give you a quick update on goings-on around here. Not much in the way of excitement, but Vincent and I did finish up the section of trail we were working on in the last post. Here's a view of it as we're just about to put the finishing touches on it, which is kind of nice as it shows the three stages of the work --- the "just wall" phase, the "crush" (or blown ledge filler) phase, and the final product with carriage road mix laid down. As I was running into obstacles attempting to find rocks of the right size and shape to finish off my section (requiring yet another run to the quarry), Vince was hard at it lugging blown ledge and carriage road mix to top off his portion. Some folks hiked by as we were doing this and commented on just how little they knew about what goes into a trail, and that's pretty much true. If we do our work well, it blends right in with its surroundings to the point where it's not apparent work was ever done. That's okay, as long as Mother Nature doesn't throw a hissie fit and rake up a section of trail like this one and show it off. Then it's back to work.


And here's the finished product, all cleaned up and ready for business. Now all it needs is a little rain -- which we've recently gotten -- to wash down all the dirt into the gravel to give it a more natural look and it'll be like we were never there. The tread (trail surface) has been raised up eight inches in hopes of stemming any further scouring action by the brook during run-off, but we'll just have to wait till next Spring for that. Wish us luck.

Hey, I'm Back!!!

Hallelujah, brothers and sisters! I'm online once again and furiously attempting to catch the hell up after being offline for almost two weeks. Yep, here I am back in dear old Maine, working out on the trails one more time. Here we see a shot of Long Pond -- my current worksite -- taken Thursday (my Friday) after a rather typical and grueling first week on the job. As usual, all the old aches and pains are right where I remember them, with a few extra thrown in for good measure. But more whining later; let's catch up a little first, what say?


The last time we chatted, so long ago, I was staring in mock disbelief at the conflagration that was my 57th Birthday cake. After the guys in the Forest Service fire tankers showed up and dumped a couple of planeloads of fire retardant on the place, we decided to get cleaned up and get ourselves a little fresh air. The Stagers decided to take the opportunity to help me ease back into the swing of trail work by doing the annual spring cleanup on their path to the brook down below the house. Here are John, Susan, Kevin, and Lisa getting tools and such gathered up before heading down the hill.


The rigors of trail work took their toll on poor Kevin, who decided to cool off his footsies in the brook, so Lisa volunteered to help him out and to insure only the boots got wet. (There may have been an ulterior motive in that decision, but I'm not sure.)


Clea and Ally chipped in with the cleanup detail, too, and offered up their services in the disposal of dead deer parts, something that was actually on the list of things to do. How dogs know this stuff is beyond me.


With all the trail fun done for this year, morning came and once more it was time for Pepe and me to push on toward Maine, rolling our way through the awakening Vermont countryside. Keeping Pepe in check on this leg of the journey is always a bit problematic, and more than once I had to point out the various members of the Law Enforcement community communicating with those sufffering from the same affliction. As always, he didn't listen to a thing I said, but at least he was discreet enough to at least slow down some on occasion -- and always just in the nick of time. How he knows this is also beyond me.


Well, we all knew it was coming, didn't we? It just wouldn't be a Travels With Doug travelogue without the obligatory bridge shot -- especially this particular bridge spanning the mighty Piscataqua River, serving as the New Hampshire/Maine state line. At any rate, we are here once again, back in the Pine Tree State (a.k.a. the Blackfly State from May to June).


And once more Pepe backs himself up to Apartment C's door and says, "Get all this stuff to hell off me!" Actually, he was very well-behaved the entire way and never once complained or balked, taking his rather heavy load in great good humor. It's amazing how attached people get to their vehicles, isn't it?


And so the waiting began -- not only for work to start (it turned out I got in a week early) but for my phone and internet service to materialize, which took a full week. So what did I do during that time, you may ask? (As indeed my sister already did.) I built a Lego plane. This particular one is based on the Handley Page H.P.42 series that Imperial Airways was so very famous for -- the Heracles, Hannibal, and others. I call it the Hesperus (after The Wreck of the Hesperus by Longfellow) because it completely wrecked an entire day, taking a full nine hours to complete thanks to numerous re-thinkings and modifications. Still, despite all the time and trouble it took, I was delighted with the outcome and consider it one of my best and truest efforts yet.


But soon it was time to stop loafing around and get out and do some actual work, which brings us back to Long Pond and the Cold Brook portion of the trail. This is the side wall Vincent (in the yellow hard hat) and I are building in hopes of preventing Cold Brook from jumping over the side and scouring out all our work we did a couple of years back, like it did this Spring thaw. This is four days' worth of work and we should be through in a couple of more.


And with that, we come to . . . well, The End. (I really do have to start a Fun With Trucks series.) I'm so sorry there were so many lapses in communications on this trip, but it was just one of those times in cyberspace when stuff just didn't happen as I'd hoped, especially the quirky wireless connections that kept kicking me off or moving so-o-o slowly. But now I'm back and hardwired up again for positive connection, so things should roll along a lot more smoothly and efficiently. One can only hope. So stay tuned for more blurbs from the Land Of Lobster, and look forward to a full photo gallery coming soon to an Inbox near you. Adios for now!