Staining Progress

 We did two things today. We worked on the deck and we slept. This is what four hours work looks like for me.

Neither of us slept well last night, so after a round of work in the morning where I worked on the steps and Marie gave the rest of the railing a second coat, we took naps. You are not getting away with only one view of that much work.

We decided the vertical surfaces under the steps should be done, so that was my job to go underneath and play contortionist.

If I am ever involved in a deck construction project in my future, I plan for the first coat of stain to be put on before the deck is assembled. It's impossible to get this into all the spaces. Also, I've decided that, personally, I don't like the solid deck stains. They really look like paint. Supposedly this is soaking in rather than sitting on the surface of the wood, but I'm not convinced. However, it's Marie's deck and she is liking it.

A total of 8 hours work between the two of us. We're getting there, but we are beat. We did walk around the block to get some kinks out and fixed dinner (and of course had to clean up), but that's the entire day.

See Starting the Deck

Sojourner Truth, and, and, and...

 This morning we went to Sojourner Truth State Park. It's quite a new park that was put on the site of a former brickyard and cement factory. There isn't a lot there yet, but we saw most of it. Sojourner Truth grew up in this county, Ulster County. Born in 1797, she was slave to a Dutch family. But she walked away with her infant son and sought refuge with an anti-slavery family. They bought her freedom for $20. She then sued her former owner for the freedom of her son and won! She was the first black woman to win a lawsuit against a white man in New York.

She became known as a speaker, abolitionist, and suffragette. She actually attempted to vote in 1872, although she was turned away.

There is supposedly a nice dock at river level, but we chose to take the hike to the other good destination at the park, an overlook of the Hudson River. The elevation of the surface of the Hudson here is only 16.4 feet above sea level, yet it's a 2-hour drive from here to New York City. No wonder the tides have an effect here. The elevation from this overlook was 160 feet.

There are several interpretive signs about the former industries. Clay at the base of the cliffs was used to make the bricks, and the cliffs were mined for limestone for the cement kilns. This small lake is a former quarry.

I also learned more about that really bad plant Trapa natans. I'm going to not use the common name "Water Chestnut" as that makes it sound like the Chinese vegetable (although the seeds of this are eaten in cultures where it is native). It's also called Water Caltrop. This is a mat of it on the Hudson River. Maybe we should be harvesting it and trying to eat it out of existence.

Here's a closer look. The mats are pretty dense. That has to be impacting the ecosystem.

There were also a lot of nice wildflowers at this park. I think they must have been mass planted to be so prolific and concentrated in a former industrial area. It's a mix of Bee Balm (Monarda), one of the wild sunflowers, and a coneflower. They do look great.

We also visited a preserve called Falling Waters (not the Frank Lloyd Wright one- that's in Pennsylvania). This has a nice loop trail and a little waterfall.

More grocery shopping, a little work time, and then this evening we were finally able to start the project that Marie would like to get done. We started staining her new deck. Hopefully we'll be able to finish while I'm still here. We got one coat on most of the railing.

Miles hiked so far in 2024: 354.6.

Overlook trail at Sojourner Truth State park, 1.7 miles. Falling Waters Preserve loop trail, 1.8 miles

See Saugerties Lighthouse

Saugerties Lighthouse

  There are 8 remaining lighthouses along the Hudson River. More than 24 were built from 1826 to 1921, coinciding with the rise in night use of passenger steamboats. This is Saugerties Lighthouse, built in 1869 to replace an earlier light at this location from 1835.

This is looking down the Hudson River toward New York. I'm not sure I've ever taken a hike before where you had to check the tide table before setting out. The Hudson River is actually a tidal estuary, affected by the tides as far north as Albany. At the trailhead to this short walk, the tide table is posted with the days and times that the trail is underwater!

There are two items of note here. First is the bouy with something on top. It's an osprey nest. If you look closely, you'll see a baby's head.

Squint even harder, and you'll see a bridge just to the right of center. That's the Kingston-Rhinecliff Bridge that Marie and I walked across in March 2023.

I learned a new plant, but it's a bad one. This is Water Chestnut, Trapa natans. It was brought to the US in 1884 by a plant collector. Of course it escaped into the Hudson River. It forms large mats that clog waterways. Animals do eat the large seed pods.

This is a fun plant, but I haven't seen it for a while. It's Dodder, Cuscuta sp., a parasitic plant that looks like someone draped orange silly string over other plants. It has to tap into the vasuclar system of another plant for nourishment. It will sometimes bloom, and I have pictures of that from back when my pix were 35mm.

Also, we saw what appeared to be an ordinary squirrel. However, on closer inspection it appears to have been crosed with a lemur. Just kidding, but I don't think I've ever seen one with stripes on its legs like this.

In other news: We sent for our FLT 50 and FLT Branch Trail patches. We bought paint. If it ever stops raining (not constant, but enough to keep things wet), we have a DIY project to do.

The reason I'm blogging late is that one of Ed and Marie's very shy kitties (two rescue cats) decided to sit on my lap for a long time. Previously, (like for several years previously) she has not even let me touch her. The other cat won't let anyone touch him. I mean, when a shy cat parks on your lap, you just can't get up and blog.

Miles hiked so far in 2024: 351.1.

Trail to Saugerties (NY) Lighthouse and back, 1 mile

See Sort of a Foodie Day

Sort of a Foodie Day

 No visit to Marie's would be complete without a trip to the Jolly Cow.

What is the Jolly Cow, you ask? An ice cream place, of course. I generously offered the cow a lick, but she declined.

We spent the morning with each of us doing computer tasks. I got the final approval for the draft of How to Hike the North Country Trail, and I ordered 100 copies. I'll have it at the Celebration!

Then we needed to get groceries if anyone was going to eat for the upcoming days, and there were other errands too. Then Marie had a meeting, so I cooked dinner. We tried a new recipe that I had brought with me. She's eating more normally now, but when she wasn't feeling well a couple of weeks ago this looked like something she could have. It's Zucchini-Corn Chowder. It's really good. I forgot to take a picture when the pan was full. We might tweak it a tiny bit the next time, but we both agree it's something we'd make again.

And we also had fresh salad with homemade herb dressing.

We have some adventures planned, but it was rainy today, so it was a good day to get some of these tasks done. We did find time for a couple of games.

See Chillin?

Chillin'?

 We certainly weren't chillin' as regards to the temperature. It was a hot day! However, we definitely made today a rest day. Did some laundry and puttered a bit but mostly relaxed. It was a darn good thing we didn't need to go out in the middle of the day because Marie's street was being paved! This is accomplished so much easier and better than when I was a kid. And I know that crew was a lot hotter than we were.

I'll show you more pictures from Sonnenberg Gardens today. Here is another view in the Rock Garden. I sure did like that space.

This is just a nicely-blooming garden. It was actually part of the greenhouse complex- overflow plants.

Here is another long view of the Old Fashioned Garden. You can see hints of some of the blooms between the hedges. The architecture is such an important part of the gardens, it often makes the scene extra delighful.

This is a plant combination that I thought was particularly successful. Red amaranth, Amaranthus erythrostachys, and a pink coneflower.

They had combined these in several locations, and I also really like this. It's Persian Shield Strobilanthes dyeriana, and one of the begonias, maybe 'Gryphon.' You know I love begonias. When I get to be garden queen with an unlimited budget, I'll have a Begonia garden.

And for the orchid lovers, this is an Oncidium orchid, possibly 'Sweet Baby,' but there are a lot that are very similar.

We played a couple of games, and may be ready to do something more energetic tomorrow.

See Heart of the Lakes Trail paving See Sonnenberg