This morning it was evident that a nice taste of Indian summer was in the offing and it seemed to me the perfect day to trash patrol the Sudbury River in Wayland. A secondary goal would be trying to break through the blowdown above Heard Pond. My boat was launched, at the recently re-done boat ramp where Route 20 crosses the river, and I began paddling upriver into a warm breeze. Temperatures would rise into the 60's during my patrol and there were occasional peeks of sunshine.
Trash was fairly plentiful along the way and this slowed my upriver progress more than had been anticipated. Following a stop for lunch at the conservation area landing on river left, I headed past Indian Point till coming upon this tree demonstrating the advantages of being adaptable...
Approaching the blowdown area, I came upon a large television set. The good news is someone probably got a new flat-screen television. The bad news is they weaseled-out of paying a disposal charge for their old set...
This piece of trash will have to wait for another day or perhaps a larger boat than mine.
Finally, I reached the blowdown that has blocked my upriver passage for more than a month...
This time I came equipped with my hand-saw and after a few cuts, passage to the other side was possible...
Not overly spacious, but just enough room for me.
I continued my upriver patrol as far as the power lines (opening photo) and turned around for the trip downstream.
Wildlife seen today were numerous ducks, several blue herons, one hawk, and a couple of hardy turtles.
Once back at the boat launch, the day's catch assembled alongside my boat's hull...
There were 93 pieces of trash and they brokedown as follows: 46 recyclable containers (13 redeemable) and 47 pieces of miscellaneous rubbish such as plastic bags, styrofoam cups, bait tubs, fishing line, tennis balls, empty spray paint cans, and a tackle box. The tackle box may be the one someone notified me of having lost in this area. My YTD total stands at 6124.
There were 2 unusual finds today. One was an empty can of Sabotaz 80 paint for "graffiti artists". This product is manufactured in Athens, Greece by Cosmoslac.
The other unusual find was an empty 14 1/2 ounce bottle of Lydia E. Pinkham's Medicine. A quick search on the web revealed that Lydia made her concoctions specifically for women starting around 1876 in Lynn, Massachusetts. One of her slogans was "A Baby in Every Bottle". The business ran into the 1960's.
With the "Beaver Moon" now upon us, I'm reminded that the next 3 full moons are the toughest with names like "Cold", "Wolf" and "Snow".
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