A May Doubleheader

 

Kicked off the month of May on Thursday with a paddle on the Mighty Merrimack launching from Methuen, MA.

Headed up the river's north side passing along this riverbank wall of tires...

Somebody had their carpets cleaned and was being reminded to wipe their feet...

Went as far as Richardson Brook (Trout Brook) which drops in beneath Merrimack Ave in Dracut, MA...

Here I crossed over to the other side of the river at Trull Brook Golf Club before hugging the river's south side back down to Methuen.  The Trull Brook GC would be in the news the following day when an off-duty Massachusetts State Police officer, while boating, found the body of a missing 4-year old boy who'd fallen into the river about 3 miles upstream on April 19th.  

Yesterday, on a quiet Sunday morning, I paddled the much smaller Assabet River in Concord, MA...

Came across this flattened plastic crate...

...named for a place I've paddled to at the confluence of the Kennebec and Sebasticook rivers in Winslow, ME.  The crate may have been used to transport chickens.  The company went out of business in 1981.  

An immature hawk seemed intent on drying its wings...

Turned around in West Concord just in time to see this "doubleheader" commuter train cross the river...

The week's flotsam included this batch of phthalate-rich plastic containers from the Merrimack River...

...and this collection from the Assabet River...