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state trooper Monday
Monday, November 29 2010
With much of the easily-salvageable firewood already salvaged near the house, today I ventured a bit further south down the Stick Trail, perhaps 200 feet beyond the Chamomile. And then, in the forest about 80 feet east of the trail, I found a good-sized downed tree. It was probably some sort of oak (Chestnut Oak being the most common species). Unfortunately, though, when I went to cut it up, my chainsaw stalled out on me. It seemed the chain sprocket on the end of the guide bar had jammed up with debris. And there wasn't much in the way of lubrication happening. Back at the house I found the chain oil reservoir was empty, so I filled that and lubricated the guide and chain separately. When I returned to the forest, it was like a brand new chainsaw. I bucked the entire tree into woodstove-compatible lengths in less than ten minutes, creating over two carts' worth of wood in the process (that is, approximately 10% of a winter's worth of wood). It took me most of an hour to carry all those pieces (mostly one at a time) to the Stick Trail, where I piled them up to await the cart.
This evening I drove out to Catskill Mountain Coffee to pick up my bimonthly six pounds of Zanzibar. At the entrance to Onteora Lake (41.981482N, 74.086135W) there was a state trooper waiting for any deer hunters coming out of the forest. If they'd shot anything, they'd probably want to have all their paperwork in order. Closer in to Kingston, I saw another state trooper waiting in a little oxbow of Route 28 that had been formed during a before-my-time road straightening project (41.952533N, 74.048356W). He might have also been looking for hunters with suspicious deer kills, though chances were greater that he was simply hoping to catch people speeding as they came down off the West Hurley highlands.
Later, on my drive back from town with lumber groceries, I saw a state trooper hidden in a little parking area on Wynkoop just west of the bridge over the Esopus (41.927704N, 74.06864W). He was facing west, hoping to catch drivers speeding on the short stretch of road where it crosses the cornfields from Hurley Mountain Road. I've never seen law enforcement on Wynkoop (and only ever seen it on Hurley Mountain Road once). These are all routes that I've assumed to be safe for drunk driving in the past. (Kids, don't try this at home!)
Meanwhile Gretchen was in the zone, camped out in front of the woodstove with a stack of final papers to grade from her prison English composition class. She did not want to be disturbed.
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