Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009
Well, we finally did it. We took the schooner cruise on the Mary E. up the Connecticut River.
This was something we were supposed to do about a month ago. When we got the great idea, the weather was nice and cool. When it came time to actually drive down and get on the boat, the heat wave hit. We weren’t in the mood to do anything at that point.
September offers a bunch of great days to get back into those activities you missed during the heat of the Summer. Also, the kids are back in school, so that helps with the crowd levels. The schooner cruise we went on had mostly older folks aboard. I believe we were the youngest and best behaved people on the boat.
I took a bunch of pictures during the cruise and went through them this morning. We actually went on this boat ride last week. I just found the energy to write about it today. I deleted a bunch of pictures that I thought were good at the time of taking them, but later discovered that one can only have so many photos of a flat river. The ones I posted below are the better of the bunch.
If you are interested in taking a schooner cruise on the Mary E. up the Connecticut River, click here to get more information. The Connecticut River Museum manages the whole thing and is a nice place to visit on its own.
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Sailboats on the Connecticut River near Essex, CT
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Raising the sails on the Mary E. schooner
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Schooner sail fully raised
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Single sailboat sailing on the Connecticut River
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Ropes and bell on the Mary E. schooner
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Red house and dock on the Connecticut River
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Looking forward past the front of the Mary E. schooner
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Joshua Rock near Deep River on the Connecticut River
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Connecticut River Museum
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Wednesday, September 6th, 2006
This is a funny story and hopefully one I can keep short. I seem to have developed a knack for writing too much. See, there I go again.
The Red Oak tree is now gone. A flourishing garden is beginning to grow. There is only one more slight problem. A Red Maple with a rotten base remains. We get nervous about these trees because of the winter wind. Every time I heard a gust of wind last year when I was sleeping, my eyes would pop wide open because I was expecting a big “Crack” to follow. It never happened, but I really would like to get a good night sleep this go-round.
This tree wasn’t nearly as difficult to take down as the Oak. There were more, but smaller branches on this one. I said that I would do it slowly with a pole saw that I recently purchased. Sounds weird, but hear me out. I don’t have a wood chipper so I am forced to drag anything that I cut down all…the…way back in the woods to the rear most part of the property. That is about a 2 acre walk. It isn’t fun. I was determined to cut this tree down by myself because I had experience…yes, experience. I used to work at SavATree in Bedford Hills, NY when I was 18 years old and also C.V. Trees for many years after that. I knew how to climb and was actually quite good at it. I just didn’t have the right tools (ropes, saddle, spikes) anymore. But what I did have was my new chainsaw and pole saw.
To start things off, I extended the pole saw to it’s full 14 feet length. Then I took off about 5 of the lowest branches. I dragged them all the way back in the woods. This lightened up the tree. The next day, I took off about 5 more and dragged them back. Hmmmm, I was feeling motivated. I went back to cut some more. The pole saw really wouldn’t reach any more branches that easily. I was really motivated to get this tree on the ground because I had more pressing projects to get to. I had an idea…
I went into my basement and got my 15′ rope and tied it to the handle of my chainsaw. Then, I tied a knot at the other end of the rope. I put my 13′ ladder up against the tree. I climbed the ladder with the knot end of the rope in my hand and the chainsaw on the ground. I grabbed the lowest nub of wood that was about 15′ off the ground and climbed up to the lowest crotch of the tree. I sat there and then pulled up the rope with the chainsaw attached. I put the knot through a higher crotch so it was hanging. Then I climbed up the uppermost crotch and pulled the chainsaw to my hands. I started the saw and cut about half the branches off. I was on a roll. Then, I cut a pretty big one off and it landed on its end and fell backwards, knocking the ladder down. Hmmmm, that was a problem. Now I was up about 25 feet with no way of getting down. Oh well, I have been in worse situations. I kept cutting and about after 5 minutes all the branches were on the ground. I climbed down a bit to the lowest crotch and cut some more. Then came the challenging part…getting down. I lowered the chainsaw to the ground and let go. Then, I hugged the tree with my legs and the inside of my arms. I slid all the way down and looked at myself and smiled. Some scratches, but what a ride!
Now I had a nice big stump sticking out of the ground. I cut that bad boy down to watch it bounce off the ground and land perfectly where I wanted it.
I cut the wood up to give away to Paul and called it a day. I should’ve known the pole saw thing was never going to work. Why do I bother trying to do things slowly?
I guess this story wasn’t all that short after all…
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