Friday, Oct. 14, 2016 – Clean Diagonal Sidewalk, Mow at Carthage, Fall Leaves on the Trees

Sis. Johnson spent most of her morning cleaning an area of Main Street called “The Diagonal Sidewalk” with Kiana, the FM Intern.  The area they cleaned has been an eyesore for months because it was low on the priority list. But today Sis. Johnson and Kiana got the first third of the sidewalk cleaned up and it looks great.

The cleanup of the Diagonal Sidewalk was particularly hard because all of the weeds had to be pulled by hand and they were all full of stickers, burrs and needle sharp spins. Sis. Johnson’s arms are full of the pricks, scratches and puncture marks to prove it. The weed with the spines was particularly vicious; the spines went right through Sis. Johnson’s gloves. Ouch!

After lunch Richard went with Sis. Johnson and Kiana to plant more Daffodil bulbs. Richard still had a few left and he wanted them planted in an area of the Visitor’s Center that hasn’t been planted before. Richard calls the area “Negative Space.” Now, since it hadn’t been planted before it was hard soil with lots of tree roots to dig through. The shovel work was tough going for everyone but it all got planted.  It’s going to look great in the spring.

My Fridays are starting to be pretty routine. I left early to drive to Carthage. I blew and cleaned the sidewalks then mowed all of the lawns. The trees haven’t dropped very many leaves yet but those that have fallen are all over the lawns. With the power blower and grass catcher bin on the mower I vacuumed all of the leave up. The lawns at the Visitor’s Center and at the Bushnell House look great now.

As I worked in Carthage and as I drove to and from Carthage and on the road to the Bushnell House I saw beautiful fall colored trees everywhere I went. I love all of the fall colors. They are turning more and more every day.