That Darn Dam!

Not unlike painting the George Washington Bridge, trail maintenance many times requires going back over a particular area or structure on a regular basis to provide safe passage or to define a path through a heavily wooded area. Thus, leaf-blowing some trails in Autumn or fence-mending when needed.

 Though not technically a trail item, the red barn does house the tools required to get the job done, so keeping the barn from collapsing by holding it together with paint is somewhat desirable. That's why we have work parties!

 Click on photos to enlarge

"What's going on here?" We had a number of weak or damaged rails that had to be replaced on the fence along the Silent Waters dam. With only 10 new rails to work with on this day, we had to be selective in replacements. The safety of the trail users was our primary concern.

Jim offers advice as Jeff removes a broken rail.

Jeff's son Anthony clears the growing accumulation of leaves from the Rec Path at Silent Waters.

 

"Well! Just don't stand there! Do sumthin'".

 

Jeff and Terry force another new rail into place.

 

Jim and Richard prepare to recycle the old rails.

"Time to go home?". Terry whistles "Hi-ho, hi-ho!", not realizing that there's painting to be done before the day is over.

 No, it's not over! Work continues at the barn. A new coat of paint was needed, and we had the brushes, paint, manpower, and Bill Dyer, "aka, "Tom Sawyer", to convince the volunteers that painting was fun!

 

Anthony shows how it's done.

Bill's concern was keeping the paint on the barn, and not on his clothes.

The other Bill was just trying to stay warm on this cool, breezy Autumn day.

Jim preferred the high life, spending most of his time on the ladder.

Jim watches Richard trying to restore an old edge to an old barn

We like to start at the bottom, and work our way up!

It was a fun day, really! Nice weather, easy projects, good exercise. This is a great way for a family to enjoy a productive, educational, and community improvement day. By all appearances Jeff and son Anthony experienced a morning of working together as a team.You can't buy that bonding!