"Plunkers"

Day 22 (7/28/09)
I went south today toward Belgium. I think it was the first time all year but I wanted to see how the coneflower field was doing at Jay road. Perhaps I knew it was going to be kind of depressing so I avoided it. There were very few coneflowers this year, maybe in another week. The most disheartening thing was when I got to where the old “Peace Memorial” once stood I now found only garbage. I picked up the garbage and started collecting rocks to rebuild it but people came along so I decided to wait. Matt, we have a new objective. Also, I have never quite understood the, Belgium side trail maintenance crew’s need to spray the trail with weed killer. It seems so anti-recreational somehow. It may be my imagination but there seems to be a lingering smell of chemicals that can’t be good to be breathing in, unlike mowing which actually leaves a pleasant freshly cut hay smell. There were some pleasant surprises however. Many of my friend Grant’s "plunker guys" were still on the poles, part of an art project he had done last summer. Almost all, if not all, are gone from the stretch of trail going towards Oostburg. Also, there were actually a couple of cairns up, obviously done by others. I will have to try to focus a little more attention in that direction.