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Last night August 21st the weather forecast was bad. Hurricane Henri was going to being coming onshore in Connecticut.  Heavy rain, flooding, hurricane winds and possible power outages for days.  I was very worried.

I wasn’t worried about the hurricane issues.  I was worried about, how am I going to get my ten miles of walking in.  The last two days I only walked nine miles and if the weather was going to be that bad walking would be difficult.

When I woke up this morning there was no rain. The forecast was still for rain all day.  However, I was hopeful.  The heavy rain started around 8:00.  At nine the rain slowed down, and I took a chance to walk.

I live close to the track at the local football field, and I took a chance to walk there.  Waterproof shoes and a big umbrella were all I needed. The rain slowed down, and I was able to walk four miles in the morning.

The rain was on and off the rest of the morning. At 1;00 pm I felt it was safe to take a big walk.  I headed downtown on High Ridge Road.

There was very little traffic on the roads, yet I almost saw three car accidents in the space of five minutes.  At Bulls Head where Long Ridge and High Ridge merge into Summer Street, there is a traffic light for Long Ridge.  Right turn on red is allowed.  I watched two cars make the right turn without slowing down and of course they didn’t see the traffic coming down High Ridge.  How they missed hitting the cars is a mystery to me. Further down Summer Street a car tried to cross the road and almost hit the oncoming traffic.

Sad to say the sounds of horns were always with me.

I walked to the Stamford Mall which was closed.  I walked home and altogether I hit eleven miles for the day.

Let us see what the week shall bring

I like to walk. Lately I have been walking ten miles a day. There are so many sights and sounds to enjoy during the walk.

Unfortunately, there are dangers when I walk. I must always be on the lookout for cars, bikes, pedestrians and animals. Just last week I was walking on a sidewalk in front of a stopped car when the driver decided to move forward.  They had been on the cellphone and started to move before they looked up. Luckily, they did look up and stopped again.  I was ready to jump or scoot out of the way in case they didn’t.

The other day I was walking on a back road when I missed getting hit by a foot.  I never saw or heard it.  It was a hidden danger that I could not have reacted to at all. The hidden danger was a large green hickory nut falling from a hickory tree.  There was no sound until the nut hit the ground right in front of me. I don’t think the nut would have hurt me to much if it hit me. I am glad it did not.

I am curious what the acorn season will be like.  There are oak trees all over Stamford

Walking in the heat is doable.  Last Monday June 27^th was a very hot and humid day.  I was able to walk sixteen miles that day.  Here is how I did it.

My first foray was at 6:15 am.  The temperature was in the low 70s and I walked three miles with no problem.

At 8:30 I walked down High Ridge and Summer Street.  The temperature was bearable, and I made it to Honey Joe’s where I had a cold tea and cooled off.

After that I went to the Stamford Mall. Twice around the whole mile is a mile and I even picked up Yankee Magazine at the bookstore. Leaving the Mall.  I walked half a mile and took the bus the rest of way to my house off High Ridge Road.

By the time I reached home I already had 7 and half miles.  The afternoon was going to be the challenge.

The trick to walking in hot sun and humidity is to walk in the shade.  It is always cooler under a trees canopy and my cousin the physicist told me for every molecule of chlorophyll a tree makes it takes four photons of energy.

The closet forest is Bartlett Arboretum.  It is a three mile walk to get there.  Not in this heat with no shade.  I took the bus to the Stamford Nature Museum and walked High Ridge Road to the Arboretum.  High Ridge Road is lined with trees and was almost pleasant to walk.  The Arboretum was extremely easy to walk. After my walk there  I took the path that leads to the Stamford Nature Museum.  Thru the woods again

Waiting for the bus on High Ridge across from Francos Chicken Outlet I found a shade tree and it was an easy wait.

Arriving home, I had 13 Miles.  I drove down to Scalzi Park and 7:30 pm and played tennis for a while. At that time, the courts were okay for tennis. The tennis brought my total milage up the 16 miles.

On hot days start early find places to cool off and look for shade when walking and drink plenty of fluids

Monday May 17, 2021.  Stamford is back to normal.  On my walk from High Ridge Road to Kosciuszko Park. I encountered heavy traffic on High Ridge Road.  I heard Ambulance and Fire sirens at least five times. So yes, Stamford is back to normal.

The walk to the tip of Kosciuszko Park was five miles.  I did stop for a rest and tea at Honey Joe’s Coffee shop. It is good to pace myself. This way I was able to walk 15 Miles in total for the whole day. 

It was low tide at the park and the waterfowl was out and about.  Seagulls, egrets and a nesting osprey were some of the birds I saw at the park. No Groundhogs were seen today

The weather is finally warming up and I plan on spending more time at Stamford’s coastline.  On to Shippan Point.

Wagner’s luggage on High Ridge road is closing. I mention this because they are offering 30% off on all merchandise. They have the best umbrella. As a dedicated walker you need a good umbrella. I bought my third one there having left my other two on the train and a bus.

I encountered heavy traffic on my Sunday morning walk on High Ridge. In addition to the traffic my fellow drivers were erratic. I heard car horns blasting a lot. I do not like to say it but, I feel the honking was justified this time.

The other thing I noticed Sunday were no flower sellers on High Ridge. Usually on Mother’s Day they are all over the place. Finally, as I write this Monday morning at Honey Joe’s coffee shop. I was almost hit crossing Long Ridge Road at Bulls Head in the crosswalk. The driver never saw me even though they were looking my way to make the right turn on red. This issue is happening more often than it should

I did it today.  I did not plan on doing it.  However, when I got off the bus and checked my walking mileage.  I knew I could do it.

The it was walking 15.4 miles today.  That is the longest I have walked since I started doing this during the Covid Lockdown and the good part is I don’t feel exhausted.

The way to accomplish this amount of walking is to walk in stages.

This morning I walked 5.3 miles with taking a bus home instead of walking the last mile.

Most of the afternoon walking was done in Westport, CT after taking the train from Stamford.

After returning to Stamford by train.  I walked from the train station to Ridgeway Shopping Center where I sat for ten minutes before boarding the bus.

When I left the bus the mileage on my iPhone was 14.4 miles.  Instead of going straight home I went up to the school track.  Once around then home and a new walking record

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This is the week.  The cherry blossoms will be out in full force all over Stamford.  Yesterday they were starting to show and by mid-week they will be open all over. 

There will be a spectacular show on High Ridge Road.  Keep your eyes open they are all over Stamford. The cherry blossoms will only be here for a short time

Today I decided to have a field trip. I remember back to my school days and I always enjoyed the occasional field trip.  So today off to the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx.

I did the trip car free.  I walked from my house to the Stamford Train Station.  Three miles exactly.  A round trip ticket to Fordham in the Bronx is $12.00.  The train trip took 50 minutes to the Fordham Station.

There is a stop for Botanical Gardens.  However, the Stamford trains only stop at Fordham.  I walked along the main road for 215 minutes and was at the Garden.

The flowers and trees are not at peak spring showing, but there is still plenty to see.

They planted 150,000 daffodils on this hill years ago and it is still a beautiful site.  They are also showing the artwork of Kusama: Cosmic Nature.  Well worth the visit.

Now so other highlights.  The Bronx Zoo is only another ten-minute walk from the Botanical Center.  On my walk back to the Fordham Station I walked down Arthur Avenue to Little Italy.  If you haven’t been you should go the food and ambience is very nice.

Tomorrow back to the roads of Stamford.  I will be taking more field trips.  The Stamford Train Station is a great starting point to go to for walks further away.  One of these days I am going to take the train to New London and the ferry to Fishers Island

Sounds of Stamford

When I walk around Stamford, I am always hearing the sounds of Stamford.  They vary from quiet in North Stamford to the sirens that are constantly throughout Stamford.

One of my favorite sounds is that of water.  Listening to the gentile lapping of the waves at Cove Island and to the cascading of the water of off Interlaken Road is always a joy to hear.

Some of the sounds are loud.  The sirens are, noisy cars are and motorcycles can be very bad.  The motorcycles always seem to crack their throttle when they pass by me.

Now I have bought a decibel meter.  I plan on taking it with me on my walks and will let you know how loud Stamford is

I have noticed with my winter walks that the D-DAT crowd has been active this winter.  D-DAT stands for Drive, drink and toss.  Yes, there are cans and bottles all over Stamford.  It is amazing what you can gather from all these cans and bottles.  Budweiser beer at one time advertised their beer as the King of Beers.  Bud is the most tossed beer of the D-dat crowd.  Fireball whiskey and vodka are the two most favored hard drinks.  Surprisingly, water bottles are in the favored group.

Now on to Vodka Alley. There is a road I traverse all the time just north of the Merritt Parkway. Friday March 12^th, I walked it and in a 150-foot section I picked up 52 Vodka bottles ranging in size from the 1 ounce to the standard bottle size.  Thus, I am calling it Vodka Alley.  I will be checking the spot out weekly to see how fast the Vodka bottles reappear.  Hopefully, the growth will be slow.

As I walk and wander all over Stamford I will be able to offer names to many unique places in Stamford.