Oneonta Susquehanna Greenway

Paul and I walked last night on an interesting loop here in Oneonta. One side is I-88. The opposite side is the Susquehanna River. Enclosed are the wastewater treatment plant, the school bus barn and soccer practice fields. I know that it doesn't sound all that pleasant, but it really is quite nice. It's well tended, fairly level walking, great views and quite a lot of flora and fauna.

We took advantage of a cool summer solstice through dusk. Needless to say, the mosquitos were thick, but we were dressed in long sleeves and pants.

Credit for photos to Paul Coleman and the author.

An enticement to return is the vision of huge flowering blackberry bushes.

Here are the details:

View this Course on MapMyHike

No need any more.

We used to seek out good playgrounds.

I didn't expect that there would be a new view

but I don't remember driving and seeing the dandelions quite like this before. 

Looking to the future without the bill cap.

For those of you who haven't seen me daily at work over the last couple of years, I wear my keys on a lanyard around my neck so that I won't lock myself out of my car or office. I also wear a bill cap advocating my current institution.

Today I'm giving my last final at SUNY Cortland. My lanyard is lighter the apartment keys. Later today I'll turn in the others.

Yesterday at my final office hours, my favorite works-so-hard-to-understand-statistics-quite-a-pain-sometimes-but-I-love-her student mentioned my hat as I came in. Without much thinking, I took it off and gave it to her. I wish I'd gotten a picture of it on her head.

From my office window: Waiting for the bus after the 9 o'clock class

Reflections on my view this morning

It is a snow day. We're all snug at home and don't have to leave. I returned home yesterday afternoon rather than risk getting stuck in Cortland for the rest of the week.

I love our neighborhood. Yes, there is quite a bit of traffic for a one block street. We're situated between the school and the hospital. The city is very attentive and clears it frequently. Parked cars have to be moved from the street in a snow emergency, so that those dig-out spots don't stay long in front of our house.

We get a lot of pedestrian traffic, many of them are headed to the park that is at the end of our block. The city, and particularly our neighborhood, has a snow-clearing ethic. I think that there is an ordinance that you must clear your sidewalks if there is more than two inches of snow.

It is a good thing. 

So today, we had quite a bit of snow fall overnight and a prediction of quite a bit more into the afternoon. 

The Ms.M. is a neighbor who lives with her elderly father. She needs to get out early so her snowblower starts about 5:30 or 6am. I could get upset with her except that she will run her blower from her house down our front sidewalk to clear the other neighbors' walk, too. So I do benefit from her efforts. Thank you Ms.M.

The across-the-street neighbor has an ATV that has a blade. He was all dressed up in his gear clearing his drive and walk about 7-7:30. I know he was loving it. He lives for the snow.

Now I see that Mr.C, the retired fellow next door, is running his blower about 8:30. He also very carefully clears paths to his various doors. The door to his basement is on our driveway side, so he will run a path beside our car to his door. Thank you, Mr.C.

Me? I am going to wait until the snow stops. Then I'll dig out my cars and clear the driveway and walks. Maybe I'll wait until the neighbors are clearing for a second time. Then I can wave or have a chat.

I love our neighborhood. 

My commute this morning

I'm glad that I can leave later and didn't have to worry about traffic.