Five Weeks and Counting...

With just five weeks until Arunah Hill Days, the July work day was a busy one. Matt Paine was up at sunrise and had much of the "cleared" parts of the hill mowed by the time I arrived mid-morning. Kevin Collins and Tom Walker, with friend Rick, had a compressor and generator running and were very busy installing mess lined plywood to the telescope shed, gaining much ground in our continuing "mouse proofing" efforts. Dan Herzberg joined the effort mid-morning to provide some re-enforcement.

During the morning we had two visitors: Barbara, the oldest resident in the town of Cummington! Barbara is about to turn 94 and has lived in Cummington all her life. She visited Arunah Hill with her friend Lucy to see what the place now looked like. I gave her a "tour" of the Gaertner. It's interesting to think that she may have used this telescope during a visit to Smith College when the Gaertner Telescope was still shiny and new.

Ray Burk and Steve Pielock took turns pushing a mower around the hill, and I did a bit too. The hill. All this mowing effort made it clear to all of us just how important it is to get the mower deck fixed for the tractor. Some generous donations were pledged, but more is needed. I you can, please send a check to Peter S. so we can get some "capital improvements" done on the hill, ideally before AH Days.

Barry Hervieux did some trail clearing and general cleanup. With Barry's chainsaw work, and Matt and I working the loppers, we now have most of the Farrington trail cleared, and have the Piliated path cleared from Raven's Perch to Poet Rock.

John Davis and Steve Herzberg also helped out on the hill, and helped in the planning for AHDays. Jonathan Klinkowski fired up some great burgers for lunch.

Soon enough the bright skies of the morning turned gray and threatening. Over the next five weeks there is still a lot of work to do, but the July workday build a fine base.