Woodswoman Extraordinaire

After driving about for quite some time, wandering different bits of the trail and getting a little bit lost, my husband and I finally found what we had set out to discover. The Cayuga County Trail was once a railroad track that has now been converted into a trail. It's hard to say precisely what these buildings would have been used for because there's a shocking amount of garbage that has been shoved in them over the years. Most of the larger rusting bits looked like farm equipment, so my best guess is these were used for storing and loading grain and other farm goods.

Regardless of their history, they are decidedly picturesque in fading February evening light.

It's hard to believe some of these are still standing at all. I was afraid to sneeze for fear I'd blow them over. I pity the poor squirrel or bat whose weight finally does in the one above. It gave me a little more hope that my lovely old house with its slightly leaning basement wall has a long time before I need to panic about it. And our barn, which is rapidly beginning to look like some of these, could stand for decades yet. At least our barn still has 4 walls and a roof, although the angles at which said walls and roof meet up are becoming more peculiar with each passing year.

These wonderful old barns were hauntingly still and quiet while we snapped their pictures. No creatures stirred, and for the first time all day the wind dwindled to nothing. It was as though time was temporarily frozen.

I love the textures of the old wood as it slowly rots, and the remaining hints of the red paint that used to grace the boards. I wonder why red is the universal color for barns? It's sometimes amazing to me that neglect and decay can be beautiful.

The Spouse and I went to a new gym on Sunday morning to try it out. We haven't decided whether to join or not - I hate that one has to commit for 18 months to get a remotely reasonable rate. I sincerely wish gyms had seasonal memberships because we don't really need a gym in the summer. When it's nice out, we bike, hike, jog, rollerblade, garden and canoe. For more upper body workout we just stand still in the back yard and swat mosquitoes.

I know myself - no matter how much I'm paying a gym I'm not going to be inclined to exercise indoors in the summer when I can be outdoors instead. In the winter, though, we turn into pathetic lumps. Every stinking winter. Oh, sure, we still get out for a few hours of walking or snowshoeing each weekend, but that's hardly enough to keep us in shape.

This year I've had enough of our lazy winter lumpishness. Adirondack High Peak season is just around the corner, and I'd prefer not to collapse in a gasping heap 1/2 way up the next mountain. So, I dragged our sorry butts to a nice gym that's not too far from home to try it out.

Incidentally, we have to decide by Thursday if we're going to join in order to get the best rate and a whole bunch of free stuff, like t-shirts, gym bags, two sessions with a trainer, a free hour on the tennis courts, and some other odds and ends. I like free stuff, whether it's really free or not. I'm appalled that I feel compelled to join within the next 5 days to get the "free" stuff, just as they intend. I like to think of myself as being resistant to peer pressure and advertising since I don't have a TV, don't listen to the radio other than NPR, and seldom read magazines and therefore hardly ever see or hear ads.

Clearly I'm just deluding myself. I'm completely susceptible. I'll keep you posted on just how fabulous the free t-shirts and gym bags are.

The purpose of this little aside is to explain why our Sunday walk wasn't really a walk so much as a series of little stops in the car, and very short forays into the cold. By the time I got done running 2 miles and using a whole bunch of nautilus equipment at the gym, my legs and arms felt like cooked spaghetti. I then went home and ate a massive lunch, thereby undoing most of the work I'd done burning calories at the gym. I then did NOT feel like being cold. I always seem to reach that point in February - I'm so sick of winter I can hardly stand it.

After my post a couple of weeks ago about the ruins we'd stumbled upon along the Erie Canal, my father mentioned some ruins he had found along the Cayuga County Trail that runs from Cato to Fair Haven. He also mentioned that they were right where a road crosses the trail. So, for our weekend outdoors adventure, Spouse and I decided to go on a quest to find the ruins.

We started off in the Village of Cato, where we actually started walking down the trail a little way. We found some friends:

And evidence that they spend a lot of time in this little stream.

We also found a few scenic spots.

I love this donut of snow around the base of this tree.

And the incredibly striking color of red berries against snow.

Between the spaghetti legs, the headwind, and the numerous stinky snowmobiles, we did not get far down the trail before we wound up back at the car and went seeking the next spot where the road crosses the trail.

We drove for a while and stopped along the road to shoot pics of some corn against a brightening evening sky.

We made our way over back roads up to Route 104, where we stopped and got out because there was a cool bridge over what I think is Sterling Creek. Just as we got onto the bridge, the sun appeared, lighting up the trees in the distance.

My arms still feel like spaghetti and holding them up to this keyboard is getting increasingly difficult, so I'm going to make y'all wait for tomorrow to find out if we ever did manage to find the ruins...