Actually, it was an extremely pleasant walk up the Coquitlam Crunch, in sunshine and plus temperatures. I walked the entire 2.25km trail up and down at a normal walking speed. This wasn’t a race. Also, I still had my 7-11 coffee to finish.
Escape
It was nice to escape from home and collect my thoughts as I hiked up and down the Coquitlam Crunch trail. Because my landscaping season is long, it’s nice to enjoy a completely free day, solo.
Back in 2015, I used to maintain sections of the Coquitlam Crunch when I worked as a temporary full-time parks worker with the City of Coquitlam. My introduction to annual cuts happened right here. Yes, it all came back in a flash.
Coming from strata landscape maintenance, one annual cut was a new idea and I had fun doing it. There is something pleasant about line trimming the edges of a meadow.
It was all fun until I beheaded a garden snake.
2019 recap
This past season wasn’t especially memorable but at least there weren’t any disasters. When one of our foremen went down in the fall, I had to take over his portfolio until Christmas.
Sadly, because my services were required on a large site, I wasn’t able to attend the annual Can West Hort Show in September. Of course, I survived, but not meeting my mentor Dr. Linda Chalker-Scott was a major disappointment.
Luckily, there are plenty of ways to continue one’s education and earn education credits (CEUs). Learning never stops.
One long-overdue project is the written Certified Landscape Manager (CLP) exam which is made up of seven modules. I waited for a few years because I didn’t want to shell out $350 for the set of seven manuals. Then, this year, I found a good soul who lent me the set for free.
Another long-overdue project is the 120 hour online Turf management course put on by the University of Georgia. I’m excited to formally study turf management with the top dogs. The $300-380 US cost is reasonable; there are no out-of-state extra fees.
Once I reached the bottom of the trail, I walked back to my car, still enjoying the afternoon sun. Then I put on my favourite techno music and drove off.
