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Community Corner

The Bulb: As Only a Bulbarian Can Show You

As I'm sure many of you realize, as soon as June 27th, I am likely to be issued a stayaway order from the Albany Bulb.

I have spent SO MANY years exploring and studying the Bulb! The thought of having to just shelve that knowledge, for it to only be brought to the surface on the rare occasion that someone happens to ask me something about the Landfill, just kills me!

I would like to impart what knowledge I have about the Bulb onto as many people as I can, while I can still show the features to them myself. That way they can spread the knowledge to others whom they bring here, and so on and so forth...

To that end, I will be hosting three hikes, of graduating difficulty levels, around the Bulb, starting this coming Saturday.

The two least difficult tours (Saturday, June 21 and Sunday, June 22) will include trips through places where people used to live: Mom-a-Bear's, Pat's, Gary's, Chet's and our place (of course) and others... I think it is important to educate as many people as possible (who don't already know) about the fact that pretty much ALL of the improvements that have ever been made to the Landfill were indeed done by people living there. My hope is that it will also help participants to understand a little bit better about how people lived, day to day and season to season, when we lived there.

The second level of difficulty tour (Sunday, June 22) will include a trip down to what is left of the Open Letter. As well as a trip down to the apricot trees (where the Neck and Plateau meet) and to the Buckeyes that Andy and his friends planted. The second tour will also include a venture to the remains of the Hermitage Caldarium, where Sandy lived when Phyl and I first came to the Bulb (at Sandy's suggestion). The Caldarium sat on the far western edge of the Bulb had a fully functional, handmade hot tub, fashioned from pieces of the debris that the Landfill is made of.When the Caldarium was burned to the ground, in late 2007, by a recently released psych-ward patient, Andy Kreamer gave Sandy his home, where Sandy lived until the recent eviction. The second tour will also include a trip down to Andy's/Sandy's old place on the eastern edge of the Landfill.
Both the first and second tours will start at 10:00am on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. We will meet near the Cove (aka "keyhole", "firepit" etc.) near Albany Beach.

The most difficult hike (tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, June 24) will include a voyage down the very steep hillside on the north side of the Neck, to where the headstone of William E. Carter (born 1842/died 1889) was dumped and still lays on its back at the water's edge.

It is very important to me that I have the opportunity to host these tours for people, so that other people can find the amazing things that are everywhere out there, for years to come, regardless of whether any of the indigenous Bulb-dwellers are allowed to come here, or not.

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