| Boards of Cooperative Education Services (BOCES) | |
| BOCES | Districts |
|---|---|
| Broome-Delaware-Tioga | Binghamton City, Chenango Forks, Chenango Valley, Deposit, Harpursville, Johnson City, Maine-Endwell, Newark Valley, Owego-Apalachin, Susquehanna Valley, Tioga, Union-Endicott, Vestal, Whitney Point, Windsor |
| Capital Region | Albany City, Berne-Knox-Westerlo, Bethlehem, Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake, Cobleskill-Richmondville, Cohoes City, Duanesburg, Green Island, Guilderland, Menands, Middleburgh, Niskayuna, North Colonie, Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk, Rotterdam-Mohonasen, Schalmont, Schenectady City, Schoharie, Scotia-Glenville, Sharon Springs, Shenendehowa, South Colonie, Voorheesville, Watervliet City |
| Cattar-Allegany-Erie-Wyoming | Allegany-Limestone, Andover, Belfast, Bolivar-Richburg, Cattaraugus-Little Valley, Cuba-Rushford, Ellicottville, Fillmore, Franklinville, Friendship, Genesee Valley, Hinsdale, Olean City, Portville, Randolph, Salamanca City, Scio, Wellsville, West Valley, Whitesville, Yorkshire-Pioneer |
| Cayuga-Onondaga | Auburn City, Cato-Meridian, Jordan-Elbridge, Moravia, Port Byron, Skaneateles, Southern Cayuga, Union Springs, Weedsport |
| Clinton-Essex-Warren-Washing | Ausable Valley, Beekmantown, Boquet Valley, Chazy, Crown Point, Keene, Moriah, Northeastern Clinton, Northern Adirondack, Peru, Plattsburgh City, Putnam, Saranac, Schroon Lake, Ticonderoga, Willsboro |
| Delaw-Chenango-Madison-Otsego | Afton, Bainbridge-Guilford, Delaware Academy Csd At, Downsville, Franklin, Georgetown-South Otselic, Gilbertsville-Mount Upton, Greene, Hancock, Norwich City, Otego-Unadilla, Oxford Academy &, Sherburne-Earlville, Sidney, Unadilla Valley, Walton |
| Dutchess | Arlington, Beacon City, Dover, Hyde Park, Millbrook, Northeast, Pawling, Pine Plains, Poughkeepsie City, Red Hook, Rhinebeck, Spackenkill, Wappingers |
| Eastern Suffolk | Amagansett, Bay Shore, Bayport-Blue Point, Brentwood, Bridgehampton, Brookhaven-Comsewogue, Center Moriches, Central Islip, Connetquot, East Hampton, East Islip, East Moriches, East Quogue, Eastport-South Manor, Fire Island, Fishers Island, Greenport, Hampton Bays, Hauppauge, Islip, Longwood, Mattituck-Cutchogue, Middle Country, Miller Place, Montauk, Mt Sinai, New Suffolk Comn, Oysterponds, Patchogue-Medford, Port Jefferson, Quogue, Remsenburg-Speonk, Riverhead, Rocky Point, Sachem, Sag Harbor, Sagaponack Comn, Sayville, Shelter Island, Shoreham-Wading River, South Country, Southampton, Southold, Springs, Three Village, Tuckahoe Comn, Wainscott Comn, West Islip, Westhampton Beach, William Floyd |
| Erie 1 | Akron, Alden, Amherst, Buffalo City, Cheektowaga, Cheektowaga-Maryvale, Clarence, Cleveland Hill, Depew, Frontier, Grand Island, Hamburg, Hopevale Ufsd At, Kenmore-Tonawanda, Lackawanna City, Lancaster, Sweet Home, Tonawanda City, West Seneca, Williamsville |
| Erie 2-Chautauqua-Cattaraugus | Bemus Point, Brocton, Cassadaga Valley, Chautauqua Lake, Clymer, Dunkirk City, East Aurora, Eden, Evans-Brant Csd (Lake Shore), Falconer, Forestville, Fredonia, Frewsburg, Gowanda, Holland, Iroquois, Jamestown City, North Collins, Orchard Park, Panama, Pine Valley Csd (South Dayton), Ripley, Sherman, Silver Creek, Southwestern Csd At, Springville-Griffith Inst, Westfield |
| Franklin-Essex-Hamilton | Brushton-Moira, Chateaugay, Lake Placid, Long Lake, Malone, Raquette Lake, Salmon River, Saranac Lake, St Regis Falls, Tupper Lake |
| Genesee Valley | Alexander, Attica, Avon, Batavia City, Byron-Bergen, Caledonia-Mumford, Dalton-Nunda Csd (Keshequa), Dansville, Elba, Geneseo, Le Roy, Letchworth, Livonia, Mt Morris, Oakfield-Alabama, Pavilion, Pembroke, Perry, Warsaw, Wayland-Cohocton, Wyoming, York |
| Hamilton-Fulton-Montgomery | Amsterdam City, Broadalbin-Perth, Canajoharie, Edinburg Common, Fonda-Fultonville, Fort Plain, Gloversville City, Johnstown City, Lake Pleasant, Mayfield, Northville, Oppenheim-Ephratah-St. Johnsville, Piseco Comn, Wells, Wheelerville |
| Herk-Fulton-Hamilton-Otsego | Central Valley Csd At Ilion-, Dolgeville, Frankfort-Schuyler, Herkimer, Little Falls City, Mount Markham, Oppenheim-Ephratah-St. Johnsville, Poland, Richfield Springs, Van Hornesville-Owen D Young, West Canada Valley |
| Jeffer-Lewis-Hamil-Herk-Oneida | Adirondack, Alexandria, Beaver River, Belleville-Henderson, Carthage, Copenhagen, General Brown, Indian River, Inlet Comn, La Fargeville, Lowville Academy &, Lyme, Sackets Harbor, South Jefferson, South Lewis, Thousand Islands, Town Of Webb, Watertown City |
| Madison-Oneida | Camden, Canastota, Hamilton, Madison, Morrisville-Eaton, Oneida City, Rome City, Sherrill City, Stockbridge Valley |
| Monroe 1 | Brighton, East Irondequoit, East Rochester, Fairport, Honeoye Falls-Lima, Penfield, Pittsford, Rochester City, Rush-Henrietta, Webster, West Irondequoit |
| Monroe 2-Orleans | Brockport, Churchville-Chili, Gates-Chili, Greece, Hilton, Holley, Kendall, Spencerport, Wheatland-Chili |
| Nassau | Baldwin, Bellmore, Bellmore-Merrick Central School, Bethpage, Carle Place, East Meadow, East Rockaway, East Williston, Elmont, Farmingdale, Floral Park-Bellerose, Franklin Square, Freeport, Garden City, Glen Cove City, Great Neck, Hempstead, Herricks, Hewlett-Woodmere, Hicksville, Island Park, Island Trees, Jericho, Lawrence, Levittown, Locust Valley, Long Beach City, Lynbrook, Malverne, Manhasset, Massapequa, Merrick, Mineola, New Hyde Park-Garden City Park, North Bellmore, North Merrick, North Shore, Oceanside, Oyster Bay-East Norwich, Plainedge, Plainview-Old Bethpage, Port Washington, Rockville Centre, Roosevelt, Roslyn, Seaford, Sewanhaka Central School, Syosset, Uniondale, Valley Stream 13, Valley Stream 24, Valley Stream 30, Valley Stream Central School, Wantagh, West Hempstead, Westbury |
| Oneida-Herkimer-Madison | Brookfield, Clinton, Holland Patent, New Hartford, Ny Mills, Oriskany, Remsen, Sauquoit Valley, Utica City, Waterville, Westmoreland, Whitesboro |
| Onondaga-Cortland-Madison | Baldwinsville, Cazenovia, Chittenango, Cincinnatus, Cortland City, Deruyter, East Syracuse Minoa, Fabius-Pompey, Fayetteville-Manlius, Homer, Jamesville-Dewitt, Lafayette, Liverpool, Lyncourt, Marathon, Marcellus, Mcgraw, North Syracuse, Onondaga, Solvay, Syracuse City, Tully, West Genesee, Westhill |
| Orange-Ulster | Chester, Cornwall, Florida, Goshen, Greenwood Lake, Highland Falls, Kiryas Joel Village, Marlboro, Middletown City, Minisink Valley, Monroe-Woodbury, Newburgh City, Pine Bush, Port Jervis City, Tuxedo, Valley Csd (Montgomery), Warwick Valley, Washingtonville |
| Orleans-Niagara | Albion, Barker, Lewiston-Porter, Lockport City, Lyndonville, Medina, Newfane, Niagara Falls City, Niagara-Wheatfield, North Tonawanda City, Royalton-Hartland, Starpoint, Wilson |
| Oswego | Altmar-Parish-Williamstown, Central Square, Fulton City, Hannibal, Mexico, Oswego City, Phoenix, Pulaski, Sandy Creek |
| Otsego-Delaw-Schoharie-Greene | Andes, Charlotte Valley, Cherry Valley-Springfield, Cooperstown, Edmeston, Gilboa-Conesville, Hunter-Tannersville, Jefferson, Laurens, Margaretville, Milford, Morris, Oneonta City, Roxbury, Schenevus, South Kortright, Stamford, Windham-Ashland-Jewett, Worcester |
| Putnam-Northern Westchester | Bedford, Brewster, Briarcliff Manor, Carmel, Chappaqua, Croton-Harmon, Garrison, Haldane, Hendrick Hudson, Katonah-Lewisboro, Lakeland, Mahopac, North Salem, Ossining, Peekskill City, Putnam Valley, Somers, Yorktown |
| Questar Iii (R-C-G) | Averill Park, Berkshire, Berlin, Brunswick Csd (Brittonkill), Cairo-Durham, Catskill, Chatham, Coxsackie-Athens, East Greenbush, Germantown, Greenville, Hoosic Valley, Hoosick Falls, Hudson City, Kinderhook, Lansingburgh, New Lebanon, North Greenbush Comn Sd (Williams), Rensselaer City, Schodack, Taconic Hills, Troy City, Wynantskill |
| Rockland | Clarkstown, East Ramapo Csd (Spring Valley), Haverstraw-Stony Point Csd (North, Nanuet, Nyack, Pearl River, Ramapo Csd (Suffern), South Orangetown |
| Schuy-Steub-Chem-Tioga-Alleg | Addison, Alfred-Almond, Arkport, Avoca, Bath, Bradford, Campbell-Savona, Canaseraga, Canisteo-Greenwood, Corning City, Elmira City, Elmira Heights, Hammondsport, Hornell City, Horseheads, Jasper-Troupsburg, Odessa-Montour, Prattsburgh, Spencer-Van Etten, Watkins Glen, Waverly |
| St Lawrence-Lewis | Brasher Falls, Canton, Clifton-Fine, Colton-Pierrepont, Edwards-Knox, Gouverneur, Hammond, Harrisville, Hermon-Dekalb, Heuvelton, Lisbon, Madrid-Waddington, Massena, Morristown, Norwood-Norfolk, Ogdensburg City, Parishville-Hopkinton, Potsdam |
| Sullivan | Eldred, Fallsburg, Liberty, Livingston Manor, Monticello, Roscoe, Sullivan West, Tri-Valley |
| Tompkins-Seneca-Tioga | Candor, Dryden, Groton, Ithaca City, Lansing, Newfield, South Seneca, Trumansburg |
| Ulster | Ellenville, Highland, Kingston City, New Paltz, Onteora, Rondout Valley, Saugerties, Wallkill |
| Washing-Sara-War-Hamltn-Essex | Argyle, Ballston Spa, Bolton, Cambridge, Corinth, Fort Ann, Fort Edward, Galway, Glens Falls City, Glens Falls Comn, Granville, Greenwich, Hadley-Luzerne, Hartford, Hudson Falls, Indian Lake, Johnsburg, Lake George, Mechanicville City, Minerva, Newcomb, North Warren, Queensbury, Salem, Saratoga Springs City, Schuylerville, South Glens Falls, Stillwater, Warrensburg, Waterford-Halfmoon, Whitehall |
| Wayne-Finger Lakes | Canandaigua City, Clyde-Savannah, Dundee, East Bloomfield, Gananda, Geneva City, Gorham-Middlesex Csd (Marcus, Honeoye, Lyons, Manchester-Shortsville Csd (Red, Marion, Naples, Newark, North Rose-Wolcott, Palmyra-Macedon, Penn Yan, Phelps-Clifton Springs, Red Creek, Romulus, Seneca Falls, Sodus, Victor, Waterloo, Wayne, Williamson |
| Westchester | Ardsley, Blind Brook-Rye, Bronxville, Byram Hills, Dobbs Ferry, Eastchester, Edgemont, Elmsford, Greenburgh, Harrison, Hastings-On-Hudson, Irvington, Mamaroneck, Mt Pleasant, Mt Vernon School, New Rochelle City, Pelham, Pleasantville, Pocantico Hills, Port Chester-Rye, Rye City, Rye Neck, Scarsdale, Tuckahoe, Ufsd-, Valhalla, White Plains City, Yonkers City |
| Western Suffolk | Amityville, Babylon, Cold Spring Harbor, Commack, Copiague, Deer Park, Elwood, Half Hollow Hills, Harborfields, Huntington, Kings Park, Lindenhurst, North Babylon, Northport-East Northport, Smithtown, South Huntington, West Babylon, Wyandanch |
| Andy Arthur, 3/31/23 Data Source:
NYS Education Department. |
|
Search Results for: johnstown new york
USGS Topographic Maps – Dutchess to Livingston Counties
Counties: Albany to Delaware / Dutchess to Livingston / Madison to Otsego / Putnam to Suffolk / Sullivan to Yates
Browse Topographic Maps: Full State / Historical USGS Topographic Maps
Dutchess County
Erie County
Essex County
Franklin County
Fulton County
Genesee County
Greene County
Hamilton County
Herkimer County
Jefferson County
Kings County
Lewis County
Livingston County
USGS Topographic Maps – Madison to Otsego Counties
Counties: Albany to Delaware / Dutchess to Livingston / Madison to Otsego / Putnam to Suffolk / Sullivan to Yates
Browse Topographic Maps: Full State / Historical USGS Topographic Maps
Madison County
Monroe County
Montgomery County
Nassau County
New York County
Niagara County
Oneida County
Onondaga County
Ontario County
Orange County
Orleans County
Oswego County
Otsego County
Good Evening – August 29, 2021
Good evening! Stopping by the Schoharie Crossing on my way back to Albany. 🚶
Super buggy and humid this evening in Fort Hunter but it’s manageable if I keep moving. 🐜
Partly cloudy and 74 degrees at the Schoharie Crossing. 🌥 There is a south breeze at 8 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 70 degrees. The skies will clear tomorrow around 5 pm.
“You can leave here for four days in space, but when you return it’s the same damn place.”
Was I utterly irresponsible to focus on my summer reading 📖 program and swimming holes 🏊♂️ ignoring all other worldly concerns? Probably but too bad. The world will go on just fine without me. 🌎
I’m back from four days in the Adirondacks swimming, 🏊♂️ hiking, 🚶 eating sausage paddies topped with onions and sweet corn from Sandell’s 🍔 and sitting next to roaring fire with my cowboy hat singing along with Dick Curless and Dave Dudley, 🎶 wearing my second amendment t-shirt with the AR-15 on it 🔫 and fourteen American flags among others. 🇺🇸 That said, I did not wear an patch over my right eye. Those sweet 🍠 onions were so good but maybe it’s because they were cooked in the hog lard and grease from the sausage paddies. I can only imagine how tasty pork 🥩 from heritage hogs must be.
I very intentionally chose to be off grid as possible in the Adirondacks. 🔕 After all I’m just tired of remote work, 📱 and when I have actual days off I want to be unreachable as possible. It just seems like Albany has become a drag and I just want to be as far away from urban problems as possible. 😴 I still have emails and voicemails ➿ to go through and respond to. I don’t know but the world keeps getting crazier every day. I’m sure I have a
This morning was probably the wettest part of the trip, ☔ mostly due to the overnight rain and fog. 🌫 I took camp down slowly, mainly hoping for the flags and tarp to be at least a little bit more dry then when the morning started out. I’m actually surprised how wet things were this morning – last night was only kind of cloudy when I went to bed.
It rained for a short while midday 🕛 on Saturday and then overnight Sunday into the morning 💦 and while it poured for a while by summer 2021 standards it was a pretty nice long weekend. 🌥 Saturday was cloudy but the weather was sunny but relatively hot on Thursday and Friday. I can only imagine how truly hot things were back in the city. Every day I went to the Potholers although I didn’t swim in them as it was cool Saturday evening although I did spend about an hour and a half chilling in the East Canada Creek near camp after the rain storm. 🏊♂️
I did a lot of reading 📖 this past weekend, getting through a 560 page book on Python and finishing up Kimberly Kimball’s book the Dirty Life about farming in the Adirondacks modern day in Essex with horses for their CSA 🐴. Farming is a dirty business with lots of manure and blood but it produces such good food. 🐮 Yes, even when I’m away from computers 🖥 my fascination with Python 🔢 continues. Since summer vacation, I’ve read three books – over 1,000 pages on python. I just see it as such powerful technology that becoming a true master of it will have the ability to improve my life.
I got a book out from the library about rabbit 🐰 farming that I didn’t read but that’s next on my list. Rabbits are a good source of protein and they are fairly efficient converters of feed and are easy to slaughter compared to pigs and cattle. 🐽 Maybe next weekend if I camp or I could read 📙 at home. Been trying to read more at home and stay off social media. It’s tough though.
I bought a truck intertube ⚫ in Johnstown to use in the creek but I left my air pump at home so I couldn’t inflate it. And the creek was running very low by camp. I’ve wanted one for a long time and I saw that Warren Tire in Johnstown was selling them for 21 dollars plus tax. Next time I go camping I’ll bring a rope and paddle so I can use it. Along with the air pump – might need to fix the power cord. I suspect water temperatures won’t drop instantly in September and maybe I can camp somewhere like near Stewart Landing 🏊♂️ to try it out. I like the idea of the tube as an alternative to the big heavy kayak 🛶 especially on a hot day when I want to just float in the lake or river.
Today, as soon as I got cell reception I got a low balance warning ⚠ from my bank 🏦. It’s fine everything will clear after my rent check and I’m paid Tuesday 💵 but money has been tight. Always is in the odd years when I don’t have the ability to get bonuses or overtime. It’s just tough as I tend to live paycheck to paycheck, really not keeping a lot in my interest free bank account. As much as I loathe to do it, I may skip my next payment into the so-called high interest savings account although I won’t skip the investment ur retirement accounts. I try to live frugally but gas prices ⛽, rent 🏡, food 🍲 and everything else is just going up in price.
Monday I need to run to the grocery store 🛒, wash my truck 🚚 and probably run to the laundromat all after work. Tuesday is my second to last remote work 💻 day, I have plan to drop my truck off at the local shop to get the oil change and tires rotated. 🔧 It is a bit early for the oil change but I forgot to rotate the tires the last oil change and it shows on the cupping of the tire. Plus as Friday ends remote work, it would mean taking time off from work to have the maintance done as DeNooyer Chevy no longer has late night hours and certainly the local shop doesn’t.
I used to change my own oil all the time but I always struggled to get the filter off and those 35 inch tires are heavy and they don’t have a lift at home. 🛢 The tires are pretty much shot and unevenly worn on the front left – but I want to milk as much out of them as possible. ⚫ At some point I’ll get it Watkins Spring for a proper computerized alignment and probably before winter put on a new set of 35 inch Nitto Terra Gablers. They’ve been good tough tires, although maybe not the absolute best mud or snow traction. Fairly quiet until recently as they got real worn.
I also want to sand down and paint over the rust spots on the wheel well and door sills 🖌️ before the salt is back on the roads come winter. I have less than 100,000 miles on the truck although after 10 rough New York Winters things are getting quite rusty on the undercarriage. I want to try to sqweak out a few more years out of the truck before I throw it away. I like having the cap and it’s not my daily driver – I take the bus. 🚍 At one level, I’d like to get of having a vehicle as a budget buster but I still like traveling – and it saves money by allowing me to shop at big box stores and take my bottles and cans to the recycling ♻ center rather than paying for trash service.
Site Map
🌲🌲 Our Public Lands 🌳🌲
Interactive maps with backcountry and roadside camping: New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia & Vermont.
List of NYS DEC Lean-Tos with map coordinates. List of NYS DEC Firetowers with map coordinates and more information.
Google Spreadsheet with Roadside, Primitive and Pay Campsites
Explore the Finger Lakes Trail, Long Path, Northville-Placid Trail and Long Trail/Appalachian in Vermont.
Catskill Park Mountain Peaks, Hudson Valley & Long Island Peaks, Peaks Over 3000 ft Elevation, Highest Peaks in Adirondacks, Interactive Map of All Named Summits in NYS, Blaze Colors in Catskill Park, Trailhead Parking Coordinates and Addresses in the Catskills.
Browse USGS Topo Quads as PDF 🆕 by State Lands or County. You can Bulk Download New & Old USGS Topograpic Maps.
Links to various NY State Land Websites 🆕. Get latest GIS Data from state Web Services.
⛺🌲 Camp 🌲🏕
Moose River Plains – Campsite Listing, Maps and photos of state’s largest free camping area.
Piseco-Powley Road – Campsite Listing, Maps and photos of 15 mile dirt road with camping.
Catskill Park Primitive Campsites – An overview of free camping locations in Catskill Park.
Burnt-Rossman Forest, Cattaraugus County, East Branch Sacandaga River, Finger Lakes National Forest, Madison County, Pennsylvania, Vermont and West Virigina.
Campsite Coordinates for Bog River Flow / Lows Lake, Hudson River SMA (Buttermilk Falls), Lake Lila, Oswegathie River, Nine-Corner Lake, Pharaoh Lake Wilderness, Saranac River Campsites, Stillwater Lake, Schoharie County, and Sugar Hill State Forest.
Overview of Camping Areas in the Catskills, Green Mountains, Southern Adirondacks, Central Adirondacks, Northern Adirondacks, Allegheny National Forest and Penna. DCNR Motorized Campsites and the Monongahela National Forest West Virginia.
Free Campsite Overview Maps: Adirondack – North Country, Catskills, Central NY, Finger Lakes, Western NY. Interactive Map.
Places I camped in 2023, 2022, 2021 and 2020.
Bicycle Trails and “Blackie” My Mountain Bike 
Finally bought a mountain bike, after chewing over a mountain vs commuter bike. Really enjoying riding my bike to work and when it rains there is always a bike rack to safely take it back home. One way to get to adventures at Thacher Park is the Nature Bus.
Empire Trail – KMZ and Interactive Map. Parking along it.
More Trailways with KMZ files including the Albany County Rail Trail, Black Diamond Trail, Catharine Valley Trail, Catskill Scenic Trail, Fonda, Johnstown & Gloversville Rail Trail, Genesee Valley Trail, Link Trail.
🦌🌲 Hunt 🦃🐿
Wildlife Management Units (Deer) – KMZ Map shows the WMU boundaries.
Summer 2019 Aerial Photographs of WMUs
KMZ Maps of Deer Harvest Density by Town: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016. By WMU 2017, 2016, 2015.
KMZ Maps of Buck Harvest Density by Town: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016. By WMU 2017, 2016
2016 -2019 Deer and Buck Harvest by Town – KMZ Spreadsheet with FIPS codes for making your own calculations.
🎣🐡 Fish 🐟🐠
Parking and Access to Trout Streams – An interactive, downloadable KMZ Map.
Lakes with DEC Contour Maps – A KMZ Map links to Contour Maps for Fishing.
🌨🏔 Sled & Wheel 🚙❄
State Truck Trails Over A Half Mile – Dirt roads to explore in the backcountry.
NYS Statewide Snowmobile Trail System – State trails on public and private lands.
📉📊 Learn 💵📈
Interactive Maps of NY Census – Explore and download KML files.
Charts and Interactive Diagrams – From population to pollution control.
Andy Arthur GitHub – Git my R and Python scripts used to make maps and diagrams.
Use ArcPullR to Get Geospatial Data – Super easy way to connect to get GIS data in R from government servers.
GDAL Opens E00 Files – Most open source programs nowadays can open common geospatial formats.
NY Building Footprints – Where to find on the internet for making maps.
WMS and ArcMap Services – Downloadable CSV file listing services used on the blog.
2022 US Census Population Estimates – Red states, south continue to gain population.
2020 Cartogram of State Population
💳 🏛 Property Taxes 🏠💸
Properties in Albany Pine Bush Study Area, Excel Files: Various Tax Rolls, Find coordinates and political districts, Look Up State Tax Records and a Script for Processing RPTL 1520 PDFs. Match NY SWIS Codes to FIPS Codes and GEOID
🚗🚗 Big Red 🚗🚗
Big Red – Photos and Videos of my lifted truck with its camper shell. Big Red’s Dual Battery Setup for Camp Power, Video Tour and Diagram. Big Red is getting old. What is next? I’ve thought about going carless for a while to save money and reduce pollution. Or maybe going bigger? Or smaller? Five dollar gas sucks.
🔥🌲 Off-Grid Living 🏠🤠
I am seriously thinking about building an off-grid house. I have a first draft. I need to learn CAD! I have a road map towards buying land and building. I concede might have to live with long commute and give up traveling and camping. I need to be strong.
Why off grid? Well, I’m not into contemporary society. I want to own land, but not be called a landowner, and a cabin, not hooked to electrical grid, farm, raise pigs for food and burn my own trash. I’m saving for a better tomorrow, hoping to make the leap to another freer state. Having acreage is important. Cornfields aren’t bad neighbors. Maybe though my vision has grown smaller and more local. More on off-grid living.
I am 16 years into my career and have made some significant progress in my life. I love my job. But I do wonder on all the things I’m missing out but saving sure makes me high. Maybe it will be different when I own my own land — the end of goal of all this saving.
2020 into 2021 during the pandemic was a year of remote work. It was a struggle not having internet at home, worked a lot out of my truck. But I worked remotely from Horseshoe Lake which was super cool.
Generally I like the idea of owning land in a red state, particularly Idaho, Iowa, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wisconsin — and Midwest more generally. But I may settle for New York – it’s all about the f-ing money!
💻👨💻 Open Source 🗺️📍
I use open source software and public sources of data for the blog. Quantum GIS (QGIS), GDAL/ogr2ogr, PyQGIS, GeoPANDAS, R Studio and Leaflet for map making, Arduino and ESP32 microprocessors, Ubuntu Linux and XFCE Window Manager. I’ve recently gotten interested in machine learning.
I avoid using commercial software like Microsoft Windows and do not have home internet or television. If you don’t use commercial software and use your brain, fears of computer viruses are overblown. I deleted most of my social media accounts.
Creating Digital Surface Models using LiDAR Point Clouds.
R Statistical Programming 
The R programming language and RStudio are powerful tools for statistical analysis, making maps and charts. Many of the blog posts and analysis I do are in R, ggplot not only makes great charts but also maps using tidycensus. Generally, R is better then Python for geospatial work.
Use IDW Interpolation to fill in missing Census data, Zonal Histograms for land cover, load WMS Aerial Photography in R, find mountain peaks, save Census shapefiles using tigris quickly, pull NY Election Night Results using Selenium. Fast reverse Geocoding in PostGIS. Working with PDFs in R. Fix a common error starting rselenium/wdman. Make data-filled calendars. R is wonderful and weird, learn it!
Python and Pandas 
Querying state property database, political enrollments, PL 94-171 Census files, calculating population statistics, what address is a district in, converting old districts to new districts, Shapefiles missing Projection information in QGIS.
Learn to code for free modern HTML, Javascript, Python and SQL at freeCodeCamp and web development at the Odin Project.
Politics 
Crunched Election Results with Turnout for Albany County: November 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019 and Primaries June 2019, Pres/June 2020, June 2021, June 2022, Aug 2022, June 2023.
Albany County Races converted to the new 2023 EDs using Super EDs and Code: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019 and Primaries June 2019, Pres/June 2020, June 2021, June 2022, Aug 2022.
Above Election Results as zipped Excel files.
Albany County Legislature Districts 2024 Maps –
Maps Comparing 2017 and 2023 Albany County Election Districts and a Crosswalk Table Showing the Proposition of Voting Age Population in New and Old EDs
Maps of 2022 NYC Assembly Races, NYS Assembly Races, NY Senate Races, Governor’s Race in Erie County and Statewide. Partisan shift in governor race between 2010 and 2018.
A comparison of Democratic Performance 2022 Assembly Districts to those proposed in 2023 by the IRC. Here is latest 4/20/23 IRC Maps, showing ADP and how they change from existing Assembly districts. Most towns upstate, outside of cities, are quite red. Using LATFOR data with R to calculate Average Democratic Performance.
You can scrape employee salary data from SeeThroughNY using R. Other useful investigative resources.
I often think politics is for losers. I’m into the politics of statistical analysis and reading history books.
I believe strongly in the first amendment, second amendment, oppose gun restrictions and I support de-funding the police in favor of lower-cost technology and civilian employees. Maybe use red flag laws for voting to stop dangerous voters? And the media should stop promoting mass-shootings, even if it’s super profitable for all involved. They should tax the media when it promotes violence. I think some people are much too paranoid in politics. How elections are rigged under law to benefit incumbents. But vote, it’s the best option and inexpensive.
Yeah for the third parties! I voted for Larry Sharpe for Governor and Jo Jergenson for President but my views are complicated and often vote for Democrats, after voting Jill Stein Green Party in 2016.
Generally, I think Biden has been a good change over DJT and glad the Trump era is over and are glad prosecutors and grand jurors are holding him responsible by indicting him for many serious felonies. I don’t think Trump can win in 2024, as nothing has changed politically from 2020.
I think rural people should be left alone and not worship government workers or have parades for them. I am no fan of Donald Trump, his speeches are bad, I don’t like Trump’s embrace of radical environmentalists, but do admire the homemade roadside monuments to DJT.
I don’t toke. But whatever. There are too many transit authorities.
The Earth 
Why I oppose wilderness areas and parks. It’s trendy to be green these days, but is eco-marketing good for the planet? I visited the Mount Storm Coal Plant and Corridor H.
I worry about a lot about overly-aggressive Climate Change Action, and Undermining Environment Laws for Climate Action. I think we should all admit we are Addicted to Fossil Fuels. These days, urban recycling has become a joke, when it’s still an option at all. It’s better to just buy less shit and avoid the alure of Costcos. I really don’t like how aging radicals have become industrial solar salespeople.
Big bucks are coming to state-designated disadvantaged communities under the CLCP. Which counties and political districts are in line for the the most pork? Interactive map.
I’m a big of farmers who are essentially Living Off the Earth and think Rednecks are Noble Savages. Dairy Farming are key to our rural landscape. I’d trust a farmer or a hunter in a pile of guts he’s butchered over any ivory-tower scientist.
🌎🔆 Industrial Solar 🌞 🏭
Hundreds of multi-acre industrial solar farms are being built in our state. How bad is solar for the environment? We should ask tough questions. Interactive of recently built solar farms, proposed facilities. List of proposed industrial solar facilities. See how the Greenville Solar Farm changed the landscape.
Saving Money 
I am not a fan of ESG Investing as it’s not well diversified. I prefer index-funds and other tax-advantaged ways of saving. Why I am concerned about saving enough for retirement, even though I’m in my late 30s. We as a nation should save more, consume less. I like the idea of carbon tax to replace capital gains taxes to discourage consumption.
Mission Fifty & Being Healthier 
I am now officially in my 40s! I am building to a better life in my 50s, which means getting up early, walking a lot, saying no to cake and yes to more fruit. In many ways, the forties are an awesome time to be alive.
And eating healthy for less without losing sleep over arsenic. And I don’t think we should subsidize unhealthy habits. How I got started in eating healther. Meals are too focused on meat and carbs due to how we describe them, maybe I eat too many bananas in the office, what to eat while camping, worry more about salt then GMOs, eat more beans. Do spend extra for farmers market peaches, especially doughnut peaches and plums. Consider ethnic supermarkets. Thinking about how to make a healthier macaroni and cheese, spinach-mackeral-pasta salad, quick-cook biscuits and whole-wheat bread. That said, too many recipes are junk food crap. Okay in moderation is not okay. The fact that I’m thinner is not a sign I’m dying.
A few years back I decided to explore my mental illness with therapy, thinking about why I have so much anxiety and how many of my values are rational or just thinking too much rednecks’ burn barrels and how much of a throwaway society we live in. Do I want to change?
I’ve learned to care less about the world, and focus more on myself. Maybe I am happier as I am now, saving and investing a lot towards owning my own land, where I don’t have to deal with all the bullshit of modern life.
Mission Fifty: Getting to the point where I own my own land. 
Healthy Eating / Growing My Wealth
Healthy Thoughts 
/ Enjoying Life 
Questions, comments? Feel free to email me at andy@andyarthur.org.
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The Controversial Kinzua Dam | Pennsylvania Center for the Book
Located on the Allegheny River in Warren County, the concrete and earth embankment dam stands 179 feet tall, 1877 feet long, and 1245 feet wide. The lake created by the dam has a normal elevation of 1328 feet and is 24.2 miles in length with a total of 12,080 acres in area in Warren and McKean Counties in Pennsylvania and into New York State.
Built 1966, the Kinzua Dam was authorized under the Flood Control Acts of 1936 and 1938. The dam was constructed to protect Pittsburgh and reduce flood levels in the Ohio River Valley after a series of floods devastated Pittsburgh, Johnstown, and other cities downstream the Allegheny River.
September 18, 2017 8 AM Update
Good morning. Still pretty foggy out but now we are up to 65 degrees on our way up to 82 degrees under ample sun. The dew point is expected to be quite sticky today so it really will feel like a mid July day. Cooler and possibly somewhat rainy and cloudy tomorrow but still above average temperatures around 72.
The sun will set at 6:58 pm with dusk around 7:26 pm, which is one minute and 47 seconds earlier than yesterday. At sunset, look for partly clear conditions and 79 degrees. The dew point will be 65 degrees. There will be a southeast breeze at 6 mph. Today will have 12 hours and 19 minutes of daytime, an decrease of 2 minutes and 51 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will have a slight chance of showers after 4am. Mostly cloudy, with a low of 61 degrees at 5am. 11 degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 65 at 6pm. Light southeast wind. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2016, we had mostly cloudy skies. It was sticky. It got down to 65 degrees. The record low of 32 occurred back in 1959.
While Saturday I did not get locked through on Lock 17 — which admittedly is the biggest lock elevation wise on the Erie Canal — I did have a lot of fun paddling along the Mohawk River along the Moss Island and down the river a ways in search of the bridge foundation for the old bridge at Finks Basin along the river. I did find it it but first overlooked it because I was expecting more of a concrete foundation for the old bridge, not hand laid stone. But then again, the original bridge across the Mohawk River had to have been quite old, and I guess for the light traffic that the one lane bridge was expected to get it was decided a formal concrete foundation was not needed. Paddling along the Mohawk River there were some big carp that jumped up. Some had to have been two feet long, in the shallows of the river. I brought a fishing pole but I didn’t toss it in, partly because I doubt I could have caught any of them from a kayak with my 10 lb test on my fishing pole.
It’s really great that Moss Island was preserved and not used for a bridge abutment for the flyover ramp to the Thruway from Little Falls. What became the Thomas Wind Bridge really is quite a beautiful, graceful bridge, and it avoided damaging the natural history and geology of Moss Island. 45 years later, I think Moss Island has to be one of Little Falls’ greatest strengths, it’s protection made things like Canal Place possible. It draws rock climbers from across the region, to say those who are interested in the beauty of gracefully carved rocks. It apparently didn’t end up costing the city much more to build the bridge some 500 feet south of the original plan, and honestly, I think the bridge is straighter and probably less congested had it connected up exactly where the old river road is now, where the statute had originally required the Thruway Connection to terminate. It would have been tragic if the natural beauty of Moss Island had been destroyed. I’m really surprised the tourism bureau in Little Falls and Herkimer County don’t do more to promote this area. I guess more use would require further development of the facilities and designated trails for people to stay on, so the little known nature does make it a lot more wild.
I was also struck by the beauty of the lands outside of Little Falls. You have the deep Mohawk Valley surrounded by the Adirondack Mountains and the Foothills. A lot of agriculture in the area just north of Little Falls, some amish, some conventional dairying, and a mix of rural households. Beautiful rolling country for sure. Lots of wind power too. Those big wind turbines not only generate renewable energy, but also jobs and revenue for farms that host them. I just love the beauty of the somewhat messy homesteads and farms, the junk people have in their yards, the rural freedom of not having a government tell rural people how they must keep their yard perfect — even if the radical environmentalist types have gotten the state to ban open burning of trash and other junk. It’s the kind of life I dream of, but obviously not in New York with the Sullivan Act (it shouldn’t be a priveledge, approved by a judge, to own a hand gun), or the SAFE Act or the complete horseshit burn ban. I would love to live outside of a place like Little Falls in the future, but not in an obnoxiously liberal and New York City dominated state like New York. I like Pennsylvania a lot but I have some concerns about the direction of that state too.
Saturday night was pretty decent, although dark without out the lights. Fortunately I had enough of a charge after hitting the low-voltage disconnect to have some light in the truck cap. After being disconnected from the load all day, the battery floated up to about 12.3 volts. Sunday afternoon, once I got home I just had to patch the exciter wire to the battery isolator — it had broken lose, and I was back in business. Things are charging once again. I also ran a switched wire — that is only hot when the engine is off to power the floor LEDs I installed in the truck cab. This way they shut off when I start the truck, so they aren’t distracting while driving at night but will come on automatically when I get to camp.
Despite not having any electric lights due to the issue with the accessory battery not charging, it was a nice with a good roaring campfire, candle light and the campfire. But it sure gets dark early in mid-September, and after a few drinks, one gets tired rather early this time of year compared to early to mid-summer when it’s really still somewhat light out until quarter to 10. I remember hiking back from Ice House Pond on the Forth of July Weekend and even though ten o’clock was rolling around it wasn’t pitch black. Mid-September is much different. And the days only get shorter going forward. The only good thing is it was so darn warm out, that it felt more summer time then September, and indeed by the campfire, even with a t-shirt just on it started to feel a bit too warm after a while.
Some high clouds meant the stars weren’t perfect when I walked out to Powley Bridge from my campsite, but I still enjoyed camping here for the first time and probably last time of the year. When I cam here in August, this site was taken, and in June the bugs were awful so I stayed away. Nice warm evening, so it was nice to just stand out on the bridge with a nice cold one. Maybe next summer it will be clearer camping at Powley Bridge.
I retired to bed around 10 pm last night but I worked on this blog post for a while. The coyotes were singing their song and I heard a screech owl a while during the night. The woods can be a bit errie at times. I’m a bit surprised that the coyote call wasn’t followed by gun fire but I guess nobody was out shooting yotes at 3 AM.
Woke up a bit hung over this morning, and it was foggy. But fortunately the orange juice helped on the hang over. I wasn’t going to have eggs this morning until I decided I’d rather have them instead of muffins, and I would avoid having to set up the Coleman Oven. Already a remarkably warm morning for mid-September — actually September 17th to be exact.
I knew I had to head back early to Albany today because I have a lot of things to do when I get back home. I thought about going for a paddle on the East Branch of the Canada Creek but decided against that so I would have time to visit the Potholers one more time on this warm day. I like paddling the East Canada Creek but it’s a pain to take down and retire up the kayak, and I’ve done the East Canada Creek many times in the past. Rather enjoy the East Canada Creek one more time while I’m still able to with the warm weather. I don’t expect to be back up here until the end June 2018 now, especially not swimming. So I figured enjoy the Potholers while I still can. They weren’t too cold, and the flow was nice, for mid-September. The horse flies though at times were pretty bad.
I left the Potholers at noon, drove back home by 1:30 PM via the Thruway and Johnstown/Amsterdam. Sunday afternoon was busy with a long list to do: unpack the truck, run into the city, buy stuff for Sunday dinner, figure out why the accessory battery is not charging and be out to my parents house by 5:30 PM. Cooked burgers with dad, they were good. It sure was a busy day, but it all got done. Sunday was nice late summer day, all things considered. Maybe even a bit hot back here in the city.
I am definitely really digging this Bluetooth keyboard. It just makes typing blog posts on my phone so much easier and natural, compared to hunting and pecking on the cellphone. I just set the phone in front of keyboard, laid up against something, and then type my post. I am actually thinking of looking on EBay for some kind of easy and inexpensive plastic cradle from China so I can prop up my phone where ever I go, in front of my Bluetooth keyboard for typing. Also thinking of getting an inexpensive Bluetooth mouse to use with my phone. After first I wasn’t that comfortable using the Bluetooth keyboard with my phone but once I got used to using the keyboard and doing a lot of typing on it, I’ve gotten quite proficient and fast typing it on it, and I think I much prefer typing blog posts using the keyboard then on the phone itself.
Looking ahead to autumn, next Monday is More Night Then Day in Albany when the sun will be setting at 6:46 pm with dusk at 7:14 pm. On that day in 2016, we had mostly sunny skies and temperatures between 67 and 38 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 68 degrees. We hit a record high of 89 back in 1970.