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Six Weeks Until New Years Eve 🎇

Those extra cups of coffee did me no good yesterday. Not only did it make it impossible to get to sleep, it contributed to my extreme anxiety I had most of the afternoon. I just kind of wanted to relax to some extra coffee yesterday but I guess I really overdone it. I swear I used to drink a lot more coffee when I was younger, and coffee ain’t as strong as it once was when sipping it, but the after effects are much worse. Between the garlic powder gas and shits, the anxiety and staying up too late, I didn’t get much sleep and sleeping past 6 o’clock is unimaginable in my mind at this point.

Good morning! Happy Sunday. Partly clear and 34 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a south breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 10 pm. ☃️

Not a super cool morning. 😀 I could go for a walk but I want to get to the store pretty earlier and my guts are mess after last night I don’t want to risk an accident out walking. 💩 Could be excess coffee of yesterday ☕ but I think it’s the garlic powder I added to the tomato sauce I had last night, as that previously gave me trouble in West Virginia plus one other time at home. Big bulk container I got from Hannaford, even in moderation it keeps me running to the toilet 🚽 . Could be salmonella or mold growing in the container. I probably should empty it and toss in the recycle bin ♻️ before it gets me sick again. 🤢

Decided on pancakes this morning 🥞 as that’s all I really had left. I was playing with recipes, decided to do ground oatmeal, with one egg, apple cider vinegar and baking soda for levity, and Splenda rather then bananna for sugar. Came out fairly good, little more filling then just ordinary oatmeal-banana pancakes. Topped with shredded apples from the food processor 🍏 heated and cooked down in the microwave, along with chopped bananas. 🍌 Pretty good.

Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 46 degrees at 12pm. Two degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 23rd. South wind 6 to 11 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with a few breaks of sun the afternoon. The high last year was 39 degrees. The record high of 71 was set in 1921. 4.2 inches of snow fell back in 1914.❄

First thing this morning is to shower 🛀 and then head over to Price Chopper in Slingerlands for grocery shopping, 🛒 that is once I get my list together. 📜 I need to get $50 in groceries to use my $5 coupon, though that shouldn’t be hard as groceries are so expensive these days. Only shopping through Friday morning, as I plan to get what I need when heading up to the Adirondacks. Not Walmart on Black Friday, but I don’t think Hannaford will be particularly crowded the day after Thanksgiving. Mostly just restocking the pantry full of fruits and veggies, though I’m also going to get a big bag of frozen salmon fillets as I have that other coupon too. 🎫 Eating lots of omega-3 is good.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:42 am with sun having an altitude of 28° from the due south horizon (-42.9° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 11.3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:48 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (237°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (244°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:31 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 14 seconds with dusk around 5:00 pm, which is 47 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the First Quarter 🌓 Moon in the south (170°) at an altitude of 28° from the horizon, 226,654 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:36 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 42 degrees. There will be a west-northwest breeze at 10 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 41 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and one second over yesterday.

Been continuing on the Udemy Courses. 🎓 I am on my third course after two courses on remote sensing. 🛰 So far done is Remote Sensing with QGIS: Basics of Satellite Imagery Classification and Fundamentals of Remote Sensing and Geospatial Analysis. Been learning a lot. It’s wonderful that my public library 📚 offers these classes for free and you get free certifications 📄 after you get done watching the classes and doing the quizzes. The most recent one is Spatial Data Analysis with R, QGIS & More which is good but it’s about 7 or 8 years out of date, and doesn’t show a recent version of QGIS and uses the obsolete R library of rgeos rather then sf and terra which is used today. But still it’s interesting and good to learn as a big part of the class is about kriging, which is something I am still struggling to fully understand. 🗺 📍

Yesterday I checked out the Bethlehem Sportsmart ⛷ and was shocked at the prices of skis, especially ones in good quality. At over $100 for a pair of cross-country skis, I think I’d be best off to get a pair at a retailer, maybe after the holidays, one that fits and works properly for my needs. It was mobbed at the sportsmart, with screaming babies 👶 and children running around. 🧒 The skis I have currently are groomed-track skis, which besides being broken, really aren’t good for the kind of cross-country skiing I do that rarely involves following groomed tracks. 🤑 The problem with those skis is they are too fast and sink too deep in unpacked snow, the prior is a particular concern when descending mountains, especially now that I’m close to 41 years old, and crashing with skis may very well mean broken bones. 🤕 Plus I wasn’t in the mood to spend any money right now, to say nothing about that I’m not sure if it will be a particularly snowy winter. I might just stay closer to home this winter, do more bike riding 🚴‍♀️ on the roads. Winter ski season is so short around here, and it’s often quite cold int he winter.

Didn’t end up being able to fix the vacuum cleaner yesterday, 🧹 turns out that after I got it all apart, then put it back to work, I found out the source of the rattle — bad ball bearing. After fiddling for it for a few more hours, I ended up pulling the motor and any part I could reuse or scrap. ⚙ Heck of it is I had it back to together and it was working until it’s started sparking and not working again. ⚡ Disappointing crap, I bought it only 7 years ago but ever since I got it constantly plugged, burned up belts and malfunctioned. If I get another vacuum, I am going to get a small rechargeable hand held 🤲 one as I don’t really have that much carpet in my apartment and then I can do the stairs and vacuum out the mud and dust from my truck better. I’m just annoyed by all that plastic trash, even I will be able to reuse the switch and cord from the vacuum for camp lighting, 🔌 and may be able to part out parts of the motor for electronics projects or add to the stack of scrap metal for eventual recycling at the scrap yard. ♻️ It wasn’t a real cheap vacuum — it was like $70 or $80 bucks, a Dirt Devil Pet Hair Vacuum but it constantly plugged on wads of hair and dust. I bought it because the reviews were good originally, and I figured a pet hair vacuum wouldn’t clog as much as a standard vacuum. 🐶 I guess don’t believe the review. I just hate carpet, when I have my own land, I don’t ever want that indoors. Especially not the gross, nasty worn out shag carpet like in my apartment.

The broken vacuum cleaner, the debate in my mind to renew or not renew my certificate of deposit, the signing of Clean Slate last week, getting my ego knocked down a peg for that messed up background at work, and cold weather 🤪 plus all that coffee just really got me into a bad place by last night. 🤯 My mind was racing, I just kind of felt sick. The whole thing was stupid, it wasn’t entirely my fault I messed up the background, the researcher and big boss didn’t catch it either. 💣 The vacuum cleaner was cheap shit it never worked right. The truck is going to be fine for another year. Then I got the shits from that garlic powder. 💩 Yuck, I was so sick for a while. Did I mention I burnt my finger 👆 on the soldering iron when I was working last night. 😠 I was just so bitter, angry and frustrated all evening. I mean it’s stupid, what happened at work isn’t the end of world, moving to a new department soon, the seven-year old vacuum cleaner was less then a tank of gas these days, my truck will likely make it another year, it’s winter it’s cold but I am still planning adventures, I can get better skis somewhere else, and the coffee and shits will wear themselves off.

But regardless, I had a nice bicycle ride out to Voorheesville. 🚲 The bridge is fully re-opened, they did a nice job, it’s a very smooth ride up and over the bridge. On the west side of the bridge it’s a slight upgrade, but the expansion gaps are remarkably smooth and it’s blacktop, all the more surprising for a “temporary bridge”. Truth is they did such a nice job on the “temporary” bridge that they really don’t have a good reason to necessarily replace it anytime soon. Sat and watched the 4 PM freight train roll through Voorheesville 🚂 then watched the sunset 🌆 from Bender Mellon Farms and rode home quickly, thinking it would get dark but it didn’t so I rode down to Adams Street then back along the designated bike route through the back roads of Delmar. Great evening even if it was shitty day in so many ways. That part of the day was pretty nice, even if I got sick in evening 😫 and my mind was racing the rest of day. 🤪

Tonight will have a slight chance of showers before 8pm. Partly cloudy 🌃, with a low of 26 degrees at 6am. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 3rd. Northwest wind 8 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2022, we had clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 24 degrees. The record low of 6 occurred back in 1986.

Last night made homemade tomato sauce with canned tomatoes, Italian spices, spinach, peas, chopped garlic, crushed red pepper, smoked paprika and kidney beans. Added a little bit of lentil pasta towards the end. Tasted good, very filling and kept me full. 🥘 It as all good until I added some garlic powder (really not much), which totally blew up my stomach starting around midnight, with frequent visits the bathroom and everything stinking of garlic. I don’t know why I have such problems with this garlic powder I got the other day — crushed garlic is good. I thought the problem was the whole wheat flour I got from Price Chopper but I’m pretty sure it’s the garlic powder. Been having a lot of stomach issues lately, I thought I would adjust to the high-fiber diet but it’s proven difficult. 🤰

Got reading about the latest generation of single board computers 🖥 which keep getting more and more powerful and cheaper. Technology on this front is advancing so quickly, it’s a golden age to be a hobbyist with things like the original Arduino from years ago seeming so out of date. 🤖 Then I got reading about stomach issues as my stomach grumbled, and this really weird thread on the internet where people fight about whether or not sugars in excessive fruit consumption 🍌 🍏 🐒 lead to fatty liver disease and diabetes. Most of the experts think the benefit of the extra fiber far outweigh any downsides to a diet rich in fruits, though I do eat a lot of fruit (and vegetables too). Probably too much fruit but I like sweet. But I also don’t eat any food with added sugars if I can all avoid it, which is what most doctors 👨‍⚕️ think really are a big threat to health. I am a bit obsessed with fatty liver disease after people warned me about the risk of loosing so much weight so quickly. Hell of it is I don’t have much control over my weight, it really is a just a side effect of diet. Hard to gain too much when your stuffing your face with fruits, vegetables and beans all of the time, and riding to work and walking everywhere.

Next Friday through the following Monday is looking good for the Adirondacks 🏕 though only time will determine for sure. ❄️ It looks like the snow event in Wednesday isn’t going to leave feet of snow up north, so I should be able to get back to camp without doing a lot of shoveling or hauling gear back, though worse come to worse, I’ll bring the sled and drag gear back. 🛷 The weekend looks to be cool but not as cold as they first predicted ☕ and warm coffee and meals along with the heater should be good. And I can get away from it all.

Looking ahead, there are 3 weeks until 7:15 AM Sunrise ⌛️ when the sun will be setting at 4:23 pm with dusk at 4:53 pm. On that day in 2022, we had mostly sunny and temperatures between 31 and 20 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 40 degrees. We hit a record high of 64 back in 1966.

July 26, 2019 Night

Good evening! Mostly clear and 66 degrees at the Allegheny National Forest. Calm wind. The dew point is 60 degrees. It’s a bit sticky earlier this evening but certainly not oppressive. Now comfortable.

It’s been quite a day but I survived unharmed and saw some beautiful country. I like taking the blue highways but twice this day I got cut off and had to slam on the brakes.💥I also almost got hit in the parking lot at Quaker Lake but fortunately not. I was parked at the time with my engine off so it wouldn’t have been my fault but it could have required a police report 👮 and body work had it happened. Stupid other kid backing out. I was reminded by Waze that Sugar Run Road was closed so I ended up dwtouring by taking a scenic drive through Allegany State Park – I was going to say I’ve never been through it in the summer – but that’s not true I drove that way in 2017 due to another Penna DOT detour on US 6 and making a wrong turn. But that’s fine I wanted to buy some food for dinner – Then I got lost in Bradford Penna – first looking for a grocery store and then later looking for the road back to the Kinzua Overlook – PA 59. Oh, and I had to back track a bit on Cuba, NY when I realized the old road that I was using to Shunpiking the Southern Tier Expressway was a dead end.

It was a good day though, first starting out at Klipnocky Road in Gas Springs State Forest then taking down the hammock and alternating between the Southern Tier Expressway and other routes that I could find for Shunpiking. 🚙 It’s so easy to wile away the hours in the hammock. But I have to admit having phone access most of my trip I’ve not necessarily used my time for productive uses, e.g. reading 📖. It’s so easy to scroll through Facebook and look at stupid memes. Some neat little historic towns I passed through. I snapped a few quick pictures on the dash cam but I admit I probably should have stopped a bit more and took in the streetscape 📹 before it’s gone or visited more of the local businesses like the Cuba Cheese Store. 🍕

I was running a little bit early so I drove up to Little Rock City. 📷 Not much has changed since I was there in 2013 during my autumn trip out there. 🍁The past two off year trips I’ve shunned Western NY for West Virginia.

I also drove down to Allegany State Park to swim, 🏊 and the new bath house 🛀 was a dank and smelly as it was last time. The ventilation and drainage of the new bath house had never been right and I miss the vines and natural woods of the old one – the new one looks like standard suburban McMansion crap and the bathrooms while new are gross. The water was cold and not as clear in Quaker Lake as I remembered but that’s probably comparing it to Lake Erie whose water is particularly bad this year with severe blue green algea. 🐸 But the country driving out there was so beautiful.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 57 degrees at 5am. Five degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around August 31st. That said, I expect it’s always a bit cooler here up in the Allegheny Mountains. Maximum dew point of 60 at 9pm. Calm wind. In 2018, we had mostly clear skies. It became very sticky as the night progressed. It got down to 68 degrees. The record low of 47 occurred back in 1977.

I’m fairly happy with the campsite I have here at the Allegheny National Forest. The Allegheny woods with the mountain laurel and broad canopy above is so much different than the Adirondacks. It’s really unfortunate it’s such a long trip from Albany 🗻 because it’s such beautiful country. I guess for folks who live in Buffalo, it’s just a weekend trip and hardly special but I guess the same can be said about me and the Adirondacks, especially Piseco Powley Road.

Tonight will have a Waning Crescent Moon 🌘 with 20% illuminated. The moon will rise at 1:28 am. I’m not staying up for it tomorrow. The New Moon is on Tuesday night with a chance of t-storms. The Strugeon Moon 🌝 is on Wednesday, August 14th. The sun will rise at 6:03 am with the first light at 5:31 am, which is 58 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 Tonight will have 9 hours and 25 minutes of darkness, an increase of one minute and 55 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2pm. Mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 81 degrees at 4pm. One degree below normal, which is similar to a typical day around August 10th. So be it, August is just around the corner. Maximum dew point of 60 at 5pm. Southwest wind 3 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. It was somewhat humid. The high last year was 86 degrees. The record high of 97 was set in 1955.

Tomorrow I’m heading back east to outside of Wellsboro where I have a camping permit for the night. ⛺ I want to stop at a few places on the way east, then explore the Pine Creek Gorge. 🚶 I’m considering visiting the lumber museum, 🌲🌳🌲 which is right on the way back and may also check out the completed block glass plaza in the little town whose name escapes me but used to a manufacturing hub for most of glass blocks used in buildings across the country. Maybe Port Allegheny? I’m glad at any rate I’ll be able to break up the long drive home into multiple days as I like to poke around on the back roads and not go too far in any one day🚙 . At any rate, tomorrow is the last full day of vacation, Sunday by mid morning the focus will be on heading east on Route 6 then making a bee line for Albany on Interstate 88, so I can get home and unpacked and ready for a certain busy week at work. But I’m fine, it’s been a long time away from home and I’m starting grow tired of the travel.

In four weeks on August 23 the sun will be setting at 8:02 pm,🌄 which is 36 minutes and 40 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2018 on that day, we had mostly sunny and temperatures between 78 and 58 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 80 and 59 degrees. The record high of 94 degrees was set back in 1947.

Looking ahead, National Dog Day 🐩 is a month away, Labor Day Weekend Begins 👨‍🏭 is in 5 weeks and Friday the 13th 👿 is in 7 weeks.

November 14, 2017 Night

Good evening! Mostly cloudy and 33 degrees in Delmar. Calm wind. Kind of a gloomy but not too cold evening after a rather dark and gloomy day, that got off to such a bad start with the bus running late. But I’m not longer bitter. I promise. I guess they need emission and inspection checks from hardworking individuals to make the state wealthy, so it can spend it on the welfare queens. Steal from the poor, give to welfare queens who always are illegally parked in front of the County Welfare office. At any rate the gloom isn’t expected to last too much into tomorrow. The skies will clear tomorrow around 7 am. But more clouds for Thursday. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy, with a low of 29 degrees at 5am. Three degrees below normal. Cool but not that cold. Calm wind. In 2016, we had cloudy skies. It got down to 34 degrees. Closer to normal. The record low of 14 occurred back in 1939.

Tonight will have a Waning Crescent Moon with 10% illuminated. The moon will rise tomorrow at 3:40 am. It may be clearing by then, so you might see if you get up way before I will be getting up. The New Moon is on Friday night with a chance of rain then rain is likely. The Cold Moon is on Sunday, December 3rd. The sun will rise at 6:46 am with the first light at 6:16 am, which is one minute and 15 seconds later than yesterday. Tonight will have 14 hours and 15 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 10 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be mostly sunny, with a high of 45 degrees at 1pm. Yeah, the sun at least for one day. But still three degrees below normal. Calm wind becoming south 5 to 8 mph in the afternoon. A year ago, we had sunny skies with more clouds in the afternoon. The high last year was 46 degrees. The record high of 74 was set in 1993. 4.8 inches of snow fell back in 1906. Long time ago.

Not a particularly nice weekend on tap, even by November standards. Saturday, snow showers likely before 10am, then rain showers. High near 44. Chance of precipitation is 80%. I heard freezing rain up north. Sunday, a chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 43. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Typical average high for the weekend is 47 degrees.

I still think I will take Friday off, if I can get it off. I got the square nuts to build the rack for my solar panel. Now I just need to find bolts that will fit snuggly, cut and drill the aluminum bars that I will buy. Maybe I will do that on Friday. I will have to see if my parents will be around, as I may want to ask my dad if I can borrow his drill. I have diamond-blades for cutting into the aluminum but lack a power drill of my own. Maybe I should think though about adding that tool to my bin. But first I have to carefully measure everything out so I don’t accidentially mess up a hole and things don’t fit tight.

But I’m staying in town for the weekend, because I don’t want to deal with freezing rain up north. I’m not ready to be out washing the road salt of my truck, moreover, I don’t want to get frozen in the truck cap, or have to deal with the extra patrols for the opening of the Southern Zone regular season, even if I will be in the Northern Zone. I’m still hoping to get away on Black Friday through that Sunday though.

Traffic was pretty heavy coming home on the bus tonight, and I was pretty cheesed out on Facebook about those stupid huts they want to build in the Adirondack Preserve, and charge people big bucks to stay at. Public lands belong to the public, they should be free to use. Pay for public lands by selling timber, hay, and grazing rights. Some oil and gas development. Keep the facilities rustic and manage resource extraction so it pays for public use of the land without compromising it. I don’t get the environmentalists who don’t use office or toilet paper. Or those who want even higher fees to use public lands that should be free for a wide variety of rustic uses. Multiple use can benefit all New Yorkers, we don’t have live under the extreme idea that not a single tree may ever be fallen inside the blue lines of the Adirondack or Catskill Parks. But unfortunately, Manhattan and surrounding areas where all the people live don’t understand that natural resources can be managed for sustainable harvests for generations to come.

I put together a map of the relative state tax rates, but unfortunately the Google Maps export got messed up, so it won’t be posted until later in the week. It also sucks because the US Census Data on State Taxes doesn’t include local taxes, which actually makes New York look lowered taxed then it really is. New York has high state taxes, but when you add in local taxes, we have some of the highest taxes of all. Most states don’t rely on localities to tax as high as New York does, especially with the big Medicaid mandate that pushed down to counties.

I continue to work on my light dimmer program. Been researching color theory and things along the line of HSV to RGB conversions, along with color temperature algorthms, as I want to be able to have very percise flexibillity in getting just the right light for my bedroom. Also rewrote a timer algorithm that is non-blocking of the central loop, so I can use the remote to adjust lighting settings while a ongoing mode is occuring in my program. I can’t wait until my RGB LED strip arrives, along with the transitors and power supply so I can start playing with a real-life demostration.

Also been looking at the different methods of building circuits boards for permanent use — perf board versus strip board — various soldering irons versus kryon twist wiring. And all the stuff that goes along with soldering like choosing between lead and lead-free solder, solder wicks, etc. I have a solder gun and certainly have wired bigger things but I need to be more percise for soldering electronics. While I still hunt and shoot with leaded ammunition, and l’m not concerned about lead fumes when soldering as my other electrical solder is leaded and lead portion doesn’t melt or vaporize while solder typically, I think I’m going to go lead free for future electronic projects. That’s the future, and it makes the net result less toxic where it gets disposed of in a fire eventually or properly recycled at an e-waste event. I am planning to move out to country and live off gird after all eventually. And I hear a lot of fire is involved with that kind of life. Hopefully though I will get a lot of use out of the projects I end up building and will be able to salvage components from them at the end of their lives.
I might eventually even switch to lead-free ammunition for hunting and target practice, but that’s a whole another ball of wax because traditional ammunition is a lot cheaper, you use a lot more of it, and it’s a lot easier on your barrel. Solder in contrast is pretty small cost, as even if my electronics hobby picks up and I make a lot of solder bridges on perf board, it’s still only an occassional use. Lead poisioning of Bald Eagles and other raptors is tragic, but as species, it really isn’t a threat to them like DDT once was. Lead shot to humans might break teeth if your not careful, but I doubt you ever swallow it or get enough fragments to do any harm as an adult. I get to get out to range to do some shooting or somewhere in the back country where I have a safe backstop sometime soon. I do pick up my shotgun shells and spent brass as much as possible.

Back to electronics. I also found a local supplier of Arduino Uno cards for a good price in Newburgh on Ebay. Something like $7 each with free one or two day shipping. I should also look at EBay. I don’t have an Ebay prime account but my parents do. Once my LED driver is done, I will want future units for future projects. I calculated that the Arduino run on a 12 volt power supply consumes about a 1/4 watt an hour or 1.9 kWh a year, so it’s pretty reasonable. I expect the LED dimmer to always be powered up so to turn the lights by remote when ever I need them except when I’m out of the town for the weekend or on vacation or traveling for work.

I was also reading about the Raspberry PI. That’s a miniature full-blown computer compared to the Ardiuno which just a fairly basic microprocessor for driving simple electronics. The Raspberry Pi can drive LEDs at different but it really over kill for that, and at $35 is much more expensive. The base model of the Raspberry Pi uses 3.5 watts, which is nothing for a minature computer on a chip board, and has wireless internet, monitor and takes USB disk port, and runs Linux including a LXDE window manager. I could see the Raspberry Pi as a home computer in an off-grid home, as a much more efficent alternative to using my laptop with a 12 volt power supply. My laptop is fairly energy efficent, but when it’s charging, it can use upwards of 90 watts which is a lot of electricity, when your trying to make every watt count on a battery powered setup.

I don’t envision ever owning a television or home internet. My smartphone provides plenty of internet access, if I need high speed internet access like for uploading photos or video, there are always public hotspots in town that I can stop at local libraries and the alike. I had that TV tuner for a while before it stopped working, but I almost never used it except for occassionally watching the PBS Newshour. But I quit watching that, as I found it was just such a time waste. I really am not a fan of all that technology.

In four weeks on December 12 the sun will be setting at 4:21 pm, which is 10 minutes and 46 seconds earlier then tonight. The fact is the sunsets don’t get much earlier then they are now, especially on a gray and depressing days like today. In 2016 on that day, we had rain, snow, freezing fog, mist, cloudy skies and temperatures between 40 and 28 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 37 and 23 degrees. The record high of 62 degrees was set back in 1979.

Looking ahead, Election Day 2018 is in 51 weeks and Election Day 2020 is in 155 weeks. That’s pretty much all you do on Tuesdays is vote. That said, I need to start adding some of the 2018 calendar and special dates to holiday.txt file that powers that automagic date count down thingy-ma-bobber.

I think it’s time to get some sleep. Good night.

Gorging on Gorges, An Adventure, Day 2

I awoke for Day 2 of Gorging on Gorges, and it was a fairly warm morning, at least for the day before Columbus Day, in the back country of the Finger Lakes National Forest. I decided I wanted a full breakfast this morning, so I got some sausage frying up, the coffee peculator doing its thing, then scrambled some eggs with mushrooms and sweet peppers. It was a good breakfast. Packed up my gear, folded the flag, headed out on Potamac Road, and stopped grab a few pictures of the pastures along the road.

Driving along all these back-country roads, I was amazed during most of my trip in New York State, on how many anti-SAFE Act signs there were in front of houses and farms along the way. If there ever was an issue that galvinized the backwoods of Upstate NY, it has to be that stupid gun law. I would reminded of the opposition to the SAFE Act all week, until I finally crossed into Pennsylvania state-line – the last SAFE Act sign ended a ¼ mile before I left the state. I bet you that poor dairy farmer, was awful pissed to live on the wrong side of an imaginary line, so they had to be subjected to stupid laws, high taxes, and anti-farm regulations.

Drove down to Trumansburg and then to Taughannock Falls State Park’s Gorge Overlook. The main overlook, next to the parking lot was a complete tourist trap, with dozens of tourists, many obviously traveling a long ways to get there, crowded around the overlook deck, as everyone – myself included – scrambled to get that one trademark photo of the falls. I was glad to get away from that overlook.

Started along the North Rim trail along the gorge. I was looking for secret places to find isolated, beautiful views of fall, and the hike did not disappoint. I found one perfectly shrouded in colorful fall leaves, but with a view of falls. I snapped a picture. I continued along, and found some good views in the gorge, showing the depth and width it below the falls. Then I ran into Robin Smith and his wife – Twitter and Facebook friend. Chatted for five minutes, then I proceeded on.

In part, I was in a bit of a rush, trying to find a place to take a piss. All that coffee plus maybe an eye-opener drink wasn’t great for the bladder. There also were a few to many people around to do it right on trail, especially being so close to the road most of way. But eventually I did it, and was on my way.

The North Rim trail runs into the Black Diamond Trail, which crosses an old railroad bridge, converted to a hiking trail via some concrete slaps and fence placed on it. The high, old railroad trestle provides views of a smaller, upper waterfalls and the little known, but quite impressive upper gorge. The upper gorge, above the falls, is a deep, narrow, but beautiful gorge where the Taughannock Creek runs, cutting deep into the valley. For the best views, you have to take the South Rim trail, which is what I took next.

The South Rim trail is impressive. There is the big parking lot from the Gorge Overlook on Taughannock Road, or you can alternatively take Gorge Road, and halfway down it, park in the smallish pull-off. Don’t miss it though. If you follow the South Rim Trail, there are some views of the gorge below the falls, and one view of the gorge, extending out to Seneca Lake.

I hiked back to my pickup truck, and then drove down to the main part of Taughannock Falls State Park. I parked in main portion of the park, rather then the always crowded and tight to park in lot next to the trail to Gorge Trail, which runs inside the gorge to below the falls. Not wanting my truck damaged by an overly excited tourist, I figured it’s always safer to park in an empty lot. Walked down to Seneca Lake, and noticed how green the trees were still on the lake shore. This contrasts to sections of US 20, the previous day, where the colors were burnt out to say the least. I was also surprised to see the AES Cayuga in Lansing, across the lake, burning coal today. They must keep in standby for when the line frequency drops to low locally. Stopped in the bathrooms at Taughannock Falls State Park, which were just very gross – clean, but rusty and in old shape – like so many state facilities.

Then I hiked along the gorge trail to the fall, taking several moments to stop and take photos, and explore the river bed. I had previously been here, in mid-July, but it certainly was different now that fall was in full swing. The trail was popular, and in some places, downright crowded, but the riverbed, at least as far as one could hike, wasn’t nearly as crowded. The gorge walls were pretty with the fall leaves, although by the time I got the falls, the sun was right over the top of the waterfalls, so most of the pictures of the falls came out pretty poorly.

Headed back to the truck, then drove down to Ithaca. The traffic was as awful as always in that city. I had stop at the pharmacy, then it was off to Buttermilk Falls State Park. I was surprised they were still charging – the last day must be Columbus Day. By now, it was too late to keep Robert Treman State Park on my list; that will have to wait until tomorrow. This time, I intentionally hiked up the North Rim trail, up to West King Road, then down into the gorge. Last November, I hiked up the gorge, so I figured it would be interesting to go the other way this time.

Hiking down Buttermilk Falls was scenic, but not as a scenic as I remember it. Maybe after all this time hiking in gorges and exploring the gorges, they also start to look a bit alike – and we are only day two. It’s more scenic then most of other glens, besides Enfield Glen and Watkins Glen, but it’s still a step below them. The gorge swimming pool at the bottom of the gorge it was nice.

It was a good hike, until descending the slippery stairs, I slipped, and dropped my camera, and it fell like 20 feet, hitting a dozen of the stone stairs before coming to a rest. The fall did some serious damage to the camera, as one might expect. The protective UV filter was shattered, the case was cracked up the lens. I was not pleased, to say the least. There may have been a few cuss words. But so be it. The camera was under a drop warranty that I bought when I got it, but I was more worried that the fall would damage the camera, so I would be out of luck for taking more pictures for the rest of the trip.

I might have been pissed at myself for my careless handling and missteps, for a little while, cussed myself out. I was less pissed when I discovered the lens wasn’t destroyed, only the $5 UV filter. The camera seemed to continue to work well, although the flash doesn’t always pop up – a feature I almost never use at any rate. The camera seemed to work okay, and I picked up a second UV filter at Walmart later in the evening. Later in the week, I noticed the automatic focus was sticking – fortunately I have a drop warranty on the lens too. One of these days, I will get around to sending the camera back to the factory for warranty repairs or replacement.

Once I got over the shock, anger, and amusement of smashing up my camera, and got the shattered UV filter off the camera – it took a little fiddling, as the impact of the fall bent the ring – I enjoyed the remaining hike and vistas of falls. Snapped several other quite nice pictures. Went to Walmart to pick up a few supplies, then back to Finger Lakes National Forest, for another evening at camp.

When I drove up to the campsites on Chicken Coop Road, I was pleasantly surprised to find out the campsite I like was vacant. Whoever was the night before packed up, and there was no mess left over. Hung the flag up, set up the table, hung lights up, and gathered wood. Started a campfire, cracked open a beer, had soup and sandwitches for dinner. The colors in the woods were about peak here. Around 6:15 PM, walked across the road, to take a closer look at the cows grazing in the pasture.

I stayed up until 8:15 PM, when it started to sprinkle, and quickly turned to a heavier rain, and decided it was time to seek shelter under the truck cap. Again a bit annoyed about the rain, and my stupidity about not setting up a tarp earlier in the evening. I listened to the radio for a bit, played on my cellphone, and retired for the night. The good news was that by morning, the rain would have passed, although the skies would be cloudy, damp, and the temperature only around 47 degrees.

New Theme for the Blog. Central Vermont/Green Mountains This Extended Weekend. Lift Kits vs Other Toys. Getting off the Grid.

Good Morning! Happy Wednesday. Yes, folks it’s Wednesday. I think this is the first note I’ve done in a few months, but so be it. It really isn’t that hard to do notes, especially now that I’ve switched WordPress, and everything is pretty much standardized and easy to use. It’s a long one, jotted down over the past week,w with lots of things to talk about.

Working on a New WordPress Theme for the Blog. When I brought the blog over to WordPress, my intent was not to create another generic looking WordPress blog, although in many ways that’s how it ended up. I also messed up some of the code, and didn’t build a proper client theme, instead relying on an adapted theme.

The result was a kind of bland mess. The good news is I am now learning how to build a proper client theme on top of an existing, much nicer WordPress theme — that doesn’t look so much like a generic WordPress theme. One of the reasons I avoided for so long going with WordPress, as I didn’t want to end up with a very generic theme. But somehow it all ended up that way. I think the new theme I am going to — based on the popular Pinboard theme is much nicer.

Hopefully it will be up by the start of September, if all goes well. New maps up are on the blog today.

Heading Up to the Northern Half of Green Mountains this Weekend. Probably leave Friday after work, first camp in the Southern Green Mountains near Somerset Reservior, then head North on Vermont 100. There looks to be a lot of neat places to see in the northern Green Mountains, and some spectular scenery.

Plan to stay for a long weekend, by also taking off Monday and Tuesday, which promise to be pretty nice weather. As I don’t really know the area, a lot of the trip will be about seeing what is up there, and going from there to figure out what to do. I will bring the kayak and camera, and certainly are keeping my mind open to taking a nice hike somewheres. They are talking about a continuation of the recent low-humidity, temperate climate weather over the weekend, especially as we head into Monday and Tuesday. Supposed to be some good meteor showers.

I’ve decided to do more of these long weekends, rather then take any full weeks off this summer. I guess you could say the July 4th week was technically a week off, although actually July 4th and July 5th were holidays at the office, so they didn’t really count.

I might take a week-long trip in October to Western NY and Pennsylvania during peak foliage season. That said, I also want to do an extended weekend trip to Moose River Plains and also Lake Kushaqua/Jones Pond and recently re-opened Loon Mountain firetower.

Going to Put Off Getting the Lift-Kit Installed Until at Least March. Originally the plan was to have a lift-kit installed on my truck in October. But after giving it more thought, and carefully reviewing the options, I’ve decided the best option is to wait another six months or so. For one, I want to wear down the stock tires more, so I’m not wasting them as much, and also so I’m a bit closer to end of the factory warranty — the lift kit isn’t covered by the truck’s factory warranty, and while it wouldn’t invalidate the whole warranty, certainly any damage (as unlikely as it is) it could cause wouldn’t be warrantied.

But the other part of the rational is partly money-wise, and because I’m not totally sold on the lift-kit idea. I’ve thought about getting a snowmobile instead this winter, and have been looking at Want Ad Digest. That said, the more I look at it, the more I am not in a rush to get a snowmobile. As much fun as it would be to get deep in the back country in winter — assuming there are groomed trails back there — I worry about break downs and the alike. Not to mention, snowmobiles use a lot of gas, and really aren’t much more efficient then automobiles, because the snow drags them down.

The money-wise issue comes in that things are more expensive then I first estimated a year ago. I think I am going to go with 35s and a 6″ lift kit from a good brand like BDS. Any bigger then that isn’t cost-effective, and non-pratical. That will get me up high enough. The final increase in the height of the truck will be something like 8 inches, because the 35s are 4 inches larger in diameter then factory 31s, and a six-inch lift is half foot higher.

I also think I will go for full-leaf replacements in the back rather then add-a-leafs, to ensure the weight of the camper shell and equipment in the back won’t cause the nose to be pointing in the air, etc. Going to have it re-geared to save fuel, add some more power, not kill the engine or tranny. And there are some other things like the narrower brake lines that are recommended, among other parts, I would probably spring for when it comes to lift-kit. Plus all that labor cost, which will easily be a grand on it’s own.

I want to ride up higher. I am a tall guy. It also will give me a chance to “freshen” up the look of my truck, which after 2 1/2 years will be getting kind of boring and old. I want something I can get 10 years or more out of without getting totally bored with. After I do the lift kit, there are other projects for future years, such as getting the rocker panels Line-X’d, and replacing the bumpers with those awesome Ranch bumpers, that can actually be used for parallel parking without being damaged.

Or maybe I’ll find other toys to spend my money on. It’s good having some extra disposable money kicking around, as I’m sure future jobs won’t nearly pay as much.

Been Reading and Watching More Videos About Getting Off the Grid. Being somebody who camps most weekends from April to November in the back of my pickup truck, and relies heavily on my inverter and the deep cycle battery to keep things lighted up all evening long. I cook my own food in the woods, clean dishes using bottled water, burn my garbage, and dig a whole in woods when I need to go to the bathroom. Heck, with my laptop and the wireless card, I can be up in woods and surfing the web, doing work, and even fielding calls over my cellphone.

I have a pretty decent working understanding of electricity, and how all the off-the-grid thing too. I grew up in the country, are comfortable in woods, and know how to build a good fire in woodstove. I am fascinated to learn more about some of the relatively inexpensive and simplistic living arrangement many-off-the-griders live with, without all costs and hassles of an on-grid house.

My grandfather had one of those absorption-cooler refigerators/freezers in his RV at his campsite in Warrensburg. They’re neat, as one needs more then just a cooler when you live somewhere permanently, rather then wondering the wilderness in your pickup truck. They burn like 5-10 gallons of propane a month. But there also is these high-efficiency refrigerators that are electric and have a lot of insulation, so they don’t strain batteries in a PV/micro-hydro/wind system as much.

But a bigger issue for me is the ability to take showers and get cleaned up properly wherever I live. For that purpose, there are amazingly small tankless-water heaters that use a small amount of propane, but can get water very hot quickly. If you think small, you don’t really need that much flow, compared to a full-scale modern house with a massive-tanked water heater. Hot showers, and hot water for dishes is a necessity to keep clean. If I can get away with it from the code inspectors, I’d be fine with composting toilets or even just a plain old outhouse. That’s a luxury in woods.

Woodstoves, radiant flooring, and other familiar technology is self-explanatory. Having good insulation is a must in this part of the country. I don’t want to have trash pickup — I’m happy enough burning what can be burnt, and taking the glass and metals for proper recycling in the normal industrial fashion.

I like small houses. Smaller is better. I would rather spend my money on land, that could not only be used for recreation like riding quads, shooting guns, and hunting, but also for money by grazing livestock and timber. I am not a greeny, I don’t got a problem with using styrofoam plates for dinner and disposing them in an open fire. I just hate the whole upper-middle class, fancy house living style in the suburbs.

All this reading library books gots me thinking …

But for now I’m fine. As a transition though, I think I would next like to live in a small, handsome, downtown, one that is walkable to a bar and a store, but also provides ample-off-street parking. I think it would be a lot of fun to have an apartment on the second or third floor, above a shop, and be able to sit out and look at my window and watch the traffic go by.

Anywhere I live, I want to be near a National Forest or State Forest that allows free, primitive camping, in a remote-roadside fashion. Not to mention scenic vistas, places to hunt, fish, hike, and spend time outdoors. But I really want to get out of New York, at least eventually. I think it would be fun to own an AR-15, and eventually get a concealed carry permit from a must-issue state, without any pesky questions about whatever stupid things I did decades ago back in college — that hurt nothing but folks egos. To say nothing of not being in a state that’s totally anti-rural and not into the philosophical nature thing.

Far off I guess. Things aren’t that bad right now.

Andy Arthur.org

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New Theme for the Blog. Central Vermont/Green Mountains This Extended Weekend. Lift Kits vs Other Toys. Getting off the Grid.