Search Results for: troy pennsylvania

Seek and Destroy Spotted Lanternfly Eggs – The Allegheny Front

State to Allegheny, Beaver and 10 Other Counties: Seek and Destroy Spotted Lanternfly Eggs – The Allegheny Front

By adding Allegheny and Beaver Counties, along with ten others in central PA, to the Spotted Lanternfly quarantine zone this month, Pennsylvania agricultural officials are trying to avoid the damage these planthoppers have inflicted in some parts of the state. But controlling lanternflies will take some vigilance by area businesses and residents. LISTEN to the story Audio Player 00:00 00:00 Use Up/Down Arrow keys to increase or decrease volume.

In southeastern Pennsylvania, a war is already on against Spotted Lanternflies. News reports are rife with people who say they’re sick of seeing hundreds of the reddish wings flocking in their trees, or flying in their faces, and of sticky sap raining down in their yards, and have taken to swatting, trapping, and even vacuuming them.

Back from Grandma Moses Country ๐Ÿ‘ต๐Ÿฝ๐ŸŽจ

You know it was worth an exploration, I tell myself even if it didn’t have the right feel for me. Pointed Rocks on the Batten Kill had been on my bucket list for a long time to hike – it’s a surprisingly long and steep hike outside of Adirondack and Catskill Park and the whole area around the Batten Kill is quite spectacular, full of birds and nature if not a pungent this time of year from the manuring. Shits gotta grow come the summer.

Good morning! Rain and 44 degrees in Delmar, NY. โ˜” There is a south breeze at 7 mph. ๐Ÿƒ. Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 4 am. โ˜ƒ๏ธ

Honest, I wasn’t planning on going to Washington County yesterday ๐Ÿž but I ended up that way after looking at some houses, properties and land in Hoosic, Pittstown and Valley Falls. Rural country out that way but it didn’t have the right feel in my mind. I totally get why that former Research Services director used to live out in White Creek but that’s a bit too far away from work especially having to drive through Troy and all those other little speed traps and hick towns. ๐Ÿš“ Of course he did move to Pennsylvania as soon as he could retire.

I had wanted to hike Pointed Rocks and explore the area along the Batten Kill for some time now. ๐Ÿšถ ๐Ÿž๏ธ but somehow I never got up that way as there isn’t any place right nearby to camp, except maybe for the Green Mountain National Forest on the other side of Bennington. Nice country up along the Batten Kill State Forest and along NY 313, but certainly too far from Albany too commute. ๐Ÿšฆ๐Ÿš™๐Ÿš—๐Ÿšš๐Ÿ›ป There was an interesting property along NY 22 that was 20 acres of moutainside and woods, with a steep creek for micro-hydro that looked quite attractive from the road and on paper, if not for all those damn traffic lights, hick towns and NY 7 traffic cluster. Had a nice little mobile-home sized site on a ledge over the road, with a somewhat steep driveway but partially cleared. I think it was a former hunting camp. ๐Ÿ ๏ธ Looked like the neighbors would have been good, they’re distance away, have horses and a small pre-fab house. Price was good, but it’s all about the location.

And I didn’t have the natural attraction to Grandma Moses country that I have to the Heldebergs, and I don’t know anybody who currently lives out that way. ๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿš’ I’m sure if I got involved in the community, maybe became a volunteer firefighter I could make friends, but it’s still tough. ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™‚๏ธ Plus, despite all the kitsch Grandma Moses Painting, that area of state is quite poor. ๐Ÿ But I kind of like that, those are probably good friendly people who work hard, not yuppies.

Today will have showers likely, mainly before 8am. Mostly cloudy with some clearing later on ๐ŸŒฆ, with a high of 51 degrees at 4pm. Six degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 29th. South wind 7 to 15 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning, which became light rain by afternoon. The high last year was 47 degrees. The record high of 75 was set in 1990. 4.1 inches of snow fell back in 1982.โ„

The major plan for today is to go to the grocery store and get more groceries ๐Ÿ›’ fairly early on. I am as shocked as anyone that it’s already Sunday again and my pantry is fairly bare, although not as bad as some weeks in part because I stopped and got a few more things on the way home when driving in on Friday, as that was when I had my dentist appointment with that mean hygienist.๐Ÿฆท I am not going to put up with her abuse, she was abusive in that dentist chair how she treated me. I am going to cancel my next appointment and see if I can reschedule with my usual dental hygentist Hamid.

I might head out to Coeymans to do some more poking around later on the back roads. ๐Ÿ›ป That said, I’ve checked out many of the listings, and I’m kind of tired after all the driving and exploring yesterday. Hell of it is because I decided to head up to Washington County to hike, ๐Ÿšถ never made it down to southern Rensselaer County to explore some of the homes and properties around Lebanon Valley that are for sale. The thing is down there, you’re getting into the Taconics โ›ฐ๏ธ which are quite nice, but land prices go up there, and you start mixing with a lot NYC pukey-pukes down that way. Get south of the Berskshire Spur Thruway and there is some shit ton of NYC money that way, thanks to the Taconic Parkway. Not only is land is expensive, you know who is going to be living next door, people closer to Elliot Spitzer who is responsible for the burn ban, then some dirt-farming goat-rising good ol’ boy. ๐Ÿ‘›

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 1:04 pm with sun having an altitude of 46.3ยฐ from the due south horizon (-24.6ยฐ vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 5.7 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour ๐Ÿ… starts at 6:28 pm with the sun in the west (263ยฐ). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west (269ยฐ) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:05 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 54 seconds with dusk around 7:32 pm, which is one minute and 10 seconds later than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous ๐ŸŒ” Moon in the south (172ยฐ) at an altitude of 75ยฐ from the horizon, 241,964 miles away. ๐Ÿš€ The best time to look at the stars is after 8:06 pm. At sunset, look for partly clear skies ๐ŸŒ„ and temperatures around 45 degrees. There will be a west-northwest breeze at 10 mph. Today will have 12 hours and 4 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 54 seconds over yesterday.

Another work week ahead, ๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ’ผ back to being a professional rather then a cowboy-hat wearing good ol’ boy or so I play on the weekends. One more week until the long Easter Weekend when I’m hoping to get to the Adirondacks to camp ๐Ÿ•๏ธ and have a big ol’ fire ๐Ÿ”ฅ with flames mostly less then 3 feet high and not too much plastic, because you know the burn ban and stuff. ๐Ÿคฃ Ah, New York State. I should bring my .22 rifle and make some noise too while I’m up in the wilderness. It’s been too long since I’ve spent much time in the woods. ๐ŸŒฒ

Tonight will be partly cloudy ๐ŸŒƒ , with a low of 31 degrees at 5am. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 30th. West wind around 8 mph. In 2023, we had light rain in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 28 degrees. The record low of -08 occurred back in 1900.

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until 7:30 PM Sunset ๐ŸŒ‡ when the sun will be setting at 7:30 pm with dusk at 7:57 pm. On that day in 2023, we had mostly sunny and temperatures between 48 and 34 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 55 degrees. We hit a record high of 87 back in 2010.

Walking Along the Truck Trail

Why I’m not that worried about the Ohio Hazmat Train Derailment ๐Ÿ›ค๏ธ๐Ÿ’ฅ

Why I’m not that worried about the Ohio Hazmat Train Derailment ๐Ÿ›ค๏ธ๐Ÿ’ฅ

For one it’s a very big country. I live 425 miles away from East Palatine Ohio, so the chances of any exposure to it are basically zero, unless maybe it drink milk or eat beef from cattle that grazed on dioxin laden grass. And even that risk is tiny compared to the world we live in literally saturated in an alphabet soup of toxic chemicals. Rather than fearing PFOAS, PCBs, dioxins, furans, and the rest of the alphabet soup we should stop cranking them out and their precursors from out factories.

It seems like despite public skeptism, the states and federal government did the right thing burning off the leaking toxic chemicals and containing the rest. The wind was from the northwest that day, so most of the smoke blew towards Pennsylvania State Game Land 275 and rural countryside. Some of the smoke might ended up reaching Beaver Falls, PA from looking at the radar but probably not much further. Probably not Pittsburgh, which is too far away. Smoke doesn’t carry that far, even in a big fire. Walk 20 miles in hilly south-western Pennsylvania coal country and see how truly far 20 miles is. Cars and their fast operating speed often distorts our perception of time and space.

Compared to the big western wildfires which can dump smoke into the upper atmosphere, this was a pretty isolated incident. And it was a one time incident, emissions relatively small compared to some of other large polluters that operate 24-7 in that general vicinity, including Homer City, Keystone and Conemaugh Coal Power Plants. For about 6 months a few years back, one of the steel furnaces outside of Pittsburgh operated with pollution controls down, because they couldn’t stop the plant mid-batch without forever destroying the plant.

The truth is while it sounds bad to burn off a tanker car full of vinyl chloride – houses and cars burn regularly in fires with many of the same chemicals. Roughly 350,000 houses burn per year in United States, 175,000 automobiles burn per year. And especially in rural Pennsylvania people burn trash and even vinyl siding in construction burn piles, and all kinds of nasty stuff as trash pickup is expensive and doesn’t service all rural areas and people are poor and like fire.

If we are worried about persistent organic pollutants, ultimately it comes down to industry not manufacturing the precursors and pollutants themselves. We need tougher regulations of chemicals and not just be pointing fingers at rednecks that burn stuff. Accidents happen, trains derail, cars crash and burn and house fires are not uncommon. If they were unthinkable every community wouldn’t have a fire department.

If we care about human and environmental health, we need to look at those massive coal plants and industrial factories that make the toxic chemicals and their precursors and not a one off, toxic spill which has largely been broken down over the vast rural countryside, hopefully not leaving too much of the partially incinerated chlorinated byproducts in it wake.

I’m not really concerned about this one spill but I do worry about the future of the climate and the environment overall with all the toxic pollution we are dumping in the air 24-7.

Killing the invasive species is your new pandemic hobby.

Spotted lanternfly: Killing the invasive species is your new pandemic hobby.

If you need to get your mind off the pandemic for a moment, shift it to another plague sweeping the state: spotted lanternflies. It’s one you can play an immediate, and feel-good, role in fixing. And your mission is pretty simple: Find and kill the invasive species’ eggs. Who’s ready to get smashing?

“Honestly, it’s something fun you can be doing outside right now,” says Shannon Powers, press secretary for the state Department of Agriculture. “If you’ve got kids, keep them occupied by just sending them out and telling them to look for these treasures they need to destroy.”

October 14, 2019 Night

Good evening! Partly clear and 43 degrees in Dormansville, NY. Calm wind.

Vacation ends and you move on with your life. ๐Ÿ˜” Wasn’t the greatest vacation ever with a lot of cloudy and rainy days and if I had a chance I’d do it differently next time but I you can’t look back. You just have to move forward. ๐Ÿ“ท Maybe I had a good time but looking back at the photos I took I see a different impression. But then again I might rethink it later on. Face it, I’m tired ๐Ÿ˜ด and not happy about going back to work or Albany more generally. But I need money, and while Appalachia and coal country is beautiful, they’re ain’t a lot money there – despite Trump digging coal, whatever that means for that dirty dying industry. ๐Ÿญ

Drove back wearing my glasses as I misplaced my contacts. ๐Ÿ‘“ I am not a big fan of wearing glasses but I also didn’t want to waste another pair of cintsc and I figured my hands were pretty dirty despite washing them regularly camping. Really didn’t want to g an eye infection. ๐Ÿ‘€

The trip back was colorful ๐Ÿ‚with really good foliage especially in the Western Catskills. If I had my way, I would have taken this week off for the road trip but I had family ๐Ÿ‘ช obligations.

Mount Pisgah County Park was nice with some color but bitterly cold. Missed the turn the first time driving up there, memory fades after two years. โ†ฉThe winds were really whipping around making it a little bit cold. ๐Ÿƒ It was a little nicer at the Marie Antoinette Overlook with fog ๐ŸŒ in the valley and some color in the hills but I di not stick around for long because I esnt to head home ๐Ÿก and get unpacked.

Still plenty of burn barrels ๐Ÿ”ฅ when I es still in Pennsylvania. Saw two households burning garbage on Columbus Day, one outside of Troy and one just south of Vestal NY. More dumpsters and trash services now though as I think people find plastic fires to be kind of noxious.

Tonight will have patchy fog. Otherwise, partly cloudy ๐ŸŽ‘, with a low of 36 degrees at 6am. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 27th. Calm wind. In 2018, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 39 degrees. The record low of 27 occurred back in 1978.

Tonight will have a Waning Gibbous Moon ๐ŸŒ– with 95% illuminated. The moon will set at 8:37 am. The Last Quarter Moon is on Sunday night with a showers is likely then chance of showers. The Beaver Moon ๐ŸŒ is in 4 weeks. The sun will rise at 7:07 am with the first light at 6:39 am, which is one minute and 9 seconds later than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ„ Tonight will have 12 hours and 52 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 48 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have patchy fog before 10am. ๐ŸŒ Patchy frost before 9am. Otherwise, sunny ๐ŸŒž, with a high of 59 degrees at 3pm. One degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 17th. Light and variable wind. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 61 degrees. The record high of 86 was set in 1897. There was a dusting of snow in 1939.โ„

Back to work tomorrow. ๐Ÿ’ผ It’s important that I make money ๐Ÿ’ต so I can pay down my bills. For a nine night, ten day road trip, my biggest expense was gasoline โ›ฝ and wear and tear on the truck, besides food and cans of beer my only real expense was $10 for last night at the rustic campground.

This next weekend is the Pine Bush hike, ๐ŸŒฒso I can’t go up to the Adirondacks for the weekend but maybe hiking somewhere on Sunday? ๐ŸšถIn two weekends might take a three day weekend to Burnt Rossman or maybe the Catskills. โ›บ Burnt Rossman will probably still have a bit of color then, could do some squirrel hunting.

In four weeks on November 11 the sun will be setting at 4:37 pm (Standard Time),๐ŸŒ„ which is one hour, 38 minutes and 17 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2018 on that day, we had partly cloudy, snow showers and temperatures between 41 and 26 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 50 and 33 degrees. The record high of 70 degrees was set back in 2002.

Looking ahead, Average High is 55 ๐Ÿ‚ is in 2 weeks, Veterans Day ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ is in 4 weeks, Cyber Monday ๐Ÿ›๏ธ is in 7 weeks, First Sunday of Advent โœ๏ธ is in 7 weeks, Earliest Sunset of the Year โŒ›๏ธ is in 8 weeks, Festivus ๐Ÿ– is in 10 weeks and Coldest Week of the Year ๐ŸŒฌ is in 3 months.

 Warm

October 14, 2019 Morning

Good morning! Happy Columbus Day ๐Ÿ›ฅ๏ธ! For me it means the second half of the trip back home ๐Ÿก from West Virginia and getting unpacked. Two weeks to Average High is 55 ๐Ÿ‚. Mostly sunny and 46 degrees at the Mount Pisgah County Park. There is a southwest breeze at 7 mph. ๐Ÿƒ.

I was up at 6:15 am this morning, ๐ŸŒ„as I had chilli last night and too much beer ๐Ÿป and had to visit the outhouse early on. ๐Ÿ’ฉ Being I was in a campground it was a short walk but at least I got things taken down early and I’m stopping at the Mount Pisgah County Park for a bit.

Columbus Day will be mostly sunny ๐ŸŒž, with a high of 56 degrees at 1pm. Five degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 25th. West wind 7 to 13 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 59 degrees. The record high of 81 was set in 1920.

So the October Road Trip is almost over. Just have to make it home safely and unpack. Then out to the folks house. It was a good trip although not the one I had originally planned. ๐Ÿš™ The burn ban made me alter my plans and for a while I wasn’t planning on going to West Virginia. ๐Ÿ“› Time marches on, that’s all I can say.

But I did and spent three nights there before overnighting in County Bridge Campground outside of Troy, Penna last night. Only night in a developed campground. We other sites were taken but none nearby and it was very quiet there. Nice thing about the developed area is no bucket shitter ๐Ÿ’ฉ to empty and bury the poop, and I don’t have to take down my table so a faster take down this morning.

Dash cam ๐ŸŽฅ didn’t record for part of the trip back but I didn’t have all that much great to save. I did get some nice clips to post on the blog later this week. Stay tuned!

The sun will set at 6:27 pm with dusk around 6:55 pm, which is one minute and 36 seconds earlier than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies ๐ŸŒƒ and temperatures around 50 degrees. There will be a west-northwest breeze at 9 mph. Today will have 11 hours and 9 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 44 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have patchy frost after 5am. Otherwise, partly cloudy ๐ŸŒค, with a low of 35 degrees at 5am. Five degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 31st. West wind 5 to 7 mph. In 2018, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 39 degrees. The record low of 27 occurred back in 1978.

I could have done the New River Gorge and spent the balance of my trip in West Virginia ๐Ÿ˜” but it seemed like the burn ban was going to be in place for most of the week. Sure I have the propane heater and electric lights ๐Ÿšฅ ๐Ÿ’ก but there is something about having a fire each night, if only a small fire is o provide some entertainment and company and take care of the burn trash. ๐Ÿ”ฅ So many wet wipes to get rid of when you are using them as your primary way to clean up your body. Maybe I should have stuck to the original plan but the Allegheny National Forest was neat as was visiting Pennsylvania High Point, Cook Forest and Hoye-Crest in Maryland.

It wasn’t a bad night, and it’s a convient place to stay at between Albany and West Virginia, โ›บ about half way between the two places at least if your like me and want to stay some place relatively quiet and cheap, while limiting driving to 4 hours a day, leaving the remaining time to visit parks or hop on back roads. That said, I’d prefer to camp somewhere I can gather up my own wood, listen to music ๐ŸŽถ as loud as I want, not have to worry about bothering anyone with the smoke. At least I could have a decent fire ๐Ÿ”ฅ because I had some leftover wood from Stewart’s that I bought for the trip down and I used the Big Buddy Hester to keep my chair comfortable. Cold enough I wish I could have hot tented but I wasn’t going to pitch a tent for one night. It was fine under the covers.

I thought the Cannan Refuge was a disappointment but maybe the second seven miles down the rough dirt road would have been better. ๐Ÿฆ The part I explored was the standard mixed forest, nothing much better than the Five Rivers Environmental Education Center I walk ๐Ÿšถ to from home. At any rate, I was expecting something more marshy and full of birds like Montezuma. But it’s just not that kind of area. Moreover, the weather wasn’t all that great compared to the original forecast for yesterday.

Stopped at the Blue Knob State Park. ๐Ÿ—ป Kind of dead this time of year with the ski resort closed. And it was a rather gray day which sort of blocked the view and made it harder to see from the summit. I wonder if Blue Knob is the second highest peak in Pennsylvania. Nice country driving through Imler and surrounding lands. Good farmland, big dairies ๐Ÿ„ around there.

Most of the drive up through Pennsylvania was fairly overcast and not real nice. โ˜ The colors weren’t very good either. Passed some nice farm country in Pennsylvania. Mostly dairy ๐Ÿฎ but some hogs ๐Ÿฝ, chickens ๐Ÿ”, sheep ๐Ÿ‘ etc. Grains like corn ๐ŸŒฝ and soybeans too ๐ŸŒพ. Lots of Amish and Menonites along PA 26 and the Nittany Valley farming. I get not owning a car or living off grid but having no solar seems a bit extreme. But I guess if you can’t make it yourself, you shouldn’t own it. ๐Ÿšœ I do have a lot of respect for the Amish even if their environmental record is a bit mixed. They do use some technology like silage wrap on their farms – which being Pennsylvania I’m sure is burned when discarded.

Driving ๐Ÿš˜ up through Pennsylvania I can assure still plenty of rural households and farms in Pennsylvania that burn virtually everything – you could see the black smoke, the piles of burnt cans and glass and ash in folks backyards and bags of trash next to the burn barrel waiting to be torched. ๐Ÿ”ฅ I didn’t have to go far in Pennsylvania to see the first pile of junk people were burning in their driveway. Wood with other goodies in that fire. Also saw some one burning trash in Maryland too and a few rural houses in West Virginia with burn barrels out back. Beats the landfill in my view, despite the sometimes stench ๐Ÿ‘ƒ, although I think I would seperate out the cans and glass for recycling โ™ป when I own my own land – and maybe build some kind of better incinerator than the common burn barrel most folks use. ๐Ÿ‘ I can tell you as a fact there isn’t much burn trash I’m taking home from camp. Seems like a waste especially of the tin cans to throw the metal away – and it’s not like they burn or help the fire at all.

I decided to get off Interstate 99 at PA 414 through Liberty, Penna๐Ÿ—ฝ . Talk about a windy, narrow state highway in country that at worse was rolling. ๐Ÿš™ I don’t understand why it’s such a bad road. Scenic yes, but hardly a good route to travel. At least not as bumpy and rough as River Road. But obnoxiously slow. I was having problems my phone not charging the whole time ๐Ÿ“ฑ, fortunately though I had enough power for Waze to direct me to destination.

I could go to West Virginia possibly next November but who knows. ๐Ÿ˜• I might have to do a recount for work, and snow โ›„ is always a possibility like last year. I know I don’t want anything to do with West Virginia if snow and ice conditions are even a remote possibility. No thanks for sure. 2021 if I decide to go back, it might be a a very different experience if I decide to go car-less that year and have to rent a car. ๐Ÿš™ It might be fun to see West Virginia in a rented car especially a hybrid electric car on those hills. Wouldn’t have to be as gentle on the rough roads either. Always worry about breaking Big Red down there. Another possibility would be a trip – probably by plane โœˆ and rental car to see Missouri and the Midwest that year.

The past two nights have been bright ๐Ÿ”† with the moonlight ๐ŸŒ•. Woke up Saturday night hot tent camping to take a piss in West Virginia and the inside of the tent was bright from the moonlight. Bitterly cold Sunday morning – I woke up and it was 26 degrees out. But after turning the Big Buddy heater on things he warned up quickly.

It was a good trip and generally came below budget ๐Ÿ’ธas I spent less time in West Virginia then originally expected. The bad weather โ˜” a few days meant I drank more beer ๐Ÿป then originally planned but I drove fewer miles โ›ฝ even when you consider I started my week in the Allegheny National Forest. ๐ŸŒฒOnly spent one night in a campground, keeping those expenses lower and my food expenses were only slightly higher than normal – and I have left overs for future weeks to eat. Wet wipes, paper plates and towels, plastic forks, ๐Ÿด etc too – seems like a waste to use once and burn ๐Ÿ”ฅ but when camping water ๐Ÿ’ฆ is a precious commodity and its nice to stay clean as possible.

Tomorrow is a pay day ๐Ÿ‘and it’s a three paycheck month so by the time the November credit card ๐Ÿ’ณ bill is due with the brake job on my truck and vacation expenses I’ll hopefully have my fund balance rebuilt. I can return some of the unspent cash to the bank.๐Ÿ’ฐ I really needed to get away from Albany for a bit, go to some places much culturally and socially different from Albany. Despite the tight finances, I’m still sticking to my savings and investing plan. Travel and camping expenses will decline come winter but eventually I’ll be paying for heat ๐Ÿ”ฅ again but so it goes. I want to do some winter camping but the conditions have to be right and it won’t be an every day thing.

Definitely looking for a good shower when I get home. ๐Ÿšฟ It’s been ten days – Saturday October 5th since I’ve washed my full body. I’ve tried to keep as clean as possible but it’s hard when you are in the backcountry in October and you can’t really go for a swim ๐ŸŠ to clean your body. Did lots of hiking too ehic produces a lot of sweat. ๐Ÿ˜ฐ

Generated and consumed a kilowatt of power through the solar panel over the past week. โ˜€ I wonder how much total power I consumed as I frequently used the alternator to top off accessory batteries. ๐Ÿ”‹ Generally the system worked well. Once or twice the low voltage disconnect kicked in but that was one time due to a heavier load and one time in a dark morning in the cold pulling a decent load the voltage โšก dropped under the threshold. The sun rose, voltage increased and the load was automatically reconnected when safe. Driving ๐Ÿš˜ home I’m charging the laptop and running all accessory loads exclusively on the solar.

A picture perfect weekend on tap. ๐Ÿ˜Ž Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 56. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 61. Maximum dew point of 49 at 7pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 59 degrees. Should be great weather for the Save the Pine Bush hike! ๐ŸŒฒ๐ŸŒฒ๐ŸŒฒWe are doing a walk down Rapp Road, it should be a nice one. Maybe fall foliage hike ๐Ÿšถ on Sunday?

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until Average High is 55 ๐Ÿ‚ when the sun will be setting at 6:07 pm with dusk at 6:35 pm. On that day in 2018, we had mostly cloudy, rain showers and temperatures between 51 and 41 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 55 degrees. We hit a record high of 78 back in 1971.

 Morning

October 12, 2019 Night

Good evening! Mostly clear under the full Hunter Moon ๐ŸŽ‘ and 39 degrees at the Monongahela National Forest. There is a west breeze at 9 mph. ๐Ÿƒ. Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 4 am. โ˜ƒ๏ธ

That breeze plus the cold clear skies made me decide to put out the fire cold early, go for a short moonlit hike to look at the stars โœจ and then retire to the heated tent. I was going to read ๐Ÿ“– for a while but I don’t know, I’m pretty tired. The tent is comfortable now, shortly I think I’ll cut the lights and heat and get comfortable under the covers.

Before the front came through it was a fairly nice morning. โ›… Clouds with sun. Then I went to get changed and played with my phone for a while and it started to rain โ˜”. I crawled back into the tent with the heater, read ๐Ÿ“– for a few hours, finishing book three and starting on four. Then around 4 pm it cleared out and I went to Blackwater Falls for a while, but it was frigid with the wind so I didn’t stay long. I kind of slipped multiple times on the slick leaf covered, rain soaked stairway. I started to head over to the Cannan Refuge but I turned back with the wind ๐Ÿƒ and cold โ„. Plus the road was rough and didn’t want to risk damaging my truck. I mean I have 500 plus miles to drive before I am home. Then I went for a short half hour walk in Cannan Heights before gathering some firewood, starting a fire and cooking pizza ๐Ÿ• with random left overs in the camp oven on the gas stove. Put the fire in the fire ๐Ÿ”ฅ out cold around 8 pm, went for a walk under the moonlight and then retired to the hot tent as I was cold. I guess I could have put on more layers but everything is so cold and damp out with the breeze and I knew how nice and warm it would be in the tent. Breeze and dampness is worse than lack of mercury in the thermometer in my experience. ๐Ÿƒ

I totally admit that I’m tired ๐Ÿ˜ด after a week of camping. Even though it’s not hard backpacking and my hikes have been fairly short, it’s been a lot of chopping wood, setting up and taking down camp โ›บ. Beautiful country in West Virginia – I wish I had gotten down here sooner – but all this travel makes me crave home and the ease of sleeping in my regular bed, taking the bus to work every day. ๐Ÿš

Tonight will have patchy frost after 11pm. Otherwise, mostly clear ๐ŸŒƒ, with a low of 29 degrees at 5am. 11 degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 24th. West wind 5 to 9 mph. Already a cold night, will be even colder by day break here in the mountains. In 2018, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 41 degrees. The record low of 24 occurred back in 1981.

Tonight is the Hunter Moon. ๐ŸŒ• Certainly nice and clear but bitterly cold with the wind for enjoying the moon tonight. The sun will rise at 7:24 am with the first light at 6:57 am, which is one minute later than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ„ Tonight will have 12 hours and 41 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 28 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be mostly sunny ๐ŸŒž, with a high of 60 degrees at 2pm. One degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 15th. Maximum dew point of 46 at 5pm. South wind 5 to 9 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 55 degrees. The record high of 81 was set in 1930. There was a dusting of snow in 1934.โ„

While it feels like I just got to West Virginia, tomorrow it’s back north to Pennsylvania โฌ† (after doing some bird watching ๐Ÿฆ in the Cannan Refuge). Stop at the massive Mount Storm Coal Plant / Lake to stick my toes in the lake that’s always 75 degrees due to thermal pollution, ๐Ÿญand Mount Pisgah State Park. ๐Ÿ“ท Overnight at County Bridge State Park outside Troy, Penna then back to New York Columbus Day โ›บ.

In four weeks on November 9 the sun will be setting at 5:09 pm in West Virginia (Standard Time),๐ŸŒ„ which is one hour, 35 minutes and 8 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2018 on that day, we had rain showers, partly sunny and temperatures between 42 and 28 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 51 and 33 degrees. The record high of 71 degrees was set back in 1975.

Looking ahead, Northern Zone Regular Season ๐ŸฆŒ is in 1 weeks, Small Business Saturday ๐Ÿ›๏ธ is in 7 weeks, First Day of Winter โ˜ƒ๏ธ is in 10 weeks, 4:30 PM Sunset ๐ŸŒ† is in 11 weeks, Winnie the Pooh Day ๐Ÿฏ is in 14 weeks and 5 PM Sunset ๐ŸŒ† is in 15 weeks.

South from Ledge