Photo of Andy Arthur

Andy Arthur

After getting COVID at the end of 2024 and sleeping through much of the holiday season, πŸ›Œ it's good to be up and back at my game again. It's cold and dark this time of year, πŸ₯Ά but I figure focus on learning and working, while counting down the days until Punxsy sees or does not see his shadow. 🐻

6,000 today?

As they say, nothing becomes dated quicker than people’s predictions about the future… I’m not saying either way that 6k on the S&P 500 is going to last but I see the futures market. I’m sure the new incumbents will take credit not that they deserve what has been the result of the hard work of non politicians. Shrug!

Honestly, I’d don’t expect it to last, much like the cold of this week. πŸ“ˆ I hear a warm up is coming in significant warm up February and there will be a recession before you know it. I’m bracing for it, been buying more bonds, but truth is with dollar cost averaging over these years, while the actual drop might be painful and I’ll close my eyes for a couple of months, not look at the numbers and just keep doing what I always do, it will be fine. And maybe walk laps in the Plaza to avoid the cold.

I keep telling myself, maybe I should have bought that dumpy homestead next to my parents on main road that I toured last summer, 🐐 but I didn’t like having neighbors so close and being on the main road, lest I make a lot of stinky black smoke one day, or for that matter have government enforcers drive by. But I did like that barn and outdoor sink for butchering. And I could have a place to grow my marijuana plants, so I could save money while getting high. But alas it’s sold and so far all that’s been happening there is renovations. Ultimately sold for $130k which really ain’t that much cash these days.

Cold start this morning, a  good challenge for your car battery. πŸ”‹ This evening I have to go to the grocery as my pantry is pretty depleted, but I figure with the sun β˜€οΈ predicted today, Big Red’s battery bank should be more then ready to do a good hard crank. Now if I only get oil pressure quickly. Shouldn’t be too bad, Red started up with ease yesterday, in part because I had driven back on Sunday and things were still well charged and oil still somewhat in engine.

I’m obviously busing it in this morning, 🚍 as it’s not only about 3 degrees, the bike trail is covered with a few inches of snow. I’m hoping by the second half of the week I can statt riding back to work. It’s nice that there is fairly bright at 5 PM so it’ s not like in November and December riding back to the bus stop. Next up, around President’s Day I will be able to ride both ways to work, when it’s not too cold and snowy.

The new refrigerator the landlord got me is super nice. πŸ₯› It’s a perfect size for me and very energy efficient – – the label says 331 kilowatt hours per year or about 28 kWH per month. I think an appliance like that is what I would want when I had my own land and property. It could be fairly easily powered by a fully-off grid system, with sufficient solar. Maybe also have a chest freezer if I had my own meat πŸ₯© to store but that’s not really a think living in the city. Plus I try to stay away from all that saturated fat and crap. Now to see how much my landlord jacks up the rent to cover it. Of course if I move somewhere else, he’s going to have to renovate this truly dumpy apartment.

Sand Lake Trail

 Sand Lake Trail

The Sand Lake Trail is about a half mile long but can be a somewhat difficult portage at the end due to the swampy, narrow trail. But it's a nice little wilderness lake, with a campsite, not too remote off of Piseco-Powley Road. There also is a designated roadside campsite at the trailhead.