I was surprised that the autumn festival wasn’t this week at Five Rivers Environmental Education Center πŸ‚

I was surprised that the autumn festival wasn’t this week at Five Rivers Environmental Education Center πŸ‚

Some how I thought it was but I guess it was last weekend. I know the Environmental Education lady the other week gave me a copy of the flier which I looked at briefly before throwing in the trash with the rest of the burnables who fate is self explanatory.

I kind of wanted to check it out so I could pick the brains of some of the government workers there about various conservation topics and wildlife questions I had. But I’m glad their weren’t the throngs of children there with the pandemic plus I was running late and time was tight to catch the bus to Thacher Park.

Thacher Park is beautiful and since I got to the undeveloped OSI Parcel it’s quite quiet. Wasn’t so clear earlier but since the fog fully burned off its quite nice. Lot of haze earlier but it’s clearer now. The colors are just starting but the temperature is perfect, the woods filled with the smells and sounds of autumn.

Trails are really muddy especially in the OSI Parcel and the pond is flooded by that’s to be expected due to the shallow ground and the couple inches of rain we got last week. Two thirds of the year muck boots are recommended for that parcel. You know, cattle exercise yard kind of sloppy.

I’ll take the 4:40 back to Five Rivers and spend some time there but I got to watch the clock as the sun sets early and I need to get home before it’s dark walking along the shoulder of NY 443.

The Record-Breaking Failures of Nuclear Power – CounterPunch.org

The Record-Breaking Failures of Nuclear Power – CounterPunch.org

The Tennessee Valley Authority could likely rightfully claim a place in the Guinness Book of World Records, but it’s not an achievement for which the federally-owned electric utility corporation would welcome notoriety.

After taking a whopping 42 years to build and finally bring on line its Watts Bar Unit 2 nuclear power reactor in Tennessee, TVA just broke its own record for longest nuclear plant construction time. However, this time, the company failed to deliver a completed nuclear plant.

Watts Bar 2 achieved criticality in May 2016, then promptly came off line due to a transformer fire three months later. It finally achieved full operational status on October 19, 2016, making it the first United States reactor to enter commercial operation since 1996.

Camping at Perkins Clearing

Camping at Perkins Clearing during Labor Day Weekend 2019. The first half of the weekend was quite nice but it clouded up later in the day.