Listening to the accents 👂

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One of the things I like to do while traveling is to listen to the local accents, especially of working folk. That said, the once distinctive working class Appalachian accent really has faded away more and more into a generic rural accent similar to what you might hear in small towns in virtually any part of America today.

I think the small town accent is furthered by country music that is largely nationalized these days, the rural identity nowadays more important than being identified by any one specific part of the country today.

2021 Buffalo Mayoral Democratic Primary

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2021 Buffalo Mayoral Democratic Primary

Today, I took a look at the Buffalo Mayoral Democratic Primary. I was surprised how concentrated Democratic Socialist India Walton base of support was in city -- she only won AD 149 Jonathan Rivera and SD 60, the rest of city went for Bryon Brown. It looks like she did a very good job at getting her supporters out.

India Walton preformed most strongly in the Niagara district (71%), Delaware District (64%) with a tie to Ellicott District (50%) but lost the remaining city - South 36%, Manston 40%, Filmore 40%, Lovejoy 44%, University 46%, North 46%.

India Walton won AD 149 Rivera 67%, and lost the other Assembly Districts AD 140 Conrad 44%, AD 141 People Stokes 46%, AD 142 Burke 37%. She won SD 60 Ryan 60% and lost SD 63 Kennedy 46%.

                Walton   Durham   Brown          
AD SD Enroll Ballot Blanks Canvass TO DO Dem Dem% Dem Dem% Dem Dem% Other Other% Check Check%
140   6,750 1,108 10 1,098 16.4% 0.9% 483 44.0% 58 5.3% 556 50.6% 1 0.1% 0 100.00%
141   59,586 13,099 147 12,952 22.0% 1.1% 5,907 45.6% 509 3.9% 6,498 50.2% 38 0.3% 0 100.00%
142   14,370 2,730 34 2,696 19.0% 1.2% 987 36.6% 89 3.3% 1,603 59.5% 17 0.6% 0 100.00%
149   25,711 6,502 62 6,440 25.3% 1.0% 4,341 67.4% 73 1.1% 2,012 31.2% 14 0.2% 0 100.00%
                                   
  60 31,530 7,860 65 7,795 24.9% 0.8% 4,675 60.0% 161 2.1% 2,938 37.7% 21 0.3% 0 100.00%
  63 74,887 15,579 188 15,391 20.8% 1.2% 7,043 45.8% 568 3.7% 7,731 50.2% 49 0.3% 0 100.00%

 

November is my favorite time of the year 🦃

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November is my favorite time of the year 🦃

Wetlands Across the Canal

If you ask most people, outside of the most dedicated deer hunters, probably November wouldn’t rank on their short list of the best months of the year. But it really is my favorite.

November is that time of year typically before snow is on the ground and things are icy and slippery. It’s a time when the leaves are off the trees and the woods lays bare for all to see. Wildlife is busy gathering food in preparation for the long winter ahead – or simply heading south as is the case with the birds and geese.

The trees gone bare reveal many a vista hidden by the leaves of summer. You can see contours of the woods once hidden, the old farm garbage dump in the gully. The deer are in their rut, carelessly wandering around the woods mostly looking for does to impregnate. The air has such a nice cool but refreshing feel. It’s so nice to be able to put that vest back on again.

With colder weather upon us, folks fire up their woodstoves and outdoor wood boilers, giving small towns across the area that very homey back woods smell of wood smoke. Farmers who have harvested their crops are busy applying manure, hoping to fertilize the ground before its frozen. It can be tangy and pungent but it’s part of the season.

I like the cool long nights of November in the woods. I like wearing my vest, sitting down by the campfire. I like how quiet the woods is, the starry nights that start early and how the moonlight shines through the trees. Or the deep blue skies and the browns and grays of the autumn months.

One thing that always surprises me is that the Mid Hudson library system has no books on Geographical Information Systems

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One thing that always surprises me is that the Mid Hudson library system has no books on Geographical Information Systems. 📚 

Seems so odd with GIS being such a big topic these days and powerful GIS software like QGIS widely available – with mapping, GPS and aerial photography such a big part of our lives today. YouTube, free web classes and internet documentation is great but it sure would be nice if they had books that one could read about at the library.