That’s good I didn’t want to loose it even if it’s old retired rope I used to use for tying my kayak on but now is only used for hanging flags and clothes.

Nice night hammock camping 🏕 though chilly come the morning. I could have camped at the lean to up here on Cotton Hill – technically Dutch Settlement State Forest but I chose to wilderness camp as I knew the firewood supply is better 🪵 and I didn’t want to run into any people. 🔥 Nice quiet night, cooked breakfast over the fire.

I am going to hike down to the Middleburgh cliffs this morning 🏞 and then drive over to the Gas Up 🚜 and then go over to my parents house. I got to first take down camp but it’s warming up fast and going to be a beautiful day. ☀

I really have mixed emotions about looking at that house tomorrow morning. 🏡 Truth is I’m not really ready to be a homeowner and I’ve not fully examined the tax obligations I face if I sell a bunch of stock to buy it. It is cash only and it would be nice to only pay property tax and homeowners insurance on the property. I could learn a lot about fixing up a home prior to building that off grid homestead I really want and dabble in homesteading on the 4 1/2 acres. 🐔 But there is no guarantee I’ll get the winning bid and it might turn out to be a lot rougher inside then what listing agent chose to highlight. I suspect that it is based on the price and the way the agent discussed it over the phone. I’ll find out more in less than 24 hours.

Truth is I don’t really want to live out in the country 🐮 and commute back and forth to work. I like riding my bike to work or the convenience of the bus 🚍. The cost of gas especially with Big Red is going to be substantial. Plus the thing is my old neighborhood growing up doesn’t really have that rural, mountain country feeling I love. 😍 It’s not like when I travel and camp in the wilderness. 🌲Not be stuck at home, mowing grass and tending to sick goats 🐐. But I hate being treated like a kid or an impoverished nigger and by the landlord as just a cash cow. 💵 Yet, renting is more affordable when you consider taxes, maintenance, commuting and repairs. Stock market investments are volatile but so is the housing market and it’s easier to dump stock then a house. 📊 And buying a house means I give up so much of what I actually love in life. ⛺ I think I would be almost better off to find a smaller studio apartment in the city, one slightly less decrepit and focus on travel for as long as I’m stuck working in Albany. Keep up investing but if I have to cut back somewhat due to inflation so be it – one thing that is nice is a 3% COLA at a $100k wage is far bigger than a 3% COLA at $50k. Plus I have a vision to transform my agency into a data power house, 🖥 automatically building lists 📃 and querying demographics in ways that can really get our, client’s message out and the title of Director of Data Services sounds impressive even if it’s mostly supervising a division of secretaries and running some SQL queries and writing some R code.

I do certainly crave those mountains ⛰ and the hollers like driving 🚘 out along Dutch Settlement Road last night 🐐 but this is too far out to reasonably commute and it’s still fucking New York with its gun 🔫 laws and the burn ban. 🔥 It felt so good to be driving out here last night seeing the shadows of the mountains. I really want to live on a mountain in a cabin. In the wilderness! 🦁 I could afford the land and the cabin right now but the more I wait the more I can save and improve on my vision for the future 🔮. Just got to remind myself tomorrow I’m just looking and it’s fine and acceptable to say no. I’d probably get out bid at any rate.