It’s not snowing out this morning. At least not in Albany.

But it’s a lot colder and rainy. The days of summer are just a memory, the sun sets closer and closer to 6 PM each night, and within two months it will be closer to 4:30 PM once the time changes in 3 weeks. We’ll get a little more light in the morning, but it comes at a cost of dark evenings. I still have to decide what I am going to do now that I work in Menands – do I ride in and then ride back to the express bus stop in the evening, noting I’ll be riding back there in the darkness? Or do I go back to busing it and taking the shuttle in and home through mid-January when enough light returns in the evening?

I know that decision is rapidly approaching. It was so apparent when I noticed the distinctive chill this evening at the town park, and how truly early the sun sets. Even though fall colors have come and gone in the Adirondacks and will be mostly gone after today’s rains, they are only just starting in the city. Who knows how much color will be left if I go to Madison County next weekend, though it depends a lot on the elevation. I can still ride home for now, and even go for a bit of ride after work but it’s dark certainly by around dinner time.

I find it hard to accept the change. Less then three weeks to November seems just wrong. I told myself last February that I would be out of this dumpy apartment and have own land by now, but it didn’t happen despite all my studying and road trips to explore parcels and houses. Now I’m looking at another cold and bitter winter in my apartment. I knew it would be a cold hard winter, but I was envisioning freezing it out in a tent/RV or a partially constructed cabin and not here still. I’m month to month and I have options, though I think the option for now is seeing if I once again get some gap stuffing foam to put around the door for when the cold weather comes. Spent too much of my summer in wilderness, smoking pot, ignoring reality. And now working damn hard hours at my job.

There’s reason for hope. I am still enjoying a lot of great adventures and more are planned. I am not tied to any one piece of land, and I can probably survive here another winter as if the landlord really wanted me out he would tell me so. My savings and investments continue to grow, I continue to learn about building cabins, developing land, homesteading and off-grid things. Winter will end, and they aren’t as harsh as they once were. And I love my job and are doing good work at it. I’m proud of what I do, even if my current situation isn’t quite where I wish it were.