The false warning on my phone said on it screen, false in the sense that any snow we get in Delmar won’t stick or make the roads slick as it’s 39 degrees out. I got home from my parents house around 6 PM, took in a deep breath of air, tasted the silage, the cows at Preska’s Dairy must have gotten their Thanksgiving Dinner.
I was fun seeing the family all together for Thanksgiving Dinner, my sister, brother-in-law, nephew and neice, mom and dad. 👨👨👦 Who knows if we will ever have another get together like this again. Mom and Dad insisted on doing all the cooking, though more then a few ingredients were store-bought pre-made but the different dishes they made were over two dozen. 🍽️ I eat modestly, but it helped that I had a bunch of pea soup before heading over, so my stomach was pretty full – and I skipped desert in part because of paper plates, but also because I felt full and didn’t reveal in the idea of all junk in apple pie or ice cream after all fats and salts in Thanksgiving dinner.
It was nice, as you just never know how long this all will last. ⌛ Old age and ultimately death seem impossibly far off until it happens. Time is like that. I know from watching the passing of John Wolcott, and before then Frank Skartados. I dumped my compost bucket full of two weeks of scraps in my parents pile, 🍏 and walked past the old goat barn and shed full of junk, dreamed what it would be like if I some day took over the operation. It’s not much land, but I could see adding solar, livestock, garden, have fires within reason but nothing too stinky or nasty, it’s New York and a residential neighborhoods. ☀️ 🐐 I don’t know if I really want it, but I doubt my sister wants it with her house and family in Saratoga, and I got to live somewhere, even if I’d to eventually want to move out to the wilderness, in an open carry state with relaxed burn laws and no near neighbors. 🔥
Getting home, I decided to crack open a beer and smoke some weed. 🍻 Not like me to do at home, but I used Thanksgiving as an excuse. I kind of wanted to clear my mind. Ithought it it would make me more creative ont he blog, and I have most of the stuff done needed for tonight. 💼 And I had a lot to think about, with this potentially being one of the last full family get together, not that anyone wait such a word. Got my clothes unpacked after washing at my parents house, even though in my stupidity I was there longer then expected 👚 as I forgot to turn on the washing machine. Water containers are full and loaded, as is my camera, snow shovel, road salt and other essentials. I checked the oil yesterday, fixed the license plate light, and other things. I also plan to shortly start packing the clothes, but I’ll wait for morning to do pots and pans as I might use them for cooking in the morning. Same thing with my other personal gear.
Truth is I am a bit concerned about the winter storm 🌨️ and Lake Effect that keeps on the models. 3-5 inches isn’t a deal breaker, even with a few inches of snow on the ground with my big jacked up truck. And indeed some forecasts show less. I am planning on camping near a state highway, and I have a snow shovel and salt, axe and saw, and despite being in the remote Adirondack wilderness, I should be fine once I’m up to camp. Little worried about snow squals driving up, but I’ll get there early, and set up, so if necessary I can drive slow or abandoned the trip if there is too much snow already on the ground, or the roads. Come Sunday, the way I look at iot’s not the first snowstorm I’ve camped in, and if it’s windy, 🌬️ it might be a cold and less then pleasant night, but come Monday the state highway should be cleared with the road salt and it should be a fine ride home, especially with temperatures at or above freezing. If the forecast gets dramatically worse for Sunday, I’ll come home on Saturday after hiking and biking, but I’d rather camp through the snow storm. I certainly don’t want to be on the roads on Sunday.
It will be good to be away from it all. I don’t think I’ll have cell service up there, 📱 and I don’t have a radio except in my truck. But I have podcasts, audio books, and Youtube videos to listen to up at camp. I’m trying to stay off Facebook to no more then 30 minutes a day, I intentionally set that limit so to force myself to read and think more. Even if it’s just thumbing through news and other magazines on Libby or Hoopla, I think it’s far less brain 🧠 rot then Facebook causes. Even reading the NY Times at unhealthy levels, is far better then social media. Doesn’t make me so angry or want to start a flame war in the comments. ✊ Got to control my anger at the shit our country is going through. Likewise, I think watching YouTube videos on things like homesteading or farming – especially full length ones – or even technical topics such as programming or how things work, 📺 is far less bad for my mind then what social media has become. I may make this a permanent habit to limit my Facebook use to less then 30 minutes a day.
These chairs at the overlook are truly wonderful. A bit hard if you sit in them for a number of hours, but with that warm sun and great veiws, a must visit.
