Vince Anna’s and Greenville

I went to Vince Anna’s Italian Restaurant with my sister, niece and parents tonight. It’s a really old school Italian place, the kind of place with deer heads on the wall, dark wood paneling and a wood stove, with Italian food that hasn’t changed in decades served in dishes that probably date back to fifties at least in style.

The food is good but nothing exceptional, what you would expect from an old fashioned Italian restaurant from fifty years ago. It was a nice family get together although you have to know the place is on its last legs – since COVID it’s only open by reservation so not to have to be open on nights when nobody shows up. I can’t imagine such a throwback – on a remote rural road that once caterered to tourists of long gone resorts – has much of a future with the older generation dying out and taxes so high. I can’t imagine they are a profitable business anymore but probably the folks who run it it just can’t imagine giving it up. Stubborn like the dairymen with tie stall barns.

Years ago we would go there as a family as a special treat maybe once every once and a rare occasion. They used to have miniature golf and we would have pizza. The miniature golf course is long gone although the food and pizza is the same from 25 years ago. It was fun though to have a trip back to my childhood at least for a little while. Back to a world, all but completely gone except for the memories, somewhat painful.

Every time I go back to Greenville though I feel like Rip Van Winkle. I remember bits and pieces of my childhood but the town today seems so foreign to me. I do remember the old mechanical horse at Bryant’s. Still there even though the model trains are gone since Bryant’s became Tops. I was more than happy to leave my hometown as I went to college, I barely went back turning myself towards my urban career path while gravating more towards the deep rural and wilderness for recreation and getting away from it all.

Indeed, going back to Greenville today everything just seems so much smaller, more urban and dense then it used to be. Even though the population has stagnated, it just seems like the lots are smaller and a lot closer together. Five or ten acres doesn’t seem like a lot of land, neighbors way too close. Maybe I’m just spoiled from all the time I’ve spent in the Adirondacks with the 1/4 mile or more separation between campsites and hundreds of square miles of wilderness.

Maybe it’s that I’ve associated so deeply in my identity with the cowboys and farmers who often cultivate hundreds if not thousands of acres of land which they can do a lot more on without causing a nuisance by nature of pure distance. Or the much wilder culture of the west where people are free to own and shoot whatever guns they have, have big bonfires and mud trucks. Things that by their very nature need a lot of land to dillute pollution and avoid harming others.

The truth is the Greenville of my memories of childhood probably never existed. It was pretty exurban back then with long distance commuters and my parents still had their five acre lot with the same neighbors. Things were probably a lot more regulated and less wild than I remember them. Sure there were the farm kids I hung out with that had a very different experience then myself but it was no Allegany County, much less rural Missouri or Montana.

I do look at land prices and properties locally out in the country, usually with 25 acres or more. Even if some day I have the money, I don’t know if I would ever want to make the leap in New York State with the gun restrictions, taxes and limits on open burning. But for now, it’s good to dream and save and invest while I have my good paying job. While I think state policies are wonderful for the urban life and good for the consumer, I am not so sure if the high cost of everything in New York State for homesteading or the rural life, especially in an off-grid property.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam hasn't changed much over the years. The traffic light on the right is not out, it's just that the LED traffic indication rides the sign wave, and when this picture was snapped the light was in the zero phase.

Taken on Monday May 4, 2020 at Monroe County.

Weather Update – April 24, 2022

It might reach 82 degrees in Syracuse and be quite warm and sunny, but we will be lucky if we hit 60 in Albany β›…

That’s quite the weather gradient in the state today. But then some of that warmth will push in for Monday, but only last for a day before another cold front pushes in for Tuesday through the weekend, with the weather a few degrees below normal each day and quite windy.

Today I plan to take advantage of the nice weather by walking down to the Norman’s Kill Gorge and then maybe next weekend head up to the Adirondacks. I’m thinking about Little Falls and Moss Island then Piseco Road, south of the gate but I have to confirm that’s open. Or maybe stay local and do Rennselear State Forest. But I do want to explore Moss Island when things green up in the spring. 🏝

Today.
Feels like …
April 17th.

Partly Sunny

Partly sunny.

Northeast wind 5 to 10 mph becoming southeast in the afternoon.

and

60 degrees , 7:48
sunset.
Tonight.
Feels like …
May 4th.

Mostly Cloudy

Mostly cloudy.

South wind 7 to 9 mph.

and

44 degrees , 5:56
sunrise.
Monday.
Feels like …
May 6th.

Partly Sunny

Partly sunny.

South wind 9 to 14 mph.

and

68 degrees , 41 max dew point, 7:50
sunset.
Monday Night.
Feels like …
May 13th.

Slight Chance of Showers then Chance of Showers

A chance of showers, mainly after 2am. Mostly cloudy.

South wind 10 to 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

and

47 degrees , 5:55
sunrise.
Tuesday.
Feels like …
April 24th.

Chance of Showers

A chance of showers. Cloudy.

South wind 6 to 9 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

and

63 degrees , 49 max dew point, 7:51
sunset.
Tuesday Night.
Feels like …
April 26th.

Chance of Rain

A chance of rain, mainly before 2am. Mostly cloudy.

Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

and

41 degrees , 5:53
sunrise.
Wednesday.
Feels like …
March 30th.

Partly Sunny

Partly sunny.

and

51 degrees , 7:52
sunset.
Wednesday Night.
Feels like …
April 9th.

Mostly Cloudy

Mostly cloudy.

and

34 degrees , 5:52
sunrise.
Thursday.
Feels like …
March 30th.

Mostly Sunny

Mostly sunny.

and

51 degrees , 7:53
sunset.
Thursday Night.
Feels like …
April 11th.

Partly Cloudy

Partly cloudy.

and

35 degrees , 5:50
sunrise.
Friday.
Feels like …
April 9th.

Partly Sunny

Partly sunny.

and

56 degrees , 7:54
sunset.
Friday Night.
Feels like …
April 16th.

Mostly Cloudy

Mostly cloudy.

and

37 degrees , 5:49
sunrise.
Saturday.
Feels like …
April 13th.

Mostly Sunny

Mostly sunny.

and

58 degrees , 7:55
sunset.

Daily Update – April 24, 2022

Good morning! Happy Sunday. β›ͺ

Another kind of cloudy day, cool. Not at all the nice weather they are getting out in Syracuse. But I’m sure at some point it will arrive to Albany. Winter can’t last forever with the strengthening sun angle. Indeed, that snow we got on Tuesday didn’t last for long in Albany and even the in the mountains is in quick decline. No eighty degree weather locally.

Mostly cloudy and 44 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ There is a northeast breeze at 5 mph. πŸƒ. The skies will clear around 2 pm.

Yesterday, I put the top coat of paint over the parts of Big Red πŸ›» that I primed last weekend. It’s not perfect, and indeed I missed a spot but it beats that bare metal and corrosion and with some mud and dirt splattered over it all, your not going to notice that much. It’s not like my truck is ever that clean.

Spent some of the time working on some R Projects yesterday then walked out to Five Rivers. πŸšΆβ€β™€οΈ It did get dark pretty early with the cloudy skies but it was a nice walk and I got in 15,000 steps. 🐻 Just the usual wildlife — Ground Hog up by Meads Farm, some rapidly shedding cattle there, lots of does grazing at Five Rivers and that racoon looking down from the tree at me. Lots of red-wing blackbirds, and a pretty stunning male bluebird I saw walking out along Orchard Street.

I have to admit like most Saturdays lately I’ve not been really ambitious. πŸ“• Some because I like reading but also who can afford to drive anywhere these days with high gas prices? That said, I’ll probably be getting out more on Saturdays come the free electric bus service to Thacher Park from Five Rivers in June. It’s always fun to catch the bus to Thacher Park 🚌 and spend the day hiking around the park. 🏞

I am thinking about doing a hike down to the Normans Kill Falls in a bit. 🌲 I haven’t been down there and hopefully on a Sunday morning the rail trail won’t be so crowded, although now the sun is coming out, maybe that’s changing things a bit. I don’t like having to dodge bicyclist 🚴 and dog 🐢 walkers while observing nature. 🐦 Otherwise I could do a quick hike up Bennett Hill on my way out to the folks house. 🏘 My sister is feeling better, I guess the revised plan is to meet my sister and niece for dinner at Vince Anna’s, the old-fashioned Italian restaurant in Greenville. πŸ•

It’s been a long time since I was last in the gorge 🏞 as I don’t like the crowds or the noise from the super highway above but I figure with the high gas prices it’s better to stay local and I like seeing the falls especially with a lot of water πŸ’¦ coming over them. Plus I kind of want to spy on the recycling β™» facility from the rail trail πŸš‚and see what’s actually happening there. Sometimes you can see them loading various materials in the trucks fur recycling After spring turkey πŸ¦ƒ I’ll have to do some hiking in Partridge Run then an overnight at Rennselearville State Forest.

I have this book πŸ“™ from the library on forest management and have been watching a lot of videos πŸ“Ί about the topic on the phone πŸ“±. It’s something I find quite fascinating especially as I think about being a forest owner in a few years and working to restore land in ways that make it both more productive for human use and wildlife and hopefully reduce the tick population. 🐜 Controlled burns to destroy invasives and ticks is an interesting opportunity. 🐽 Pigs and the ton or two of grain you run through them can do a lot to restore the soil too.