At this point, September is but a memory. A good one but much too short. October is here and will come and go in due time but I plan to maximize it. And November is fun with Thanksgiving and all of those holidays. The first full week of November both Tuesday and Friday is a holiday, which offers possibilities for another trip after my October vacation probably out to Madison County before rifle season, assuming it’s not to wet or snowy.

Mostly clear with some fog 🌫 and 54 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a north breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 53 degrees. I am not complaining, it’s October out there. Mornings could be a lot cooler and wetter, as we experienced yesterday. I couldn’t believe how long we got stuck in that rainy pattern yesterday. But it was good to stay home and indulge in too much 15 bean soup and slightly stale whole-wheat homemade bread. The rumblings of my stomach tell me that the bean soup and bread are done. But it was good. Apparently I don’t have enough gas currently, I am cooking up more red kidney beans up this morning.

That rain came and stuck around most of yesterday. It finally cleared late, and I got down to the library and ended up returning home at 5 PM with a stack of nine books. Lots of good reading material. Of course, the book I had to open first was one about food and health and nutrition. I don’t know why I am so into cooking and eating healthy these day, but it’s just fascinating to learn new things. I like good fuel for my body as it keeps me going to when I go out for bike rides and hiking.

Yesterday I rode out to Voorheesville at 5 PM and then around the neighborhood doing about 14 1/2 miles for the day, which wasn’t bad before it started to get dark out, when I sat out back and had some cottage cheese with mango, strawberries and pineapple and some ginger. I really have been into ginger lately, I like the zing, and the fact that it makes you at less achy at least in one’s mind. Not sure if that’s completely scientific, but it’s way to give boring foods a lot more taste, like most spices, without adding a lot of sugar, salt or fat. Other then that, it was a pretty lazy day, eating way too much bean soup with a rumbling stomach from all those beans. But between the bean soup and eggs this morning with some help from the food processor, I got rid of a lot of vegetables that would otherwise become compost.

The government shutdown is over, which is good as opens up more vacation options, including heading down to Table Rock / Blackwater Falls area of West Virginia. Kind of a long trip though, and gas prices are going up through the roof once again and I know it puts a lot of load on my old truck but it might be a fun trip. I could still change my mind, I figure I will start out in Pennsylvania doing the rail trail, and if the weather or anything else changes my mind I can always go to the Allegheny National Forest or back north to New York State like the Southern Tier and the Finger Lakes.

All $2,300 has gone out the door on Friday, and I’m above the minimum balance, though I don’t get paid until a week from Tuesday, aka the day after Columbus Day, and soon after that my credit card bill is due. You know, rent, car insurance, retirement, and investing. I guess technically the last two things aren’t expenses, but they are money gone for now. I might have to dip into the rainy day fund, especially if I decide to retire some extra credit card debt early prior to vacation, especially as the web hosting bill goes out next Sunday. That said, it looks like I will be close to $16 for the first week of running ads, and it looks like there is ways I can further optimize the blog for additional revenue. It won’t make me rich but it should cover the cost of blog hosting, allowing me to continue to tell my story and have fun posting maps and other useful information.

After the morning walk 🚶, I am going to get out the rattle can, newspaper, masking tape and put on another layer of paint over the rust spots on Big Red. 🛻 I’m sure the salt spreaders are on their way. I decided at this point to just use not quite so expensive body primer and duplicate match but instead just red rust proofer and I can sand down later and add duplicate color but I don’t care that much, my truck is 12 years old and in a year or two I’m going to have to throw away at any rate. I figure by the time I head out to the folks house for Sunday things should be dry enough.

Also going to run down to the store 🍏 on my bike 🚲 and get more apples, along with frozen fruit like broccoli 🥦 and peas in part to bring out for Sunday dinner as while I’m sure the lasagna will be good I’m sure they won’t have enough good healthy veggies to go with it. Mom says she’ll include a salad 🥗 and garlic bread but I feel like both are basically junk food – salad has some fiber but for the most part is really nutrient poor and mostly an excuse to load with fats like dressing. I’m going to bring a big container for left overs which I’ll freeze for future weeks in small portions with vegetables for complete meals like to take on vacation for quick dinners after a full day of riding. 🚲

Looks like it will be a great week for riding to work. 🚲 I might take off Wednesday to ride the Albany Electric Trail and explore the Martin Van Buren Historical Site and get more apples 🍏 at the Golden Harvest Farms in Kinderhook. And then I can pack for the weekend. Assuming they let us leave early come Friday for Columbus Day Weekend – I have to work Friday as the other director is off – I might head up north or out to Schoharie. I’m kind of thinking up north as it might be a great weekend at Piseco-Powley and I’m kind of I’m kind of interested in the Little Falls Cheese 🧀 Festival. Saturated fats are bad but so delicious 😋.

I need to look at getting another rear light for my bicycle. I’ll have to look on Amazon and Ebay. I want to have good lights before going on vacation, as while I don’t plan to ride after dark, it gets dark so early this time of year, and it’s important for safety to be seen with dusk coming so early. Also need to top off the windshield washer fluid in my truck, and then I might go up to Wolf Hill to ride this afternoon on the bike trails up there. Hopefully not get my bike too muddy in the process, but worse comes to worse, I can watch it off.