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On this most sultry of afternoons I got reading more about Missouri… 🗻

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On this most sultry of afternoons I got reading more about Missouri… 🗻

Missouri has long been on my short list of states to check out and considering moving to. It’s supposedly quite hot and humid in the summer and the winters can get quite frigid, although I’ve told it’s as cold as the Albany area in the winter.

Missouri fascinates me as it’s very Midwestern but they still have vast forests and mountains. It’s super cheap to live there compared to New York and the people are laid back and permits, regulations and taxes are far less than New York. It makes it quite possible to own a good piece of land and be able to afford so much more than what one can obtain in New York. It’s usually said to be one of the best states for off grid living, hunting, trapping and enjoying the outdoors.

That said, it is hot there all summer long. In an off grid property, that can make it hard to cool as air conditioning takes a lot of energy, although a well designed structure probably is livable with good fans and drinking lots of water.

COR TEN Steel

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I wonder if the Statue of Liberty would have survived as long as it has, if it had been made from COR-TEN steel rather than Copper in the harsh marine environment it exists in. COR-TEN is a wonderful material (besides leaving rust stains) but it doesn’t hold up well in areas exposed salt and moisture continously.

Government Victims

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I was walking by the City of Albany’s Victims Monument. I was thinking it’s odd that government would create a monument to all the people it’s victimized over the years. Seems more like a way to terrorize victims rather then celebrating them.

Maybe though, I have essentially a negative view of the government, mostly consisting of a bunch of patronage workers who are maggots who live off the flesh of society. Who pass and enforce laws not to benefit society but to extract wealth mostly from the colored and the poor.

Freedom 250 🇺🇸

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Yesterday I got an envelope in the mail postmarked Freedom 250. I looked at it briefly before tossing it in the paper trash, soon enough to be yellow flames. This is the branding of the President Trump – lead celebration of America – competing with the originally Congressionally mandated America 250, which was supposed to be more of a non-partisan, inclusive celebration of America on it’s 250th birthday.

Years ago, I remember pondering America’s 250th birthday, how it would be a big special celebration. How it would be a wonderful time, something to celebrate for all Americans. But as reality hits in one week, it just seems like yet another partisan event to boost the politicians and the president’s ego. Certainly the ultra-partisan celebration that Freedom 250 represents isn’t my idea of freedom or how we should be celebrating America’s 250th birthday. I do think we should look more into our revolutionary roots, old ways of doing things, but I don’t like the boosterism of coal power and suburban sprawl and president’s ego in the celebration of our nation’s’ birthday.

I’ve always been interested in the concept of freedom. What is it – and what does it really mean? Probably more then owning a lot of land, guns, some livestock, that off-grid cabin with the burn barrel out back. I looked at that word, honestly I stared at it for a bit for a while before tossing it in the bin, soon enough to be blacked up and turned into bright yellow flames. I know the feeling of being free, in wilderness, in some deep rural area where people still burn and have goats and cows out back and heat with wood.

Honestly, I don’t know, but I do plan to spend my Independence Weekend 2026 in the wilderness, smoking dope, lighting off fireworks, and burning shit, having a good ol’ time, riding my mountain bike, floating in the tube, paddling in the kayak, exploring the wilderness. Maybe not a formal celebration, but maybe a fitting way to celebrate America’s 250th when we are in a world of plastic everything.

Map: Severence Hill Trail