Work Truck SuperDuty
I often look at my truck, and say that’s a really poverty spec truck with the hard steering wheel, the lack of chrome grill, and a lot of frills that are common on F-150s and many passenger cars. You can get a much fancier SuperDuty but I didn’t want to spend the money. I wanted a function truck that has a lot of capacity for a good price. I don’t care that much about fancy trim, but my truck has all the basic things I want – air conditioning, off-road capacity, lots of power and ability to run accessories. Still I does look so basic, so poverty spec despite all of it’s capacity.
In such a world, why write? How justify this mad itch for scribbling?
“Speaking for myself, I write to record the truth of our time, as best as I can see it. To investigate the comedy and tragedy of human relationships. To resist and sabotage the contemporary drift toward a technocratic, militaristic totalitarianism, whatever its ideological coloration. To oppose injustice, defy the powerful, and speak for the voiceless. I write to make a difference.
“It is always a writer’s duty to make the world better,” said Samuel Johnson. Distrusting all answers, to raise more questions. To give pleasure and promote esthetic bliss. To honor life and praise the divine beauty of the world. For the joy and exultation of writing itself. To tell my story. Well now, says the old wolf, vox clamantis in deserto, that should keep him busy for a while.”
~ Edward Abbey, 1984
I so hate lawn mowers
It’s hard to get away from the constant growl of lawnmowers, leaf blowers and weedwhackers anywhere you are need a residential development. It’s quite obnoxious is my book. A lot of work, equipment and fuel to buy. All for something that is not particularly functional.
Granted when I own land, I don’t necessarily want cows right next to my bedroom window due to well, MOO!, and I would want to keep the weeds down around the trash burning barrel to keep the risk of wildfires down. But still I would avoid having a much lawn as possible, have just a simple electric lawn more, and give over as much land as possible to grazing, wildflowers, and woods.
Denied entry 🚫
Sometimes plans change, but you make the best of it. The bus rider wouldn’t let me take my bike up Thacher yesterday, she said the rack was full and she wasn’t going to let me take my bike on the bus. Bitch.
Wasn’t the usual guy driving the bus to Thacher, big old black lady, 🚌 no questioning her, enforcing the official rules, even though usually they let things slide on the Nature Bus. Maybe it was they are enforcing the policy more this year, maybe at some point there was an issue or accident on a different bus. Who knows. 🪲 But I was kind of cheesed off about it after all the years of drivers not really caring about it. It’s not like a bike on the bus would interfere much with boarding passengers, as the next stop would have been Thacher. 🤷🏿♀️
It’s fine, whatever. 🌸 I decided to ride out to Bender Mellon Preserve and hang my hammock out there, smoke a little dope and read for a few hours and chill on a Saturday. 💤 Then I decided to ride out to Black Creek Marsh and walk the railroad tracks from the Keig Road Trail to Hennessy Road and look at the birds 🪿 and wildflowers 🪻. Lots of ducks, turtles 🐢, deer 🦌, birds to be seen under the dramatic view of the Cliffs in the distance. As they say, it’s all so beautiful. ☺️ Thacher Park would have been fun, but I’ve been there many times before. It was hot and I started to feel sunbunrt after a few hours of walking and observing nature along the tracks. I had never walked very far along the tracks at Black Creek Marsh, as I figured it was trespassing on railroad property, but it’s not posted, and there really is a decent shoulder to get off the tracks through most of the marsh, and it’s not like the Marsh isn’t public lands. How else can you get the middle part of the marsh without walking the edge of the tracks? 🛤️ Truth is while they’ve recently restored this line, there isn’t many trains at all that take the Delason – Altamont – Voorheeesville line, as it mostly made sense during the era of coal, 🚂 when the D&H Railroad used the line to ship coal from the Anthracite region of Pennsylvania. 🏭
It was a nice day but by mid-afternoon after spending so much time in the sun I felt hot and sunburnt. ☀️ Around 3 PM I started back to the bike 🚵♂️ and then road home. The plastic box on my bike has been sagging for some time, so I swapped it out for the other one I had bought a few years back for hauling food for camping gear but more recently had been used for collecting waste paper at home for camp fire 🔥 starting up in the woods. The box is still good for collecting paper trash but the plastic in part of the bottom had in a few places broken and was flexing after 3 years now bouncing along on the back of bike, sometimes very overloaded with floor from the grocery store. 🏪 After I moved the mount and everything over to the other box including the lights and reflective stickers, I took a map. Hot afternoon! I thought about going down to Tastee Freeze on Delaware Avenue to get their Pride Sundae, 🏳️🌈 which sounded good with strawberries and rainbow sprinkles but ended up just going to Hannaford as I needed groceries. 🛒 Got some frozen fruit, 🍓 and I was good, sat by the fan for a while, watched a lengthy YouTube documentary on asbestos, the Miracle Mineral at least for trial lawyers, and got a good night’s sleep. With the long nights and early sunrises 🌅 I don’t get really enough sleep these days.
In a little bit, I think I’ll shower, 🚿 maybe ride over to Pine Hollow Arboretum for a while 🌼 and then maybe head out to I don’t know, either Cole Hill or the Holly Hock Sanctuary and then out to folks house for Sunday dinner. Maybe I’ll wait on Cole Hill for another week, I might do that next week after going to the Gas Up 🚜 as I doubt dad will want to go with it being so hot 🫠 out based on the forecast. I’m hoping next week to have truck cap, and at least get the solar mounted, and maybe power run to the batteries and relays. 🔋 Really hoping to get up north for Juneteenth Weekend but if not the subsequent weekend I take a 3 or 4 day weekend and either do Schoharie or the Potholers depending on the weather. I really want to check out the Boroughs Homestead again now with the new trails and to show it off with my new Ford. Of course, that could always wait until July.
