First oil change on the SuperDuty! π·ββοΈ
Dropping the SuperDuty off around 8 AM to get the oil changed at the dealer for the first time. I feel kind of funny doing it right away, but I figure now is the time to do it with the well engine broken in, and then from here on out do it every 5,000 miles or probably once a year, with the next service at end of March. Still I feel silly having a shop doing it, especially the dealership, but I want things documented as even the best engines are so unreliable these days.
Then I’ll catch a bus downtown π and the shuttle to work. I guess I could have the dealership shuttle me to work but I’d rather go on my own time and terms. Bus fares aren’t that much. Lunch time I’ll get the truck, assuming they let me park at campaign committee or otherwise I’ll get the truck after my afternoon meeting.
Last night I was going to go to the store and gas up the SuperDuty β½ with the plan being to head up to Piseco-Powley tonight, ποΈ set up camp and then spend tomorrow working remote from Dolgeville Library π. But then somebody asked to look at the Big Red over the weekend – well maybe –Β so I didn’t want to get out of town and potentially be able to sell Big Red. Been kind of an uptick in interest in the truck again over the past few weeks. I may need to revise the price though, as the rust repairs seems to be a sticking point for many. But I would think the wheels and cap, and even the good running engine are still quite usable even if they decided to scrap the rest of the truck. Plus it’s going to rain this afternoon into the evening π§οΈ and I didn’t want to drive in the rain, and setup after dark. It’s not worth it, especially if I’m working all day Friday. And next week is Labor Day Weekend.
And then it just became I was working into the evening, π§βπ» I was tired and I am concerned about the reliability and speed of the internet, especially with the VPN from Dolgeville Library. π I am the only supervisor working in the office on Friday, and while remote should be okay, it’s going to be a busy day, and it’s possible I’ll need to swing by the office regardless to do some things in person especially if the VPN fails on my 10 year old laptop. πΆ I am not sure if I want go up to Piseco-Powley on Friday evening, as that less guarantees my chance of getting the House Pond Campsite where I can float all day from on East Canada Creek. But maybe it’s silly, because I’d be working all day Friday, so Saturday is the only full day I’d spend up there.
I started looking a new and novel things π₯Ύ I can hike and explore near Burnt-Rossman in Schoharie. I’d like to camp and hike but I want new visats, away from the crowds of the main Catskill Mountains. AI has some ideas, though I’ve tapped most of them in the past. Schoharie is better in the sense I’d have cell service π± which is kind of useful as while I expect the bulk of work to be wrapped up on Friday, weekend projects do come in. The next 10 weekends I really can’t afford to be totally offline with work. π And it’s a lot closer then Piseco-Powley. A week from Friday, unless the whole weekend looks like heavy rain, I am still pretty set on heading up to Speculator before work, setting up camp, working all day, then enjoying Labor Day Weekend – hiking Snowy Mountain either on Saturday or Sunday. Never dun that before. πΌ Schoharie this weekend might be nice to get one more swim in at Mine Kill Pool, maybe float on the Schoharie Creek and hit up Shauls for produce. π π½ π
A Fairport Convention πΌ
Across the evening sky
All the birds are leaving
But how can they know
It’s time for them to go?
Before the winter fire
I will still be dreamin
I have no thought of time
For who knows where the time goes?
Who knows where the time goes.
Six o’clock on a Wednesday morning with the Fairport Convention β and memories of last autumn with Big Red π» up at Horseshoe Lake smoking dope and riding my mountain bike down those remote roads of conservation easement through the rain showers. I don’t know why everything comes back to that point in my mind, it was a fairly quiet mid-week I spent up there at Horseshoe Lake, saw hardly another person being mid-October in drizzle, but it does. Maybe it’s just the music. The feel of autumn, soon enough to be upon us. π
Looks like it will be a nice day, βοΈ and a nice weekend. Tomorrow I get the first oil change on the SuperDuty. It seems werid in my mind to get the oil changed at only 3,000 miles but I want to get it done and the break-in oil replaced, and then I should be good for another six months when I need a state inspection. I don’t think there is any recalls outstanding on SuperDuty, but the dealer can take care of that while it’s there. And everything will be documented should engine blow up, though the second generation Godzilla and Minizilla are both pretty reliable engines. The weekend also looks good, yesterday I updated Windows 10 on my laptop and thoroughly tested out the VPN to make sure everything is good when I am remote working from Dolgeville on Friday. Not brining the kayak north, but I will definately have the truck innertube for floating and mountain bike which should be good enough for the weekend. Labor Day Weekend up in Speculator I’ll have the kayak.πΆ
The Postelli development is on the agenda π§ for tonight in Guilderland, but I don’t know if I am going to hearing as it’s late on the agenda and I should go to the store and get packed. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day with everything going on, so I should shop tonight and possibly top off the tank on the SuperDuty. Honestly, I get tired of showing up and speaking out against every development in the Pine Bush π¦ while the planning boards roll their eyes and have grown increasingly hostile to public comment. I get the game, need to put constant pressure, but at the same time, I am somewhat checked out. I don’t love the endless plastic suburban tract houses ποΈ and the warehouses that continue to chop away at the few remaining acres of Pine Bush. While I think about building my own homestead, on 20 or 30 acres. π Or maybe more land, it all depends on location and neighbors – and ultimately how much money I end up having once the AI boom is in the landfill – and I decide to hang up my hat from work. I know I still want to retire as soon as possible π· so I can build that off-grid property but that’s still a decade and half off, but I know to enjoy the time in meantime, even if that just means exploring the back roads and smoking dope in wilderness. π² Must be that ever so powerful cannabis that suddenly the politicians are so concerned about needing to ban because people are giggling and getting addicted to. Just like cigarettes. Maybe I believe too much in will power and social conditioning but I think chemical addiction is overrated.
Last night with the thunderstorms βοΈ around, I decided to head home straight after work on the mountain bike. π΅ββοΈ It gets dark pretty early now, something to consider tomorrow after work after I head north. Still I want to stop at Samdill’s to get more zucchuni, and might swing by Erie Boulevard to get a pallet to burn as I head out from campaign committee downtown, π ΏοΈ assuming they let me park in that lot after picking up the SuperDuty from the dealership dealership. As I’ll probably not be on the road until 6 PM, it will likely be fairly dark by the time I set up camp, but I’ll bring the electric lights and I have the lantern. Then Friday morning, have to have a fairly early breakfast π₯ and head down to Dolgeville to spend the day working. The VPN is working well on my laptop, and they have that nice patio there at the library, though I have to be careful about drinking too much coffee β on Friday or beer on Thursday night, lest I need to pee π» before the library opens.
I keep looking at cabin and homestead videos π and dreaming of the days to come. Still I enjoy my freedom these days to spend the days in the wilderness, and I want something more then a suburban house that smells like cow shit. π© I got watching a bunch of David Freese’s Illinois homestead videos with his Highland Cows, burning netwrap and other trash, feeding and other cattle care activities. π AI reminds me that people don’t burn as much nowadays as they used to. π₯ Still I like the self-reliance part of it and views of wilderness and farm country πΊ, the pines and mountains without a million people around and the pollution of the sewage “treatment” plants π and garbage “recycling” plants – and endless growing mounds of crap. I know some black smoke or cow poop can’t solve all the world’s problems, still. It will still be good to be back out the city this weekend, last weekend was tough.
Regardless, I’ve been trying to get to work each day by 8 AM and working until 5 PM to ensure I have sufficient legislative hours, π§βπ» as the campaign committee consumes more and more of my time. It’s been good riding into the work, traffic is lightπ as the schools aren’t open yet πΈ but next week will be a different story. Yet, I want to work as many long weekends remote as possible this autumn from camp, π₯Ύ and be away from the insanity of the city. ποΈ
Forked Mountain – 1907/1910
Prior to the 1920s, there was no road developed along the east side of the Scanadaga River north of wells heading up to Speculator, just a foot path. What would become NY 8 would run along the south-east side of East Branch of the Scanadaga River, and Gilmantown Road was the main route from Wells to Spectulator.