Five Rivers Environmental Education Center

Five Rivers Environmental Education Center is a living museum comprising over 450 acres of broad fields, towering forests, and tranquil wetlands. Five Rivers offers people of all ages a rich variety of guided and self-guided opportunities to encounter nature directly. Stimulating interpretive programs and guided school lessons promote awareness, knowledge and appreciation of New York State’s environment year ’round. With over 10 miles of trails for self-guided exploration, Five Rivers fosters discovery, spiritual refreshment and physical fitness through wholesome outdoor recreation.

http://www.dec.ny.gov/education/1835.html

Upcoming Holidays – July 17, 2021

  • Next Saturday is Strugeon Moon ๐ŸŒ• – Jul 24
  • Five Saturdays until World Mosquito Day ๐Ÿž – Aug 21
  • Eight Saturdays until September 11th ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ – Sep 11
  • Two months – Constitution Day ๐Ÿ“œ – Friday Sep 17
  • Nine Saturdays until 7 PM Sunset ๐ŸŒ† – Sep 18
  • 16 Saturdays until Daylight Savings Time Ends ๐Ÿ›ฅ๏ธ – Nov 6
  • 17 Saturdays until Average Night Below Freezing ๐ŸŒŒ – Nov 13
  • 18 Saturdays until Regular Deer Season in Southern Zone ๐ŸฆŒ – Nov 20
  • 19 Saturdays until Small Business Saturday ๐Ÿ›๏ธ – Nov 27
  • 22 Saturdays until Bake Cookies Day ๐Ÿช – Dec 18
  • 23 Saturdays until Christmas ๐ŸŽ… – Dec 25

Good Evening – July 17, 2021

Good evening! Even though it’s been a stormy Saturday I’m making the best of it โ›ˆ

Mostly cloudy with a few rumbles of thunder and 79 degrees at the Five Rivers Environmental Education Center. โ˜ There is a north-northeast breeze at 7 mph. ๐Ÿƒ. The dew point is 70 degrees.

Been a hotter and more humid day than was predicted by the weather man ๐Ÿ‘จ. I feel like I’m in a swamp. Took the earlier bus ๐Ÿš back from Thacher Park to hopefully avoid the worst of the rain on my walk home. ๐Ÿšถ๐Ÿป Hiked to Hang Glider cliff, it was muddy, then back to the Discovery Center and hung my hammock until it started to rain. Then I hiked the Bear Trail under the escarpment ๐Ÿป and the rain picked up. Caught the bus to Five Rivers and watching the very happy robins ๐Ÿฆ and soon I’ll head home.

While it’s not been super wet here, Gilboa has gotten a lot of thunderstorms so I bet the pool was closed all day and it wouldn’t have been worthwhile to head out to Schoharie. ๐Ÿก The Nature Bus is free and I’ve really enjoyed exploring Thacher Park worry and anxiety free ๐Ÿ†“ this summer.

Back at Five Rivers Environmental Education Center, about to head home shortly on foot before the thunderstorms to the west roll in

Back at Five Rivers Environmental Education Center, about to head home shortly on foot before the thunderstorms to the west roll in. It was a pretty dry day, although a few showers at Thacher Park. Hiked a lot of trails including the Indian Ladder Trail and the swamp trail in the back which I haven’t hiked in year.

Packed a nice lunch, laid back in the hammock for a couple of hours with a book and hiked for about four. A few drops of rain, not too bad 

Good to get out and enjoy some fresh air, especially when it’s totally free to catch the bus to Thacher Park.  I love not having to drive, deal with parking and speed traps. Be able to get around without using any fossil fuels with the electric bus 

Nature Bus

A few years back, the NY Parks Commissioner insisted that they charge parking fees to discourage the colored from using them.

But I don’t like fees and I like colorful things, so I’m glad they have that free nature bus this year.

Thompsons Lake...

It was a pretty nice day.

  • I got a pretty late start as I got looking at figuring out how to patch some buggy blog code and lost track of the time
  • Started out, left my mask home, which I need for the bus. Had to run back home
  • Spent some time at Five Rivers Environmental Education Center as I had to wait for the second bus
  • Took the second electric bus to Thacher Park and walked up to Thompsons Lake for an hour swimming up there
  • That lake is mucky for swimming and the beach was packed but it was free
  • Walked back to Thacher Park Visitors Center and then sat in the Adirondack Chairs they have there. No real comfortable
  • Had lunch and refilled my water bottle
  • I hate that new Visitor’s Center, it’s ugly, but the bathrooms are decent as is the water bottle refill fountain
  • Hung my hammock out by Paint Mine and laid back for a couple of hours watching a video and doing some reading
  • Nice cool breeze up in Thacher Park
  • Caught the electric bus back to Five Rivers

June 26, 2021 10 AM Update

Good morning! Happy Saturday. Finally the weekend! Four weeks to Strugeon Moon ๐ŸŒ• . Partly cloudy and 74 degrees at the Five Rivers Environmental Education Center. ๐ŸŒฅ There is a south breeze at 15 mph. ๐Ÿƒ. The dew point is 67 degrees. The skies will clear around 8 pm.

Hot day with the humidity ๐Ÿ˜ฐ although truth be told, tomorrow will be even hotter. Waiting for the bus ๐Ÿš up to Thacher Park after walking ๐Ÿšถ๐Ÿป out to Five Rivers. ๐Ÿฆ. ๐Ÿ˜ท Not wearing the mask much lately, I forgot it and had to run home. I can’t believe how hot it is out already.

Today will be mostly cloudy ๐ŸŒฅ, with a high of 84 degrees at 3pm. Two degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 67 at 10am. South wind 15 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 85 degrees. The record high of 99 was set in 1952.

The plan is to catch the next bus ๐Ÿš to Thacher Park ๐Ÿž and then go for a, walk ๐Ÿšถ๐Ÿป up to Thompsons Lake, swim and cool off ๐ŸŠ๐Ÿปโ€โ™‚๏ธ – already getting hot. Then back to Thacher Park and lay back in the hammock. A lot of people already at Five Rivers, I like the quiet – maybe it will be quieter ๐Ÿคซ in the evening when all the kids ๐Ÿ‘ง๐Ÿป go home for dinner. Probably do an evening walk there too.

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 12:59 pm with sun having an altitude of 70.7ยฐ from the due south horizon (-0.1ยฐ vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 2.1 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour ๐Ÿ… starts at 7:55 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (297ยฐ). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west-northwest (304ยฐ) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:38 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 28 seconds with dusk around 9:12 pm, which is 2 seconds later than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ The best time to look at the stars is after 9:58 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies ๐ŸŒƒ and temperatures around 77 degrees. The dew point will be 67 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 13 mph. Today will have 15 hours and 17 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 21 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy ๐ŸŒฅ, with a low of 71 degrees at 4am. 10 degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 68 at 11pm. South wind 10 to 13 mph. In 2020, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became light rain by the early hours of the morning. It became somewhat humid as the night progressed. It got down to 61 degrees. The record low of 45 occurred back in 1970.

I suspect that this will be a tough night for sleeping ๐Ÿ˜ด so I’ll have to use the fan although Sunday and Monday will worse. I might end up going to the office ๐Ÿข the first half of the week just to beat the heat and get more in person hours in to keep the other directors happy ๐Ÿ˜Š. So much pressure to get people back in the office now that COVID is over ๐Ÿ˜ท ๐Ÿ‘พ ๐Ÿ’‰ but the thing is everybody likes remote work ๐Ÿ’ป and things are getting done whether it’s from camp or a bedroom. ๐Ÿ‘‚๐Ÿป It falls on deaf ears.

Last night was cooler ๐Ÿ˜Ž but I still needed the fan. โš› I was out at the Town Park last night watching the wildlife and noticing that the deer ๐ŸฆŒ already starting to get good sized numbs as their antlers grow in. Autumn is rapidly approaching. All the farms are cutting hay ๐ŸŒพ, you can smell the manure being applied to the fields now as the first cutting get racked and baled.

On this day in 1963, U.S. President John F. Kennedy gave his “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech, ๐ŸŽค underlining the support of the United States for democratic West Germany shortly after Soviet-supported East Germany erected the Berlin Wall. ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ช Also, The Universal Product Code is scanned for the first time in 1974 to sell a package of Wrigley’s chewing gum at the Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio. ๐Ÿฌ

Yesterday was my counseling session and it went well, ๐Ÿ‘จ๐Ÿปโ€โš•๏ธand I was feeling great after it until I realized how it was kind of a bummer. I really don’t like how my counselor keeps telling me that my problems are silly, and that because I’m not doing anything likely to cause significant harm โš  I shouldn’t worry so much about my pyromanania. ๐Ÿ”ฅ You want to move out to the country, have a burn barrel ๐Ÿ›ข, livestock ๐Ÿฎ, four wheelers ๐Ÿ๏ธand lots of guns ๐Ÿ”ซ more power to you. Liking fire or being a conservative doesn’t make you mentally ill. Not harming any one, if your safe and not smoking out your neighbors.

I guess he’s right but I wanted to be pressured to have my views challenged and change. ๐Ÿ’ญ I guess ethically he can’t tell me to be an urban liberal Democrat who drives a Prisus, ๐Ÿš˜ doesn’t eat meat ๐Ÿฅฉ, advocates for gun control ๐Ÿ”ซ, and recycles rather than burns his garbage โ™ป. I so wanted to be told I was terribly wrong, but I guess that’s not what a he can do. But I wish he would listen to me more and talk less. ๐Ÿ”• While I get that I’m paying for his advice I also feel that he should listen more and talk less.

He seems to want to move on to discussing my sometimes contrarian attitude ๐Ÿ™„ but at this point I don’t know how much farther I want to continue. I’m $125 in the hole ๐Ÿ•ณ with co-pay now, and I feel like I’ve discussed all my deepist secrets. ๐Ÿคซ I’ve learned some things, reevaluated parts of my life. ๐Ÿ‘ฉ๐Ÿปโ€๐ŸŒพ Started to think about girl friends and settling down a bit. I’ve learned additional techniques to deal with my anxiety ๐Ÿ˜ฏ and as winter became summer. ๐Ÿ– I think I want to cancel my next session and reevaluate come autumn although I’ve scheduled an appointment a week from Friday but I could cancel as I’d rather be in the Adirondacks.

Looking ahead, there are 4 weeks until Strugeon Moon ๐ŸŒ• when the sun will be setting at 8:24 pm with dusk at 8:56 pm. On that day in 2020, we had humid, partly sunny and temperatures between 82 and 65 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 84 degrees. We hit a record high of 96 back in 1941.

Branch Pond Road