John Boyd Thacher State Park, is situated along the Helderberg Escarpment, one of the richest fossil-bearing formations in the world. Even as it safeguards six miles of limestone cliff-face, rock-strewn slopes, woodland and open fields, the park provides a marvelous panorama of the Hudson-Mohawk Valleys and the Adirondack and Green Mountains. The park has volleyball courts, playgrounds, ball fields and numerous picnic areas with nine reservable shelters. Interpretive programs are offered year-round, including guided tours of the famous Indian Ladder Trail. There are over 25 additional miles of trails for summer hiking and mountain biking, and winter cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, and snowmobiling.
Today is going to head up to 83 which isn’t too bad. But then again it is May 21st and Memorial Day Weekend is just around the corner.
Early mail voted this morning ✉ for the Democratic Primary and plan to vote in the school 🚸 board election this evening 🌃 on my way out to Five Rivers Environmental Education Center. 🐦 Already need to start thinking about the weekend, I’ll probably pack on Thursday night and stop up on camp ⛺ supplies on Friday morning on the way to work.
Went to the laundromat yesterday 👚 and got groceries. 🛒 Only fifty bucks in groceries as my pantry remains fairly well stocked. 🍏 Plus as it’s gotten hotter out my meals 🍴 have gotten simpler. It was a nice night out last night, 🌠 sat out back until a little after 9 PM when I was tired and retired to bed. I don’t mind going to the laundromat, though I kind of wish I had my laptop 💻️ but I was fine just using my phone. I rarely have my laptop home any more, though I will be getting my work laptop running so I can start using it at home again.
I decided my phone is working well enough 📱 that I’m going to see if I can get a few more weeks out of it. I think I know what the replacement will be but I figure if the screen is working good enough for now I’m good. Sometimes procrastinating isn’t a bad thing, I would prefer to maximize the usefulness of things. A factory reset might help clean up my phone and make it work better.
I took apart the food processor yesterday ⚙️ and I think it’s the plastic planetary gears inside that are slipping but none of them look worn. I’m going to take a second look tonight and if I can’t fix it I’ll probably get another mini food processor / chopper so I can shred carrots 🥕 and onions for pancakes 🥞 and Johnny cakes. Or maybe I’ll look at something like a hand chopper. It would be nice if it was small enough I could easily run it off the inverter in the truck to use at camp ⛺. Especially in the autumn if I can work remote, I’m going to want to be to chop things up. 🗡
I discovered that there are several inexpensive bolt-on kick stands 🚵 I can get for blackie, as I really miss not havng a kickstand on my bike. It’s annoying the bold snapped like that but I think a bolt-on model is a better option then trying to tap and die the snapped bolt on the braze on for the kick-stand. Kind of a bad design by Trek I have to say about the kickstand on the bike.
People often argue that a high carbon tax — combined with the repealing of the income and investing taxes would be bad for the poor because it would raises prices on people who are already struggling to get by. That of course ignores the fact that they would be able to keep more of their paycheck, and if they invested rather spent their money, they would pay no taxes at all under such a system. Make it expensive to buy things, and people will buy less and invest more. There are essentials people need to have, but as prices go up, things move from essential to luxury, and people prioritize things that need in their budget.
I often hear that people complain that it’s anti-poor people to raise the prices at fast restaurants and other forms of unhealthy food, because then the poor people would have to pay more for McDonald hamburgers and Fried Chicken. But that kind of food is terribly unhealthy, and higher prices would motivate people to cook more at home and pack their lunch. Likewise, if a higher minimum wage means higher prices at fast food restaurants, and people avoid them, then it’s good for all. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich made at home might not be a healthiest option but it sure is cheaper and healthier then what you would get at a fat fryer pit. Plus then you can include carrots or celery with your lunch.
While I am not against helping the poor — good public parks, libraries and affordable or free public transit can be beneficial to the whole community — holding the line on prices of consumer goods shouldn’t come at the cost of a dirtier environment, lower wages, unsafe working environments, or reduced public health. While we all like cheap things, if we could stimulate the economy to preserve jobs by reducing taxes on economic growth, and focus more on taxes on bad things in society, we could have healthier and prosperous communities, even if folks grumbled more at gas pump or grocery store.
I’m a gun owner and I’m concerned about many of the anti-second amendment proposals put forward lately. I believe people should have the right to keep and bear arms, that gun owners should not have to go through unnecessary hoops. I think it’s important we defend our rights as gun owners.
While swimming is not yet open, there is hope for nicer weather in the near future. Memorial Day Weekend is only a few days away, then it will be the unofficial start of summer.
I was riding my mountain bike this afternoon at lunch time, observing and taking in more of the Albany Rural Cementary, in a respectful kind of way. Observing the various tombstone’s and monuments, some to very prominent politicians and persons, other business people and common folk who arranged to have monuments created in their memory. It struck me what a strange place cemeteries really are.
At one level, cemeteries are dumping grounds for the carcasses of the deceased. Their hearts have stopped beating, they’ve stopped breathing, and something has to be done with their bodies. Burying them is one way to stop the spread of pathegons, and depending how they are buried, preserve their carcasses in some state of existence for years to come.
On the other hand, cemetaries are park like environments, where monuments are erected to remind love ones and general public of persons that once roamed this earth for good or bad. Cemeteries provide a place not only for gathering at the burial, but also to visit any time in the future when loved ones or the public want to remember the person whose spirit and life has left this earth.
Cemeteries were the original urban park, and in many ways are still a delightful place to walk or ride a bicycle through peacefully. They are gracefully laid out, with trees and winding roads. They are full of beautiful monuments, ponds, and pathways. While people these days rarely picnic in cemeteries, many still return not just to visit gravestones but also to walk their dogs, go for a leisurely stroll past ponds and waterfalls, or just get some fresh air away from the craziness of the city.
I don’t ascribe any special meaning to the carcasses of people. Once they’re dead in my book, they’re just another form of organic waste. Except maybe for the risk of human-transmissible pathogens, at the point of passing, a person has nothing further to offer to society in the form of ideas or acts. It’s good to remember those once with us, but their at worse their carcasses, a non-noxious form of waste, in many ways probably far less significant then tin cans and plastic packaging we toss so carelessly every day.
With all apologies to P.J. O’Rourke and Mario Cuomo, I suggest the major political parties rename themselves to:
The Fun Suckers
The Big Mean
This would comply with recent regulations put forward by the “The Fun Suckers” to comply with recently adopted Truth in Advertising regulations because we don’t want our cars to burn us to death when they crash.
