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.
Slower start to my Saturday then predicted due to the wind. If I had to choose I’d prefer the cold to the wind.
Sunny and a cold 28 degrees at the Rensselaerville State Forest. 🌞 There is a north-northwest breeze at 11 mph. 🍃. The sun is great and making a lot of solar power but the wind sucks.
It’s just cold this morning, 🌬️ though certainly not as bad as mid afternoon last week, when the winds were whipping around at 20-30 mph and howling at times closer to 50 mph.
It’s werid, I hiked 11 1/2 miles today but it felt like a lazy day, hiding out from the wind. 🚶I got an early start which helped a lot, because yesterday morning wasn’t nearly as windy and cold as this morning.
I did see a bald eagle 🦅 up close overhead and a massive buck. And the usual, red headed woodpecker, two mallard on one of the wet areas that wasn’t frozen, tufted titmouse, blue jay, boring old robin.
Still a lot of snow in places, 🌨 at least six inches in protected north slopes, quite muddy but less so by evening with the strong winds and low humidity. Farm boots 👢 vare essential for walking a lot of trails. Campsite was one big soft mud and puddle on Thursday, but it’s dried up a lot today. ⛺
Made some really good meals with asparagus (one of my favorite vegetables), and other yummy things. 🍲 After dark the wind died down and the ground was still quite wet so had a small fire, coals smothered before bed with snow and ice. 🔥
I’m glad I was lucky 🍀 enough to get Good Friday off, as I probably wouldn’t have gotten the drive in campsite I wanted had I come Friday after work as somebody else is camping 🏕 a mile up the road from me. Friday was cold, especially the blustery afternoon but a day in the wilderness beats a day in the city.
I was thinking about hiking over Kenyan Road to Fox Creek Road to the Mount Pisgah Overlook today but it seems rather cold and windy. ❄ I’ll see how much things warm up as the day progreses I guess. Maybe do some more protected hikes in the woods and hollows where it’s less windy.
Picked the coldest part of the week to go camping. 🏕
I didn’t choose based on the weather forecast but the calendar 🗓 and the days I had off from work. Fire danger is only going to get worse as the week progreses though I expect the green up 🌸 to occur this week in the city. I’m thinking next weekend I’ll plan on going to Five Rivers or maybe another hike to Hollyhock Audubon Sanctuary and maybe Blodgett Hill to get in 20 miles again.
Planning to walk ten miles today and then before the wind and clouds push in head back to camp ⛺ and either lay in the hammock and read 📖 or do the same in the truck. Looks like the sun is out early on which with the high sun angle should help to charge the truck batteries 🔋 well.
Today. Feels like …
March 5th.
Partly sunny.
Breezy, with a northwest wind 21 to 23 mph, with gusts as high as 34 mph.
It turns out that things were in a place in the office that I could get away for Easter Weekend at 3pm before Good Friday and I took full advantage of it even though it meant setting up camp in the rain and the mud though by late evening it stopped and got fairly decent.
Mostly cloudy and 36 degrees at the Rensselaerville State Forest. 🌥 Breezy, ️21 mph breeze from the west-northwest 🌬 with gusts up to 31 mph 💨💨💨. The current wind chill is 25.
So far the wind hasn’t been as bad as they are warning ⚠ about but I’ve tried to stay in more protected areas. Some breeze last night especially earlier on in the evening 🍃 but nothing too major. More just damp in the evening.
That saidit’s cold ❄ but it’s still early April. Next week is going to be a lot warmer but the woods will be bone dry ☀ and the fire risk super high. 🔥 Plus next week I might have to work and it’s not a 3 day weekend.
The biggest change though is my choices for camp food 🍲. Cookies and beer are out, as are lumps of shredded cheese, hot dogs and crackers. In is water, apples and carrots 🥕 for snacks and for something more substantial brown rice, onions, peppers, asparagus and tofu. 🧅Oh do I like asparagus whenever they had it at various events but I never really cooked it for myself. Tomotoes, broccoli and peppers. 🍅 Salmon probably for tonight. 🐠 Eggs 🥚 with all of the above minus carrots and a banana 🍌 this morning for breakfast. So tasty.
I am not missing the alcohol or the cookies 🍻 that much. It’s kind of nice not to be drunk all of the time and to wake up without a hangover. They used to be okay in my twenties but they got worse in my thirties and would be awful in my forties. 🤕 I feel like I have so much more energy ⚡ and aren’t so fully stuffed 🤰🏼while camping. It’s also nice to go to bed with a clear head and look at the stars.
No fire tonight 🏕️ due to the red flag 🚩 conditions though honestly the ground is still quite wet and soggy with all the rain and snow 🌨 that is left on the ground but it’s not worth the risk especially as I have the propane heater and lights I can use. Last night’s fire was so smokey 🔥 💨 from the wood being wet with things so soggy around here. Tonight I might go for a night hike to look at the stars with no fire to supervise.
Why Mass Shootings Should be Handled More Like Fatal Car Crashes 💥
It bothers me a lot how the politicians and the mass media love to belabor mass shootings to no end. The hours of television with the grieving parents and interviews with police really serve no purpose but as a the interruption to commence, education and every day life.
I was reading the other day how Israel handles terrorism – they arrest and prosecute the perpetrators – but also emphasize returning to normalcy after a terror event. People get blown up and killed, their bodies hauled away, families notified and the scene quickly restored to its prior status – blood cleaned up, bullet holes patched, damaged walls repaired. Life returns to normal within hours of a terrorist attack.
In America on contrast businesses often remain closed for an extended period, memorials are constructed, scars left exposed for the maximum time. It plays to the terrorists’ or shooter’s advantage – as they are able to extract their maximum harm to the public.
America does know how to quickly restore infrastructure and normalcy after many types of death and destruction. Fatal automobile crashes are often cleaned up and the highway fully reopened and restored within hours of the crash. The ambulance comes and takes away the deceased, the firefighters put out the fire and sweep up the broken glass, the tow truck tows away the junked car and the DOT replaces the smashed guard rail. The families who have lost grieve in private. Often news coverage is limited to reporting traffic delays due to lane closures – the fatality if reported at all is in passing.
Fatal car crashes aren’t completely forgotten even as normalcy is quickly restored. Every one is carefully logged by police and placed in the FARS database – which is carefully examined for highway safety improvements and potential changes to the design of automobiles to enhance safety. FARS is also used in a thoughtful way to decide if changes are needed to laws to make roads safer. But FARS isn’t emotional, it doesn’t glorify crashes or their victims. It’s statistics gets news coverage but doesn’t make profits for news media or the police.
Losing a loved one is sad. People should grieve in private and be taken care of to make sure their needs are met. But instead of glorifying terrorists and shooters, the priority should be normalcy and quickly restoring order rather than belaboring private tragedies.
Good morning! Happy Thursday. Feeling good after saying no. 🌧️
I’m really starting to understand what it must feel like when you quit smoking cigarettes, especially back in the 1970s when everybody smoked. The impacts of a healthier lifestyle I’mstarting to feel, as is my sense of taste growth and I slim down but people keep trying to hand me cigarettes for just one smoke, or in my case foods loaded with sugar, salt and fat. Like my investments and everything else in my life, change takes too long but real change takes months, years and even decades. Mission Fifty. 8 ¾ miles walked yesterday.
Cloudy, damp and 52 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ There is a south-southeast breeze at 8 mph. 🍃. I don’t know it feels stronger than that. The dew point is 50 degrees.
Yesterday was a surprisingly busy day 🏢 which was good. Made the time go by quickly. Cut my finger 🖕 on some glass 🍸 I was going through in the recycle ♻. Since eating healthier there is so much less trash though more compost. Went to the store and gassed up my truck so I’m in good shape to leave come the weekend. ⛽ Gas prices have jumped back up again a bit with the oil production cut and summer coming sooner rather then later. But I do want to travel a bit, and plan to make the most I can out of summer 😎 while it lasts. And get out what useful use I can from Big Red. I might do more hiking this year, and more back country adventures, especially as my strength and abilities improve. 💪
Carrots 🥕 have replaced cookies 🍪 for camping, among other changes. It is going to be a different camping 🏕 without all the alcohol and calories, but I am actually looking forward to embracing the healthier lifestyle. 💪 Also looking forward to frying up that asparagus 🥬 and onions 🧅 I got and all kinds of other taste-rich things. I can’t do the frozen thing while camping, so it will be fresh fruits and vegetables rather then flash-frozen which I normally eat a home. 😋 Still changes it up a bit.
I don’t think I’ll get bailed out for Good Friday 👐 but maybe if I ask the parole officer nicely they’ll grant me early release by 4 pm for good behavior. That said, I think it will be too dry and windy for a fire on Friday night and might be rather cold for camping 🏕. Next weekend looks nicer at any rate.
Today is expected to be cold, damp, maybe rainy. ☔
It was definitely raining real hard out last night. 🌧 This morning it stopped for the walk 🏃 but I wouldn’t be surprised if it rains some more before the day is done. It’s good as I think we might have red flag conditions 🚩 with that wind come Friday, though I tend to think the ground won’t dry out that quickly, and we’ve had a fair amount of moisture lately, though the dew point will be pretty low tomorrow, Good Friday. ☦
I really want to get out of town this weekend, 🐰 but I’m not sure how far I will travel. My truck is getting serviced on Monday, so I would like to wash it by the end of the weekend. 👩🔧 I actually spilled some salt on my truck’s bumper unloading it last night, as I doubt I’ll need it before spring, and while I swept it off, it would be best to clean it up well in the mean time. 🚿
Today. Feels like … May 1st.
A chance of showers, mainly after 11am. Mostly cloudy.
South wind 7 to 14 mph becoming northwest in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
and
66 degrees
,55 max dew point,
7:28 sunset.
Tonight. Feels like … April 21st.
A slight chance of showers before 9pm. Mostly cloudy.
Northwest wind 9 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
and
39 degrees
,
6:25 sunrise.
☦ Good Friday. Feels like … March 28th.
Partly sunny.
Breezy, with a northwest wind 15 to 21 mph, with gusts as high as 36 mph.
and
50 degrees
,
7:29 sunset.
Friday Night. Feels like … March 26th.
Mostly cloudy.
Northwest wind 7 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph.
