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.
Another kind of cloudy day, cool. Not at all the nice weather they are getting out in Syracuse. But I’m sure at some point it will arrive to Albany. Winter can’t last forever with the strengthening sun angle. Indeed, that snow we got on Tuesday didn’t last for long in Albany and even the in the mountains is in quick decline. No eighty degree weather locally.
Mostly cloudy and 44 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ There is a northeast breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. The skies will clear around 2 pm.
Yesterday, I put the top coat of paint over the parts of Big Red 🛻 that I primed last weekend. It’s not perfect, and indeed I missed a spot but it beats that bare metal and corrosion and with some mud and dirt splattered over it all, your not going to notice that much. It’s not like my truck is ever that clean.
Spent some of the time working on some R Projects yesterday then walked out to Five Rivers. 🚶♀️ It did get dark pretty early with the cloudy skies but it was a nice walk and I got in 15,000 steps. 🐻 Just the usual wildlife — Ground Hog up by Meads Farm, some rapidly shedding cattle there, lots of does grazing at Five Rivers and that racoon looking down from the tree at me. Lots of red-wing blackbirds, and a pretty stunning male bluebird I saw walking out along Orchard Street.
I have to admit like most Saturdays lately I’ve not been really ambitious. 📕 Some because I like reading but also who can afford to drive anywhere these days with high gas prices? That said, I’ll probably be getting out more on Saturdays come the free electric bus service to Thacher Park from Five Rivers in June. It’s always fun to catch the bus to Thacher Park 🚌 and spend the day hiking around the park. 🏞
I am thinking about doing a hike down to the Normans Kill Falls in a bit. 🌲 I haven’t been down there and hopefully on a Sunday morning the rail trail won’t be so crowded, although now the sun is coming out, maybe that’s changing things a bit. I don’t like having to dodge bicyclist 🚴 and dog 🐶 walkers while observing nature. 🐦 Otherwise I could do a quick hike up Bennett Hill on my way out to the folks house. 🏘 My sister is feeling better, I guess the revised plan is to meet my sister and niece for dinner at Vince Anna’s, the old-fashioned Italian restaurant in Greenville. 🍕
It’s been a long time since I was last in the gorge 🏞 as I don’t like the crowds or the noise from the super highway above but I figure with the high gas prices it’s better to stay local and I like seeing the falls especially with a lot of water 💦 coming over them. Plus I kind of want to spy on the recycling ♻ facility from the rail trail 🚂and see what’s actually happening there. Sometimes you can see them loading various materials in the trucks fur recycling After spring turkey 🦃 I’ll have to do some hiking in Partridge Run then an overnight at Rennselearville State Forest.
I have this book 📙 from the library on forest management and have been watching a lot of videos 📺 about the topic on the phone 📱. It’s something I find quite fascinating especially as I think about being a forest owner in a few years and working to restore land in ways that make it both more productive for human use and wildlife and hopefully reduce the tick population. 🐜 Controlled burns to destroy invasives and ticks is an interesting opportunity. 🐽 Pigs and the ton or two of grain you run through them can do a lot to restore the soil too.
Good, honest hard-working people can be turned into monsters by the institutions they work at and live in.
Social conditioning is powerful — it’s hard any one individual to change a large institution. I am big believer in B.F. Skinner’s theory of Behaviorism.
While humans have some freedom to rebuild the Skinner box they live in, never discount the power that the Skinner box created by the institutions they live in has over them.
Actually better here then up north, so maybe it’s not so much of a bummer that I’m stuck in town. I don’t know it’s actually at times kind of gray and cloudy here in Albany so maybe I’m not missing that much.
Today. Feels like …
April 17th.
Partly sunny.
North wind around 6 mph.
and
60 degrees
,
7:47
sunset.
Tonight. Feels like …
April 24th.
A chance of showers, mainly between 7pm and 1am. Cloudy.
Northeast wind around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
and
40 degrees
,
5:58
sunrise.
Sunday. Feels like …
April 13th.
Partly sunny.
East wind 6 to 8 mph becoming southeast in the afternoon.
and
58 degrees
,
7:48
sunset.
Sunday Night. Feels like …
May 7th.
Mostly cloudy.
Southeast wind 8 to 10 mph.
and
45 degrees
,
5:56
sunrise.
Monday. Feels like …
May 1st.
Mostly cloudy.
South wind 8 to 11 mph.
and
66 degrees
,43 max dew point,
7:50
sunset.
Monday Night. Feels like …
May 16th.
A chance of rain. Mostly cloudy.
Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.
Good morning! Happy Saturday. Finally the weekend!
We survived Earth Day without getting bombed by the Russia, so that’s a good thing. The climate protestors did there thing downtown yesterday, there was no legislators in town and nobody took them seriously, because we all know we are going to cook the climate regardless, even while the snobs drive around in their Teslas knowing they are morally superior filling their recycling bins to brim each week with carefully cleaned garbage taking the long trip to the landfill.
Partly sunny and 37 degrees in Delmar, NY. ⛅ There is a north breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. Less sun then I expected but hopefully the rain will hold off until the paint dries on Big Red.
I was swamped with work yesterday, but made it home by six PM 🚍 and did an interview with Mr. Wolcott and friends. Such a busy day at work. So many committee agenda to track, 📄 it was non stop. I didn’t do my evening walk 🚶 but I still had like 13,900 steps in by bed time. 🛏 I wanted to go down to the park but the Zoom chat took most of the time.
While reviewing the agendas I listened to a bunch of videos about homesteading 🚜 and rabbit 🐰 raising. I think meat rabbits will be one of the first livestock when I own land, those chickens 🐔for meat and eggs won’t be far off. Pigs are more expensive 🐽 but all that pig manure and rooting up the dirt will be wonderful for restoring the man.
I painted Big Red this morning, covering the primer up that covered the rust I mostly sanded over and the bare metal. 🛻It’s a fight against the salt, but he looks a little better from the distance, or I tell myself. 🎨 I wash the truck regularly but that salt is tough. 🚿
I plan to stay in town today, later today I will walk out to Five Rivers and Meads Road 🐦 to look at that birdies and observe nature. The family dinner I have with my sister, niece and mom and dad were put off due to them being sick. 🤢 I am a bit bummed out about that fact, as it looks like a nice weekend and I wish I could have headed out of town, but at least Red got some paint on him this morning. 😀
I have blocked off next weekend to head out of town, and right now the long range looks good, although I’m not sure if I can get next Friday off due to the work load with all the committee meetings and the alike scheduled for next week. There is just a lot of work this time of year, it’s busy. ⛺ Maybe I can get away at least for two nights and have a good fire and do some hiking and laying back in the hammock before the black flies are out in mass..
It won’t be long before black season up north 🎪 and even with the screen tent, blsck flies are no joke. But I do like those swimming holes up north on hot May and June weekends before Mine Kill opens. Maybe I need to think about alternatives, especially with gas prices so high. ⛽ I might do the Green Mountains ⛰ for Memorial Day Weekend again this year – depends how busy I am for work or if I will need a cell phone connection to do remote work. If it’s rainy ☔ this year I won’t be a fool and will just stay home. 🏡
Still it looks like spring won’t be happening as we head into May, although let’s be honest, even the coldest days in May aren’t like March or February. So there is some hope, although maybe not a lot of hope.
It’s Earth Day and it looks like the forecast will help with the green up 🌱 ☀️
Lots of sun and fairly mild this weekend, and we got plenty of rain over the past few days. But windy, so be careful burning shit up in the woods. It’s really too bad that I have to stay in town this weekend, although there is still quite a bit of snow up north. I am hoping for good weather next weekend, not windy or stormy, although it will be difficult possibly with work to get away. And then if I go a week later, I’ll be fighting black flies — and it’s also the Tulip Festival and they’ll probably want me to help out with the Save the Pine Bush booth there.
Today. Feels like … April 17th.
Sunny.
Northwest wind 11 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph.
and
60 degrees
,
7:46 sunset.
Tonight. Feels like … April 11th.
Mostly clear.
Northwest wind 6 to 11 mph becoming light after midnight.
and
35 degrees
,
5:59 sunrise.
Saturday. Feels like … April 17th.
Mostly sunny.
North wind around 5 mph becoming calm.
and
60 degrees
,
7:47 sunset.
Saturday Night. Feels like … May 2nd.
Isolated showers. Mostly cloudy.
Light and variable wind. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
