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.
West Virginia is one of many charming states with a lot of good rural land to explore. I’ve certainly enjoyed my road trips down there, and I will probably go back there this autumn. There is are two off-grid living channel I follow on the Youtube, and it’s wild and wonderful down there.
But I’m not sure I would choose the state to live in. For one, the summers are brutally hot even in the mountains and the winters are cold and icy. The roads are often steep, twisty and narrow which makes vacation fun, but probably not so fun when they are covered with ice and snow and you have to get other places.
The politics are strange in the state, while the people are friendly some of the laws are not. I am no fan of the idiotic boosterism for coal energy, that is literally tearing apart the land and leaving it with massive heaps of coal waste, ruining trout streams, and fouling with air with emissions — to say nothing of accelerating the harm of climate chgnage. Scrubbers help, but even the most basic of controls are often resisted at local levels, because coal is so uneconomic at this point compared to other generating plants and renewables.
West Virginia gun laws are good, but in many rural parts of state shopping opportunities are quite limited with even Walmart a distant trip away. Hunting and fishing opportunities are pretty good, especially in the mountain area around the National Forest are great. Restrictions on trash burning, and mandatory trash pick up go against my desire to live as close to zero-waste and zero-landfill as possible, reducing and managing the remaining waste by composting, reuse and burning on my own land.
Most people who live in West Virginia, especially rural West Virginia will tell you, they would never want to leave it — as it is truly is almost heaven. But the truth is, opportunities to make a decent living, outside of the dwindling jobs in the coal industry, is pretty darn hard.
Is the Long Weekend here yet?I can’t complain as my plan is to be heading north on Friday before work, setting up camp and probably working down at the Speculator Library. At least that’s the plan, though things could change.
Things have just been busy. It’s getting to that time of year, and there is hardly a minute without an email popping in the email box. Of course, it does help that I’ve become fairly good at coding and usually write a short little script to handle a complex tasks. I’ve also been tired recovering from a fun weekend.
Pancakes this morning, though I didn’t added carrots this time. I still have a few carrots left at home and I admit adding carrots adds a lot of bulk to the pancakes without a lot of calories, but its fine I had lots of syrup and frozen cherries and other fruit on the top. Last night was cornmeal and onion pancakes and sardines before I went to the store. Sardines are super healthy, without a lot of toxins and but loaded with omega-3 healthy fats and calcium.
After dinner, I rode down to Hannaford and got some eggs, frozen fruit and onions. 🧅 I basically live on onions and summer squash all summer long. Tomorrow I’ll ride uptown and go to the farmers market, and maybe visit the colleagues at the downtown office. I was pretty tired, and with it getting dark early, I headed to bed after I got home, knowing I would be up early in the morning to head to work around 7 AM so I could be in the office before 8 AM. Woke up to a dream last night, I don’t remember exactly what it was about but I put on WAMC on my phone and went back to sleep. One of the side-effects of being stoned up in wilderness, is you don’t really dream when you are asleep, only when you’re awake.
Then it’s been the usual, 🪴 listening to the Grateful Dead and an E-Book about indoor growing of pot. I really don’t smoke that much, outside of around the campfire or the hammock, but it’s just such a fun topic to explore. Cannabis really is an agricultural product, growing good weed is much like any crop, so I’m told. I mean I’m not thinking of starting a pot farm right away, but it’s fascinating. And fun, high times. I wonder if that’s why I forgot to export the city field when I created that mail list yesterday. Always blame it on the drugs and not the manic pace of the office yesterday where I was typing %>% and writing R code like a manic monkey.
Some people are just happy to get stoned, but I am just fascinated about the psychology of the brain and how it’s impacts one body, and how to maximize the experience while being responsible. I’ve always had some interested in pyschology and how the mind works but now I want to learn more to make sure I can be more creative, 🌈 and more of a thinker. Plus I don’t want to do unnecessary harm. I want to learn everything I can learn.
I am thinking it’s time to look at ordering a new bike chain on my bike,before the old one really starts chewing up the gear set again. I have close to 2,000 miles on the chain after it was replaced in April and I’ve noticed it’s gotten a bit noiser a times, though some of it was a frozen/muddy/rusty link that oil and some riding freed up, but I know I’m due to a change soon. Chains are inexpensive, the gears ain’t. I have a chain rivet extraction tool and quite possibly a chain at home but I’m not sure if it’s the right chain for my bike. But I think I should be able to fix myself. I’m also thinking I need to look at replacing the pedals soon, the ones that are sqweaking at times and I’m worried a bearing is starting to fail and I don’t want to happen out on the trail or commuting.
Is that a celebration of the Dire Wolf? Just asking for a friend after the long weekend. Now it’s back to work at least for a few more days.
It’s back to work after a fun weekend. 👨💼 I am riding my bike to work, though who knows how wet it will be by afternoon with the thunderstorms. 🌩 I am not sure if I should be wearing jeans or shorts today, 👖 but I have more clean jeans, and I’m hoping to make it through the week without going to the laundromat, with the plan to work from Spectulator on Friday, so I don’t really have to have perfectly clean clothes for that. I think I had fun with Tropical Zkittlez, I shoud get more of that before the holiday weekend.
Things are unpacked and I’m ready for the week. 🧹 Accidentally spilled flour over everything unpacking last night, and I need to finish up cleaning tonight, but things should be good. I got the Drive Safe and Save beacon installed in my truck, though I’m not sure when I will drive next — probably Thursday night to stock before camping. Thursdays though I often work late in the office, so that’s a consideration as I need to be n Speculator before 9 AM to remote work. 💻️
Scammers left my cellphone alone on Friday, ☎️ trying to run the same old tax scam that they’ve been harassing me for months about my back taxes that don’t exist. Do I pay too much in taxes, and should I have a plan to cash in some of my assets to buy a house? 🏘 Yes, but not through a scam service, which one day I tried engauging them when I was bored and maybe a bit high on vacation, after weeks of them calling. They seemed most interested in selling me a loan either for taxes or debt. 💣 I didn’t give any personal information but I asked a lot of questions about what they were selling.
I’ve been avoiding my work email box, ✉️ as I’m sure it’s suffed full but at least my physical mail box wasn’t too bad. 📮 It’s just a busy time of the year, both legisatively and for the campaign committee, but good work is getting done. It is really good that I’ve mastered R and the tidyverse, 🤖 as those are things I use every day, even more then other langauges like C or Python. R is such a werid language, but it’s really good for data maniplulaton, at least with reasonably sized datasets.
Do I spend too much time studying all things cannabis these days? 🪴 Probably yes, but it’s a fun topic to learn about – it’s agricultural, it’s political, it’s controversial and it’s the most pungent of odors. What’s not to like about it? I have kind of a one track mind, though there are some who will accuse me of becoming addicted to marijuana. I do admit coming home after summer vacation, the world seemed so plain and colorless after many nights of fun but it wasn’t like I was that compelled to light up, as I have decided to limit it like my drinking to only when I’m out on adventures, and only in a reasonable quantity, bar once and while having a bit of fun and singing along with Dire Wolf under the stars in the wilderness. Truth is there is actually very little evidence to Cananbis Use Disorder, it’s mostly something that judges and treatment centers see as a money maker in the form of kick-backs for government workers.
In an era of hyper-partisanship, people are often surprised to hear that I agree with Democrats about 55% of the time and Republicans about 45% of the time. I guess I’m a rarity as somebody who regularly splits the ticket while voting, often for my preferred candidates on third party lines under New York’s fusion voting laws.
I will often start off on the Working Families line then hop up to the Conservative line and then over to other lines like the Independence line should the candidate not be available on the other line. It’s a check on the major party power, it gives smaller more ideological parties a bit of a check on their power. I generally like Republican executives and Democratic legislatures, I like the check they provide on each other’s power.
I generally look at candidate and their background to see what they have done in their lives. I’d rather vote for a thinking person who has gotten things done than any one ideology. I also like to push forward divided government as I believe a divided government is best for blocking the passage of new laws and limiting the size and scope of government. Divided government also avoids the extremes by blocking legislation completely unpalatable to the other side.
I like the Democrats as I think they are often on the right side of history when it comes to the big picture things. Fairness in banking and commerce are big things. Reforming healthcare to make it more affordable. Working on the climate crisis, especially reducing the massive climate emissions generated by our big cities. Providing school aid to hold the line on taxes while providing a quality education. Pushing industry to innovate like with clean air standards for automobiles. Protecting freedom of the press and the right of women to make choices over their bodies.
At the same time, I think Republicans are helping to limit over regulations of our personal freedom and the ability to invest and grow our economy. Democrats are always pushing to lock more land up as wilderness when the land could be sustainably managed for diverse purposes. Democrats are often pushing for unfair and unjust gun laws that are arbitrary and capricious that put the states interest over the public interest. Republicans often push for lower taxes that allow us to keep more of our hard earned paychecks and allow our investments to grow. Republicans often push back against excessive risk regulation and are more willing to let individuals live and let live.
Neither political party really suits my interests. But I do vote and try to push for competitive elections and divided government where no one side has too much power. Often it’s a broken government that governs best. We should celebrate our dysfunctional system that does more to defend the status quo and protect our interests.
In Pacifica vs FCC, the Justice Department took the position of Pacifica over the FCC. ⚖
It turns out that the Justice Department doesn’t have a legal obligation to defend or support the position of an Independent federal agency. This is because the president has no direct say over an independent agency, so his justice department has the right to either support or oppose the actions of the agency.
While sometimes the Justice Department chooses to not defend a federal agency in court, they can’t normally take the side of a defendent or claimant against a federal agency.
Seasoning a Dutch oven helps create a non-stick surface and prevents rust. Here’s how you can do it:
Clean the Dutch oven: Wash the Dutch oven with warm, soapy water to remove any factory residues or dirt. Rinse it thoroughly and dry it completely.
Apply a thin layer of oil: Choose an oil with a high smoke point, such as vegetable oil, flaxseed oil, or grapeseed oil. Apply a thin layer of oil to the entire surface of the Dutch oven, inside and out.
Preheat the oven: Place the Dutch oven upside down in an oven preheated to around 300°F (150°C).
Bake: Let the Dutch oven bake in the oven for about 1 to 2 hours. This process allows the oil to polymerize and create a non-stick coating.
Cool and repeat: After baking, turn off the oven and let the Dutch oven cool inside. You can repeat the seasoning process 2-3 times for better results.Remember, seasoning is an ongoing process. The more you use and cook with your Dutch oven, the better the seasoning will become. Regular cooking with fats and oils will help maintain and improve its non-stick surface over time.
It’s getting to that time of year, and there is hardly a minute without an email popping in the email box. 
Of course, it does help that I’ve become fairly good at coding and usually write a short little script to handle a complex tasks. I’ve also been tired recovering from a fun weekend. 
I still have a few carrots left at home 
and I admit adding carrots adds a lot of bulk to the pancakes without a lot of calories, but its fine I had lots of syrup and frozen cherries and other fruit on the top. Last night was cornmeal and onion pancakes and sardines before I went to the store. 
Sardines are super healthy, without a lot of toxins and but loaded with omega-3 healthy fats and calcium. 
and maybe visit the colleagues at the downtown office. I was pretty tired, and with it getting dark early, 
I headed to bed after I got home, knowing I would be up early in the morning to head to work around 7 AM so I could be in the office before 8 AM. 
Woke up to a dream last night, I don’t remember exactly what it was about 
but I put on WAMC on my phone 
and went back to sleep. One of the side-effects of being stoned up in wilderness, is you don’t really dream when you are asleep, only when you’re awake.
but it’s just such a fun topic to explore. Cannabis really is an agricultural product, growing good weed is much like any crop, so I’m told. 
I mean I’m not thinking of starting a pot farm right away, but it’s fascinating. And fun, high times. I wonder if that’s why I forgot to export the city field when I created that mail list yesterday. 
Always blame it on the drugs and not the manic pace of the office yesterday where I was typing %>% and writing R code like a manic monkey. 
but I am just fascinated about the psychology of the brain and how it’s impacts one body, and how to maximize the experience while being responsible. 
I’ve always had some interested in pyschology and how the mind works but now I want to learn more to make sure I can be more creative, 🌈 and more of a thinker. Plus I don’t want to do unnecessary harm. I want to learn everything I can learn.
before the old one really starts chewing up the gear set again. I have close to 2,000 miles on the chain after it was replaced in April and I’ve noticed it’s gotten a bit noiser a times, though some of it was a frozen/muddy/rusty link that oil and some riding freed up, but I know I’m due to a change soon. Chains are inexpensive, the gears ain’t. I have a chain rivet extraction tool and quite possibly a chain at home but I’m not sure if it’s the right chain for my bike. 
But I think I should be able to fix myself. I’m also thinking I need to look at replacing the pedals soon, the ones that are sqweaking at times and I’m worried a bearing is starting to fail and I don’t want to happen out on the trail or commuting.
What’s not to like about it? I have kind of a one track mind, 
though there are some who will accuse me of becoming addicted to marijuana. I do admit coming home after summer vacation, the world seemed so plain and colorless after many nights of fun 
but it wasn’t like I was that compelled to light up, as I have decided to limit it like my drinking to only when I’m out on adventures, and only in a reasonable quantity, bar once and while having a bit of fun and singing along with Dire Wolf under the stars in the wilderness. 
Truth is there is actually very little evidence to Cananbis Use Disorder, it’s mostly something that judges 
and treatment centers see as a money maker in the form of kick-backs for government workers. 
