The Rattlesnake Hill Wildlife Management Area is a 5,100 acre upland tract, situated approximately eight miles west of Dansville, New York. Roughly two-thirds of the area lies in southern Livingston County, while the remaining third lies in northern Allegany County. The tract was purchased in the 1930’s under the Federal Resettlement Administration and is one of several such areas turned over to DEC for development as a wildlife management area.
The area is appropriately named after the Timber Rattlesnake, which may be occasionally found in the more remote sections of the “Hill”.
The area offers an interesting blend of upland habitats such as mature woodland, overgrown fields, conifer plantations, old growth apple orchards and open meadows.
The area is inhabited by a variety of game species and is open to public hunting. The white-tailed deer, wild turkey, ruffed grouse, grey squirrel, cottontail rabbit and woodcock are found on the area. An occasional snowshoe hare may be observed adjacent to thick creek bottom brush or conifer plantation habitats.
A number of small marsh units have been developed and provide limited hunting for waterfowl. Some of the area’s furbearing species such as mink, beaver and raccoon may be occasionally viewed at these marsh units.
I really don’t have much of a desire to visit any cities. I’m much more comfortable in the wilderness, on the dirt road out in the sticks. While I enjoy urban life – especially the ease of mass transit and cycling to get around, cities aren’t really a place I would want to visit recreationally. Instead, cities are place to get together with others, to meet, collaborate, work and share time together.
I was hearing again on the radio that there is a movement to allow more students to waive or reduce their college loans for free. I think that’s a complete slap in the face to people like myself who didn’t rack up any debt in college but chose the lowest cost options when attending college.
The problem with waving college is that it’s both unfair and rewards wasteful spending. Why economize at college if the government is going to waive your costs it just away? I took a lot of steps to save in college – including attending Community College then a college I could commute to from home. When I attended SUNY Plattsburgh, I waived all optional fees that I could, bought the smallest meal plan I was allowed and parked on the street rather than pay the parking fee. I didn’t have my own laptop, instead I used the computer lab or typed up papers on my parents old typewriter (in 2006). I did work study and then worked down in Albany, taking off semesters and commuting from home.
I certainly support making college more affordable by increasing government support for public colleges and rewarding schools that stay within a spending cap with additional aid. Steps should be taken to make it easier for students to opt out of optional fees, and providing additional discounts for online classes that don’t require providing a physical plant such as a classroom with desks, heating and lighting. Larger class sizes are also possible online, saving on staffing costs.
Public colleges could reduce tuition and fees to an affordable couple thousands a year if they aggressively persued efficient online learning with a much smaller physical plant. While some classes and laboratories are best done in person, most universities have significant physical plant and they don’t have to be constantly upgrading. Colleges can make do with older buildings, older technologies and still provide a cost effective education to students.
Students that got into significant debt should be held accountable for their actions. Instead of bailing them out, we should focus on driving down college costs – not just by increased funding but also reduced spending at colleges.
One thing I miss not having internet at home is not having access to web mapping services (WMS). These internet services are handy layers for mapping without downloading individual tiles for aerial photographs, hillshades or topographic maps. I particularly like WMS now that I found the Forest Service topographic WMS service and several state’s hillshades derived from 1m or 2m DEM.
I like the math of politics more then the politics … 🔢
Most politics is rooted in statistics and polling these days. While people are showing their ideological tints on social media – myself included – what I find most fascinating is numbers that go behind winning an election, both the polling and final results. While often you don’t hear much about the math and theory behind the game, I do really enjoy listening to the FiveThirtyEight podcast and how the numbers game is played.
I literally walked out to the early express bus and was thinking it’s too nice to be cooped up on a bus this morning or walking laps in the plaza. So I ended up riding in. I was hesitant at first ride in as I don’t love riding back to the train station after dark or putting my bike on the bus rack, but I do like the fresh air and the sunshine before it’s cold and dark in the evening.
Yesterday, it was getting back into the groove, just getting catched up on everything. 🏢 There were so many different things to get done and caught up on. The five days I spent in Madison County was a lot of mountain biking, 🚴♀️ sitting around the campfire 🔥 drinking beer 🍺 and smoking pot. 🚬 Fun times, but I also ignored everything else in the world, especially as I’ve been so busy and doing remote work, so it was nice for a change of doing nothing at all. 🤷♂️
Yesterday I rode to work, 🚲 and it was fine but it was so dark riding back to the express bus stop at Train Station in Albany from Menanads. Took the express bus home, but it was cold waiting for the bus ❄️ and I spent the ride watching the bike bump up and down, with an unfamiliar driver not slowing down for the bumps. 🚌 I ended up having to help the driver navigate the route 🗺 as he was a Troy driver who didn’t have a good idea how to get to Voorheesville. Based on my experience, I was thining it would be just easier and a lot warmer to just take the bus in both ways, and walk laps on the Plaza but then my mind was changed.
Thinking tonight I will need to turn the heat on ♨️ at least downstairs to keep it from getting too cold, though my plan after dinner is to retire to bed under the electric blanket, much like last night. It’s dark and cold out at night, so I like to get to bed early and sleep a lot, plus read or watch a video under the covers on my phone. 📱 While turning out the lights at 7 PM might not save a lot, it does mean I get more sleep, and it’s so cozy with the heated blanket.
Attention Daylight Savings Time Haters! So do you prefer:
1) Very dark mornings in November and December, waking up and driving to work in the dark
2) Very dark and early evenings when you get out of work in July and August, so you barely have time enjoy a steak in the evening before it’s pitch black?
If you repeal daylight savings time: Sunset on August 15th in Albany – 6:56 PM
If you keep daylight savings time year round: Sunrise on December 10th in Albany – 8:19 AM
