Healthy eating has been so tough on my stomach 🥦🫃💩
I really thought I would be able to overcome the upset rumbling stomachs, the gas and pain, the mixture of constipation and the runs from my high-fiber, high-protein diet I’ve been on. I like being satisfied and eating good healthy foods, and I thought I could adapt but lately it’s been so difficult. As much as I like those bowls of kidney beans with maple syrup, the homemade bread with carrots, the 15-bean soup and pea soup, I think I need to seriously think about cutting back on eating those kinds of things are truthfully, it’s not making me healthy, it’s making me sick.
I want to be healthy and live the good life, but right now I don’t think I am going in that direction with my irritable bowels, excessive pissing from excessive water. I’ve been checked out by my doctor, I am healthy and only improving as my weight continues to decline and my nutrient profile increases, with healthy blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar levels. But I do obsess over food too much these days, and just have gotten so horrified at what most Americans eat these days and think tastes good. Good I guess if you like the taste of food that’s poisoning your body.
Decided to Try to Keep Big Red for Another Year 🛻
November 30th is a big decision day for me — to renew or not to renew the 1-year certificate of deposit that I have about $70k of cash invested in. If I renew the certificate of deposit, then I won’t be able to necessarily get a new truck next year if I need one.
But do I need a new truck?
The answer is probably not. Big Red is 12 years old, going on 13 years next October. He has about 107,000 miles on him, which by auto standards isn’t that old. For the most part he’s running pretty good. The 35 inch tires I put on Red two years ago now, are still in good shape. No signs of unsual wear or alignment issues on the truck. Red hasn’t been burning much oil lately, doesn’t have any new or unusual noises, has about as much rust as you might think of a vehicle through 12 harsh salty winters.
The usual issues for an older lifted truck — the power windows and seats don’t work perfectly, rusty wheel wells and corner panels, the one tail light leaks water and has to be emptied from time to time to keep the bulb from burning out, after I had the coolant changed the first few times I used the heater I could smell coolant thinking the flush might have caused a leak, the ball joints creek and grone when I crank the wheels tight to get into a tight spot, and the shocks and struts are pretty worn, especially noticeable in the rough country. The 5.3l engine, like most of them, has a lifter that ticks, especially when cold and left at idle speed for a prolonged time. But it’s been doing that for a decade plus now. They all do it to some extent. When the transmission is cold, the 2-3 shift can be a bit rough, a sign that the 460LE tranny is wearing out and not perfectly healthy but probably has a bit more life left in it. Also, not a brand new behavior. I had the transmission fluid changed at 50k, I could do it again, but it’s a expensive process as the pull the whole case off to get the filter, and my local mechanic doesn’t do it. I concede it ain’t going to last forever.
That’s everything I’m aware of, there are probably other issues too.
The thing is I probably can get another year out of it. The more I get out of Big Red, the more economical it will be. New trucks are so expensive, especially compared to 12 years ago. I make a lot more money these days, but still. I am not planning a West Virginia trip next year, due to my busy work schedule next year, probably the farthest I’ll get is the Finger Lakes. If I notice any new odd behaviors or noises, I’ll drop the truck off at my local mechanic to look it over carefully. It’s a risk to try to keep Big Red on the road for another year until December 2024 but with clear rewards in financial savings.
I am not in the place where I would be stranded without a vehicle, as I live in the city. There are towing and repair costs should Big Red break down on a road trip, and costs to rent a car or finding lodging. Though if I am only going out to the Finger Lakes at the farthest, the truth is I could always rent a car for the a few days and if necessary camp in a tent or stay at a motel somewhere. All cheaper then buying a new vehicle. There is no guarantee that my old truck is going to break down on a trip, indeed probably the odds are against that. I had a wonderful trip down to West Virginia followed by Madison County with no issues at all whatever.
The thing to is that breaking a one-year certificate of deposit isn’t that costly should for some reason Big Red break have to be replaced. The only way you end up losing some principal is if you break the CD between the end of the grace period and first quarter of the CD. Beyond the first quarter, you only really risk losing a portion of the accumulated interest over the most recent few months. But the thing about breaking a CD, according to the terms, is you only loose what you pull from the CD — you don’t have to cash out the full CD and only are penalized on what you remove prior the maturity date. And that 5% interest rate on one-year CD is quite attractive, even if it’s not that much over the high-interest savings account I also have with that firm. I wouldn’t have to break the even much of that CD, as I have nearly $40k in high-interest savings, and maybe not even touch it at all with the trade in on Big Red and choosing a smaller, more affordable truck or even car. Another option would be to cash in savings bonds or even sell stock, although the later option is likely a last resort, even though the markets have been up.
Committing to keep Big Red on the for another year, is a bit of a leap of faith that he’ll keep pushing on but compared to situation a lot of people are in when it comes to cars, I can’t be that worried or upset. I won’t need to get an auto loan most likely, and the worse that would happen is I loose a couple hundred bucks of interest by choosing to renew the certificate of deposit. I like Big Red and I’d loathe to give him up at this point, even if he is a bit expensive to operate and long in the tooth. Plus I am not totally sure I would want to replace Big Red with — do I want to get an electric car, a smaller pickup like a Toyota Tacoma that is fuel efficient and easier to get in and out of campsites and truck trails, or do I want the room of a 3/4 ton long bed truck? And moving to that new office in suburbs, I could decide to start driving to work to avoid transferring buses, so I might want a fuel efficient or electric vehicle for such a trip.
Honestly, I don’t know.
I think for now I am committed to Big Red. He’s taken me on a lot of good adventures. I concede he won’t last forever, but I should enjoy the good times while they still roll along. Keeping Red on the road is the most economical option, even if it comes with risks, like with any older vehicle. Repair is better then discard and replace it. If he doesn’t make it another year, I have options, breaking a CD isn’t the worse thing ever, especially if I don’t have to break the full value of CD to tap it to cover additional costs beyond what I keep in savings for replacing Red.
Local government makes no sense today
Eliminating county and local government a lot of sense…
I am no fan of local government. While I get the desire of communities to have a degree of local control, in modern times where the automobile prevails and development choices impact whole regions, the time is now for more regional government and cutting out of often duplicative local governments. Both municipal and county governments serve no real purpose in the modern age.
It seems like local government agencies have a lot of free time on their hands and taxpayers dollars to waste. Too much taxes, too many elected officials. So much of what they do these days is pass resolutions and meaningless local laws that make political statements about national issues. The few useful things they do are mostly symbolic, allow them to pound their fists in pride, piss off constituents but have no real impact.
There are too many elections, it’s confusing for voters. Rather than electing sixty odd representatives over a period of each four years, if we had only a federal government and maybe a state government then elections could be reduced to ten or less races – and it would make choices much more straightforward and allow people to really understand who they are voting for as their leader.
Getting rid of municipal and county government is not a popular proposition but it’s something that should be considered to save taxpayers money and in the sense of justice and fairness. Each state should have one set of laws and regulations not millions of local laws. Courts and law enforcement should be consistent. Regional variation in justice should not exist.
I get why local government exists, mainly because it’s always existed. But it’s no longer 1800 and it’s really is time for a change.
Rainy start to for Regular Deer Season in Southern Zone 🦌
I bet those people sitting in their deer stands this morning are shivering, fighting off hypothermia thinking they probably won’t get their big buck despite the statistics that show two thirds are harvested today. I’m quite okay being inside this morning, enjoying my eggs and spinach, along with the homemade bread, sweet potatoes and butternut squash that I baked starting a little after 5 AM this morning.
Good morning! Rain and 45 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ There is a north-northwest breeze at 9 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around midnight tonight. ☃️ Kind of a yucky morning, temperature is going to drift downwards as more sun appears later with a steady breeze to keep things good and cool for the balance of the day. That said it’s mild enough, that the heat is off, though I have plenty of warmth inside after all that cooking this morning. 👩🍳
While I don’t really need to get up at 5 AM on my day off ⏰ I wake up that hour, especially as I was asleep before 8 PM last night as it was such a dreary night and I lacked the energy to do my evening walk, 🏃♀️ though to be fair, I did get in 10,000 steps 👣 for the day, rode my bike 7 3/4 miles to work via the rail trail 🚲, walked laps at lunch time on the Plaza and then did the stairs up and down to my 18th floor office downtown. I do note that once I move to the suburban North Albany office in a few weeks though it’s going to be more difficult to do the stairs, though I am thinking I’ll probably transfer buses a the Empire Plaza and can walk laps there or days I ride in it’s a bit longer of a ride then downtown, though not the Madison Avenue Hill, though lately I’ve been using Arch Street/Warren Street past the Albany City Jail 👮♀️ and then heading up Park Avenue and Museum Road (yes, the wrong way on a one way street) to the Plaza to avoid the worse of the hill. 🤷♂️ 🤣
I was thinking blueberry pancakes this morning 🥞 👎 🍳 but ended up deciding I so love the onions, tomatoes, spinach and eggs for a more protein packed day that will keep me going all day. Also cooked up some kidney beans, I am thinking of making homemade spaghetti sauce from canned tomatoes, chop up some onions, cumin and red pepper with peas and spinach thrown over some chickpea pasta 🍝 for dinner tonight. Along with a generous side of butternut squash and maybe some of the sweet potatoes. 🍠 🍆
Lunch is going to be some leftover beef stew I got from my parents house about two or three weeks ago that’s been frozen, tossed over some peas and sweet potatoes. 😋 I need to use up some of the leftovers I keep taking home from my parents house. I often forget about left overs. Mom makes good food, even if it is more calorie dense then I would prefer, but then again maybe I’ve gotten a bit extreme with my own cooking. 👨🍳 I just don’t want slip back into the old life of being so heavy and out of shape. The left over stew should be real tasty. 🍲 I can’t complain, mom’s home cooking won’t be around forever, as she’s getting up there in the years, and it’s something you can only enjoy until you no longer can.
Having that extra pot of coffee ☕ this morning, with the cinnamon and ginger. I am not planning on heading out until a while, and only to the library, so if I spend my day pissing it away, I don’t care. I just like an extra cup or three on this cold morning, with that rich tangy taste of cinnamon and ginger. Plus yesterday when I was walking I started to feel a bit achy, 😣 first time in a long time, apparently the turmeric with the spinach, onions and eggs isn’t enough to overcome all those stairs I’ve climbed 🧗♀️ over the past week, lol. 🤣 What can I say, I’m getting ducking old 🦆 in a few weeks I’ll be 41. That means two decades have passed since I can legally drink and that first time I went out to the bar with the Young Democrats. I just remember that night at the Lionheart Cafe downtown, and how much that bar stunk of alcohol 🍻 I think because it was right after they had banned smoking at bars 🚭 and they hadn’t gotten good at cleaning all that spilled beer. Or maybe the Lionheart was more of a dive college bar back in the day.
Today will have showers likely, mainly before 7am. Cloudy through mid morning, then gradual clearing 🌧 👉 🌞, with a high of 45 degrees at 6am. Three degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 25th. North wind 9 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 43 degrees. The record high of 71 was set in 1928. 9.0 inches of snow fell back in 1980.❄
I am thinking I’ll watch and do some more of the Udemeny Course on Remote Sensing 🛰 and then shower and go down to the library 📚 so I can use the internet on my laptop this morning without working about data use at 10 AM. Then maybe check out the Bethlehem Sportsmart at 1 PM for skis, ⛷ and then in the afternoon ride out to Voorheesville, maybe visiting Indian Ladder Farms for apples. 🍎 Or I could just get apples at Price Chopper on Sunday. Also want to see if I can repair my broken vacuum cleaner. Also thinking about doing some soldering and working on an electronics project this evening. I haven’t done much electronics in a while now. 🤓
Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:41 am with sun having an altitude of 28.2° from the due south horizon (-42.6° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 11.2 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:49 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (237°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (244°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:32 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 14 seconds with dusk around 5:01 pm, which is 49 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the First Quarter 🌓 Moon in the south (185°) at an altitude of 24° from the horizon, 227,672 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:37 pm. At sunset, look for clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 42 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 11 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 43 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 3 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 31 degrees at 3am. Typical for tonight. Northwest wind 5 to 9 mph becoming light and variable. In 2022, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 21 degrees. The record low of 12 occurred back in 1972.
Pretty much typical weather for this evening. 🛌 I’ll probably head to bed pretty early as it gets dark out so early, and I prefer an earlier start. I want to get to Price Chopper tomorrow morning before the crowds 🛒 and get the groceries I need for the week with my coupons. 🎫 And then get up and going on the day. Maybe ride out to Five Rivers 🐦 to enjoy the sunshine and cold before heading out to the folks house for Sunday dinner. 🍲 They are making chilli which should be good.
Going to shop at Price Chopper come Sunday as I have two $5 off $50 coupons, 🎫 giving one to mom and one for my own use. Plus I have a $2 off $10 in meat or fish coupon to use, I’ll probably stock up on frozen salmon for the next time I decide to bake up some salmon. 🐠 I haven’t had salmon in a few weeks, and I think I don’t have any more in my freezer currently but its an excellent source of omega-3 fats. 😋
Looking ahead, next Saturday is Small Business Saturday 🛍️ when the sun will be setting at 4:27 pm with dusk at 4:56 pm. On that day in 2022, we had mostly cloudy, rain showers and temperatures between 49 and 40 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 45 degrees. We hit a record high of 64 back in 2004.
I am watching the forecast, 🌨 especially to see how much snow they get up north on Wednesday, but I’m hopeful to head up to the Adirondacks come Friday, to camp and maybe hike or possibly ski along the East Branch more likely. 🏕 I would probably take off Cyber Monday so I can have a three-day weekend, as I’ve been planning for some time now, though I am running a bit low on vacation time for the year, and don’t want to drop below 210 hours for the year if I can avoid it to maximize my roll over into next year, where I may need the extra hours to cover time spent working at the campaign committee along with trips I plan for the summer and autumn. 👩💻 That said, I’m hopeful to do remote work at times next year, so maybe I can extend some of my camping trips while working from the Spectulator Library or the hotspot and my laptop in a hammock from camp. But not until spring time, as it’s too cold and not enough solar in autumn.
![Untitled [Expires December 17 2025]](https://andyarthur.org//data/photo_019613_large.jpg)
I’m fried this evening 🍳
It’s the only way to describe it as a fry up a pan of onions and sweet potatoes for dinner to go along with the remaining pea soup and homemade I have in my pantry. It’s been a long five day week, just a lot of brain twisting projects at work along with long periods of hurry up and wait, and I’m exhausted. It’s going to be a rainy day to start out the weekend, and once I get done kneading the bread I’m going to retire to bed so I can be up at 5 o’clock to start baking and cooking up breakfast.
Riding downtown early on this TGIF 🚲
I was on the fence about riding in today but I figured it would save a buck thirty and I figured even if the weather is crap for the evening I’m not going to be riding home as it’s dark out.
Good morning! Yeah, it’s Friday! Partly cloudy and 46 degrees at the Empire State Plaza. ⛅ There is a south breeze at 13 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at Monday around noontime. ☃️
That wind is really whipping around on the Plaza 🌬️ but the actual ride in was quite pleasant. I’d like to get in 10,000 steps for the day 👣 but that might be hard as I have a one o’clock meeting 🧑💼 and I’m not sure if it will be nice enough to walk in the evening. Plus it’s a Friday and I’m tired but the 7 ¾ mile bike ride from Delmar to the office downtown 🏢 and the eighteen flights of stairs to my office has to count for something.
Today will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 63 degrees at 1pm. 14 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 13th. Maximum dew point of 50 at 4pm. South wind 13 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 44 degrees. The record high of 73 was set in 1928. 2.8 inches of snow fell back in 1992.❄
That’s a pretty impressive forecast to start the day out, and it was worth it to ride in. 🚲 I was a bit hesitant as the weather is going to be cool and windy 🌬 come the evening as the front pushes through that will bring rain for SZ opening day 🦌 and I’m planning on bringing my laptop home, 💻 and hauling the day pack with the laptop carrying case plus loading my bike on the bus 🚌 can be a bit of a armful but I’ve done it before. Bike will ride good on the bus even if it’s windy I’m sure, as there is plenty of wind pushing on the bike every other day I ride the bus with my bike on the expressway.
Yesterday I got sweet onions 🧅 and that was the first thing I chopped up this morning and fried up with spinach, mushrooms 🍄 tomatoes 🍅 and eggs 🥚. You know a good fiber and protein rich breakfast. 🍳 When I make up eggs, it’s rarely more than the eggs are glue to be used with all those delicious 😋 vegetables.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:41 am with sun having an altitude of 28.4° from the due south horizon (-42.4° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 11.1 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:50 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (237°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (245°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:32 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 13 seconds with dusk around 5:01 pm, which is 52 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the First Quarter 🌓 Moon in the south-southwest (198°) at an altitude of 18° from the horizon, 229,292 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:37 pm. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies ☁ and temperatures around 61 degrees. The dew point will be 50 degrees. Breezy, 18 mph breeze ⛅ from the south with gusts up to 30mph. Should be a pretty mild evening. But windy. Today will have 9 hours and 45 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 6 seconds over yesterday.
Maybe I will be able to do an evening walk 🚶♀️ after all. I will see on how cold and windy it is out this afternoon. I might also walk down to the library, and play with remote sensing data down at the library. But first more of that pea soup 🍲 and homemade bread that I made up yesterday and proved to be a good dinner. Plus maybe I’ll fry up more apples 🍎 and bananas with that avocado oil 🥑 which is great because I can use a ton of heat to cook and brown things without reaching the smoke point.
Tonight will have showers, mainly before 5am. 🌧 Low of 46 degrees at 6am. 13 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 8th. South wind 8 to 16 mph becoming north after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 26 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. In 2022, we had cloudy skies. It got down to 28 degrees. The record low of 10 occurred back in 1972.
Continuing that Udemy Course on Remote Sensing using the Semi Automatic Classification plugin 🗺. I’m not totally sure what I’m going to use my new found skills for but it’s something I’ve been interested in a while. 🖥 Raster math is kind of fun and interesting, especially when you use R to do it. Indeed while I may learn with QGIS I’d probably end up using R just because it’s faster to write code then click on all those dialogs.
Tomorrow will have a chance of showers, mainly before 7am. Cloudy through mid morning, then gradual clearing 🌞, with a high of 49 degrees at 12pm. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 16th. North wind 10 to 13 mph. Chilly with that wind though. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 43 degrees. The record high of 71 was set in 1928. 9.0 inches of snow fell back in 1980.❄
Doesn’t look like a real great Saturday, ⛷ but I might go to the Bethlehem Sports Mart that the Boy Scouts host at the High School and look at Cross Country Skis. Then maybe ride out to Voorheesville, just to check out the new Slingerlands temporary rail trail bridge, 🌉 and maybe get apples 🍏 at Indian Ladder and other things at Hannaford Voorheesville. I’ll still probably get up at 5 o’clock to bake bread 🥖🍞 and Butternut Squash. 🍆
Looking ahead to Sunday, a slight chance of showers before 1pm. 😎 Partly sunny, with a high near 47. Southwest wind 8 to 15 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Another cool day with the wind, but being SZ season, I’ll probably not wander too far out in the woods. 🦌 But maybe ride out to Five Rivers. And also run to the grocery store for the big weekly shop 🛒 . Chance of precipitation is 20%. Typical average high for the weekend is 48 degrees.
Looking ahead, next Friday is Buy Nothing Day 🛍️ when the sun will be setting at 4:27 pm with dusk at 4:56 pm. On that day in 2022, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 49 and 24 degrees. I know you will miss all the sales but that plastic shit kind of stinks when you burn it. Typically, the high temperature is 46 degrees. We hit a record high of 70 back in 2014.
I’m still hoping to get out of town next Friday into next week ⛺ 🚵 but I’m watching the forecast and it seems like the Adirondacks might be getting it’s first good snow come the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. 🌨 It’s not to say I can’t hot tent though, as long as the snow banks aren’t too deep along NY 8. Maybe the bigger issue is that next weekend might be cold ❄ quite cold up north. It’s not the mercury I’m concerned about but if it’s windy out or not. That wind chill can really get to you.
