Balsam Swamp is a sprawling state forest that stretches almost 5.5 miles east-west across 4 towns. The area is very rural, and the landscape surrounding the State Forest is predominantly forested. Balsam Swamp State Forest is comprised of a mix of native hardwood forests, hemlock swamps, and conifer plantations. There are no designated recreational trails on the forest, but there is ample opportunity for self-guided day hikes to explore the diversity of habitats represented on this State Forest. Additionally, the western section of Balsam Swamp State Forest is adjacent to Five Streams State Forest to the south.
The main attraction of this forest is Balsam Pond. The impoundment is approximately 152 acres and is a popular destination for fishing and paddle boat sports. Balsam Pond is a warm water fishery that contains a mix of largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, chain pickerel, yellow perch, brown bullhead and sunfish. Tiger muskellunge have been stocked in the past with the last stocking occurring in 1995. However, there have been very few reports of anglers catching any of the adult tiger muskies. A shallow gravel boat launch is suitable for launching small fishing boats.
A small rustic camp ground is also located at Balsam Pond. Camping spaces are available at no cost on a first-come, first-serve basis and there is no running water or electricity. A fire ring, outhouse, and picnic table are provided for each camping space. A sign on Balsam-Tyler Road in Pharsalia designates the entrance to the boat launch and camping facility. This is a carry-in carry-out facility. Please do not litter.
For many the extra hours is a chance to sleep in but I look at it as another hour to ride and explore the Erie Canalway today.
Good morning! Happy Sunday. Cloudy and 44 degrees at the Stoney Pond State Forest. ☔ Calm wind. Nice morning now that the rain showers have pulled away.
Started my morning with frying 🍳 onions, spinach, garlic and peppers. And making eggs, dumping cinnamon rather than chipotle on them but actually I kind of liked the warm note the cinnamon gave to the eggs 🥚. Experimenting isn’t a bad thing even if it’s driven by your half awake body. Coffee ☕ is good, with the intended cinnamon and ginger in it, lol 😂.
Bit cooler this morning then last night with the breeze picking up 🌬️ after that little clipper front came through delivering rain showers early on keeping me mostly in the truck bed 🛏 until closer to six though around five I got up and visited the bucket shitter 🚽. Eating breakfast this morning I watched a gray squirrel 🐿️ run up the tree across the way and wonder why I wasn’t sitting next to my 22. Probably shouldn’t be shooting in a campground at any rate, especially as there are people camping down the way by the lake, but we used to shoot up here back in the day with the boys when I was working down in Nelson. Those were the days. 🔫 I was surprised that others are camping but they’re a ½ mile away and out of ear shot. 👂 Except maybe from a gun.
Today will have a chance of showers, mainly before 8am. Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny 🌥 👉 🌞, with a high of 46 degrees at 1pm. Eight degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 23rd. Light west wind becoming northwest 5 to 9 mph in the morning. Chantce of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies. The high last year was 76 degrees. The record high of 75 was set in 1994. 3.0 inches of snow fell back in 1894.❄
Heading down to Chittenango to explore the Chittenango Landing Musuem, 🚣 and ride the Erie Canalway west to Green Lakes area and then go west to Canastota. I was originally going to park in Canastota as I thought it was closer but I think I’d rather explore the other part of the trail as it seems more interesting. 🚲 The Oneida – Canastota section pretty much just runs along the road that I’ve driven a million times when I was working up this way.
I could stop at the Aldi’s in Canastota this afternoon but I think I’m fairly set on overpriced groceries after visiting the Richmond Springs Price Chopper. 💵 It actually wasn’t that bad but I skipped getting peppers and broccoli 🥦 there as they were absurdly expensive. I skipped getting gas in Sharon Springs for $3.54 a gallon and was raked over the coals for gas at $3.79 in Richfield Springs ⛽ but I wasn’t messing around this time as I almost ran out of gas driving down to Binghamton two weeks ago. ⛽ Figured better just get r dun. It’s stupid to stress over $4 when your putting $80 in your truck. I got black sweet grapes 🍇 at Price Chopper hoping to capture some of that sweet flavor of the concord grapes I got last week at Annuto’s. Lol. 😂 Nope, maybe 20%, of the sweetness. Tomorrow I’ll probably check out the fancy Caz Aldi’s though.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:47 am with sun having an altitude of 31.5° from the due south horizon (-39° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 9.8 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:11 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (242°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (249°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:52 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 7 seconds with dusk around 5:20 pm, which is one minute and 13 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:55 pm. Time change gets you! At sunset, look for partly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 42 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 9 mph. Tomorrow will have 10 hours and 9 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 28 seconds over today.
Night is going to come quickly that’s why I am getting an early start 🌅 and have gathered firewood up for later. 🪵🪓 This way it will have time to dry ☀ and I fully expect tonight I’ll be rolling back to camp about sunset 🌇 after riding the bulk of the day. Should be more sun later plus I get an extra hour with the time change. Need to shave, change and load my bike up but for now it’s nice by the heater. ♨
Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌃, with a low of 33 degrees at 6am. Two degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 10th. Northwest wind around 6 mph becoming calm. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It became somewhat humid as the night progressed. It got down to 67 degrees. Very mild night for November last year. I think I was in West Virginia then. The record low of 15 occurred back in 1951.
Yesterday was a fun day, 🚵 especially riding back down Tassel Hill once I found the trail. Some of those drops on the single track trail with the hairpin switchbacks were a blast on the mountain bike. Nothing technical or jumps just a lot of fun. That said parts of the lower trail weren’t well marked leading me to have to stop 🛑 and sear he for the trail a few times. 🔎 🗺
Then I rode along the old Chenango Canal Towpath trail 🚲 to the northern end or at least as far as I could go before downed trees blocked the northern end a bit past the substation. The northern end isn’t that impressive, 🐸 it’s a ditch and a towpath along the County Highway known as Canal Road. Kind of rough and slow going on the grass, took the county highway back. I then rode down to Woodman Pond 🦆 where there was a ton of geese. Nice section of the trail there though they resurfaced the old towpath there with fairly course gravel which made for more difficult riding.
Got to Stoney Pond by around 4:15 pm and I was disappointed to arrive to the campsite I like ⛺ and find a construction bag full of garbage and more garbage dumped in the woods. 🌲🌳🗑️ Got the mess picked upand seperated out the deposit cans, ♻ and gathered firewood 🪵🪓 for the night. 🔥 It was a beautiful night but dark, came so quickly by though. Very mild in the low fifties with a calm wind. This morning is cooler. Really wasn’t much garbage left by the time that rip roaring fire was done, the scraps of aluminum and cans I’ll take home crushed and recycle ♻.
One month 📅 from now will be Repeal of Prohibition Day 🍺 when the sun will be setting at 4:30 pm with dusk at 5:00 pm. I don’t drink the way I used to due to health reasons but an occasional drink isn’t a bad thing, especially a real high quality brew.
Next weekend now looks better lol? I’m packed though and ready to go with an ambitious agenda. More sun would be nice but I take what I can get as winter’s coming and I have Monday off with Tuesday being a state holiday for the mostly uncompetitive elections I voted in last week mostly pissed about the drone issue not that I even own a drone.
Good morning! Mostly cloudy and 42 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ There is a south breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. The skies will clear around 6 pm.
I had forgotten how unpleasant the side effects were from the COVID jab 💉 as my arm 💪🏻 was a sore throughout yesterday though the bike ride in the cold both ways probably didn’t help. 🚲 And then I was sleepy 😴 all afternoon yesterday, maybe because it was a five 5⃣ day work week after
So I’m off for a four day trip out to Madison County. 🐮 Not quite West Virginia but it’s a good adventure I have planned closer to home. 🌥 Not going to be a real sunny weekend but mild, not looking super wet. Lots of gravel biking maybe some single track trail riding come Tuesday. Plus exploring Chittenango and Canastota on the Erie Canalway. 🚲 Plus Cazenovia, a fun town and I want to check out the Aldi there. 🛒
Tried to keep the packing list 📃 simple and to the essentials for this four day, three nights trip. I’m close enough to stores 🏬 to buy supplies if I forget something or if things go terribly wrong I can head home. 🏡 But a lot of the camping 🏕 gear I keep in the truck year round. Trying though to keep this trip under $100 for all consumables like gasoline, and any items above and beyond ordinary food. Banana or oatmeal that I would eat regardless don’t count but paper towels do. Though most of the consumables I have from vacation already bought.
Quick breakfast 🥚 of eggs I boiled last night, some whole wheat bread I baked on Thursday 🍞, apple 🍏 and I’ll bring an a banana for the road. A five hour energy ⚡ for my caffeine jolt and a quick shower 🚿 and hopefully I won’t be pissing all day. No ginger or tumeriac until I’m to camp, lol. 😂 That five hour energy ☕ packs in as much caffeine as 2 ½ cups of coffee which I probably would otherwise drink and be pissing my way to Madison County. Plus I drank a lot of water 💦 yesterday to overcome the symptoms of the COVID jab.
Stopping at Tractor Supply in Guilderland to top off my propane tank 🏮 after 8 am when they open to be safe though it’s not super low after such a mild vacation but the nights are long and cool especially with the time change. 🕒 Set my manual clocks ahead at home, will do the truck before I leave. Also will need more gasoline and a few groceries – bananas 🍌, apples 🍏, carrots 🥕 and whatever fruit and vegetables look good and are cheap as I’m good on grains and proteins. Maybe honey, 🍯 cottage cheese and Greek yogurt. Canned pumpkin? 🎃 And fuel ⛽ for the truck.
Today will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a high of 55 degrees at 2pm. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 2nd. South wind around 6 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 71 degrees. The record high of 76 was set in 1994. There was a dusting of snow in 2006.❄
Going to be a rather gray day today but the plan is to spend the balance of the day riding the Chenango Canal Trail 🚲 down to Hamilton from Bouckville. But not too late as the sun sets early and I want to have time to find firewood. 🔥 Gain an extra hour tonight and I get up so early these days, but I’m going to be a bit more relaxed about getting up but still probably in darkness to maximize the limited daylight. 🌅 Plus I like sipping coffee ☕ watching the sun rise.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:40 pm with sun having an altitude of 32.1° from the due south horizon (-38.8° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 9.6 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 5:06 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (243°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (250°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 5:46 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 6 seconds with dusk around 6:14 pm, which is one minute and 15 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:49 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 53 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 5 mph. Tomorrow will have 10 hours and 12 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 28 seconds over today.
Yesterday was my last bike 🚲 ride home after work with the time change 🕒 but I still think I want to try to ride to work as much as possible until too cold and snowy ☃ and take the bus 🚍 home in the evening. It was a nice ride home, the wind not as strong as I had feared. But by no means am I going to ride through the South End after dark and onto an unlit bike path in the gorge. But the buses all have racks to take my bike home. 🚶 And I’m going to start doing evening and probably morning walks again.
Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 41 degrees at 5am. Six degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 17th. Calm wind. In 2022, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 61 degrees. The record low of 17 occurred back in 1951.
Got looking at Ebooks and all the online services my library offers. 📚 I’m still in the mindset of the library being just physical books but they have hundreds of ebooks, magazines, and especially those free training classes on advanced computer classes for GIS 🗺 and other skills like programming with Udemeny. While I probably wouldn’t pay for the online classes, they’re remarkably good and free through the library. 🖥 And they can be accessed from my smartphone 📱.
Looking ahead, next Saturday is Veterans Day 🪖 when the sun will be setting at 4:38 pm with dusk at 5:07 pm (Standard Time). Big change with the time change. Friday also is a state holiday with Veterans day observed then. On that day in 2022, we had rain and temperatures between 69 and 48 degrees. This year it could snow or be wet ☔ or maybe not it depends on the timing of the front come Thursday into Friday. Typically, the high temperature is 51 degrees. We hit a record high of 70 back in 2002.
It’s an interesting question to ask if the President’s support for Isreal risks him having persons of the Islamic faith sitting out this election. Minorities, once the base of the Democratic Party have increasingly, in small numbers, voted Republican in part due to cultural issues like abortion but also because a small but growing number of minorities, especially immigrants are business owners and the Democrats are often seen as hostile to business owners, especially when tax season comes. Or when they find more government regulations getting in the way of the way they’ve always operated their business in the past.
Taking a four day weekend starting tomorrow to ride the Erie Canalway in Madison County, Chittenango – Cazenovia trailway, Chittenango Falls State Park and around Cazenovia, Chenango Canal and maybe finally some of the single track trails at Alfred Woodford State Forest / Tassel Hill on Tuesday if not too wet.
Not going to be a real sunny weekend but next weekend – Veterans Day Weekend – looks cold and maybe snowy or wet. SZ rifle in two, Thanksgiving in three. December is a wildcard in lake effect country. Winter’s rapidly approaching!
Doesn’t necessarily mean that I won’t still ride in the morning or if I can ask the big director to leave early occasionally I can leave early to ride home. But soon a lot more busing it home on the express hopefully! The authority is about to get rich on my back.
Good morning! Yeah, it’s Friday! Time to blow this town, head out to Mad County come Saturday. Kind of like West Virginia but with more cows and smaller hills and no coal fields but more manure. 💩 Partly clear and 35 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌅 There is a south-southeast breeze at 8 mph. 🍃. Going to need the gloves 🧤 for the ride in.
My arm is a bit sore 💪🏻 feels like I spent the day at the range 🔫 from getting my COVID and flu jabs 💉 last night but I made up for it with a protein packed breakfast of eggs 🍳 with edamame 🟢, broccoli, onions and topped with lots of cottage cheese, tumeriac and nutritional yeast. Lunch is brown rice with lentils and even more edamame and tumeriac. 🍚 Got to have that protein to make my arm feel good. And coffee ☕ with cinnamon and ginger. Ginger and turmeric are supposed to reduce pain and aches. But I’ll be pissing like a cow in a pasture today. But then again tomorrow I’ll be heading to Madison County where they have a lot of them. 🐮
Had a mouse 🐁 making a ton of noise last night after I got up to take a piss 🚽 in part because I drunk extra water 💦 yesterday after getting vaxxed as recommended by the CDC to help with symptoms. I’m going to have to try the bucket trap again 🪤 or get more sticky traps as the spring trap isn’t working well as they keep picking the peanut 🥜 butter off it. Plus my arm 💪🏻 started to hurt a bit after waking up. Annoying as hell but I made up for it by sleeping into six. ⏰ No need to rush as the rice 🍚 doesn’t take as long as many of the soups I cook makes.
Got the space heater out yesterday. ♨ And also the heating pad and electric blanket though the later is not yet on my bed. 🛏 Only used the heating pad and space heater briefly the other night when my fingers were cold from riding home. Need to work on using some sealant tape around the door 🚪 to stop air leaks and put the storm windows 🪟 back in and lock the other windows for the winter. ❄ I think the cold season is back but just wait and we’ll have a heat wave 🌊 during this El Niño winter. ☀ Holding off on the central gas heat for now, as it’s not so cold plus the cooking each morning warms things up.
Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 55 degrees at 3pm. Not as cold mercury wise but it might feel colder with the wind. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 2nd. South wind 8 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. Going to feel that wind riding home past Ezra Prentiss one last time before the time change. 🌬️ 🚲 A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with sunny skies in the afternoon. The high last year was 68 degrees. The record high of 75 was set in 1990. 0.9 inches of snow fell back in 1951.❄
Why can’t we have such nice weather for the four 4⃣ days election weekend? 🗳 I stuffed my split ticket ballot 🗳 into the box so I’m free to head to Madison County to camp ⛺ and ride trail 🚵 assuming that I can get the day off but it doesn’t look like a problem from the work calendar 🗓.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:40 pm with sun having an altitude of 32.4° from the due south horizon (-38.4° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 9.5 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 5:07 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (243°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (250°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 5:47 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 5 seconds with dusk around 6:15 pm, which is one minute and 15 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:50 pm. At sunset, look for partly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 54 degrees. Breezy, 16 mph breeze ⛅ from the south. Tomorrow will have 10 hours and 15 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 31 seconds over today.
Got Udemy Business installed on my phone 📱 which allows you to take free online classes on a wide variety of technical ⚙ and computer 🖥 classes online with your library card 💳 at least those libraries that offer it 📚 which looks like mostly just the Bethlehem Library locally. I’m enrolled in a class on the basics of remote sensing 🌎 which is about using satellites 🛰 to detect what is happening on earth’s surface. Interesting stuff so many great classes offered. 🧑🏫
I survived my vaxxing 💉 and while I noticed my shoulder was a bit sore 💪🏻come the middle of the night it was worth it to know I’m significantly protected from the latest in the COVID and flu strains. Took both shots to the left arm. It was a nice walk 🚶 to the pharmacy, and no I didn’t become autistic and stab myself with a knife 🗡 or go crazy 🤪 donate any money 💵 to Sandy’s Hookers Promise. Honestly the only side effect I’ve had feels like an afternoon at the range with the kick of a shotgun. With ammo I bought down at West Virginia, lol 😂. Don’t tell Governor Hokey that. She should be just proud that I got my jabs and now the geriatrics and mentally retarded immune suppressed children won’t die, or so we’ve been told. Actually at this point the pharmacy ⚕ isn’t even filling out the COVID cards 🎴 and it was quick in an out, no crowds or this fake bullshit vaccine patriotism of a few years back.
It was a pleasant evening for that walk. 🏃♀️ As I won’t be riding home after tonight, I should plan to start doing more evening walks. I think I got out of the habit after riding home and being tired, after having a good meal and wanting to retire to bed with a book. 📖 But I really need to start doing more steps if I’m riding less. Got home and shredded some apples in the food processor 🍎 with cinnamon and ginger, had a good glass of water 🥛 and some yogurt in hope of avoiding the worse effects of the flu and COVID vaccine.
Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 38 degrees at 6am. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 27th. South wind 8 to 13 mph. In 2022, we had clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 46 degrees. The record low of 17 occurred back in 1951.
Normally I wouldn’t head out of town right after vacation 🛻but it’s November and rifle season starts in two weeks and it might be cold and wet next week though the forecast has improved recently. The other director is off around Thanksgiving 🦃 so that makes it difficult for me to extend that weekend plus I wouldn’t want to miss turkey day and we may have snow by then. Who know, winters coming. ☃️
Tomorrow will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a high of 56 degrees at 4pm. Two degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 31st. South wind around 7 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with sunny skies in the afternoon. The high last year was 71 degrees. The record high of 76 was set in 1994. There was a dusting of snow in 2006.❄
Looking ahead to Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 55. ☀ Calm wind becoming northwest around 6 mph in the afternoon. Definitely an improvement from a few days ago but maybe not quite as nice in Madison County That said if I can’t get Monday off its not the end of the world. Typical average high for the weekend is 54 degrees.
As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until Buy Nothing Day 🛍️ when the sun will be setting at 4:27 pm with dusk at 4:57 pm (Standard Time). On that day in 2022, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 49 and 24 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 46 degrees. We hit a record high of 70 back in 2014.
Literally that’s how I feel about it but I’ve found you can overdo fiber, especially without enough water it can be really tough on the stomach, and end that connects to the stomach, the poop and fart hole. Pea soup lately has been a real downfall of mine, oh do I like the sweet and healthy taste of fresh pea soup but sometimes I eat it much too dry and it’s punishing on my stomach as it rumbles and come out as gas.
