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.
When the time change first hit with that power outage on Monday things were quite dark. But we are gaining daylight quickly in the morning in part because the transit of the sun is shifting earlier due to earth wobble and because spring is approaching rapidly adding daylight to both ends of the day.
Good morning! Happy Thursday. Can you believe it? I can’t. Partly cloudy and 42 degrees at the land of the Delmaritian. 🌤️ Calm wind. Temperatures will drop below freezing at Monday around 11 pm. ☃️ I can probably leave my windows open in the meantime though today was a bit chilly to start out.
Going to really enjoy that bike 🚲 ride in today. It was a cold start with the windows open but it’s warming up quickly with the sun out. 🐦 Those red winged black birds are loud this morning, along with the song sparrows. I got to get back into bird watching again like during the pandemic. I was up at around 4:30 AM but that’s not surprising as I was alseep before 8 PM last night. Got a good nights sleep 🛌 thanks to having the windows open. But I was dog tired before I went to bed. 🐶
Another really nice late winter day ahead. Not record breaking but still. Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 67 degrees at 3pm. 23 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around May 2nd. Light and variable wind becoming northwest 5 to 7 mph in the morning. A year ago, we had light snow in the morning, which became heavy snow by afternoon. The high last year was 35 degrees. The record high of 75 was set in 1946. 17.0 inches of snow fell back in 2017.❄
Last night I cooked up a sweet potato in the microwave, 🍠 mixed in some turmeric and nutritional yeast, and had some more of the black beans 🍲 and tomatoes that I cooked up in the morning. It was going to be good meal before for a walk in the park, 🏃 but after dinner I was tired and decided to sit out back and read for a while until it get dark 🔖 and then I went straight to bed. I’ve been so tired lately in evening, because I wake up so early. That said, most mornings I’m not pissing away, but instead after eating breakfast I will read or listen to a podcast — or jot down my thoughts while I watch the sun rise. 🌅
Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:05 pm with sun having an altitude of 45.1° from the due south horizon (-25.7° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 6 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:24 pm with the sun in the west (262°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (268°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:01 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 54 seconds with dusk around 7:29 pm, which is one minute and 11 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the First Quarter 🌓 Moon in the west-southwest (249°) at an altitude of 53° from the horizon, 233,320 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:02 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 58 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Tomorrow will have 11 hours and 59 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 54 seconds over today.
Tonight will have showers, mainly after 9pm. 🌧 Low of 47 degrees at 5am. 20 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 8th. East wind 3 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2023, we had light snow in the evening. It got down to 29 degrees. The record low of 1 occurred back in 1993.
I am going to bring my laptop home tonight, 👩💻 and will walk down to the library 📚 and work down there. I want to research a few more properties, plan out my exploring property from the backroads trip for the weekend, and look more at what options are out there for cabin kits and plans. 🛖 I keep learning more things and discovering more things I don’t know much about.
Today in 1900, the Gold Standard Act is ratified, placing United States currency on the gold standard. 🪙 Did that lead to inflation after it ended in the seventies? Pundits have debated that for decades but with the growing world economy it proved to be unworkable. It kind of had to fade away.
Weekend looks nice for March. ☀ Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 56. Northwest wind 6 to 9 mph. Sunday, showers likely, mainly between 8am and 2pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 51. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Typical average high for the weekend is 45 degrees. If Easter wasn’t two weeks away and were things not during the fire season I’d love to have a night or two in the wilderness. Maybe it will rain and snow for Easter Weekend 🐰 but that’s still my best hope for getting out of town with the Good Friday holiday ☦️.
Looking ahead to next week next Thursday is First Day of Spring 💮 when the sun will be setting at 7:10 pm with dusk at 7:37 pm. On that day in 2023, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 59 and 24 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 47 degrees. We hit a record high of 78 back in 1921. Still looking about a month to a month and a half until a shit ton of black flies 🐜 and tulips 🌷 around. We’re still in the month of the manure spreaders. 💩
The past few years, I’ve been buying a lot of frozen fruit when I go grocery shopping. I really like the bulk bags of frozen fruit you can get at a place like Walmart and some other groceries stores that have 2-4 pounds of frozen fruit in the bag. Not only is frozen fruit good on waffles and pancakes for breakfast, it makes an excellent snack, and is very economical compared to ice cream, chips, candy and cookies.
I saw an advertisement for some kind of bulk junk food supplier the other day on Facebook and had to cringe. Not only was it relatively to expensive to buy those big boxes of junk food, I just saw all the packaging and trash they entailed compared to a single lightweight plastic wrapper around the bulk frozen fruit. And I couldn’t imagine that they would last nearly as frozen fruit, which the only part that has ever gone to waste is the occasional blueberry or strawberry chip that I dropped on the floor and was stepped on or otherwise too disgusting to eat.
Fresh fruit might be slightly tastier then frozen, but it tends to be a lot more expensive and a lot more goes to waste due to spoilage. Frozen fruit never spoils. And fresh fruit tends to be a lot more packaged, meaning a lot more trash. Maybe if I lived out in the country and had hogs, chickens and acreage where I could feed or compost the waste and burn the packaging, I’d feel different, but I generally avoid fresh fruit unless I get it at a farm stand in the summer and it eat up in woods where frozen goods can’t be kept frozen.
Nebraska Bridge is behind the Tionesta Storm Control Reservoir. Built before the reservoir. When water levels are high like in the spring, the bridge is submerged. As there is little current there, as it’s behind the dam, the bridge just gets wet and covered with branches sometimes. Water level drops, bridge reopens. Happened hundreds of times since dam built in 1940. Bridge built in 1933.
Upper Lisle Bridge
There is a similar bridge on Whitney Point Reservoir in New York. Under water part of the year above water in the summer and dry spells. The Whitney Point submerged bridge dates back to the 1880s. With little current, the bridge is unharmed by the slow rise and fall of water around it.
Last night it was Johnny Cakes with onions and spinach and a bunch of Ms Dash salt-free seasonings, this morning its carrot pancakes with cherries and maple syrup. Salt is bad news, I am trying to stay away from it more these days.
Good morning! What day is it? Jumping the Hump Day, of course. Mostly sunny ☀ and 32 degrees in Delmar, NY. Calm wind. Cold start to the morning but it’s not expected to last.
While it got cool last night and I had to close my windows 😴 which made sleeping a bit hard but they’re back open this morning. Should be a beautiful day for riding to work today 🚲 and it shouldn’t be as dang windy as yesterday. 🌬️ That wind was pushing hard against my face yesterday riding out of the gorge especially when I reached the level in Elsmere.
Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 68 degrees at 4pm. 24 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around May 4th. Calm wind becoming south 5 to 7 mph in the afternoon. A year ago, we had light rain. The high last year was 43 degrees. The record high of 70 was set in 2012. 22.0 inches of snow fell back in 1993.❄
I do like my carrot pancakes 🥞. Carrots are healthy and relatively cheap. It’s hard to get enough fiber in your diet, especially in America these days. Carrots when cooked are slightly sweet and excellent filler as part of hardy but soft pancakes. 🥕 I grind oatmeal and then carrots in my food processor. Add one egg and milk. Add Baking powder. Add cinnamon, ginger and sometimes vanilla. 😋 For sweetness I’ll sometimes add a whole orange, peel and all or a banana. Then a little bit of whole red wheat flour and some water to smooth out the mixture. Top with fruit, honey or real maple syrup. 🍯
Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:06 pm with sun having an altitude of 44.7° from the due south horizon (-26.1° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 6.1 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:23 pm with the sun in the west (261°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (267°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:00 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 54 seconds with dusk around 7:27 pm, which is one minute and 11 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the west-southwest (255°) at an altitude of 40° from the horizon, 230,863 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:01 pm. At sunset, look for partly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 63 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 5 mph. Tomorrow will have 11 hours and 56 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 55 seconds over today.
I have my dental cleaning on Friday 🪥🦷 so I’ll probably end up driving to work that day. If it wasn’t like most of the roads are closed and possibly snow covered I’d consider going to the Green Mountains to camp after work. ⛺ I really could use a good fire 🔥 to burn up some paper and things and to clear my mind. If I stay in town I’m thinking of cruising some roads in Coeymans and New Baltimore looking at land. 🏞 Some places down there might fit what I’m looking for based on my geospatial analysis.
Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌃 , with a low of 40 degrees at 6am. 15 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 22nd. South wind 3 to 5 mph. In 2023, we had light rain in the evening, which became light snow by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 32 degrees. The record low of -6 occurred back in 1948.
I am thinking about bringing my laptop home tonight 👨💻 so I can continue to do some more research about land and property. That said, it’s going to be such a nice evening, I almost want to go to the park instead. 🏞 Maybe tomorrow I’ll bring it home. I don’t like to ride too much with my laptop on my bicycle due to the bumps, but I could bring it home tomorrow, work down at the library 📚 and then I’m driving in on Friday it seems most likely after my dental cleaning.
Today in 1991, the Justice Department announces that Exxon has agreed to pay $1 billion for the clean-up of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. 🛢 Dawn dish soap made out well by donating some surfactants to clean off the oil soaked ducks 🦆.
Looks likea fairly nice spring weekend though showers come Sunday. 🌦️Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 53. Sunday, showers likely after 8am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 54. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Typical average high for the weekend is 45 degrees. Maybe I’ll head out of town but I’m more thinking 💭 about it for the Easter Holiday. 🐰
Looking ahead, there are 4 weeks until 8 PM Dusk 🌆 when the sun will be setting at 7:33 pm. On that day in 2023, we had sunny skies and temperatures between 67 and 30 degrees. Kind of like today. Typically, the high temperature is 57 degrees. We hit a record high of 86 back in 1922. Before my time. But certainly the weather records for this time of year is littered with examples of temperatures in the upper 80s.
At least I have power this morning and it’s not like I’m showering in the pitch black like yesterday. The windows are open as I like the fresh air, even if it’s cold out. Plus I burnt some crap on the stove this morning and it was a smoking.
Good morning! Happy Tuesday. Sunny and 34 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌞 There is a west breeze at 8 mph. 🍃. There is a dusting of snow on the ground. ☃ Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 5 am. ☃️
Going to be such a nice day I plan to leave early 🚲 and ride in via the longer way using the Menands exit off the Mohawk Hudson Bike Trail. Mornings are dark currently with the time change but we gain back that daylight quickly. 💡 Things are much brighter this morning though with the power back on. 🔌
Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 59 degrees at 4pm. 15 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 14th. Northwest wind 7 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph. Less windy though then yesterday. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 46 degrees. The record high of 69 was set in 2012. 30.4 inches of snow fell back in 1888.❄ That’s a lot of snow. But then again, last week if it had been colder and not an El Nino year, we probably would have gotten a ton of snow.
It was great being able to ride home, with the extra hour of sunlight. 🌆 We’ve gained a lot of time in evening in recent weeks, but the time change ⏲ really was a game changer in the evening when it comes to sunlight. If it wasn’t so dang cold and windy last night, I would have totally enjoyed an evening walk in the daylight, or maybe even going down to the park.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:06 pm with sun having an altitude of 44.3° from the due south horizon (-26.5° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 6.1 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:22 pm with the sun in the west (260°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (267°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 6:59 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 55 seconds with dusk around 7:26 pm, which is one minute and 11 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the west (260°) at an altitude of 28° from the horizon, 228,842 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:00 pm. At sunset, look for clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 50 degrees. There will be a west-northwest breeze at 9 mph. Tomorrow will have 11 hours and 53 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 54 seconds over today.
I am continuing to read, How to plan, contract, and build your own home. 🏠 I am not super interested in the section about what people want in the latest big suburbanite home, but I am quite interested in the permitting and contracting section, along with learning some of the basics of building construction. 👷♀️ While there are experts out there you can hire to swing a hammer, I want to make sure I’m getting a fair deal, 🤝 that things will get signed off by town officials ✅ and that I’m able to build and live the way I want. I may have to pass up on a parcel or two that I love because I’m taking my time, ❤️ or pay a few months extra in rent, but I want to do what will work well for the next 20 years of my life through retirement and maybe beyond.
Tonight will have increasing clouds ☁, with a low of 35 degrees at 3am. 10 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 10th. Northwest wind 5 to 7 mph becoming calm in the evening. I can probably leave at least some of the windows open tonight. In 2023, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became light rain by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 33 degrees. The record low of -6 occurred back in 1885.
Today in 1933, was the first of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s fireside chats. 📻 He really mastered the communication methods of the time when he was running for president. A lot of homes had radios by the thirties. It’s funny though I listen to a fair bit of audio and even radio programs these days it’s either streaming or podcasts. Radio is still good when you are in the Adirondacks though without cell phone reception 📶 but there are a fewer and fewer places like that.
Weekend will be mild but it’s sliding in the wrong direction. 😞 Saturday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 51. Sunday, a chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 53. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Typical average high for the weekend is 45 degrees.
Looking ahead, next Tuesday is Last Day of Winter 🏂 when the sun will be setting at 7:08 pm with dusk at 7:35 pm. On that day in 2023, we had partly sunny, snow showers and temperatures between 33 and 22 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 46 degrees. We hit a record high of 78 back in 2012. I’m not sad about that but I bet March is going to end colder then certainly 2012.
