Notes

I was a bit creeped out by waiting for that bus at Delaware and Morton at quarter after 10, especially with the black kids racing and giggling down the street, having fun like kids, dodging in and out of traffic.

Cue all the racist stereotypes of gang bangers and muggers, 👦🏿👦🏿👦🏾👦🏾👦🏽👦🏿 reinforced every day by the Trumpster and I was a bit nervous. I don’t know, just kids and yokel locals and my phone and bike aren’t particularly nice but I did quickly stick it in my pocket like any good racist and was willing to flee on bike. Just a lot of kids out and about on such a warm and pleasant evening for early October. One thing that amazed me though was how awesome my vision 👀 since having my eye surgery a week ago. While there is still some minor halos around the street lights 💡, really things were so bright and clear. Maybe it’s because the city has invested in better streetlights when they went to brighter LED lights, but I felt like things were not dark or dull at all last night. Even in the darkness of the suburbs, it didn’t seem so dark. The bus was about 10 minutes late due to construction 🚧 on Delaware Avenue but it eventually arrived, and I made it home. I had some trouble with the bike rack 🚲 on the bus, it is very tight being a new unit and being that one style they use, but once it was on, it was very secure. Good because Delaware is rough in parts due to the construction.

It was a productive meeting, 🧑‍💼👨🏼‍💼💼 and I think we made some good arguments about why they should not permit solar development ☀️ there. But it left me so tired and it was late for sure. It was good after a very quiet day at work. 🖥️ After a past few weeks, things have been very quiet in the office. Rode in yesterday, but today was particularly nice. I am still so exhausted from last night though.

Headphones 🎧 are now working again, after not charging properly. I had accidentally washed them in the machine last week, and while they sort of worked good for a while – got rid of all the ear wax plugging them 👂, they weren’t charging properly. 🔌 But a good cleaning with a q-tip and some rubbing alcohol they are charging well. They are kind of essential for my mental health, especially while working in the office. 🧠 The tunes provide a good distraction, especially when I’m coding.

By the time I was home due to construction and the late meeting, 🚧 I stepped off the bus and breathed in that sweet smell of corn silage from Preska’s dairy. 🌽 🐮 It smelled absolutely amazing, really an intoxicating experience with it’s sweetness. I got home, cooked up some onions, beens and some of the remaining zucchuni I had, 🍳 headed to bed, but after a night of talking politics and the Pine Bush and carefully reviewing the proposal for a solar farm in a large part o the Albany Pine Bush, ☀️ I was pretty amped up and could not get to sleep.

Plus I was reading about the DEC burn ban, 🔥 which is really just the typical seasonal burn ban for large bonfires and bursh piles, though I guess they’re starting it a week early due to the dryness. Campfires and cooking fires are still allowed, though it’s obvious they’re trying to discourage it due to the fire risk. I guess I don’t need to save all those burnables for fire starting, I’ll have to do the green thing, 🌎 and start separating out the milk jugs and junk mail for recycling rather then fire starting. ♻️ Indeed, was up in Rensselearville State Forest two weeks ago, and even Vermont the week before that, I was very concerned and careful with fire, making sure to drown it out before bed, and keeping it well under the three-foot limit. But that’s not the reason I decided to put off my Adirondack Trip until next weekend. 🏕️ Most of it is my concern about my dry eyes, I can’t imagine spending all day riding in the dry air with so much irriation. 👀 I know things will get better over time, but the weather is certainly not helping.

Probably next week regardless I’ll head up north. 🏕️ Hoping the Wednesday rain showers ☔ are a little more substantial in the North Country, and if I do have a fire 🔥 up north I’ll keep it small. Probably things will be past peek by then, but I would go up to Speculator area for the Columbus holiday weekend ⛵ and on Columbus Day head up to Horseshoe Lake 🧲 and I figure by Monday evening most of the campsites would be free and quiet. I’m hoping that in two week things wouldn’t be wet mid-week unless next week when they’re talking rain right in the middle of my trip. Then come Thursday, head up to Floodwood Road or maybe one of the other areas just off the St. Regis Canoe Area for the final three days, to ride the Adirondack Rail Trail 🚲 and paddle and portage the St. Regis Canoe Area ponds. Do need to fix the tires on my portage cart. Both are flat.

This weekend I’m not sure. Still thinking about Schoharie, or maybe I’ll just do a nice day hike or bike. 🚲 Maybe just Five Rivers. Need to decide what I want to do. 💭 Should be a beautiful weeekend but probably a bit too cold to swim, and certainly not a lot of water around in a lot of the creeks. And it’s not like I’m ready to leave tonight.

The hum and growl of the trucks hauling garbage to dumping grounds on the hillside in Rennselear and the state workers grinding their way into the Empire State Plaza to work for state agency accroymn in an office abbreviated with 3 to 5 letters, boring a shit but glad as hell they aren’t working for the feds. And I’m riding my mountain bike to the suburban office next to old city garbage dump and sewage treatment plant after watching the den Hoed Dairy video of them hauling poo and water out to the fields on their 1970 Detroit Diesel, almost tasting the tangy smell of the manure and partially burnt off-road diesel on my tongue.

Been working on updating and organizing the datasets on my computer for map 🗺️ making. I got some new data from the DEC and I’ve been having speed and memory issues with loading the data, so I’ve been trying to figure out the right balance between storing things in Parquet and PostGIS databases for map making. I am also dissatisfied with the latest batch of maps I’ve been making, and trying to learn more about the latest labeling features in QGIS. It’s really confusing all the different options that program has. Then there was just a lot of random projects yesterday at Data Services 🖥️, and then I was in meetings all afternoon on Capitol Hill. 🎄 Important stuff like planning the Christmas Party and Pie Baking Contest. 🥧 I can’t believe we’re already thinking about the holiday. Hell, I’m already planning my November trips. Leaves will be gone before you know it, as I smell that sharp smell of Preska’s silage being packed for the ladies for the year.

Last night I was watching that video 📺 about catalytic converters and the advanced engine monitoring tools that keeps engines running in a range where the catalyst is important in urban areas where air pollution is a major issue. I could have done a lot of things last night, but after doing a quick shop and cooking dinner 🛒 I was pretty darn tired out and just wanted to lay back in bed until dark. I think wearing the eye anti-rub shields was inferring with my sleep so I skipped them as I figured I was close enough to a week out from my LASIK surgery. Yesterday, I was noticing how truly clear my vision was riding to the downtown meeting on the beautiful sunny ☀️ day. Still a bit of irriation at times but even that has gone away as is the red eye 👁️ which seems to be fading. I think I am now at that point where I don’t have to wear goggles for showering 🚿 so I can get my face clean and probably if it wasn’t October I could even hit up swimming hole. 🏊 Some people take longer to recover then others, though I admit I still need to regularly add artificial tears 😭 to my eyes to keep them from being irritated at times – and it’s best to use them before I start feeling the irriation again. Supposed to do that for 5 more weeks, we’ll see how that goes, they’re kind of expensive and pain. Contact solution or even the preservative red-eye solution might be okay, even if neither is as soothing as those little over packaged plastic bottles of expensive preserative-free artificial tears. I’ll see what Wally World has and for what price.

I need a plan for the weekend and the next week. 🏕️ Going to be a nice, colorful autumn weekend 🍁 so I should spend it up in the wilderness but I haven’t decided if next week I should go to the Adirondacks ⛰️ or wait for the next week. At one level I feel like I should rest up my eyes a bit more, 👀 all that time in wilderness with the dry conditions could only aggreviate the red eye issues. But on the other hand, I do feel great, and the first half of week looks excellent but Tuesday probably into Thursday looks more unstable and the Columbus Day Weekend looks cool. 🍂 If I wait another weekend, then the leaves are likely going to be well past peak in the Adirondacks, though it might be a lot quieter up north except for the occasional ringing out of gun fire by the deer hunters. 🦌 If I don’t go north this weekend, I do plan to head out to Schoharie at least for one overnight, so I can visit Shauls one more time before their closed for the year. Might be good colors along the Catskill Scenic Trail and nice riding there over the weekend. But who knows how cold and miserable the following week is going to be. Need to decide soon.

Truth is I have nothing packed or prepared for the weekend, 💼 but reality is that doesn’t really matter. I have an obnoxious Save the Pine Bush Meeting at 6 PM tonight, but I’m kind of hoping we’ll keep it brief and I can catch the 18 bus home at 6:50 PM or so I have time to pack. I really don’t need to go to the laundromat before whatever trip I do. I think I can make it through a week with whatever clothes I have if I decide to go to Adirondacks and get supplies before work on Friday, I really don’t need that much for the Adirondacks. Still the thing with going to ADKs is once you are up there, options for food and supplies is very limited – yes you can get a $3 can of greenbeans on Charlie John’s in Spectulator or A&P in Tupper Lake but those are your options. Fresh stuff, yeah right, maybe $1.50 a pound half spoiled bananas 🍌 if you’re lucky. Need underwear? Probably have to wait. Truth is in many ways I prefer traveling in other parts of the state, as I can always get lots of shit to buy, 🛒 at Wally World and Aldi’s. Terrible but it’s the truth, outside of the park it seems like the shopping options are unlimited on vation. Maybe I’m just addicted to that cheap plastic shit at Walmart that quickly get used up and tossed into the fire. 🔥

Would need to load the kayak up if I’m going north, but the truth is I don’t need that much for a week of camping 🏕️ and much of my gear is already in my truck. Really would be my last big adventure with Big Red though I’m thinking Stoney Pond and/or Charles Baker come November. I can’t believe we are already into 🐮 manuring season, and whole regions of state have seen their corn silage chopped. 🌽 The responsible thing would be to be in town next weekend – John Wolcott Underpass ribbon cutting is Wednesday and I’d miss a semi-important work meeting on Tuesday. 🍕 It’s a pizza lunch meeting, not Cardona’s, lol. 😁 I’m just worried the mid-week when I’m at Horseshoe Lake and Lows Lake will be a wash out, 🛶 crap for riding and paddling, only really good for laying around and drinking beer 🍻 and smoking weed. 🍁 The thing is if I wait another week, I know the leaves would be crap in Adirondacks. Maybe okay in Southern Tier or elsewhere, but I want to check out the St. Regis Canoe Area 🛶 and the Adirondack Rail Trail. Been years – really the pandemic year – since I was last up that far north.

I’d love to get to West VIrigina this autumn, but this ain’t the year with my creaky old truck. 🛻 Next autumn though for sure. I haven’t done the mid and northern Adirondacks in a long time – as I was noting. it will be great when I have small, new truck. I need continue researching trucks – probably get a Toyota with the off-road package and a cap, and I’m not going to jack it up I tell myself on 35 inch tires, though kind of want to. I should save money so someday I can own my own land, and actually be able to have livestock and burn shit. 🔥 Retirement that far away, and there a good chance that next truck will last until retirement. September was anoher good month for the blog, brought in $188 in ad revenue. August was a $244 buck month. All for making some maps and interesting things at least in my mind, talking about diesel and cow shit and burnt plastic and smoking marijuana in the National Forest. Or something like that, as none of that would be legal, don’t you know about the urban emissions laws 🏭 to keep our air clean and the planet green. 🌎 Well, those tankers of cow manure and water does help keep the fields green and growing.