I took today off not because I needed to or had big bold plans outside of a few nights camping and some other personal business to attend to but I figured I have the time. Use it now rather then burn it up at the end of year by taking unnecessary days off or giving it back to state for nothing.
I was able to get clams at Price Chopper this morning. 🦪I had some of them for lunch, they were pretty tasty with lots of mushrooms, sweet corn, onions, and of course zucchuni. Waited until after 7;30 to run to Price Chopper then wasted time by returning cans and catching the guy at the seafood counter first thing. 🐠 They hadn’t put out any yet but he got them out from the back.
Then I headed out to Mom and Dad’s house to feed the cat. 🙀 Then I headed out to Bear Swamp Preserve. 🐸 Usually it’s super swampy there but today wasn’t too bad because it’s been so dry. A few swampy places but it’s the first time I’ve ever done the loop trail in full, 🐛because not only is a lot of the trail overgrown and hard to follow, but also the beavers did so much damage to what was once the farthest north wild growth of Rhododendrons. 🪷 The beavers with their flooding and deer 🦌 took them all out and turned what was once a large Woody Marsh once famous for it’s Rhoddendrons into a fairly ordinary swamp.
Things are super dry and windy at Rensselearville State Forest. 🌲 Unless that wind dies down there is no way in hell I’m having a fire. 🔥 The grass is dry and it’s windy. really the drought is much worse here then Albany or where I was in Vermont. I don’t mind not having a fire, it wasn’t a bad thing to stay home last night, 🌃 despite being a beautiful evening. I got an early start today, and did my laundry and got enough groceries to start out next week.
Rolling the bike out to my truck this morning, 🚲 as I was packing for camp I discovered my tire was completely flat. When I got up to camp I discovered the wheel was well out of true. I tried re-inflating the tube, hoping the fix-a-flat would work. 🛠️ Then I patching the tube but it wouldn’t hold air so I got the extra I carry on me out. ⚱️ Probably the patch and rubber cement needs to dry. I also trued up the wheel with my spoke key so I’m good to ride in a bit. But first those clams, and maybe a quick toke on that recommended stuff from Northern Lights. 😁
At lunch time today, I rode my bike up to the Waterviliet 4th Avenue Park and sat by the river and read for a while. Such a serene day out. Maybe I should have left for the Adirondacks tonight but I need to go out to my parents house to check on things and I honestly don’t feel like such a long trip – and I have some personal business to attend to in the morning. Maybe it’s my anxiety about my old truck with my parents out of town, but I don’t feel like heading north. Probably going to miss the good colors but they’re faded with dry conditions this year – and there is always next year. Next year I’ll plan on taking every advantage I can of remote work on Mondays and Fridays, and it will help if I have a better laptop and a new truck by then. My laptop is fine but like my truck, it’s really on it’s last legs with the screen connection causing it blank out at times, the battery replaced many times, and Windows stuck on the slow har drive.
I have that pot that I got from Northern Lights last week but never broke into it as I had some left over from summer vacation. I really don’t do much more then an occasional puff up at camp so it lasts a long time. Certainly I’m not a daily user. Supposed to be strong stuff so I’ll be real careful to enjoy it in moderation. Hopefully it won’t cause so much wicked dry eye. I’ll be glad when I’m done with contacts. Technically Tuesday is the last day, but I might stop wearing them on Monday to be sure my eyes are fully recovered per-surgery. I do hope they have clams at Price Chopper tonight – or maybe I’ll stop in the morning and also visit Stanton Farm Stand for a few extras on the way to camp. Gas I’m good on. Figure set up camp early, get clams a boiling, and then ride and hike for a while in the afternoon, spend some time reading and relaxing, maybe visit a preserve or two on the way out camp, or maybe wait until Sunday.
REMAPPING THE JUDICIARY: Redistricting has unexpectedly emerged as a hot-button topic in New York politics in recent months, with state lawmakers pushing a constitutional amendment to redraw congressional lines before the 2028 elections.
But there’s another mid-decade redistricting question that will be at the forefront of state politics in the coming months: Democratic legislators are hoping for the first remapping of upstate judicial districts since the 1800s.
“The sinking of the Titanic happened more recently than the last time these have been reviewed,” said Assemblymember Jonathan Rivera, a Buffalo Democrat.
Both houses of the Legislature have passed a bill sponsored by Rivera that would increase the number of judicial districts in New York from 13 to 15. That would involve taking the three existing districts centered in Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse and removing the rural counties now within them. Those rural counties would then be mixed together to create two new districts.
I packed my gear for heading out to camp after work tonight, but didn’t finish up packing nor getting groceries or dirving to work. I think I wll still take tomorrow off but first I will go ride my bike both ways to work, then run to the laundromat, get clams and groceries at Price Chopper, then visit my parents house tomorrow morning to check on their cat.
I had thought about driving in today, and heading up to camp after work but I really should get to the laundromat and I was just feeling tired both last night and this morning. Maybe its partially auto anxiety but I also feel like I just got back from Vermont. If I worked until 5 PM tonight, stopped for clams and visited my parents house on the way to Rensselearville I would being set up close to dark, driving my creeky old truck ride likes shit as I struggle to see well enough with my contacts. It reduces my auto anxiety to be driving my clunker in the daylight, when I have a full day to recover should something go wrong. Nothing will, but I swear the clunk it normally makes whne parking was louder then usual. In the daylight tomorrow I can also check the oil and coolant and brake fluid not because there are leaks but it helps my anxiety.
Truth is the best option is to just leave in the morning. But you’re leaving a night in the woods on the table, at one level I tell myself. But that campsite I normally stay at is fairly shaded so this time of year, 3 nights would be tough on the batteries. And I don’t really need an extra night in the woods, those calories from the beer and toxic smoke from cannabis and whatever other shit I burn. There were a big stack of pallets near where I work and I could have gotten one for firewood but I also don’t like potentially leaving nails in the fire pit for myself or others to run over with their 35 inch tires.
Who knows if they even will have clams at the store, 🦪 but I think it would be fun with the sweet corn broiled up in the woods, snacking on them all day, while riding trail and hiking and exploring wildflowers. I might bring my 20-guage shot gun with my assuming I can renew my license on line and see if there are some tree rats I can harvest and toss them into the brine of clams and beer. And I have a few library books I want to get through on Hoopla before my books expire on Monday. Sunday I want to hike and/or ride at Partridge Run.
I will be only a little more then a day out from the Big Snip of my eyes 👀 next week at this time. I thought about going to the Adirondacks this weekend but I have a lot of things to do and I’m hoping by October 4th I’ll be in a place I can take off the following week to head north. If not, it will be the week after. I got to see how long and how strict the restrictions on kayaking and bike riding are, but I think I will do a full week at some point in October. I always worry be using too much vacation and personal time, but then I end up at the end of year having to burn it up before the year is done as I can only roll so much over into the new year.
but I really should get to the laundromat and I was just feeling tired both last night and this morning. Maybe its partially auto anxiety but I also feel like I just got back from Vermont. If I worked until 5 PM tonight, stopped for clams and visited my parents house on the way to Rensselearville I would being set up close to dark, driving my creeky old truck ride likes shit as I struggle to see well enough with my contacts. It reduces my auto anxiety to be driving my clunker in the daylight, when I have a full day to recover should something go wrong. Nothing will, but I swear the clunk it normally makes whne parking was louder then usual. In the daylight tomorrow I can also check the oil and coolant and brake fluid not because there are leaks but it helps my anxiety.
But you’re leaving a night in the woods on the table, at one level I tell myself. 
But that campsite I normally stay at is fairly shaded so this time of year, 3 nights would be tough on the batteries. And I don’t really need an extra night in the woods, those calories from the beer and toxic smoke from cannabis and whatever other shit I burn. 
There were a big stack of pallets near where I work and I could have gotten one for firewood but I also don’t like potentially leaving nails in the fire pit for myself or others to run over with their 35 inch tires.
Sunday I want to hike and/or ride at Partridge Run. 
I got to see how long and how strict the restrictions on kayaking and bike riding are, but I think I will do a full week at some point in October. I always worry be using too much vacation and personal time, but then I end up at the end of year having to burn it up before the year is done as I can only roll so much over into the new year.
