With maybe one of the last minor snow storms of the winter on the way, hopefully, the blood moon was not visible this morning, but the carrot pancakes were good though runny at first as I put too much water in the solution.
So glad with the snow 🌨️ melt I could ride the Rail Trail both ways to work yesterday. It beat some of the stress of dealing with car dealerships yesterday. Truth is that I hate driving 🚘 and Second Avenue was pretty stressful at times to ride with the traffic and parked cars. Bike trail is icy but well packed and not too rough to ride. Hopefully the mild temperatures and rain will thin out the remaining of the ice. 🚲
I did not sleep well last night, 🛏️ as the various dealerships I talked to yesterday where for the most part not pleasant to deal with. Keep listening to the news 📰 and reporting about the Iran war. 🇮🇷 And my SuperDoubts continue about the big truck with the whole Iran situation. I’ve started to look more seriously at Toyota Tacomas with the six foot bed, but they’re not that much cheaper and I’m not convinced the reliability is much better. You do get a lot more technology with the Toyota though, for good or bad, unlike the base HD work trucks. Like adaptive cruise control. And also electric cars, especially used electric cars, 🔋 they are so cheap for what you get. But I don’t want a commuter vehicle, but the price of fuel for SuperDuty gives me a lot of pause. Maybe I should look more at 6.8L Minizilla trucks. 😳 I also don’t love the look of me being in a big truck to my landlord, my friends, especially the more greenie and liberal persuasion. 🌎
And honestly, I kind of like not having a car, riding my bike everywhere. 🚲 Trash pickup isn’t an excuse to get a truck, nor the freedom of having fires in the woods. 🔥 March 16th is coming up, and all social media accounts are warning ⚠️ about coming fire restrictions and risk with spring brown season ahead. And don’t you even think of burning anything plastic, unless of course you are in frugal living group in a rural part of a free state where plenty of people live without trash pickup. 🤜 I keep thinking how much money I would save this summer if I skipped traveling, stayed close to home, and rather then doing a summer vacation just taking days off from work and going to bike rides around town, 🚲 maybe riding out to a State Forest like Cole Hill with just a hammock, some food, matches, and flashlight and doing nights up in the woods. 🏕️ I just worry a lot about gas prices sky rocketing, 🚀 ⛽ and all the costs of unreliable big Ford truck.
I got back both very large state and federal refunds this year, 💰 as I really over-estimated my withholding based on the previous year’s dividends and interest rates, but both of them fell last year. I was sure my tax forms would be rejected for mistakes as the refunds seemed to large, but my withholding needs to be adjusted. I was bit the previous year by not withholding enough, so I bumped things up way too much last year. 🤷♂️ I’m just glad my tax returns were approved, as while they were honest and accurate, I thought 💭 by the size of the refund. Plenty for the truck cap or a sizable down-payment on the truck. I know I made the government rich this past year but I didn’t want to get fined.
Truth is though I’m my toughest critic, 💢 and of course the dealerships want as much leverage as possible over me and accuse me of being difficult. But I’m also quite undecided and not very confident despite my months of study. Guess what, I have my position to defend, and if you don’t like it too bad. 🖕 I’m going to the Guilderland Town Board to argue for more land preservation tonight with the Save the Pine Bush, 🦋 much to disapproval of the some of leaders and developers. But you got to fight for what is right these days. 🇮🇷 I thought about going to some of the Iran War protests but it’s difficult to find time in my schedule.
Some how I was disappointed when the first place I reached out would only give me a out-the-door price verbally on the phone, and all that wanted to do was get me in the shop. It’s fine, the verbal estimate was exactly what I expected, it’s a reasonable starting point and I do want to look at the truck up close before I do a deep dive into other trucks. I knew that would be their response – almost accusatory that I dare ask for a price in writing. I do want to get in the dealership, just to see the truck, though honestly I don’t care about the test drive as much as I want to look up and close and decide if it’s really worth my $60,000 or maybe more depending how much the dealers scam me on it. I knew the first few dealer interactions would be tough, but it will get easier as I go along.
I have my doubts. I like big trucks, and I find it to be such a step down to go Toyota Tacoma and I don’t know how I would fit all my crap in it. Maybe there is a lot of stuff I don’t need. And I’m watching gas prices climb, the climate warm, and just the shame associated with owning an enormous SuperDuty truck. I have my doubts about the reliability of such trucks, while I previously thought lifter and transmission issues were more rare, since joining several Godzilla groups my mind has changed, as has my mind about fuel economy – even if most people are towing far heavier loads then I ever would. Maybe I should look at an electric car. And getting rid of some of my camping gear, going more lightweight in the woods.
Increasingly though, I just don’t want a vehicle at all. I like riding my bike everywhere, and when it rains taking the bus. I like my world being a little smaller, getting to know my community better and not traveling so much. I feel like too often my life has become one of escape, spending weekends in the wilderness and not enough time locally, exploring what is close to home. I’ve learned how to survive this winter on the bicycle, overcoming some of hurtles, mental and else-wise.
It should be good with more sun in evening, even if next Monday the morning will be much darker. With the rain and warmer temperatures expected in coming week, it looks like the Rail Trail will likely mostly free of snow.
I am going to try to ride the rail trail in both ways today, going carefully and not riding too rough. It was pretty well packed down last night, maybe be a few rough sections but nothing too terrible. Then I can avoid both the US 9W and NY 32 merge in the morning and Second Avenue isn’t he evening. Full moon so if I’m running a bit late in the evening. I’ll leave early today. Made a big pan of eggs up with lots of veggies and pinto beans. I needed a change from cornmeal-onion, and banana-carrot pancakes. I haven’t broken out those overpriced grapefruit. Worried about the price of grapefruit while browsing the listings for F-350 trucks, lol.
It’s March and I should schedule a test drive of a SuperDuty or two and get the proposed out the door price. It’s a test drive and getting a number, not a 10 to 15-year long commitment at this point. Maybe I’ll see the truck up close, decide it’s too big and fuelish. I expect gas prices will surge up in the next couple of weeks, which I am sure will give me doubts about getting a 7.3l engine. Honestly, if it’s too expensive to drive, I can leave it parked at home and ride my bike. But I make good money now, and long weekend trips really aren’t that expensive, and it’s unlikely even a big SuperDuty is going to use that much more fuel then my old lifted Silverado did with the 35s. Will gas go up to $5 or $6 a gallon this year? Who knows, but it will suck for Trump. Play sad trombone for the President and his foolish war on Oran… I mean Iran. I do want to make up my mind and get a deal done this month.
I’ll just be glad once spring is here. 🌸 Even just loosing the snow and more daylight in the evenings will be nice, especially when I can ride out to Five Rivers 🐸 after work and read until I don’t know, 7:30 PM when it’s dark and I need to head home. And then I can get the truck, get the cap ordered, 🏕️ move over my camping gear and the solar panel. Wire up all the stuff, get a cellphone booster 📶 and get out to the wilderness both to travel and remote work.
Memories of my childhood as I put that $5 bag of what turned out to be 4 grapefruit in my shopping cart. An impulse purchase, but as I’ve grown older it’s a treat denied to elderly on statens, one that I used to think only gross old people eat, out of massive cardboard boxes of them bought once a year at feed store until they turned to moldy mush, to be hauled out and mixed with the chicken shit in the compost pile.
After visiting with the folks this afternoon, I rode down to Hannaford primarily to get milk and eggs, along with toothpaste and carrots. Really what I had to have was milk and eggs, and I thought about just riding out to Five Rivers this evening, past Meads cows and watching the sunset like last night, but it’s pretty bitterly cold out. So I just did a ride down to the store. I could have probably made it most of the week without additional toothpaste or carrots, but I go so much of the later with all the pancakes I’ve been cooking.
It’s nice to be out in the country, but I also like being in the city where I can ride my bike everywhere. I was watching this video about living in the hollow, and thinking again about walking away from that parcel next to my parents house, but that was a werid house and did not have a woodstove installed. And it had this werid in-holding, and was right on the road, and would have meant a 20 mile commute each way to work, so no SuperDuty for me. But don’t you want a house, not a truck you have to throw away in 10 to 15 years? Don’t you hate making your landlord rich? I’m doing fine myself, and I’m not so sold on having chickens and goats though maybe someday. Riding my bike to work much of the year provides quite a bit of joy in my life and simple things around town, though I still want a truck so I can travel this summer.
going carefully and not riding too rough. It was pretty well packed down last night, maybe be a few rough sections but nothing too terrible. Then I can avoid both the US 9W and NY 32 merge in the morning and Second Avenue isn’t he evening. Full moon so if I’m running a bit late in the evening. I’ll leave early today. 
Made a big pan of eggs up with lots of veggies and pinto beans. I needed a change from cornmeal-onion, and banana-carrot pancakes. 
I haven’t broken out those overpriced grapefruit. 
Worried about the price of grapefruit while browsing the listings for F-350 trucks, lol. 
It’s a test drive and getting a number, not a 10 to 15-year long commitment at this point. Maybe I’ll see the truck up close, decide it’s too big and fuelish. 
I expect gas prices will surge up in the next couple of weeks, which I am sure will give me doubts about getting a 7.3l engine. 
Honestly, if it’s too expensive to drive, I can leave it parked at home and ride my bike. But I make good money now, and long weekend trips really aren’t that expensive, and it’s unlikely even a big SuperDuty is going to use that much more fuel then my old lifted Silverado did with the 35s. Will gas go up to $5 or $6 a gallon this year? Who knows, but it will suck for Trump. 
Play sad trombone for the President and his foolish war on Oran… I mean Iran. I do want to make up my mind and get a deal done this month.
