I think I am mentally ready to head up to the Adirondacks for five days now – four nights. I wasn’t sure earlier in the week, but I’m feeling better now that I checked the oil and have gotten some practice driving. It will be fine, it’s al in my head. I’ll move to another campsite on Sunday afternoon once hopefully the House Pond Campsite is available. Got some cans of sardines and bungee cords. Prices on both have gone up due to tarriffs! Not packing the kayak for this trip — going to be be too hot — especially come Monday into Tuesday.
Truth is it will be fun and good to get away from the heat – both the swamp like humidity and just the insanity of social media and politics. My radio died some time ago, and while I often will stream NPR on my phone while camping there is no service where going. If I am concerned about the weather, the CB radio in my truck has the weather band, but I am not super interested in keeping up with news. If the US goes to War with Iran or something else terrible happens, I’m sure I’ll find out on Tuesday evening.
It’s going to be hot, but I plan to drink lots of water and some beer, brought a lot of sunscreen and bug spray, along with my hammock and bug screen. Lots of time floating in the tube, laying back in the hammock. I got probably enough podcasts, audio books, and videos downloaded to my phone to listen non-stop for five days, though some I’ll probably graze over. Plus I got six other e-books from the library to read.
I have an event to attend on Wednesday night so I will be back in office before the heat wave is over, but it will be the tail end. Friday is my dentist appointment mid-day, so I’ll be working from home – actually the library probably from my truck – most of the day. Not sure if I have any weekend plans for next, Nature Bus is doing Five Rivers not Thacher Park next weekend. It was nice down by the river on my hammock yesterday, maybe I should consider that plus some fishing and kayaking. Not bringing the kayak north this weekend, but maybe Independence Weekend which is the following week.
Independence Day Weekend I might head back to Potholers or maybe the Mason Lake – Perkins Clearing Area for a change. Or maybe Moose River? I don’t know. That’s two weeks away, and I want to be somewhere I can light off a bunch of fireworks, have a fire. Maybe do some paddling and fishing that weekend as hopefully it will be warm but not ungodly hot like this coming weekend. Then after that, who knows, maybe Schoharie for the Mine Kill Pool and produce at Shauls and then soon I’ll have to be thinking about summer vacation out int he Finger Lakes. How fast summer comes and goes it seems.
It felt so good by the river last night reading and watching a video that I didn’t want to leave to get to the store and get packed. And I didn’t start packing until after I got home as it was hot.
You know yesterday wasn’t a half bad day, but it sure was hot. The morning was fairly cool at Pine Hollow Arborteum but by the time I rode out to Voorheesville it was getting hot. Sat by the Vly Creek for a while, then came home, had some lunch and sat by the fan and fell asleep. It was just hot. Cut my hair short and then took a shower. A good thunderstorm came through. Around 5 PM drove down to the Moh-He-Con-Nuck Nature Preserve which was fine but buggy. đĒ° Generally I’ve never been impressed by that Preserve — it’s mostly overgrown swamp full of invasive species — but I was by there on my way down to Henry Hudson so I figured check it out. Much nicer down by the river though at Henry Hudson, laying back in hammock, watching a video then an e-Book. I really didn’t want to take the hammock down but I need to pack. Shopped at Walmart, then went home. Got the water containers full, the garbage out, went into the crawl space and got the second cooler and tube out. đ It was hot, I pounded two beers so I wouldn’t have to think about the heat. Just gave me an awful night of sleep.
Still undecided if I leave tonight or tomorrow morning. It depends a lot on my anxiety levels and how tired on am. Last nights sleep wasn’t good. Some of the forecasts are suggesting some rain and clouds in the morning tomorrow, and I got a bad night’s sleep last night but I’m ready to go after work if I decide to. I’ll go through work today and evaluate. If I leave tomorrow morning then I can keep the campsite all weekend, otherwise I’ll have to move or get a permit. It was it is. I’ll be up north floating before you know it. That said, I kind of don’t want another night in the swamp box, though today feels much less muggier then yesterday. But last night wasn’t so pleasant, and I sure wouldn’t mind a small fire to be sitting by in the woods. Nothing too crazy, it’s kind of a hot day, though with the lower humidity today and colder weather up north, maybe it actually woud be quite pleasant. I don’t know.
I packed everything but the coolers and it’s not a real problem to pull a few things out to do the overnight – just my toothbrush and maybe a dry foods item. Then regardless I’ll be ready to leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow. No need to shower before heading north if I’m planning to be swimming and cooling off at the Potholers for the balance of the day. And floating in the tube. I didn’t air it up but I made sure to bring rubber cement and patches as needed. Going to stop at Walmart today and get some extra bungee cords in case I want to set up a tarp as I’m running low, along with some cans of the stinky fish – you know sardines which I like for a quick, healthy omega-6 rich snack up at camp. I really have everything I need, I could leave tonight. But by the time I get home, and load the coolers it will mean I’m up there pretty late. Gosh, I am still so hard at deciding.
It's expensive in a capital sense to switch to non asbestos processes for making chlorine but Olin is doing it only leaving Occidental - Hooker Chemicals and Westlake still using asbestos filters.
Truth is that using asbestos is an enormous legal liability from both the risks of asbestos and mercury involved and to boot the asbestos process is lower quality and more energy intensive. You gotta wonder what industry leaders are really thinking and the politics of it sucks too. Lawyers really have a keen eye on the asbestos industry as it's usually a winning case in court.
Maybe it's the same hair brained short term thinking that destroyed the big American steel firms insisting on using the old pre-World War II open furnace plants until their bankruptcy in the 1980s.
Got the box fan out and was laying next to it for a while. Now I’m at the Pine Hollow Arboretum checking out the Mountain Laurel, then the plan is to ride out to Voorheeesville and Bender Mellon Farms Preserve then head home, have lunch, shower, and then head down to the Hudson River. I might go for a paddle weather depending or maybe just sit and read by the breeze of the river. Get a few groceries for camp at Wally World and then come home and pack.
Absolutely beautiful but hot day today. đ¸đēđŧ Nice start to the day in the Arboretum for sure. Mountain Laurel are still in color, the sky is so blue. But muggy. đ° At least things aren’t too buggy though there are a few black flies around. The maintaince crew is doing some mowing and there is a lot of road noise but so be it. As you can see from the pictures it’s quite beautiful.
I wish I was up north already âī¸ but I think it’s going to be much hotter and sunnier come Friday or Saturday through Tuesday. Got to be back on Wednesday for a work function and then the following Friday is my dentist appointment. đĻˇ Who knows about the the following weekend but in two weeks is Independence Day Weekend. đ I could see being back at the Potholers for that lol đ. Only if it’s hot and sunny! But I like lighting off fireworks. đ
Still undecided about tomorrow. đī¸ I think I will pack everything but the coolers and drive into the office. Then Friday evening depending on how exhausted I am and how anxious my mind is I’ll decide if I want to head north. đ§ The heat is going to be tough on the ice come Tuesday but may be I just don’t pack perishables that I don’t plan to fully eat before Tuesday. âī¸ I don’t know, I am just a bit freaked out about driving north on Friday even if I know it’s all in my mind. đ§
I forgot how wet they get in the summer. I’m sure that’s why the old refrigerator got so rusty and why the walls have seen the paint peel so much but then again I’ve been living here for 18 years and it’s not like it had been freshly painted when I moved in.
It’s not real hot out but it is humid here. đ° Tomorrow is going to be a lot hotter. I did get the box fan out but I don’t have air conditioning though my neighbor figured out how to get around the prohibition of no window air conditioning with a floor unit. But I don’t like air conditioning. I don’t want to spend excessive time indoors. Plus why spend $10 on electricity when you spend $100 taking your big jacked up truck to the Adirondacks a couple of weekends each month to escape the heat. And when it cools down, I’ll get out the ammonia and tackle the mold. I used to use bleach back in the day but I hated how that tended to get on clothes and leave stains. đ
Sitting out back swatting the mosquitoes đĻ on this muggy evening. I was out at Five Rivers đ¸ for a while but left before 8:30 as I’m awaiting that new front bike light I ordered in the mail âī¸. I liked the one I had and I had two but lost one riding in the Adirondacks and then the second one stopped taking a charge đ after it got wet the say it poured on the way down to the express bus stop. đ I hate leaving early from Five Rivers but I don’t want to ride back home in the dark without a headlight. Taillights are good but no headlight is illegal plus it’s dark, especially in the woods. No mail tomorrow but I’m hoping it arrives Friday so I have it for riding back to camp from the Potholers after dark.
Still undecided if I will head up north on Friday evening or early Saturday morning. đ I’m worried about the cooler lasting for four days in the heat. Maybe it doesn’t if I eat the perishables up before Tuesday. âī¸ I could leave things in the freezer and grab them after work. But then it’s four nights so I’ll have to change campsites đī¸ or get a permit. I could stay like up the Powley Place or even just campsite five on the hill and then grab the House Pond campsite on Sunday afternoon and spend Monday and Tuesday in that swimming đ hole. What’s the worse thing that could happen – I have to fill out a permit or camp somewhere else. Also kind of anxious about driving north after work. It’s silly but I’m always so tired after work, traffic is heavy and my truck is old. I still get so anxious at times. A morning trip, even early in the morning is so much more relaxing đ and if I get there early I still have all day. It’s just one less night drinking by the fire. đĨ đē
I keep studying the latest generation of inverters, charge controllers and other off-grid equipment đĄ and also cabin designs and things people have built themselves and contracted out. There are a lot books and YouTube videos, nowadays you really aren’t going on it alone with no answers. But obviously the best way to see what is out there is to drive around. đ đŽ I do see a lot what I like up in the Adirondacks and some of the more rural areas. Because ultimately that’s where I want to live. I don’t want some woke, perfect place in a book, but I place where mud and manure is fine, where nobody cares if you have have a burn barrel or hogs out back. But for now, my apartment, with all the mold, wet floors, hot sweltering summer days is fine. I keep investing everything I can, both in retirement and non-retirement accounts, and I can buy and build it when I’m ready.
Really the issue now is more health insurance and income to sustain my life after I move. đĻ And where to build. If I stopped working now, I’d run out of money relatively quickly after I moved out to the property, so I really need to wait until at least age 55 or maybe later. Rural jobs are tough. đ¤ I don’t want one of those fancy cabins you see in some of the books, I much more like the simple hunting cabins with T11 siding board and steel roofs, maybe combined with some homestead features like goats and pigs and other livestock. đ But at this point, I still want to travel and not be hauling slop buckets back to the hogs and be stuck at home. Even if I do like bacon. đĨ I still enjoy my brief weekends up in the wilderness, away from it all. I can take the compost and cans to my parents house for recycling and rotting. âģī¸
It will be good to be away from it all. đģ My portable radio quit working sometime ago, so if I will be totally off the news grid for four days, but that’s quite fine with me. Maybe we will be at War with Iran by the time I head back into cell service. đ Or maybe a loved one like John Wolcott will have passed away like happened a few summer back now. âšī¸ The world moves on when you’re totally away from it all. But I need a rest, I’m tired of what seems like an increasingly crazy and confusing world. đ And to think I voted for that joker on the conservative line, because I like my guns. đĢ Despite being a liberal Democrat! Honestly, I do think it’s good they’re rolling back some of those solar and electric car subsidies – while once essential, cutting subsidies will encourage prices to come down and technology to become more practical without all the scams and scheming for government money that is currently going on. âī¸ Some of the cuts to government spending, âī¸ while painful may ultimately be good for all regardless.
I’m tired. Tomorrow is Juneteenth, I might go out paddling and I will go packing and shopping, so I’m ready to head north either Friday night or very early Saturday so I can get some rays and float on the East Canada Creek.
The morning was fairly cool at Pine Hollow Arborteum but by the time I rode out to Voorheesville it was getting hot. 
Sat by the Vly Creek for a while, then came home, had some lunch and sat by the fan and fell asleep. 
It was just hot. Cut my hair short 
and then took a shower. 
A good thunderstorm came through. Around 5 PM drove down to the Moh-He-Con-Nuck Nature Preserve which was fine but buggy. đĒ° Generally I’ve never been impressed by that Preserve — it’s mostly overgrown swamp full of invasive species — but I was by there on my way down to Henry Hudson so I figured check it out. Much nicer down by the river though at Henry Hudson, laying back in hammock, watching a video then an e-Book. I really didn’t want to take the hammock down but I need to pack. Shopped at Walmart, then went home. Got the water containers full, the garbage out, went into the crawl space and got the second cooler and tube out. đ It was hot, I pounded two beers so I wouldn’t have to think about the heat. Just gave me an awful night of sleep.
It depends a lot on my anxiety levels and how tired on am. Last nights sleep wasn’t good. 
Some of the forecasts are suggesting some rain and clouds in the morning tomorrow, and I got a bad night’s sleep last night but I’m ready to go after work if I decide to. I’ll go through work today and evaluate. If I leave tomorrow morning then I can keep the campsite all weekend, otherwise I’ll have to move or get a permit. 
It was it is. I’ll be up north floating before you know it. 
That said, I kind of don’t want another night in the swamp box, though today feels much less muggier then yesterday. But last night wasn’t so pleasant, and I sure wouldn’t mind a small fire to be sitting by in the woods. 
Nothing too crazy, it’s kind of a hot day, though with the lower humidity today and colder weather up north, maybe it actually woud be quite pleasant. I don’t know.
and it’s not a real problem to pull a few things out to do the overnight – just my toothbrush and maybe a dry foods item. Then regardless I’ll be ready to leave at the crack of dawn tomorrow. No need to shower before heading north if I’m planning to be swimming and cooling off at the Potholers for the balance of the day. 
And floating in the tube. I didn’t air it up but I made sure to bring rubber cement and patches as needed. Going to stop at Walmart today and get some extra bungee cords in case I want to set up a tarp as I’m running low, along with some cans of the stinky fish 
– you know sardines which I like for a quick, healthy omega-6 rich snack up at camp. I really have everything I need, I could leave tonight. But by the time I get home, and load the coolers it will mean I’m up there pretty late. Gosh, I am still so hard at deciding.
