I was curious about the controversies around Adam Clayton Powell. Some of the things he did were a bit sketchy but it's hard to know how far they were out of the norm of the time of he was particularly attacked as the nations most powerful African American politicians
Thanksgiving may not arrive until November, but you wouldn’t know it from perusing Donald Trump’s social media feeds. He’s been giving thanks quite a lot lately. “Thank you for your attention to this matter!” is how the president has been closing some of his recent online dispatches.
It’s a weirdly stiff expression. It carries the bureaucratic heft of an HR email about which snacks are now forbidden in the break room, or that of a lawyer signing off an email about a pressing document that won’t e-sign itself. Given the source, though, it feels more like the boss reading all of America the riot act.
Some thoughts on the weekend that was as I drove out to the Gas Up…
Neighbor was once again smoking cigarettes and weed in his unit and it was drifting into my apartment once again. Being a renter, you sometimes have the luck of having a neighbor who smokes regardless of the landlords policy. I like smoking too up in the wilderness but it so noxious when I was trying to work on my bike. It’s why having space from your neighbors is so important.
Truth is when I own my own land, I don’t really want to be smelling my neighbor’s burn barrel with smoldering plastic, their hogs, their roaring ATVs or their baying donkey. I tell you, donkeys are loud. Still I want the freedom to have bonfires and burn barrels for my garbage, ride quads and have hogs and other livestock. That said, I don’t necessarily even want the hogs or burn barrel up wind of my cabin either.
It was nice driving the back roads out to Gas Up. I often do a quick study of the houses and cabins along the road as I drive, trying to get as good of an idea of what rural life is really about. A lot of it is old, many rural houses are 100 or even 150 years old. There is something wonderful about the old ways of living. And then there are lot of pre-fab houses and cabins. I suspect a lot of the log-cabins you see are actually pre-fab models, because they look pretty good and are often cheaper then building from the ground up on site unless you have a good wood lot. I know I was very fascinated about those options a year ago.
Yet, it seems like still things are bit too populated even on the back roads of Berne, Knox and Gallupville. And it’s still New York State with the burn ban, the gun laws, and all the other crap. Things are nicer when you get farther away from the cities, but things still seem too populated. But I do like those drives out in the country, and I should explore more, even though lately it seems like I don’t ever get that far from home. Looking forward to that mid-west trip next year.
After some struggles I got the new chain on the bike by using the old quick connect from the other chain. I wasn’t happy the new chain is skipping a bit, I thought I had made the swap plenty early but I’m going to ride it today and see if it stretches and is good. Otherwise the old chain is going on there, and I’ll just wear it out to the point it’s skipping and replace the cassette then.
You try to do the right thing and keep up on preventative maintance, 🔧 and it still turns out to be shit. I don’t know, it’s just annoying. I fixed one of the noises I was hearing on the bike, it was one of the bolts had come loose on the rear brake disk, as I didn’t use lock-tight when I put on the new wheel. Some people say I should just bring it to the Woke Bike shop but that would cost so much money and my own struggles are a learning experience in mechanics, even if I break shit or it doesn’t work out perfectly.
Going to ride in today, and we’ll see how this goes. 🤷♂️ Going to be a nice day, though I was kind of feeling like shit this morning and struggled to get out o bed. 🛏️ Last night I was down at the park and my eye was bothering me, 👀 so I came home and was in bed before 9 PM. Feeling like crap into the new day, but now that I’m up and had some breakfast, 🍳 I am ready to tackle going to work 🖥️ and doing the best I can. The eggs with lots of broccoli 🥦, spinach and frozen strawberries 🍓 definately helped.
Really do need to look at LASIK 👀 as I’m really tired of the dry and irrated eyes at times. I will call them once things calm down at work, and get a better idea if I’m eligible and a hard number on the costs. Then I’ll set up an Health Savings Account and an appointment for the surgery at the end of the year. It’s a good investment in my future, especially if I don’t want to forever be dependent on those stupid pieces of plastic I must put in my eyes daily and take out each night to keep myself from being freaking blind.
Thinking this weekend of going to the No King’s Protest in Albany, ✊ on Saturday and then maybe Sunday go for a drive and do some riding or hiking. 🏡 I could go to the Gas Up with Dad if he feels up to it or maybe it would just be fun to poke around some of the back roads. I am considering hammock camping up on Cotton Hill or another state forest, then I go could to the Gas Up ⛽ and get more ice cream. 🍦 I don’t know. The following Thursday is Juneteenth and I want to make that into a long weekend up at the Potholers, assuming the weather is nice. 🏊
Car fires rarely kill people – only 615 people died in car fires in 2019 – a fraction of 36,000 automobile crash deaths. Even injuries are rare in car fires – less than 1,500 people were injured in car fires that year.
