Green Mountain National Forest

Green Mountain National Forest is a national forest located in Vermont, a forest area typical of the New England/Acadian forests ecoregion. The forest supports a variety of wildlife, including beaver, moose, coyote, black bear, and white tailed deer. It also supports an abundant variety of bird species, such as wild turkey and ruffed grouse. The forest, being situated in Vermont’s Green Mountains, has been referred to as the ‘granite backbone’ of the state.

The forest was established in 1932, as a result of uncontrolled overlogging, fire and flooding.[3] It consists of 399,151 acres (1,615.31 km2); and is the biggest contiguous land mass in the state. If Finger Lakes National Forest, which is managed as a unit of the Green Mountain National Forest, is included within it, GMNF is one of only two national forest northeast of the Pennsylvania-New Jersey barrier; the other being the White Mountain National Forest. Split into the southwest and central areas, GMNF has a total of eight wilderness areas. These were designated by Congress beginning with the Wilderness Act of 1964 to be areas off limits to mechanized gear down to and including bicycles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Mountain_National_Forest
http://www.fs.usda.gov/greenmountain

Half a year of remote work 💻

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Half a year of remote work 💻

This weekend marks six months or half a year of remote work with the pandemic smoldering all around us. Definitely been a big change in all parts of life, some good some bad. I do miss the routine of taking the bus to work and going downtown each day but in some ways it’s been kind of nice.

The other day I actually ended up going downtown to a meeting. Things seemed so alien being down in the city, with folks wearing masks and crowds much thinned out from an ordinary weekday. It would have been a lot easier to take a bus but I still feel weird riding the bus with the pandemic still around. Even with a mask it’s a risk and honestly I’m nowhere near wanting to die from a stupid respiratory infection.

Remote work has allowed me to travel, to see and go places and take longer weekends than I would had I been working downtown. But life is hardly a cake, days when I travel I find I really have to make work the top priority, been extra responsive and hard working as I work with clients. Even at home it’s a challenge as I don’t have home internet so I find myself running to Wi-Fi hot spots for the endless Zoom Meetings and those silly software updates the laptop demands.

I don’t miss the commutes or the backed up traffic on Interstate 787. I don’t miss having to get up early or rushing to get out the door to the bus. I do somewhat miss the time around the water cooler and certainly the view from my old office, although that’s kind of a moot point now with the windowless office at my new job. Hunting season might be fun if I can hunt before working remotely at nine.

Honestly, I think they are right when they say the old rules were dumb. The virus is shaking things up, showing that a lot more things can be done remotely. Remote work is useful in a variety of situations and offers new job possibilities and ways to earn a living when I eventually own my off-grid property. The changes have been difficult at many levels but necessary and I think ultimately it will lead to a better society.

Eight weeks out

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Some further thoughts about the presidential race 8⃣ weeks out …

Donald Trump is incompetent and probably quite corrupt. He’s a buffoon but that’s hardly news to anyone. He’s the Trumpster. People like the man a lot, especially hillbilly hicks I idolize that shovel pig and horse manure, burn their own trash out back and own all the guns I wish to own myself someday. Backwoods Pennsylvania where shit is real.

Joe Biden is biding his time, for like it or not it’s his own time. Trump’s incompetence is finally coming to a roost. With all of Biden’s experience in Washington DC as decades of being a member of the nation’s most exclusive club, the US Senate, he’s certain to be a power broker. That certainly concerns me, and I do hope if he’s elected president that the senate remains in GOP hands and remains a brake on progress that could harm those communities not represented by the Democratic Coalition. A Biden presidency might be good at chopping down the deficit if the Republicans say no to everything and Biden says no to more defense spending.

Third party candidates are more of an interest to me. I have reservations about Howie Hawkens from decades ago when he was very actively pushing the restrictions on open burning that I don’t like. But I do like the idea of more citizens involvement in democracy and I do think the Green Party comes from an honestly good place. It’s a good protest vote. It’s not like me, the humble boy from the sticks voting in the presidential election in New York is going to change anything, so I might as while protest. I voted Green in 2016.

The there is Jo Jorgensen the Libertarian Candidate. She seems kind of cool even if I think she’s nuts on many things. I don’t think we can frack or drill our way to sustainably. Climate change is real, it’s caused by billions of people. But it’s not like she’s going to get elected so any one position of hers doesn’t matter. She certainly would be a good protest vote, especially on the second amendment and police reform – and just more generally getting the government off our backs. I did vote for that colorful but less than memorable libertarian who ran for governor in 2018.

So gawd I don’t know. I do know my absentee ballot will arrive in a few weeks and I have choices and I’m no real fan of Trump and the Republican Party but I’m willing to keep an open mind. 🤯

One thing that really bothers me is that government agencies are tax exempt. 🏛️

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One thing that really bothers me is that government agencies are tax exempt. 🏛️

I don’t like the idea that government doesn’t pay its fair share of taxes – if there were more taxes on government then there would be a greater incentive to economize and would help level the playing field with the private sector. I think it makes sense to assess on government all of the same taxes that any private sector entity pays.

Taxes on government could also raise an enormous amount of revenue – in most communities government is one of the most wealthy institutions often ranking in the billions in income and spending each year. Governments have massive payrolls, land holdings, buildings, bridges and property. It would greatly increase fairness by taxing these most successful of entries.

Taxing government is just like taxing power plants or railroads. While it’s true that power plants and railroads benefit all, and we all pay into them, we tax them because they are source of wealth and because it’s a way to encourage economy and efficient use of resources.

Government agencies do pay payroll taxes nowadays but not sales tax, property taxes, franchise or corporate income taxes. I think they should like any other corporation. If they have to cut services it sell property to cover their tax bills then so be it. At the same time, many agencies would benefit by increased revenue by other agencies paying them tax. I think government paying taxes would be a more effective and efficient government.

September 7, 2020 Morning

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Good morning! Happy Labor Day 👨‍🏭! Five weeks to Columbus Day ⛵. Mostly and 69 degrees at the Green Mountain National Forest. 🌤️ There is a south-southwest breeze at 11 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 50 degrees.

It’s been a good weekend but in a little bit I’m going to start taking down camp to head home. 🏡 A very pleasant day at least when the sun is out although got really cloudy. ☁️ I originally thought about staying a few more days but I really need ice before tomorrow and I think I will need Wi-Fi for work on Tuesday. ✳️ But so be it. I wasn’t originally planning on going anywhere this weekend until the forecast improved but it certainly wasn’t as nice as earlier estimates.

Labor Day will be partly sunny 🌤️ , with a high of 71 degrees at 3pm. Five degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around September 18th. Maximum dew point of 52 at 6pm. South wind 11 to 15 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 73 degrees. The record high of 96 was set in 1945.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:51 pm with sun having an altitude of 52.8° from the due south horizon (-17.6° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 4.6 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:40 pm with the sun in the west (273°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (279°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:17 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 57 seconds with dusk around 7:44 pm, which is one minute and 46 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:21 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 68 degrees. The dew point will be 52 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 11 mph. Today will have 12 hours and 52 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 51 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 57 degrees at 5am. Two degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around September 2nd. Maximum dew point of 54 at 4am. South wind 7 to 10 mph. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 52 degrees. The record low of 34 occurred back in 1978.

It seems like cleaning out in the inside of the truck bed stopped the mouse problem. 🐭 Probably wasn’t a bad idea it was kind of dirty to say the least and maybe there was food crumbs or something that was attracting them. 🍪 It needed a good cleaning and probably it’s best to leave the mud and dirt in the woods. 🌲

Next Saturday looks nice but not so Sunday. 😕 Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 62. Maximum dew point of 47 at 7pm. Sunday, a chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 66. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Maximum dew point of 56 at 6pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 74 degrees.

I have plans for week of the 21st so I’ll probably end up staying home 🏡 the next two weeks. But maybe after then I’ll think about a trip to the Adirondacks to do some small game hunting and leaf peaping, remote working from the Spectulator Library 💻 assuming we have good weather for the solar. ☀️ Gets tough with the days getting shorter though.

Looking ahead, there are 5 weeks until Columbus Day ⛵ when the sun will be setting at 6:13 pm with dusk at 6:42 pm. On that day in 2019, we had partly sunny skies and temperatures between 66 and 44 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 61 degrees. We hit a record high of 85 back in 1954.

Hammock View