My relationship with snow is complicated living in the suburbs.
Snow rarely impacts my commuteliving in the suburbs as the busses run whether it’s sunny and 50 or it’s blowing deep snow. They do a good job if clearing the sidewalks where I live so I can’t complain about that either. I do worry sometimes after severe winter storms about losing power, although my apartment is on enough of a main line that the last time I had an extended power outage was during the ice storm over a decade ago. The big issue here is when I loose power there is no heat in the freezing weather.
An off grid cabin wouldn’t risk losing grid power from the snow. With wood heat electric isn’t required, just throw another log on the fire. I would have to keep an eye on the propane though so I wouldn’t run out of hot water for the shower and dish washing though. Digging out the driveway, cleaning off the solar panels and getting wood from the stack outdoors might be work but I could always come back inside, especially on days when I don’t have to work. A generator might have to be fired up to maintain the voltage of the battery on cold snowy dark days but hopefully with enough storage I wouldn’t have to use it much. Going out to the outhouse might not be fun but I guess I could always build a shitter bucket and dump it out when I’m outside.
While I like the security and warmth of living off grid, I don’t really enjoy driving in the snow. I think I’m fairly good at it, and I’m a careful driver but snow driving is a long slow slog as your speeds are greatly reduced. I expect when I own my own land and have to commute to an out of town area – there will be some long trips home – although I still would use public transportation to get to and from the city center to avoid traffic and parking headaches. I would probably get studded snow tires and maybe chains for my truck. Or have an old clunker that I don’t care if it gets beat up in the snow. I could always leave my truck by the town road and take a four wheeler or snowmobile out there.
I’m fine with snow for now as long as I don’t lose power. I’m saving money with my cheap apartment on the bus line. But it would sure be nice to some day have my own land and have a nice wood stove to stay warm along and have the security of an off grid system without fear of losing electric lighting or heat.
There is no reason that I should have not expected, I mean the forecast did call for rain and mild temperatures last night. And I’m not complaining about that as it feels pretty warm inside but I was hoping to ride this morning in the sun either out to the Arboretum or Five Rivers. Maybe later and maybe I’ll check out the Sportsmart later in the search of skis but I know chances are good I won’t end up getting any.
Friday came and went. 🥧 It was a busy day with the pie contest and then I spent several hours tagging people in adult care homes in the database at work and grabbing other data on volunteer firefighters from some tax rolls on Long Island. And working with the operators to implement some complicated targets that were good, rational targets, but complicated in implementation even if they were good as they ensure communications get in front of relevant parties. The pie contest was fun, I was surprised almost all of my queche went and gone. Apparently queche eaters are a big thing – it no longer has the stigma that avocado 🥑 toast has nowadays. Eggs 🥚 are cheap again, and I wanted something I could make up from home.
There was a request that came in at 4:57 PM, 🖥️ and it was a good laugh not because it was bad but because it was a bit complicated to implement, and it as the weekend. I told the assigned operator it would wait until Monday. I didn’t say it but I was thinking, what the hell have a wrathed on my agency? Truth is though it makes sense to pull the suggested records – but not until Monday. It’s amazing how much things have changed in two years, and how much data I’ve been able to acquire from private vendor, public andgovernment sources. The parcels program is amazing, and towns are required are required to post tax rolls. And there is so much data you can gleam from and project just by family names or knowing what neighborhood one lives in, or the age or style of their home. Toblers First Law of Geography – “everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things“– is such a powerful concept.
I left the office a little after 5 PM and wandered my way through the bumpy ol’ streets of the south end, riding in my ol jacked up truck with my cowboy hat 🤠 listening to Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World, followed by John Rich’s Shutting Down Detroit and Marmalade’s Reflections of My Life. I’m changing, arranging everything. The news headlines after the big meet up between the Trumpster and Mayor Mamadani just put a big grin 😀 on my face. Things are fucked up in this world, 🌍 but we’ll make it through it somehow. It’s great to see how much my agency has changed over past two years leading it- since I’ve made it a priority to link data together, script things, take full advantage of what we know about constituents. Things that were done on a small scale manually, can certainly be expanded and run in automated fashion.
Stocked up at Walmart so I can avoid the traffic around the stores through Thanksgiving 🦃 though on Black Friday I may have to skip buy nothing in favor of getting a few supplies on the way up to camp. With I had gotten more hot sauce in big plastic bottle, and maybe olive oil – both are lower in my pantry then is good – but I should have enough in my pantry and except for the olive oil neither is essential. Used a lot of olive oil with the queche I made for work so it wouldn’t stick and would taste good, 😋 more then I would use usually use. Now I’m thinking for the Christmas Party 🎅 at work I’ll have to to make those cranberry pancakes 🥞 I make at home with some Greek yogurt. I feel like that would be a hit.
At times I am brought back to Horseshoe Lake a month ago, smoking weed and listening to Karen Dalton’s Are You Leaving for the Country. The sound of the major pentatonic scale and sharpness and backwood sound of her voice. The feeling of cold and dampness and mud and dirt, climbing down Lows Ledge. Just taking it slow, noting the many days left in week before the autumn trip came to it’s logical conclusion. How time just seemed to slow down into a cold, damp haze.
Seems hard to imagine a month came and went from those days, now how distant the wilderness really is. How deep that wilderness is but accessible yet quiet this time of year. There is something so fun about just smoking a lot of pot, riding your mountain bike all day out to scenic, remote locations, even in the rain. Not having to worry about driving or even recycling your trash as the evening bonfire will take care of it. As you watch the bright flicker of the fire. Even if your drenched in a cold, damp haze as is so common in autumn months.
That’s what my phone suggested as I started to type Hangman, as I thought that seemed like a fitting start to the Friday blog post on this Friday before Thanksgiving as I am inspired to listen to Peter, Paul and Mary’s Hangman from the See What Tomorrow Brings album from 1967. You know after the Trumpsters remarks on his social media network. One of the last albums before the break up after Paul Yarrow’s brush with the law and young girl that lead to his insprisonment and breakup of the group for a good part of a decade as 1970 rolled around.
It’s Friday and it’s cold and grey November day 🌥️ though the weather pattern is moderating for the weekend and tomorrow is supposed to be quite nice. 1 PM tomorrow is the Sportsmart so I want to try to see if I can join into the cattle call and the crowds and see if I can get a good pair of cross country skis. If not, whatever it’s not like winter lasts that long any more, and if anything I’d rather just ride my bike places and stay home when it’s truly cold. ❄️
Still watching to see what will happen with the Thanksgiving storm, 🦃 it seems like December is trending colder and snowier. 🌨️ Only time will tell but I’m hoping next Friday to get up north through Monday, enjoying late autumn camping and maybe do a hike somewhere in the Eastern Adirondacks. Kind of leaning towards NY 28 in Minerva, you know up off the Boreas River but only if there isn’t too much snow to get back to those campsites. Later in December I want to do the Horse Camp but not until after Christmas most likely or maybe New Years Day through the weekend of January, both of which Ih Ave off, 🎅 though a lot depends on when the Lake Effect snow guns ramp up.
One thing that’s nice about not riding in or taking the bus, 🚌 is I can leave a lot later. A 9 mile commute mostly on the highway is actually quite a bit faster then on the bike 🚲 or the bus with the transfer to the shuttle, 🚀 and I can leave quite a bit later. My pie is done – it’s a queche with spinach and onions and hot sauce and cheese with a crust made out of homemade cornbread. Crust is a relative thing, the cornbread was a bit thicker then I expected so it’s a bit of a half and half layer type deal. Should be good. ☺️ And if it’s left over it’s not like I’ll be stuck with a big thing of sweets 🍬 to eat a home.
![Untitled [Expires October 27 2025]](https://andyarthur.org//data/photo_019593_large.jpg)
