I am a bit annoyed with the current White House administration putting limits on COVID shots, especially in Red States that haven’t decided to over-ride the federal guidance. When I got my COVID booster and flu shot this year, it was a very straightforward process – fill out a quick form online, check in at the pharmacy, wait five minutes, give them my birthdate, then the nurse said it was COVID shot and then flu shot. And I was done. Whatever, my arm was a bit sore the next day but it meant that I have at least a somewhat lower chance of getting COVID and the flu this year or if I do get it, not nearly as ill as I might otherwise get. But alas, you can’t prove a negative.
I was never a fan of vaccine mandates or social distancing – at least the overly moralistic terms it was put in. Stay home, to keep grandma or the crippled safe. Don’t you know there are immunocompromised individuals relying on you to stay home and get vaccinated during the pandemic? If you don’t get your damn vaccine, that’s like pulling the trigger on old grandma’s head. After all, the virus will spread like wildfire through the old folks home. Do it for the disabled and sick was the chant!
But I always thought a better reason for staying home during the pandemic, was to avoid getting yourself sick. Likewise, the best reason to get vaccinated was to keep yourself healthy. Vaccines have some risk, but the risk is quite low for most healthy individuals and benefits of a five minute appointment and a potentially slightly sore arm the next day are worth it. Seriously though, with the 2025 COVID booster and flu shots I didn’t even feel the shot and only my arm was a bit sore the next day. Beats potentially weeks in bed or a hospital visit. And I didn’t do it for grandma or the cripples in the home for retards.
I think the overly moralistic tone, and the idea that the experts know best without question really lead us to where we are now. Trump 2.0 didn’t pop out of nowhere, he and the people he hired – namely Robert F. Kennedy – are a reflection of American mood which was tired of the experts know best without question. Every public policy has risks, costs and benefits, and public should be treated like adults and be allowed to make informed decisions with the facts both pro and con. People are really fed up with being looked down by the government and experts.
I can’t say if you should get your COVID vaccine or not. Whether or not you should smoke or wear a seat belt. Do review the facts and be thoughtful about the risks you want to take. I don’t buy the idea such personal decisions have some public costs – such as health care costs on aggregates – and that the public should decide for you. Instead, people shouldn’t be denied the COVID or flu shots – or denied a job because they aren’t vaccinated – but be informed about the pros and cons.
Tomorrow I will officially bite the bullet on whether or not to take next week off. While I will still have some work during the week I’ll have to remote into most of the week I’ll be free and the plan is to spend the Columbus Day Holiday around Speculator for three nights then Columbus Day head up to Horseshoe Lake and Lows Lake through Thursday then up to Floodwood Road vicinity through the weekend. This way, the Adirondack Rail Trail and St. Regis Canoe Area should be quiet once the holiday crowds are gone.
The leaves were already past peak in the Adirondacks but that’s not surprising. They always turn quickly and early in the high country, and this year was particularly dry. Going to be cool and potentially damp some of the week, but I’m okay with hanging out next to heater and rain is needed for fire safety. Not planning any big rip-roaring fires, but I don’t want my propane heater or camp stove to kick up a spark and set the grass or leaves on fire – and on cold nights a good fire is fun. That said, dreary days are good for reading and maybe enjoying some grass, a good beer or two and doing some cooking. Need to make sure I have everything I will need for the week, including a full tank of propane, because stores are few and far between in the Adirondacks. You run out, you’re mostly SOL.
My agenda is intentionally vague to a certain extent. The first weekend around Speculator will probably involve riding around the Speculator Tree Farm and/or Perkins Clearing, maybe paddling along the Jessup River or Mason Lake. Watch Hill is a good hike. Monday, Columbus Day, I am planning on heading up to Horseshoe Lake fairly early. For the mid-week, I want to hike Lows Ledge and paddle around Low Lake and possibly ride my bike around NY 421 and I think if it’s allowed Lows Lake Upper Road. I think it’s not wilderness so the gated road is open to mountain bikes. And just hang out at times in hammock. Going to be cool but by mid-day it will be in the mid-60s even up north, which means with the hoodie and some sun it should be quite relaxing the hammock reading and enjoying life.
Then Thursday, it’s Floodwood Road. From there, I will probably ride down to Tupper Lake one day, and then the other day head out to Saranac Lake. It really depends on the time and weather but I’ll do the interesting sections of the rail trail. I got to renew my fishing and hunting licenses, but I also may want to do some fishing on St. Regis Canoe Area besides the paddling. I should also fix my portage cart so I can use that for getting back to the lakes, so I don’t have to portage as much. Then Sunday I’ll head back home. Not sure if I’ll go back via the Lake Placid, through the High Peaks to the Northway or take NY 30 back down to NY 28 and the home that way. There are different options depending on the weather and my mood. And I don’t really want to box myself in as the weather and so much could change between now and then.
I bet they still smell like burnt plastic and well like burning barrel when you burn them up. Despite the advertising, I think I the empty bags of calf starter and chicken feed make for a better place to store burnables, as after all we are in a burn ban unless of course it’s a small campfire or cooking fire that doesn’t smell too much like burnt plastic. We’ll leave it at that, pass the joint, lol. Got to stop watching so much Brappy on the YouTube.
What can I say, Canadian Rednecks are a lot of fun. 🧑🌾 Who can’t blame me for watching a bunch of kids jumping ATVs and snowmobiles, having burn piles and burning all kinds of wild shit, building things, tearing them down, feeding hogs and chickens, making a life while passing around the bong. Good times, honest. Let me put on my striped Salvation Army dress shirt 🏢 and head down to the despotic corporate office building in suburbs and play data scientist or whatever you want to call the data devision where we build files on everyone to target them for communications in my delusions of grandeur dreaming of those days of shoveling hog shit and feed and watching that plastic milk bottle melt away. 🐖
I really do like that grow house I saw yesterday on that homestead, 🌾 even if I do kind of despise vinyl so much. Keeps the smell and moisture of the Mary Jane out of the house. I want to make sure I pick up some more weed before heading up to Adirondacks for next week, camp 🏕️ which I am pretty sure I’ll do come Friday after work. Might leave early so I’m not driving up there in the pitch black, though between cleaning my windshield and having the TLC done on my eyes. I am pretty happy with LASIK and irriation still is an issue but between the occasional use of expensive (at least in my mind) preservative-free artificial tears and less expensive super-generic dry eye solution things are good. 👀 Of course it depends on how many hours I spend staring at a screen today.
Looks like we should get a good amount of rain ☔ on Tuesday into Wednesday and possibly more come the weekend. 🔥 Well as much as I don’t love the idea of camping in the rain at least it will reduce the fire risk and hopefully raise the water levels so I’m not spending my time completely portaging beaver dams. 🛶 I saw the Adirondack Rail Trail is now full open from Tupper to Saranac Lake, so that will be good for riding the following weekend, as the first weekend I plan to be somewhere around Speculator, then Horseshoe Lake first for the first six nights. Then final 3 nights up on Floodwood Road or somewhere else near the St. Regis Canoe Area. Should be relatively quiet this time of year. I should make sure to download the Saranac Lake Wild Forest plan as I know they made some changes to campsites up there in recent years especially along Floodwood Road. 🗺️ And I’m not sure if they are correctly shown on my map.
I was asleep before 8 PM last night and up fairly early this morning, 🛏️ doing some reading and wasting time on the Internet this morning. Apple slices, heated with cinnamon and Stevia, along with peanut-butter whole-wheat pancakes this morning. 🥞 The microwave is working great now that I replaced the plug 🔌 . The replacement plug is so beafy that I doubt I can ever break it, although te reason the old plug failed was the lack of strain relief on the increasingly brittle cord from age, and my insistaance on unplugging it between uses to save energy. ⚡ I know it’s stupid shit, doesn’t save that much money but I hate the waste. 💵 It’s like riding the bike to work to avoid paying the bus fare or putting gas ⛽ in my big jacked up truck.
On that note, 🚲 I replaced the broke spoke on my bike, and rode it out to Five Rivers and it’s mostly true now and riding well enough. I am sure the woke bike riders would be horrified about how untrue and wobbly the wheel is but I don’t care. They’re probably too busy eating their granola bars in their PFOA-drenched spandex getting all excited about washing out their plastic bottles for recycling. ♻️ Got to Save the Earth, so we can bulldoze more of rare ecosystems for REI Stores and Industry Solar Farms. 🌎 But at certain point, if you put it in gear ⚙️ and peddle and goes forward, it’s all good. Well, probably time after Country Joe and Fish song to get in shower, 🚿 be less of a dirty hick, hop on my mountain bike 🚲 and ride to work in suburbs. I should bring extra spokes and gear puller when I go to Adirondacks to be safe. As I’m sure with the certain rainy weather, there will be more days to sit and read and giggle, 🤭 then ride but those days nice enough for riding I want to be able to do it and not have broke bike should antoher spoke give way.
Ride in today, 🚲 listening to more of Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and also tomorrow. Then probably see if I can get ride with Lynne to the public hearing and meetings regarding more developments in the Albany Pine Bush on Tuesday after a quick ride downtown for more work meetings on Capitol Hill. before the rain. Drive in on Wednesday, in the rain, head out to Pine Bush 🌲 for the unveiling of the John Wolcott HIker’s Underpass sign, back out to suburbs for work in the afternoon, then Wally World for camping supplies. 🍂Thursday pack, but ride both ways to work, and Friday drive in and then up north probably somewhere around Speculator or may just Wells for the Columbus Day Weekend before heading north 🧭 to Horseshoe Lake on Columbus Day. Busy week but I should have much more of a chance to pack and things shouldn’t be quite so dry this weekend in case I want a small fire 🔥 to keep warm and study the flames like any good redneck enjoys.
