The Woods

Kayak and Solar Panel

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While it shouldn’t have surprised me, the kayak and solar panel played together nicely this past weekend. 🔌 The kayak rides well clear of the panel, and doesn’t really have much of an impact on loading and unloading While the solar panel doesn’t produce much output while the kayak is on the truck, parked in the sun while I was out paddling fully recharged the battery so I had plenty of power for the second night.😎

The solar panel probably makes the truck even a bit more top heavy and unstable with the kayak on roof but I’ve not noticed it. The kayak seems to ride fine although a little bit of due care is needed while driving on the expressway, especially at 65 mph with the wind on some of the hills of the Thruway outside of Amsterdam. 🚚 A high center of gravity probably isn’t that dangerous, especially with the under steer of the big tires of my truck but one has to be careful – one time a few years I swerved with the kayak on the roof – and there was a lot of body lean. But things were fine but I learned my lesson to be careful.

I really should bring my kayak along for more adventures.

Exploring the back roads of Lewis County

Upstate NY black bear nuisance complaints rising due to drought, dry conditions | NewYorkUpstate.com

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Upstate NY black bear nuisance complaints rising due to drought, dry conditions | NewYorkUpstate.com

"Carl Carmoney was camping recently at the Limekiln State Campground in Inlet early this month when he had a close encounter with a black bear. "

"I was sitting at our clean campsite starting a fire. It was going fine. My son was cooking dinner in the RV when an estimated 450-pound bear came lumbering up from behind me. He was about 20 feet from me. I got up, (quickly) put our car between him and me and entered the RV," he said of the Adirondack encounter."

"Carmoney said the bear "spent the better part of 3 or 4 hours wondering (his and nearby) campsites. "

"My 'spidey senses' were on overdrive and, that's an understatement. The bear approached our campsite four other times. We saw him (within 50 feet of us) one more time."

Don’t Touch! A Scientist’s Advice For Spotting Poison Ivy Before It Ruins Your Summer

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Don’t Touch! A Scientist’s Advice For Spotting Poison Ivy Before It Ruins Your Summer

""Within 48 hours, I had your classic case of poison ivy on my arm. And as a scientist, I said, 'This is interesting, how bad can it be? I'll just leave this untreated,' " he recalls, sheepishly. "In about two weeks, I had learned just how uncomfortable poison ivy rash could be. Uncomfortable sounds like an understatement. Jelesko says he barely slept while fighting the urge to "claw my itching flesh off." Eventually, he went to his family doctor, who prescribed oral steroids. The experience sparked years of research into a plant he calls a "familiar stranger." He has studied the chemical, urushiol, that triggers that tell-tale rash, and the plant's biology overall. The tricky thing about avoiding poison ivy, Jelesko says, is the plant is highly adaptable and can take many different forms in different environments"