Notes

Not a Real Fan of Thacher Park

|

For many years I would never go to John Boyd Thacher State Park. I never really liked the place — I thought it was too developed — too surbanized — too packed the gills with obnoxious people. Not a place to go for relaxation or scenic views but to be run over by joggers and bicyclists while taking in the view or doing nature study.

My hatred of John Boyd Thacher Park wore off over the years. First in 2003, I started go occasionally to the back part of the park off of Beaver Dam Road after my college class let out for the day — usually once a week. It was nice going back there, especially around the ski hill in  the evening, as you would never see to many people back there. Mostly undeveloped, wandering around the cleared paths in the brushy woods that were full of wildlife.

Then I “rediscovered” the OSI parcel, which is some “wild” lands to the north of the park. Especially on weekdays, and to certain extend on the weekends this area is quite nice, quite and wild. Most of the surburbanites in their SUVs avoid this area for the developed parcels with the picinic tables and rails to discouage them from heading to close to  the edge. But the OSI parcel is a totally different experience.

While I like the OSI parcel with its views, if I have other choices I’ll go to other wild lands with even fewer restrictions. I don’t like how Thacher Park closes at dusk, you can’t go for moonlit walks or camp there like on state forests. There just seems to be so many restrictions compared to other wild lands around to explore.

Escarpment

Happy Friday! 🎃

|

It’s a Friday already, which seems to happen so quickly but then again with all my meetings and events that are going on these days, and working remote other days, it seems like the week goes by so quickly. Final Friday in October, which seems really had to believe.

Cooler out today but sunny. 🌞 Morning are hard to get going being so dark these days. I was going back and forth whether I should work remote today or go into the office, 🏢 as I like the ride and it’s excellent exercise on such a beautiful day 🚴 but ultimately I settled on working remote, as I want to work from Five Rivers at least this afternoon and go for a walk at lunch time. In the morning, I’ll probably work down at the library at the picnic table I’m thinking. Figure enjoy the beautiful weather, it won’t last. 🍂

Last night I decided there was just enough daylight, 🌇 so I rode out to the Bender Mellon Preserve after work to look at the mountains close to dusk. After next weekend with the time change, that certainly won’t be possible, and indeed I’ve been looking at additional lights and DOT tape to add to my bicycle for safety when night riding. 🔦 If I decide to ride in from the Menands office, the commute home will be in darkness, though probably I would only ride to downtown and get the express from there.

This morning was was carrot pancakes. 🥞 Used up the last of baking powder I had so I ended up using some yeast in the mix. Made it almost bread-like, it was a 50%-50% mix of baking power and yeast. Gave it a bit extra time to rise with warm weather and beat it well. Came out pretty good. I’ve been too much into sweets lately having spent a lot of time as campaign committee doing work there with the break room full of candy, so I’ve been adding too much stevia and frozen fruit to fill my sweet tooth when I’m not in the office. That said, I would never buy anything that crap of myself.

This weekend I’m staying in town, 🏠️ hoping to do an oil change on Sunday when I’m out at my parents house 🔧 and also go apple picking with dad. 🍎 That way I’ll have fresh oil in the truck, and I’ll just wait to rotate the tires until December when I get my state inspection done. I am not planning a lot of trips for November, probably do a trip out to the Green Mountains or — maybe — Cazenovia over Veterans Day Weekend and then maybe a trip to the East Branch of the Scanadaga on the Friday after Thanksgiving. But mostly November I’ll be home more.

December is when I’m more likely to take time off to do that Cazenovia or other trips once rifle season is done, 🦌 though a lot depends if we get early snow in December or not. It’s possible I do something next weekend, but I’m undecided on that fact. Hoping for some rain so the fire risk is less. 🔥 It’s surprising how dry this autumn has been, as usually if anything the climate has gotten wetter in this general area.

Been working on updating a bunch of maps on the blog. 🗺️ I am surprised how much ad revenue has dropped recently on my blog, though I don’t do political ads, which is currently where all the money is. Probably ad revenue will increase as the holiday season approaches. But also now that camping season is done for a lot of people, my blog doesn’t get the search engine traffic it once did. No ad check this month, though I should have enough revenue to get a November one. Maybe I set aside too much from paychecks to pay taxes, now that interest rates have dropped and as has blog revenue.

I keep reminding myself…

|

The truth is Donald John Trump may very well be the president elect in a little over a week and a half, although chances are good that the parties will still be counting ballots at that point and fighting over election law in the courts. The Republicans will most likely win the US Senate and it’s looking increasingly like they’ll keep the House. But we won’t know for sure until the votes are cast and counted.

I have very mixed feelings about that. I generally believe in divided government, that there should be somebody to say no and keep the politicians honest. But despite casting a protest vote against Kamela Harris, I do kind of hope she is ultimately elected. I fundamentally think many of Trump’s ideas are bad such as tarrifs and I like smoking pot and believe in renewable energy and a role in government in creating rules for a fair economy.

Ultimately, we are victims of whatever our nation’s leaders decide, though elections are very temporary things and it will be 2026 and 2028 before you know it. Politicians are a lot more constrained then they let on and we all live in the zeitgeist of the times. We have to do the best we can do in our personal circumstances, regardless of what we see blaring on the color television.