Notes

Carry Lean-To

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Exploring the Carry Lean-To in the West Canada Lake Wilderness, off of the Cedar River, about a mile above the Cedar River Flow.

Then it got cooler this Thursday …

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I woke up during the middle of the night when that cold front pushed through, the wind pushed up and it got cooler in my bedroom. Still, yesterday was a beautiful day and today is cooler but not exactly cold. Definately though this morning reminds us we are well into the second half of October. It was dark and I got a late start into the office.

More clouds this morning and cooler. ☁️ I greased up my chain and headed in, packing the last of the brown rice made so creamy and delicous by cooking down with red lentils, turmeric and a bit of salt. 🍲 To beef it up I added some veggies. That also was dinner and lunch yesterday. It reminds me a lot of those processed-rice dishes you can get like Rice-a-Roni, though with the red lentils and brown rice, it is much healthier of an option. 🛌 It was hard to get out of bed this morning.

I decided to do my own oil change this weekend, 🔧 so i don’t have to worry about getting that done with it so hard to get an appointment, having to take time off from work, etc. Then I’ll have them rotate the tires in December when I have state inspection done. 🔎 🛻 I might do a trip out to Cazenovia next weekend, though I’m thinking the following weekend — Veterans Day Weekend — might be better, possibly tagging a few extra days on it. Then I wouldn’t have to worry about remote work, I could be fully off the grid.

I might instead camp Veterans Day Weekend along the East Branch of Deerfield River in Vermont. 🏕 Then I’m thinking Black Friday through that Monday, camping off of NY 8 and East Branch. Come December after Big Game Season, as I’ll probably have time to use, I’m thinking that would be a good time to camp in Cazenovia or Brookfield, and maybe do more of the Canalway outside of Utica/Rome. 🚴Figure best to plan any further away trips after the state inspection, as they could find defects in the suspension, etc. that would be worthwhile to fix before I have a breakdown on the roadside. 🚛

I’m not particularly phased about the upcoming election 🗳️

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One of the two leading Presidential candidates will likely win the election, and they will inevitably go on television each night, causing indigestion in millions of households across the nation. The politicians and their enablers, the news media, will remind you that everything is at stake and you should go out to vote, but the truth is bar the indigestion the election may cause to watchers of television, not much will change regardless of who is elected this November.

Politicians act like they are all powerful, how they can move socities but they are awful constrained both by existing law, existing technology, and future elections. Politicians have to constantly be on their toes, they have real reason to fear the voters in two to four years. Politicians have a lot less power then they like to express. They say all kinds of crazy talk, but when it comes down to it, they are just another bureaucrat in the government. Even the President has very little impact on your day to day life.

The older I get, the less I pay attention to the news. The more I operate on a need-to-know basis. There are some things that are legitimately important to know about, but there is also a lot of crap out there that has little bearing on one’s own life, and even when it does, you have very little control over it. Why be angry or concerned about who is going to be the next President when we all are soon to be victims of whomever is elected for good or bad? Only time will tell.

McDonald’s is Still Gross 🍟🍔

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I have not eaten at McDonald’s since I was a little kid. This week for the team lunch, due to time and cash constraints, it was decided they would just order a bunch of McDonald’s food if that’s what you could call it. And my impression was not favorable, though I have to admit I eat more then I would have done. But it’s not something I would necessarily spend my own money on.

Traditionally the reason I don’t eat fast food had nothing to do with health, but I didn’t like all the packaging and the throw-away culture. The idea of eating a quick meal in a paper sack, that you throw out your car window while driving down the highway seems utterly irresponsible and repulsive on so many levels. They tell you your not supposed to litter, but then they hand you litter to toss our your car window as you cruise down the highway. Don’t believe the advertising — you are supposed to toss the bag along the side of the interstate.

I found the smell of the McDonald’s grease to most repulsive but I was hungry so I bit into one of those McFish sandwiches. Talk about the most generic of fish sandwiches, without adding some of the special sauces they give you, they really have no flavor except for the greasiness that gets on your lips. The sauces do help, but they are stll incredibly generic. I also had some of chicken nuggets, which again were greasy and tasteless though the various sauces are pretty good. The McDonalds cookies were soft, sugary, and greasy too, and the warm apple pies were sweet and greasy. But none of it had much flavor, though the sauces made it tolerable.

Yet, I would hardly call it food. I think two seconds after eating way too many chicken nuggets and that ever so generic fish sandwich I was still hungry. They just don’t fill you up, as they have so little nutritive value. It really wasn’t food. I hate to think of my self as a food snob — by no means am I foodie — but I can’t imagine eating crap like this regularly or even occasionally. Indeed, most restaurant food at this point I find pretty greasy and repulsive, preferring the simple foods I cook from whole ingredients at home. Maybe I’ve just gotten used to the stronger tastes of whole, natural foods, and I don’t need all that added processing and crap that takes out the more bitter and stronger tastes that I enjoy so much from eating real food that is only a few steps removed from the farm.