Not only did I have to replace the plug on the microwave after I broke the wire plugging it in and out, I broke a spoke 15 miles away in Millerton and had to limp the bike back. I replaced the spoke, not without removing the tire and having to reinflate it as the nibble also was broke, and now that is fixed.
It was a fun day yesterday, 🚲 and while the broke spoke trimmed a few miles off my trip limping it back to my truck, it was fine because it gave me more time to explore the Greenport Conservation Area. 🦋 Some great views there and a lot more to explore then I expected. Checked out the Copake Ironworks, Bash Bish Falls, the Mount Riga Wetlands, some Ancram. Oh, yeah hiked Beebe Hill in the morning, and drove back on NY 9J stupidly until the detour then along the detour through Kinderhook and back down to Croton on the Hudson. Ended my day stocking up on groceries and supplies at Wally World. 🔌 Including the replacement plug so I can use the microwave once again to heat up apples for using as a topping on pancakes. 🥞 It all worked out.
Today is another nice day and I’ll probably go out to Five Rivers 🐸 as much to test out the bike and make sure it’s ready with the wheel relatively true before the Monday commute. 🚲 Then shower 🚿 and head out to the folks. My eyes weren’t so irrated yesterday, 👀 using the drops and not staring at my phone helped a lot. 📱 I don’t think it was a bad choice not to go to Adirondacks this weekend, already the leaves are past peak so I didn’t miss anything too special. Next weekend if I head up on Friday, I’ll hang out in the Speculator-area and head up to Horseshoe Lake on Monday through Thursday, then up to Floodwood Road or somewhere out that way to do the St. Regis Canoe Area and some of the Adirondack Rail Trail. Nine nights so that works out at 3 nights each location, so no permit needed. 🎫 The rain on Wednesday should make things not as dry, and I think it will be cooler so to help further risk the fire risk, but I’ll also be careful where I camp, well away from dry grass, and any fires will be small and extinguished before bed. 🔥 I was just so busy last week the idea of packing and heading out to camp just seemed like a non-starter in my mind. And there was just no rain this past week. Certainly I saw some campfires on way back home last night, and they’re not prohibited but common sense says you get to be so careful when it’s so incredibly dry out.
I should hook it to a power strip rather then unpluging it all of the time.
See in my extreme mental illness, I discovered a few years back with my Kill-a-Watt meter that my microwave uses more electricity sitting idle then actually cooking food. While I use it maybe two times a month, as I don’t eat processed or most packaged food, the thing is the microwave uses 70 watt hours a day just to display to clock or 2.5 kWh a month or 30 kWh a year. That’s a lot of electricity for a clock I never look at.
It turns out microwaves often use a tap off the flyback transformer to run the clock, and that’s a wildly inefficient way to power a clock. But America is a very effluent nation, so we don’t normally notice such waste unless you are severely mentally ill. Then it’s like a dripping faucet to see all this money flowing out of your pocket like a leaky faucet.
I’ve been doing this for about 5 or 6 years now. The energy saved is equal to about my monthly electricity consumption, but I don’t have a lot of devices I power besides a hot water heater, reifgerator, stove, and a cellphone. I don’t own a television and the last time I had my computer at home was probably last winter.
Was it worth it, considering the cost replacing the broken plug from the worn-out power cord from being plugged in and out constantly? Probably yes with current power rates – 150 kWh at a quarter per kilowatt works out to be $37.50 and the plug was $6.32 at Wally’s World.
Columbia County and Western Dutchess County are fascinating places and have been as such for a long time. They are home to some of the Hudson Valley’s best farm lands but also some of wealthiest residents outside of city, brought up there by the scenic Taconic Parkway which has beckoned the wealthy north with scenic views and cheaper, beautiful land ever since it was constructed in the 1920s through the 1960s.
There is some real money in the hills there, just beyond the pungent apple and dairy country in the flatlands above the river. Hamlets with boutique stores with their hand painted signs and custom desserts, lunches and brews. Small businesses, but catering to the yuppie and wealthy up from the city. Not the crowd who wants cheap but function and shops at Wally World but seeks style and appeal to their senses.
It’s kind of a werid place. Both rural and charming but also much of the values of urbane and chic. While there are some run down houses and even trailer parks, much of the land is stylish rural houses and even farms that have been styled to bring in the tourist shopper, rather then working the land primarily. It’s kind of a werid feeling compared to what you might find in more deep rural regions, such as Northern Pennsylvania or some place like Chenango and Madison County NY, where the focus is in on working the land more than making something truly beautiful.
I often consider many of my views to be conservative. I want the government to be out of my life as much as possible, to stop levying taxes and fees on me, to provide services without moralizing them. I believe in self-reliance, I don’t need or want the government to hold my hands during the scary moments.
Yet, I hate how conservatives often embrace the crown and the state, makes military and police something to respect and celebrate. Yes government work is a job and yes there is dangers but many jobs in the private sector are quite dangerous and hard to. I don’t think our country is special or government is wonderful – maybe a necessary evil but hardly something worth celebrating! America is fine and necessary but it’s not wonderful.
Going to be a warm one for early October. Dry too, which is not great for my eyes or for burning shit. Got to watch out for those Chinese Uncles that everywheres these days. Apparently they don’t understand what it means to be living in Trump’s world. Thinking of heading down to Columbia and Dutchess Counties today.But first listening to some Country Joe and Fish and packing my day pack and bike, enjoying that ever sweet smell of the corn silage. No getting stoned with the dry eye.
I need to fire up Red and get him off the lawn, 🛻where he has sat since last Saturday when they re-sealed the driveway. Probably killing the grass. I should have moved him mid-week but I was busy all the different things going on and I was riding bike to work all week so no need to fire him up. 🚲 It wasn’t a bad night down at the Town Park after work, still wasn’t super dark until around 7 PM. I rode home without eye protection, though it did kind of dry out my eyes.
I was going to go out to Schoharie today and do an overnight, 🔥 but with the fire risk and burn ban making people give you stink eyes when you even mention having a campfire or smoking pot in the wilderness, and the whole common sense thing, I think it be better to instead do day trip today and maybe just ride out to Five Rivers tomorrow and hike maybe at one of the other preserves before going out to see the folks on Sunday. I soaked more kidney beans overnight for cooking this morning but I’ll wait until I get home this evening or maybe tomorrow morning.
I think instead I’ll head out to Columbia and Dutchess County. 🍁 🚶 Thinking maybe the Beebe Hill Fire tower, then head down one town to Hillsdale, park and spend the balance of the day riding the Harlem Valley Rail Trail. 🚲 I’ve been thinking of riding and exploring the Harlem Valley Rail Trail for some time now. Then maybe check out the Greenport Conservation Area before dark, then take US 9W back north. I doubt those homesteaders off US 9W with all the goats and hogs that get into a tizzy with the town about the smell that always used to have a burn barrel going won’t be having a fire today, even if they burned far far the ban in 2009. 🔥 I kind of like their homestead, too bad so much of what they’re doing with their land is illegal in New York. 🚜 Fucking whining liberals.
I am a little worried about my eyes getting excessively dry from riding but I can wear my sunglasses 😎 which should help, and some of the dry eye is caused by looking at my phone 📱 and other devices, which apparently discourage blinking. I guess if they get too dry, put in more eye drops and stop riding. 🚲 I need to grease up the chain and crank as it’s creaking again, but I can do that out on the trail. ⚙️ I always carry grease, tools, and an air pump with me at all times.
I need to get to Walmart and evaluate what my options are for dry eye treatment going forward – preservative free solution is probably the best and most soothing, and while I do a mostly full vial at work and one unopened one in office, I do see it being used up quickly and it’s rather expensive. Plus I don’t want to get addicted to artificial tears 😭 which is always a risk. There is other supplies I need at Walmart too like more eggs, cornmeal and I’m sure other things I can’t think of immediately. 🛒 Well maybe when the day comes to an end, as darkness is earlier and earlier this evening.
I say I’m recovering quickly from my eye surgery 👁️ but the dry eye issues keep popping up even though they seem to have gotten better especially as I keep my eyes wet. But it’s about finding the right balance of keeping your eyes wet, while not spending too much on solution or becoming dependent on it. Wetness helps the nerves and cornea grow back together quickly and strengthens my vision. It’s actually so sharp both in the day and night. But it still doesn’t seem great at times with the irratation. 🌃 I do think the LASIK place really undersold the dry eye risk, though in the majority of cases the nerves grow back and you do recover eventually.
Still thinking Columbus Day Weekend I’ll head north for a week, 🍂 I just want it to be a little wetter and less dusty. Between the road dust, the campfire smoke, the dry eyes caused by the marijuana and the fire risk, I really want rain. 🌧️ Right now, smoking pot with dry eyes just sounds painful. 😭 Plus I get tired of the Chinese Uncles, mostly on the internet or elsewhere being like OMG! you terrible had a small campfire 🔥 after dark when you can see embers during the burn ban, you awful person even if it’s legal if not recommended. Or even worse, running into one of them in the wilderness. 🌲🌲 And people complain that I make too much noise blasting holes in shit with my shotgun. 🔫 The culture of Chinese Uncles is not just ruining the internet, the Democratic Party, and the world more generally.
