That’s what I tell myself cutting open that spaghetti squash first thing this morning to bake with the bread I was baking. Didn’t draw much blood by nicked my finger a bit and it hurts. Cold morning so I decided best to get up early and get cooking.
Well, Happy Thursday. We didn’t get the snow they got up north but it’s still around 33 degrees outside and my heat is off for year if possible so I figured put my chef’s hat on a day earlier. I don’t actually have a chef’s hat but I do have black beans, two loafs of bread , spaghetti squash and acorn squash cooking. I might do rice tomorrow morning, that would be good with the black beans. Cornmeal pancakes with spinach, canned tomatoes, onions, and whole wheat flour for breakfast.
Still waiting on that part for the bike front derailuer and I adjusted the rear derailuer which wasn’t shifting into highest gear yesterday properly. I do want to replace that chain, which with the current link chain should be easy to do. I’ll do both jobs when the part comes in and get things working smoothly before the nicer weather is in full swing and I’m doing lots of miles.
While you might think I’ve discarded the idea of building my off-grid cabin in New York State that isn’t neccessarily 100% true. But here’s my top concerns with building in New York:
It’s a densely packed urbanized state, even in Upstate New York with a fair amount of land, you’re going to have neighbors nearby even on acreage unless you are very far away from the city.
The burn ban and not running afoul of it with all the restrictions, I don’t burn much noxious plastic anymore, but you know the wrong kind of neighbors can cause all kinds of trouble for you.
Gun laws, particularly when and where you can carry, restrictions on buying semi-automatic firearms including even basic ones like my trust squirrel hunting Remington 537 .22 rifle, lengthy delays buying simple basic ammunition, a regulatory scheme designed to put gun owners behind bars rahter then support them.
Permitting and design costs and restrictions. While I think the building and sanitatory codes are good thing as they protect water quality, provide fire safety and energy savings, sometimes they make things overly complicated to comply.
The head of President Donald Trump’s immigration policy, Tom Homan, appears to have met with an associate of the Proud Boys on at least four separate occasions. At least one of these instances was a private meeting held in Chicago after the 2024 presidential election to talk about deportations, according to social media posts reviewed by Hatewatch.
Homan, who leads the Trump administration’s efforts to curb immigration at the border as well as deport migrants across the U.S., met with Terry Newsome in Chicago and Washington, D.C., according to posts on Facebook and X, formerly Twitter.
I was riding in this morning, noting the lack of ice on most of the rail trail and thinking maybe we’ve finally reached real spring. I so hate riding on that rough as shit ice. And the Red Winged Black Birds are back. Just waiting on the spring peepers.
I have had the heat off since Sunday and yesterday while I was at work, the windows open. I am hopeful to keep the heat off now through November, but it depends how cold it gets at night, and I’ll leave the heated blanket on my bed for those particularly cold mornings.
I know it’s still March and we could have cold blasts, but it seems like the trend for next week or so is warm and beyond that any cold or snow is not likely to be long lasting.
I realize that’s the best reason to take advantage of the library’s subscription to the New York Times. For a good laugh as all things go to shit. And I’m not talking about that tangy smell in air as fields get ready for another growing season of hay and silage, ultimately to become Greek yogurt, ice cream and milk.
Riding to work again today, much cooler today but whatever. It’s mid March and the heat remains off so I’m good. I ordered the replacement shifter lever but I good with the high range only for now until I start riding trail again. I do need to think about truing those wheels up. I don’t have a truing table, though maybe that’s a good investment as it’s so dang expensive to go to local bike shop, plus I hate how woke the whole cycling industry is.
Yesterday was the Save the Pine Bush meeting over Zoom, which I participated in from Noonan Preserve on my evening commute home. By the time the meeting was done, it was getting dark out and I made up some onion-Ccrnmeal pancakes with lots of spinach and the remaining beans I had cooked last week. This morning it was onions, spinach, eggs and mushrooms with a big of cornmeal mixed in. Good stuff.
I finished the audio book I was listening to about LEED certification and Green Building and now I’m reading a book about Building Science. Truth is I want to become at least book smart about homebuilding and all the latest greenie technology out there, even if I don’t incorporate it into my homestead when I build it. Truth is I don’t think I have much interest in the somewhat silly LEED point system, some of the choices the system makes is pretty arbitrary but it’s good to know what’s out there. I am also reading a book about Forest Management, which is another important topic if I plan to heat with wood and have lots of fires when I own land – and not just to burn debris.
We didn’t get the snow they got up north but it’s still around 33 degrees outside and my heat is off for year if possible so I figured put my chef’s 
hat on a day earlier. I don’t actually have a chef’s hat but I do have black beans, two loafs of bread 
, spaghetti squash and acorn squash cooking. 
I might do rice 
tomorrow morning, that would be good with the black beans. Cornmeal pancakes with spinach, canned 
tomatoes, onions, and whole wheat flour for breakfast. 
front derailuer and I adjusted the rear derailuer which wasn’t shifting into highest gear 
yesterday properly. I do want to replace that chain, which with the current link 
chain should be easy to do. I’ll do both jobs when the part comes in and get things working smoothly before the nicer weather is in full swing and I’m doing lots of miles. 
I ordered the replacement shifter lever but I good with the high range only for now until I start riding trail again. I do need to think about truing those wheels up. I don’t have a truing table, though maybe that’s a good investment as it’s so dang expensive to go to local bike shop, plus I hate how woke the whole cycling industry is. 
meeting over Zoom, which I participated in from Noonan Preserve on my evening commute home. By the time the meeting was done, 
it was getting dark out and I made up some onion-Ccrnmeal pancakes with lots of spinach and the remaining beans I had cooked last week. This morning it was onions, spinach, eggs and mushrooms with a big of cornmeal mixed in. Good stuff. 
and now I’m reading a book about Building Science. Truth is I want to become at least book smart about homebuilding and all the latest greenie technology out there, 
even if I don’t incorporate it into my homestead when I build it. Truth is I don’t think I have much interest in the somewhat silly LEED point system, some of the choices the system makes is pretty arbitrary but it’s good to know what’s out there. I am also reading a book about Forest Management, which is another important topic if I plan to heat with wood and have lots of fires 
when I own land – and not just to burn debris. 