Personal

Quick evening hike up Bennett Hill 🏃

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Figured burn off some calories from dinner. I do want to get home relatively early so I can put away my laundry and be asleep by nine so I can be up by five.

It’s been a good day. 🍏 Apple picking was fun with dad, I really need to cherish these moments. I’ve somewhat grown apart from my parents, I’m not them, and they have in many ways adopted the world view common in the elderly. They’re liberal but in a fixed, hardened kind of way. I’m more conservative but I also see both sides working in politics. Took home a ton of apples and tomatoes 🍅, lots of good eating. 😋 Forgot to get maple 🍁 syrup and I didn’t have room on the bike for eggs 🥚 or flour but I’ll stop on the way home on the bicycle 🚲.

They let me drop my cans 🥫 off for recycling ♻ in their ever so proud of trash service and after that my trash cans have a lot more room, much of it now is the shitter / compost bucket I store outside. I got groceries, 🛒 spend a lot of time outdoors hiking and thinking 💭. Mom was suggesting that I take the notary test and become a notary public. $60 for four years plus $15 for the test and I don’t know, maybe $25 for the stamp.📃 It’s another skill to have.

I see that Friday is the 13th which is silly but I’m a bit paranoid of that day 🙄 as it’s the one I got expelled from college 🎓 two decades ago now. All for a discussion of academic freedom. A lot has changed in two decades since I was a rebellious college student to these days as a pot smoking director. I’m thinking of remote working from Vermont that day 💚 but I sort of don’t want to be so far away from home lest something goes terribly wrong. 🏕 I’ve thought about working remotely and camping in the Green Mountain ⛰ National Forest from Thursday or Friday through Monday but it depends on the weather, how I feel and having good cell 📱 service. I’m sure Bennington has a nice library 📚 to work from.

While I was a bit disappointed that the ear buds were not in stock 🎧

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It was a nice morning to ride down to Hannaford and sit down by the Norman’s Kill for a while. Landlord was back today working on the unit next door, I headed out when I heard he was going to have to get the jack hammer out again. 🚧 . I don’t know how he plans to make money on the building when all he does it rip things out and work on it. 💵 Really scares me about buying an old house what unpleasant surprises there would be. 😳 But newer houses are so expensive and rarely come with much land. Got to keep looking on Zillow 🏡 and Lands and Farms. 🌽 And taking the back roads eyes 👀 wide open.

More clouds are pushing in now but the woods has that late summer green to it and when the sun comes out I’m reminded of the sparkle of the woods while high. ☀ When I first got to the Holt Preserve a lot of people were hiking but as midday approached the crowds thinned out. 👪 Reading 📖 more of that book about Unix programming 🤓 as I have a lot to read before the e-books are automatically returned. Also reading a book about salvaging old building parts in building a house 🏡

Kamela may very well defeat Trump

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She really has upset the political reality heading into the upcoming election, exciting and motivating Democrats to get out and support their candidate and party. Previously, Democrats were hardly excited about a second Biden term but with Kamela at the top of the ticket, they once again have a reason to vote. It previously looked like Democrats would take a beating during this year’s election but it seems less the case now.

Of course a lot can change in the next 58 days. After the big jump the Democrats got after switching nominees and their convention it seems like Kamela is dropping a bit in swing state polls.  Kennedy’s endorsement of Trump is helping him. People will make up their minds one way or another. We will all have to watch the debate and see how things play out.

Good people don’t smoke pot

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I giggle a little every time I hear that phrase uttered by the elderly Jeff Sessions eight years ago. That’s exactly what is wrong with the older generation, passing moralistic judgements on those who choose to have a little fun in life that ain’t harming no one.

Like a wino I loaded up with mountain bike with beer cans and rode to Hannaford to get my $2.50 back ♻

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After all, it’s not like with aluminum cans you can toss them into the white garbage bag and they magically become bright yellow flames and black smoke as I’m sipping on a cold beer and smoking a joint up in the wilderness.

It seems like something that a wino would do 🍷 and not a director, but every buck counts these days. I was going to drive to Walmart this morning and go shopping there but they didn’t have the earbuds I wanted in stock 🎧 so I was like I’ll ride my bike to Hannaford and get what I need to cover through the next few days. 🍌 I figure now with that app installed on my phone 📱 with my car insurance monitoring my every move 🛻🔍 and wanting to save my gas and truck ⛽ for the next adventure best to keep it off the road.

But first I’m enjoying this pleasant morning down at the Norman’s Kill West Preserve for a while before shopping. 🐦 Listening to some Grateful Dead on my broken ear buds just enjoying the morning. ☺ I should get to the store in a bit before the crowds arrive 🛒 but first I need some serenity 🧘‍♂️. This is not a weekend for smoking especially as I’m driving this afternoon out to the folks house but just thinking 💭 about puts a lot of relaxation into my mind. I already returned the deposit cans to Hannaford ♻, had to wait for the lady to empty the machine. 👧🏼 I also have steel cans accumulated since spring to drop off the folks house for their ever so proud to be paying for trash service. Can’t burn everything as they say. 🔥 I’ve been eating more canned foods especially while camping 🏕 knowing that I can just drop them off there rather than going to the transfer station.

This afternoon heading out apple picking with dad. 🍏 I think it’s silly but mom is convinced it’s a good deal 🤝 and she can get a variety of apples and I’ll get a bag for free from them to take home. At a certain point you just have to go along with the nagging and go along and be happy knowing they aren’t long for this world and I’ll miss them when that day comes. ⏳ Time lasts forever in life before it’s gone. I’ve told many people see you next week when the next time I see them is at the funeral. ⚰ That’s just the truth about life. I’m not my parents, I don’t share all their values. They’re died in the wool liberals except when it comes to crime – they own a television 📺, they’re elderly 🧓 and fearful of getting mugged.

I am also thinking about a quick hike up at the Kehler Preserve midday 🕛 before heading out to the folks house. 👪 I think dad also needs a hand to fix the lawn mower. I hate grass, at least the kind you can’t smoke or feed to cattle. 🐮 Then back home this evening and to work early on Monday. I’ll most likely work remote Friday, I’m leaning from the Green Mountains National Forest 🏕 but I could do Rennselaerville State Forest too. If I do the prior I’ll probably stay up there through the following Monday. Tuesday I have to be back for in person meetings unfortunately. Plus I have to be careful how much cell bandwidth I use with my laptop. 🖥 And how much power depending on how shady the campsite is.

Fresh apple 🍏 bread this morning 🍞 which was good with spaghetti squash. 🍆 Nice way to start the morning with coffee ☕, I awoke at 4:45 am and started baking then 🧑‍🍳 but didn’t get out of bed until closer to 5:30. Landlord yesterday was digging a big hole 🕳 to fix a broken waterline and working on the unit next door until the rain started. I’m realizing how much work it is to fix a rundown building and how much my crap apartment ain’t my fault. Looking forward to doing a lot more baking in the coming weeks. Went to Thacher Park for a while on the Nature Bus, 🚲 rode to Hang Gliders cliff and read 📖 most of the afternoon.

I was back looking at Zillow again for land and houses. 🏘 The auto suggestions were pretty bad, I was missing a lot. Some interesting parcels recently showing up on the market available for building my off grid homestead cabin 🚜 but most still a very long commute. And so much work to figure out the permitting, contracts and the alike. 📜 Often there are loopholes and ways to get sign off from rural code enforcement and the county health department but it’s a shit ton of work and I’m so busy with my job. ⏳ Time is ticking though. I like how grass is legal 🌾 in New York but I hate the burn ban 🔥 and gun laws. 🔫