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Hot fun in the summer time 🏖

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The question is to go to the Potholers today or not on the first day of summer. My guess is yes – midday after seeing what the work load is going to be like – but I’m okay with staying in the Spectulator area for another day too. If I do head over to Piseco-Powley I’ll need to stock up on library books and refill the coolers with ice as I’ll be off the cellphone network for the next three days.

After working ⚒ and studying that property more yesterday, spent the balance of the day at the Spectulator Beach, sitting in the sand, 🩴and swimming 🏊 from time to time. It was a hot day even up north though not as hot as it could have been had the clouds not hidden the sun most of the day. Wore lots of sunscreen 🧴which was good as I was bear backed most of the day 🧘🏻and didn’t get burnt.

Around five twirty I went out on the Sacandaga River and paddled down a ways towards the Kunjamuk 🛶 and then up towards the island 🏝 on Lake Pleasant. I joke that I didn’t bring my rape whistle🛎️ with me as there is a new law that says your suppose to have a whistle on a kayak as of this year and didn’t want to get yelled at. I know know that the lake stewart only care about invasives🪝🌱but it’s kind of annoying to have to wait to get your boat 🛥 checked ☑ and be lectured when the boat hasn’t seen water 💦 since last Labor Day.

Ended the day at the Speculator Fire Tower 🗼 and decided to camp up on Harmon Hill. Got up there at quarter after eight 🕥 watched the sunset 🌇 and had plenty of daylight to cook dinner on the camp stove – no leaks – and enjoy the evening. Dinner was shrimp 🦐 along with fried onions 🧅, slice of bacon 🥓 and asparagus 🎍. No fire 🔥 last night, just sat under the hammock bug 🐛 screen after dark. It was buggy! Hot under the bug net though. Slept in the hammock for a while before retiring to the truck. Hot enough of an evening to justify digging out the fan ⚛️ to stay cool.

What the hell do I really want? 😕

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That’s the question on my mind so much lately as I find myself stuck in indecisiveness as options fade away. Am I too afraid of risk and the unknown? To take the leap into the canyon without truly knowing what is down there. More risk, more reward and loss. Am I too comfortable where I currently am?

The truth is I like travel and the freedom to do my things. To be tied to a piece of land, a house, a homestead with livestock to feed almost feels like slavery. But I also hate the plastic land of suburbia, the big screen televisions and the marble kitchen counter tops. I like the mud and smells of wood smoke and manure. And burning things. Not the stylish crap soon to be discarded that surrounds the professional class.

I have made it. I have won it. Things are better now. Even if everything keeps breaking and is rundown and bad. I’m a director, I make six figures. I love my job. I do good work. I’m a lot better off then a lot of people but it sure don’t feel that way Maybe it’s the sun on the beach distorting my thinking. I should just enjoy life at the beach now on this hot summer day and stop thinking about that rundown homestead and cabin next to my parents house that I know probably will never be mine at any rate.

My morning started out with a bang 💥

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I certainly did not expect that propane line to explode out due to the leak in the hose. Not a big deal, I got the propane tank off, and let the burner burn off, and it wasn’t a fire like when the base of lantern caught on fire last night due to a leaky connection.

The heat is certainly testing all my connections on my propane equipment. 😅 It’s not as warm up here as down in the city, but it’s still pretty hot and that propane tank is mostly full and was sitting in the truck all day. The next few days I am up in the Speculator-area, with plans to head down to the Potholers either tomorrow or Friday depending on the work load. Hopefully tomorrow, that is after I get ice 🧊 and take care of any work needs. 👨‍💻

Yesterday, got up to camp a little after 7 PM off the Old Route 8B, 🚲 and road along the river for a while past the Robbs Mill Creek and the Lower Bridge and sat down at the infamous Robert Garrow murder campsite until a while after dusk. 🚓 Came back to camp around 9:30 PM and there was still was some light. Had a big old fire, 🔥 though some of that shit burned a heck of lot blacker and stinker then I would have thought. I’ve been bad about seperating out the compost at home, and who knows what got tossed in the fire. If I do move to that homestead I’m looking at, going to have to be more careful what gets burnt, as I’m not up in the wilderness. 👨‍🚒 Also thinking of becoming a volunteer firefighter, because it’s good to make connections there. Stayed up until 11 PM or so listening to podcasts, but was annoyed I could not download any new issues because I lacked cell service. 📻 Morning was carrot pancakes, 🥞 the new small food processor worked fine off the inverter. Coffee was good, it got hot quickly, and I took down camp slowly as I’m thinking I’d prefer to camp somewhere tonight with service.

That homestead I was looking at ran into kind of a hitch when talking to my insurance agent. 📞 I can’t get homeowners insurance until I move in because the building is currently unoccupied and it would be a cash as is deal. Insurance companies want to see a mortage or at least that building is immediately occuped after tranfer. In theory I could move in right away after purchasing, though who knows what the home inspection would find. I am more then a little worried about jumping in too quickly, as I don’t want to get scammed. But on the other hand, I don’t exactly have a real estate lawyer on speed dial, much less a home inspector, a title searcher, and a survey crew. 👷‍♀️ I don’t think it needs all that much work from my initial inspection, though I’m concerned about the foundation which looks to be little more then loose field stone and rot in the building that I noticed under the vinyl siding, and the sagging floor in one spot. The buyer’s agent I toured it with kept downplaying my concerns, which I get she wants the sale, but I don’t want to get screwed. 😡  I need to talk to my friend who bought a fixer upper and how he dealt with it. I’d hate to spend all this money and then have it burn to ground without insurance five days before I move in.

On paper it seems like the perfect homestead for me, 🐐 assuming that’s ultimately what I want to do. The barns, the pasture, outdoor sink and overhang for processing meat are great. Price is great. I don’t mind getting my hands dirty, working on shit. And I don’t give a rats ass if things aren’t pretty. Even unpainted walls don’t bother me, or the floors that could use from sealing and stain don’t phase me or the musty old smell and all the other weridness of an abandoned old structure. 🏘 The sagging floor in one spot doesn’t bother me either, if I fall through it, I’d rip it up, take crap to backyard and burn it, 🔥 and fill it in with gravel, then insulation and concrete, as it’s a slab foundation — well actually I think it’s post and beam on field stone. You know old building shit. Not like your going to fall far. But if the walls are not well secured or their rotting out, that’s a bigger problem. Didn’t see much asbestos, I used to work in that industry. And I’m not a home inspector. But the challenge of the insurance gap is a red flag 🚩 though maybe I could get construction insurance to cover that period if renovations are being done before moving in. I guess I don’t feel that guilty sort of setting aside the process now — I wouldn’t have been signing no contract at this point regardless if I was in time.

Heading out paddling in a bit on the Sacandaga River and Kunjamunk. 🛶 Maybe I’ll also get some ice cream. 🍦 Not as sunny of a day as I would have like but hot. 😅 I’ll be happy the second half of the weekend when I’m at the Potholers and floating in the tube.