Sitting along the Canal
Day: November 8, 2020πΎ
Visit the Canal
The Towpath Trail in Bouckville leads two miles North from the museum to the Oriskany Creek where an aqueduct once crossed the creek. The hand cut stone abutments are still there in excellent condition and water from the canal spills into the creek heading north to the Erie Canal.
Walking 6.5 miles south from the Canal Museum leads to the Village of Hamilton. OR, park at the trailhead on Montgomery Street in Hamilton (opposite the Sunoco station) and start the trail here. The trail leads north past the Hamilton Airport and Woodman’s Pond all the way to Bouckville at the museum.
Hiking the Chenango Canal Towpath πΆπ»
Today I’m hiking the Chenango Canal Towpath…. πΆπ»
- Beautiful warm sunny day for a walk
- While parts of the Canal Towpath are kind of boring – especially south of Bouckville – the area around Woodsman Pond and the section north of it quite nice.
- The feed mill in Bouckville smells great – reminds me of going to the Applebee’s feed store as a kid
- Lots of smells of farm country – some wonderful some pungent – silage, corn, hay and manure – some of it quite fermented but thats part of the cycle of the year in farm country
- Some parts of the trail are a bit hard to follow – the trail is not blazed and only a few signs, some of it is just a farm access road along the canal
- There are a number of muskrat holds in the trail just waiting to sprain your ankle!
- I saw Corry Mosher at his farm had a big ol well used burn barrel. He’s a real farmer although he’s diversified in crops he’s growing in recent years. I wish he had won his primary, he might have beat John Salka and returned that seat to the democrats
- So many geese on Woodsman’s Pond
- I wish I had wore sunscreen today, I’m going to be burnt when I get home
- I wonder if I can can kayak the Chenango Canal in the future. Looks deep enough. I’ll have to research on the internet
- I can’t believe that I’ve never done the Chenango Canal Trail before
- I am very impressed by that silage bunk on Eddy Road, must be at least three or four acres and 30 feet high. That’s a lot of cow food for sure!
- Listening to the sounds of the crows and the gentle moo of the cows
- The line of cedars on the north side of the Canal is pretty and blocks the breeze but does nothing to provide shade
Up in Bouckville the Canal runs through the village below the highway grade
Not Looking Forward to Being Stuck at Home
I am not looking forward to remote work this winter … π»
While I am the first to admit that remote work during the summer months was kind of fun when I could camp and work out of Spectulator or other parts of the state, with winter underway, I am not looking forward to being cooped up, alone in my small, cold apartment.
I decided against getting wired Internet – for now I am using my phone for most of my work – transferring files to the laptop, but I plan to add hot spot service to my phone for things best done on the laptop.. Sure, I do play and work a lot on my phone but it’s not the same as computer internet with the smaller screen and processor. I should spend more time reading, or doing data analysis and soldering, working on Arduino projects, rather then wasting it browsing the web or using social media.
While the long, cold dark winter days are never fun, working downtown tended to break up the days, especially when I was busy in the office. I enjoyed going for walks on the Plaza on sunny and reasonably warm winter days, and having the Concourse to walk at lunch time even on the coldest a snowy days. Work in office always involved days around the office, bullshitting, interacting with people. You loose a lot of the human touch over Zoom and email. It’s easier to understand people in person.
Sometimes I do plan to be in my office. There are just some things that can’t be done remotely from a practical standpoint. Those days, broken up by the bus ride back and forth and the quiet time, will be a nice change, but still it’s a lot of gray, cold, and cramped days at home.