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Andy Arthur

It's the second half of November as the label job I ran today reminds me. 🏷️ The landscape is cold and barren, it's dark out for a good portion of day, and riding home in the dark isn't much fun. But you make the best of it, and I figure the extra sleep and time to learn isn't a bad thing. 🛌 Next adventure after Thanksgiving! 🦃 Hopefully the fire risk is down by then as I want to have a big bonfire in wilderness 🔥 after a good day riding trail or hiking. 🚶

The steel rail hasn’t heard the news 🗞️

Good morning, America! How are you? 614 days until America turns 250! Probably as soon as next autumn you’ll be able once again to buy Spirit of America branded smog bletching unreliable automobiles and all kinds of products celebrating America’s big birthday, showcased between the garbage heaps and grimy city streets.

Fun times, focus on the future 🔮 as they say. I don’t care about the election, I voted weeks ago. Somebody is going to win, life will go on, winter will come and go, then summer and the Sestercentennial and yet another election. And it will be one more year closer to retirement or at least figuring out what I really want to do with my life. 🤷‍♂️

Another really dark morning with apple 🍏 pancakes 🥞 and much too much caffeine. ☕ As apparently I need more jitters. Heading into the suburban office 🏢 as I start working on updating the database for 2025. Singing 🎤 along with Arlo Guthrie’s City of New Orleans. Big pot with 2 lb of black beans and chickpeas boiling down on the stove, which will provide many good eats for the coming week.

Riding off to work once the sun rise, ⛅ though like many autumn mornings it will be fairly cloudy. I do wish we would get some rain ☔ as it would be good for things to be a bit wetter before the next time I head up to the wilderness for a big ol fire and some cold beer and marijuana. I mean, I could return the used motor oil for recycling ♻️ or heat generation, but what fun is that? As we dream in the red, white blue, dream as a big as we want to, as Brooks and Dunn sing. But won’t America be over if my preferred candidate doesn’t win? 🇺🇸 Doubt it, the air will still taste like silage and manure, winter will still come, and then summer then there will be the 2026 elections to play this silly game all over. 🤡 That said, I’m still a bit sad about the news of Phil Lesh’s death, I’ ve gotten so into the Grateful Dead 🎸 these days. It’s all about the grass. Fun times, at least after my two or three reset for maximum fun between traveling.

So the oil change is done 🔧

It feels good to do it myself. 🔧 It’s not hard and doesn’t take long to do, as long as you can get the oil and filter which was hard to find during the pandemic. I go back and forth about what things I should do myself and what you should pay somebody to do for you. What is the value of your time? ⌚ What can you do as well as a professional? What leaves you feeling satisfied doing it yourself?

During the pandemic years I used to take my truck to the shop 🧑‍🔧to get it done but it’s so hard to get an appointment these days and the time spent making an appointment, driving it to the shop, paying for it doesn’t make it worth it when the stores actually have oil and a filter in stock. But if you are going to three or four stores to find six quarts of 5w-30 it changes like during the pandemic the calculation. Plus motor oil has come down in price a bit.

I was at 33% oil life, I try to avoid getting below 40% though one time when it was newer I let it go to about 23%. 🔧I always use good quality full synthetic and a quality filter as after all it’s an infamous 5.3, lol. Some day I’m sure the engine will throw a rod but it’s been a good ride and I figure enjoy it while you still can. It’s like my eventual eviction from my apartment, 🏡 just enjoy it while you can, save enjoy things before it’s gone.

I do want to get a new air filter installed but I didn’t get one at Walmart. 🛻Maybe next weekend, or before my next trip. Just need to make sure I can find a star key to install it. Not difficult but I need that. Then I’ll do the tire rotation when the truck is inspected. I should take the burnt up old air filters that I keep saying I’m saving as a grill for camping in my truck but keep getting snagged on things. That used motor oil will be fun up at camp for perking up fires, 🔥 lol. That is if it ever rains. ☂️ Hoping for rain next weekend. Or sooner.

I don’t think I’ll head out of town next weekend, 🏕️ as I want to have some rain first for fire safety, plus the second half of the weekend looks rainy. Veterans Day Weekend looks better, I might tag on a few extra days to either end of the weekend to enjoy vacation. I’m leaning towards the Green Mountains though I’ve thought about Long Pond State Forest in Chenango County or Stoney Pond in Cazenovia. Maybe ride more of the Canalway.