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The days go by too quickly it seems ⌛

I was saddened, maybe even devestated to hear of John Wolcott’s passing while I was up in the wilderness, cut off from the news of the world. At one level I expected it sooner, he wasn’t well when I left for summer vacation and he hadn’t gotten better the last time I visited and I knew the end was near. And it was a cold and rainy four days, away from it all up at Piseco-Powley Road, though maybe it was good to be away from it all for four days before summer was done for good. No radio news, nothing up to date since leaving Thursday. Last summer weekend camping at least at Piseco-Powley though I might do an autumn trip and thinking Speculator for Labor Day Weekend. Can you believe it in two weeks?

Good afternoon! Partly cloudy and 74 degrees at the Herkimer Home Historical Site. ⛅ There is a west breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 62 degrees.

I would have hoped for better weather for the weekend that was 🌦️ but I’m not surprised by rain every day with the summer that’s was and the forecast that degraded as the long weekend approached. There was some breaks of sunshine ☀ but most of the weekend was cloudy with times of rain, especially after dark but also each morning after I got up including take down take down day, earlier today. Cold and rainy. Not a wash out but at times I was glad I packed the propane heater it got a fair amount of use for August camping!

Fortunately I caught the impending rain ☔ with the darkening skies and got the screen tent 🎪, flags 🎌 and tarp down before they could get very wet. 💧 Had a bit of sun today which is good for drying gear and as my starting and accessory batteries 🔋 could use a good boost this morning as it’s been cloudy and I haven’t run my engine since Thursday. It was raining while driving down to Little Falls this afternoon but now it’s getting sunny and warmer.

This afternoon will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 78 degrees at 4pm. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around September 5th. Maximum dew point of 63 at 4pm. West wind around 8 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with a few breaks of sun the afternoon. It was somewhat humid. The high last year was 93 degrees. The record high of 97 was set in 1937.

The rainy weekend did leave a lot of time for reading 📖 and playing around with cooking 🧑‍🍳 some meals coming out better than others. Been trying to come up with filling meals that taste damn good, relatively easy to cook but also have less calories but more fiber and protein, along with essential vitamins. 💊 Plus I have so much good farmers market 🌽 foods to eat up. The sweet corn 🌽 from Samdil’s was amazing as was the peaches 🍑 from Roger’s.

Took a few naps 😴 in the hammock besides reading, 📖 listening to podcasts and some bike riding 🚲 and hiking it’s been a very lazy weekend but I’m chocking it up to the weather. ☔ Honestly though if it had been nicer it would have been a lazier weekend just floating on the tube ⭕. Let’s be honest. Still every day either walked at least five miles, rode 7 ½ or a combination of both. 🚶 Do it’s not like I was just eating 🍴 and sleeping. 🔥 Had some nice fires in part because it was so cold and rainy, smokey at times due to the wet wood.

Bike 🚲 and hiked part of the way back to both the swimming hole off Old Edick Road snowmobile trail on Friday and on Saturday did Goldmine Stream Falls. Lot of water 💦 going over Goldmine Steam Falls. Thursday I rode up to Notch Mountain ⛰ and Friday also spent time at the Potholers but no swimming 🏊 due to it being very cold and the water levels dangerously high. I’ve never seen the Potholers so high in the summer months. 🏊‍♂️

Saturday night was the best night by far, stayed up until close to midnight watching the shooting stars ✨ from my hammock then listening to music 🎶 down by the campfire 🔥 for warmth. Had a second beer 🍻 and maybe a smoke 🚬 which is so uncommon these days since I’ve gotten into healthy eating in my forties. But also snacked on sweet corn 🌽 and peaches 🍑 by the fire. No more cookies these days, I go for natural fruits when I’m hungry. Greek yogurt too but not on Saturday. Switched on Country is so much funnier when your slightly stoned. 🤪

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:04 pm with sun having an altitude of 59.5° from the due south horizon (-10.9° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 3.5 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:18 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (282°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (288°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:56 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 4 seconds with dusk around 8:24 pm, which is one minute and 34 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the First Quarter 🌓 Moon in the west-southwest (246°) at an altitude of 14° from the horizon, 246,018 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:03 pm. At sunset, look for partly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 75 degrees. The dew point will be 64 degrees. There will be a west breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 13 hours and 47 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 40 seconds over yesterday.

Today out exploring Little Falls, Herkimer Home, Bike Path and Moss Island. 🚲 No set agenda, I’m just in the area until 6 pm or so when I’ll take NY 5S to Sprakers then down to Sloansville and US 20, maybe stop for ice cream 🍦 and sweet corn 🌽 if I see a good place. I was surprised that Green Acres dinner and ice cream stand is still open in Dolgeville, I heard it’s closing but I’m not going back that way.

Tonight will have increasing clouds ☁, with a low of 64 degrees at 6am. Four degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 64 at 7pm. Light northwest wind. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies. It was humid. It got down to 70 degrees. The record low of 42 occurred back in 1977.

The unavoidable truth is a five 5⃣ day work week ahead in the office 🏢 as the head director is off for my unit, and as the deputy I have to step up and fill in for her role. It’s fine, but no more passing the buck, ignoring emails 📧 and not taking immediate action on staff and inter departmental requests because I don’t want to step on the toes 👣 of the director. 🙈 It means no sneaking off to the woods this week. Promised my mom next week to do a clam bake for them too. 🦪 Following weekend though probably head to Spectulator, maybe taking off that Friday or working remotely.

Need to order the bolt 🔩 and the tool to install the lost bolt on Blackie’s 🚵 rack. The zip tie was a good emergency fix but it still rattles and I’m not convinced that I should carry a lot of groceries on the rack with the loose bolt. Could fail under weight. 🍏 Rather be safe then sorry and have groceries spill all over the road.

In 2014, seventy-two people are killed in Japan’s Hiroshima Prefecture by a series of landslides ☔ caused by a month’s worth of rain that fell in one day. Reminds me of the some of the extreme rain we’ve been having lately.

I was sadden to learn of John Wolcott’s passing this afternoon 😢 while I was away from town at camp. 👼🏼 He was quite the man though I don’t know even half the story as so much of his memory had passed by the time I started interviewing him and going through his files. 📂 I do always wonder what was in his attic that burned in that fire 🔥. I know after that fire I personally made sure to keep multiple off site back ups, scan in important documents and purge a lot of the paper 📄 I owned. Never got to the really interesting stuff in his attic where the fire burned hottest. So much of the story untold. 🕯

I’m glad I blog in part because it’s a way to ensure at least part of my story is told and can get found on the Way back Machine and the Internet Archives. 🖥 You never really know how long people’s lives will last, or the institutions and things around us. Here one day, gone the next. 🕊 Honestly I thought 💭 the news 📰 would happen during summer vacation, though I’m glad I did spend a few afternoons with him at the hospital, took him around the Crossings and read to him before it was over. 🦆 🐦 🦋 🎍 I do wish I had found time to do that one more time before it was too late. 🙏 I need to do better with my parents.

Looking ahead, there are 3 weeks until 6:30 Sunrise 🌇 when the sun will be setting at 7:20 pm with dusk at 7:47 pm. On that day in 2022, we had mostly sunny, patches of fog and temperatures between 83 and 56 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 77 degrees. We hit a record high of 96 back in 1931.

I have to say this has been the best vacation in my life ⛺ 🚵 🍦 🏊 🛶

The weather has been absolutely fantastic, my days packed with adventures and cold ice cream and swimming holes. I’ve ridden like 250 miles through farm and forest land. Many nights with campfires, watermelon cold beer and fresh squeezed lemonade. Dinners with Vadellia onions and peppers, lemon pepper chicken and salmon, beer boiled clams with sweet corn, zucchini and tons of fresh fruit with Greek yogurt. Many amazing sunrises and sunsets. Just not nearly enough hours in the day.

Good morning! Happy Sunday. I do know what this means, after 10 days all good things must come to an end. 😔 Don’t look so sad, life goes on this world keeps turning. Summer 2024 is but a few winks 😉 of the eye away, as is a long weekend trip up to the Potholers maybe next weekend or in two weeks. Then maybe an extended Labor Day Weekend at Spectulator Tree Farm to close out the summer. Except for the hammock, flags, bucket shitter and the kayak on the roof of the truck my home for nine short nights has been taken down. 🛶

Stunningly beautiful morning like so many this past week. Mostly sunny and 68 degrees at the Finger Lakes National Forest. ☀ There is a southeast breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 57 degrees. I heard the seven o’clock chime 🎐 on my phone and it was followed by the eight, nine and ten o’clock chimes on my phone about five minutes later as I took down camp, carefully packing things for the return trip to Albany.

This morning was a delightful breakfast 🥣 of cream of wheat, freshly squeezed lemon, a bit of stevia to make it sweet plus chia seeds 🌱 for fiber and the remaining Greek yogurt I had so it wouldn’t go bad without ice. I also had the last hard boiled egg 🥚 a little while after for additional protein and as I wasn’t sure if it would survive to mid day without any more ice in the cooler. Plus two cups of cold black coffee ☕ not that I really needed it as I made sure to get my eight hours of sleep yesterday for the long drive home.

Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 79 degrees at 4pm. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around September 1st. Maximum dew point of 62 at 5pm. East wind around 7 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became light rain by afternoon. It was very sticky. The high last year was 93 degrees. The record high of 98 was set in 1900.

I told myself that I should leave Ithaca by 4 pm to ensure my arrival home by 7 pm, 🏡 well before dark and so I have time to unpack and run to the laundromat and grocery store before bed 🛏 at 9 pm. I’d like to get back into the habit of rising at 6 am for the morning walk 🚶 and to bed nightly at nine, as I find that’s the most natural sleep pattern for me. Of course if I ride my bike 🚲 to work I can get a later start as I won’t need to do a morning walk before catching the express downtown. 🚍 Do plan to resume doing the stairs to the 18th floor twice a day at work 🏢 at least when I’m working downtown for that extra push of intensive cardio each day. Truth be told, I really should plan on leaving Ithaca at 3 pm knowing I’ll inevitably be running late, 🏃 stopping at farm stands 🌽 and pee breaks 🚻, parks and scenic vistas. 📸

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:14 pm with sun having an altitude of 64.2° from the due south horizon (-6.5° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 2.9 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:43 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (287°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (294°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:23 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 9 seconds with dusk around 8:52 pm, which is one minute and 16 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:33 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 73 degrees. The dew point will be 63 degrees. There will be a east-southeast breeze at 6 mph. Today will have 14 hours and 20 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 20 seconds over yesterday.

Thinking 💭 today I’ll go to Buttermilk Falls State Park 🏞 and hike the gorge and swim. 🏊‍♂️ I don’t love the idea of parking 🅿 in that tight little parking lot so I might find a city park to park at or on street, and ride some of the Ithaca bike 🚲 trails to get there, bypassing delays at the toll booth to boot not that it matters as I have an Empire Passport 🛂.

Tonight will have a chance of showers and thunderstorms before 1am, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm between 1am and 5am, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 5am. Increasing clouds 🌧, with a low of 66 degrees at 6am. Four degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 66 at 5am. South wind 6 to 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It was very sticky. It got down to 76 degrees. The record low of 46 occurred back in 1994.

Yesterday I mountain biked 🚵 riding both gravel and trails at Sugar Hill State Forest. Posted many pictures to Facebook some on the blog. About a fifteen mile loop. Swam at Watkins Glen pool 🏊‍♂️ but didn’t ultimately go floating on my tube ⭕ on Seneca Lake as it was too cool and the lake choppy 🌊 by afternoon. Rode another ten miles down Rock Cabin Road, 🚲 along old Airport Road at Catharine Valley WMA, then down to Montour Falls. Rode over to Glen Dairy Bar 🍧 via the Catharine Valley Trail and the Watkins Glen High School 🚸 and had a great hot apple pie 🥧 sundae with vanilla soft ice cream. Rode over to the Watkins Glen Pier and watched the sun set ⛵ and then through Clute Park 🏞 back to my truck and back to camp by nine. Dinner was sweet corn 🌽, peppers and peaches 🍑 that I got at the Burdett Exchange 💱 along with a hard boiled egg 🥚. Night rode over to Foster Pond, sat and looked at the stars ✨ for a while but didn’t see any shooting stars but I didn’t stay that long as it was chilly and I wanted to get back to camp ⛺ as it was after 10:30 PM for a small campfire to warm up 🔥 before lights out.

Looking ahead, there are 5 weeks until 6:30 Sunrise 🌇 when the sun will be setting at 7:27 pm with dusk at 7:54 pm. On that day in 2022, we had mostly sunny, patches of fog and temperatures between 83 and 56 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 77 degrees. We hit a record high of 96 back in 1931.

The weekend finally seems like a go 🚦

Finally a decent weekend to get out of town it would seem this weekend for a long weekend and then the start of vacation also looks pretty good too.

Good morning! What day is it? Hump Day, of course. Mostly cloudy ⛅ and 64 degrees in Delmar, NY. Calm wind. The dew point is 63 degrees. The air quality has improved as the smoke has drifted east, we are at a moderate 79. The air tastes of barnyard. I might ride to work today to save the bus fare. 🚲

Out walking 🚶 right at 6 o’clock this morning 🕒 as I rose fairly early this morning and it’s a pretty nice morning with the sun shing to the east through the air pollution a bright red color and fog around to the west. Walked 7.9 miles yesterday, did the stairs twice at work, Blackie stayed parked all day due to thunderstorms and rain in the evening. Shrimp and brown rice with edamame for dinner last night followed by carrots and fresh cherries 🍒 for dessert. I still have that sugary taste on my mouth this morning, so I’m thinking scrambled eggs with spinach, olives and anything else I decide to include. ☕ After a quick cup of coffee it seems like I will need a fresh pot to get the morning started when I get back home.

Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 83 degrees at 3pm. One degree below normal, which is similar to a typical day around August 3rd. Maximum dew point of 64 at 8am. Northwest wind 3 to 7 mph. Typical July day, maybe slightly cooler though really normal before the warming shown in the recent climate normals. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. It was humid. The high last year was 92 degrees. The record high of 97 was set in 1904.

Farmer’s Market today 🌽 and I am thinking about getting some more sweet corn as I’m pretty much otherwise good on food through the weekend when I can get more from Shauls.

I was thinking about going down Norman’s Kill Ravine Preserve 🏞 yesterday after work but it stormed a lot and turn poured. 💦 Read more of the Boggleheads investing book 📙 and then the rain stopped and I went for my evening walk 🚶. Maybe I’ll have to think about hiking the Norman’s Kill Ravines Preserve tonight. Might be a good night for it. That said, also on the agenda is figuring how to bolt the MIK adapter to the crate so I can quick remove it for shopping 🛒 and when I’m putting the bike on the bus or in my truck.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:02 pm with sun having an altitude of 68.3° from the due south horizon (-2.6° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 2.4 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:48 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (293°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (300°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:30 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 20 seconds with dusk around 9:02 pm, which is 45 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the west-northwest (286°) at an altitude of 10° from the horizon, 252,270 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:45 pm. At sunset, look for partly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 75 degrees. The dew point will be 60 degrees. There will be a west-northwest breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 14 hours and 57 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 38 seconds over yesterday.

Got paid yesterday 💸 and my finances look a lot better than before, though just wait until my automatic deposits and withdrawals go through with my rent check at the end of the month. But then again I’ll get paid on August 1st again and next month is a three paycheck month.

After a few tries with the payroll office I finally got my increased federal and state deductions enacted properly to cover my interest and dividend payments so I shouldn’t have to worry about quarterly state and federal tax payments unless I end up selling stocks or bonds. 💲It was annoying because increasing my state withholding automatically decreased my federal withholding however with the unearned income I was ending up not paying enough state and federal. Regardless, whole lot more pleasant to give the government an extra $50 a pay period then cut big checks each quarter or on April 15th. Because I’m automatically reinvesting the dividends and not touching the interest income, essentially it’s a backdoor way of saving for my future.

Tonight will be partly clear 🌃 with a low of 60 degrees at 4am. Three degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around August 20th. Maximum dew point of 60 at 6pm. Not so humid. West wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies. It was sticky. It got down to 72 degrees. The record low of 49 occurred back in 1974.

On this day, there was the Great New York City Fire of 1845: The last great fire to affect Manhattan began early in the morning and was subdued that afternoon. 🧑‍🚒The fire killed 4 firefighters, 26 civilians, and destroyed 345 buildings. Always be careful with matches, in densely packed urban areas with lots of wooden buildings.

Weekend forecast continues to look great. 🏊‍♂️⛺ 🚲 🌲Saturday, a chance of showers after 2pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 81. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Maximum dew point of 64 at 9am. Sunday, sunny, with a high near 84. Maximum dew point of 62 at 10am. Typical average high for the weekend is 84 degrees.

Should be a good weekend out of town. 🏖 Got to take advantage of it before summer is done. It won’t last long at this point, soon we will be losing a lot of time in the evening. I took off Monday so I can camp an additional night this weekend and have time to pack and prepare for vacation a week from Friday. Been doing a lot of thought and planning on what I want to eat on summer vacation. Bike and swim Saturday and Monday, Sunday I might stay around camp, bike fish and read, maybe cool down in the creek.

That makes next week a three day work week 🏢 which should go by quickly as the evenings will be packing and planning and getting ready for my trip. 🛶 I am thinking I should get new rope and bungees for carrying my kayak and retire the old worn out rope to camp duty – hanging the flags 🇺🇸 and tarps that are not critical should they fail.

Looking ahead, there are 6 weeks until Average High Falls To 79 ️Degrees ⛱️️️ when the sun will be setting at 7:35 pm with dusk at 8:03 pm. On that day in 2022, we had rain and temperatures between 90 and 66 degrees. We hit a record high of 98 back in 1953.

Where I think ChatGPT and Machine Learning is Going in Computing 🤖

Like many people I’ve been following closely both the hype and reality of ChatGPT. At the same time, I’ve been learning a lot about different forms of machine learning, and how they can be used to enhance computing, especially as computers grow in power. I also have been using computers for more then a quarter century, so I have some ideas on where machine learning could be useful for every day uses, while other cases were not so useful.

Things I Don’t Think We’ll See in the Future

ChatGPT is not going to replace writers, artists, or secretaries except for the most basic tasks
ChatGPT will not ever write quality news articles, press releases, or publications.
Natural language searches will not become the norm, as it’s a lot of typing or speaking and prone to mistakes, however machine learning will continue to be applied to both search terms and results to get more useful results

Things I Think We’ll See in the Future

Machine learning will be applied to people’s personal computer file system to better flag mistakes in documents, like in Microsoft Word. If for example, you regularly type out a press release or a report a certain way in Word, and something is different format-wise or stylistically in your current version, your Word processor would flag if not automatically fix it.
Machine learning could automatically generate templates based on previously saved documents on your computer, allowing you just to update and fill in the details of the document.
Machine learning would be used for resizing and colorizing photos in Gimp and Adobe Photoshop, automatically tracing edges, vectorizing and detecting words.
Machine learning would make the creation of graphics more automated, by creating sensible styles, and anticipating your next move.
Command line code would be far better automated, with much better tab competition both based on the commands others have used, and what you have previously run
Basically, any process you run on your computer would have much more tab completion, with the computer automatically predicting your likely next move, helping to speed up processing, as the computer could start working on the likely next step

I don’t anticipate the centralized machine learning model, with vast databases getting that much play. Internet access can be funky, and people are often hesitant to share data. It’s risky to be too reliant on other people’s servers. But I do think machine learning is going to only grow in importance on desktop computers, with more and more predictions made locally to assist users in getting tasks done quicker on their computers.

Site Map

🌲🌲 Our Public Lands 🌳🌲

Interactive maps with backcountry and roadside camping: New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia & Vermont.
List of NYS DEC Lean-Tos with map coordinates. List of NYS DEC Firetowers with map coordinates and more information.
Google Spreadsheet with Roadside, Primitive and Pay Campsites

Explore the Finger Lakes Trail, Long Path, Northville-Placid Trail and Long Trail/Appalachian in Vermont.
Catskill Park Mountain Peaks, Hudson Valley & Long Island Peaks, Peaks Over 3000 ft Elevation, Highest Peaks in Adirondacks, Interactive Map of All Named Summits in NYS, Blaze Colors in Catskill Park, Trailhead Parking Coordinates and Addresses in the Catskills.

Browse USGS Topo Quads as PDF 🆕 by State Lands or County. You can Bulk Download New & Old USGS Topograpic Maps.

Links to various NY State Land Websites 🆕. Get latest GIS Data from state Web Services.

⛺🌲 Camp 🌲🏕

Moose River Plains – Campsite Listing, Maps and photos of state’s largest free camping area.
Piseco-Powley Road – Campsite Listing, Maps and photos of 15 mile dirt road with camping.
Catskill Park Primitive Campsites – An overview of free camping locations in Catskill Park.
Burnt-Rossman Forest, Cattaraugus County, East Branch Sacandaga River, Finger Lakes National Forest, Madison County, Pennsylvania, Vermont and West Virigina.

Campsite Coordinates for Bog River Flow / Lows Lake, Hudson River SMA (Buttermilk Falls), Lake Lila, Oswegathie River, Nine-Corner Lake, Pharaoh Lake Wilderness, Saranac River Campsites, Stillwater Lake, Schoharie County, and Sugar Hill State Forest.

Overview of Camping Areas in the Catskills, Green Mountains, Southern Adirondacks, Central Adirondacks, Northern Adirondacks, Allegheny National Forest and Penna. DCNR Motorized Campsites and the Monongahela National Forest West Virginia.

Free Campsite Overview Maps: Adirondack – North Country, Catskills, Central NY, Finger Lakes, Western NY. Interactive Map.

Places I camped in 2023, 2022, 2021 and 2020.

Bicycle Trails and “Blackie” My Mountain Bike

Finally bought a mountain bike, after chewing over a mountain vs commuter bike. Really enjoying riding my bike to work and when it rains there is always a bike rack to safely take it back home. One way to get to adventures at Thacher Park is the Nature Bus.

Empire Trail – KMZ and Interactive Map. Parking along it.

More Trailways with KMZ files including the Albany County Rail Trail, Black Diamond Trail, Catharine Valley Trail, Catskill Scenic Trail, Fonda, Johnstown & Gloversville Rail Trail, Genesee Valley Trail, Link Trail.

🦌🌲 Hunt 🦃🐿

Wildlife Management Units (Deer) – KMZ Map shows the WMU boundaries.

Summer 2019 Aerial Photographs of WMUs

KMZ Maps of Deer Harvest Density by Town: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016. By WMU 2017, 2016, 2015.

KMZ Maps of Buck Harvest Density by Town: 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016. By WMU 2017, 2016

2016 -2019 Deer and Buck Harvest by Town – KMZ Spreadsheet with FIPS codes for making your own calculations.

🎣🐡 Fish 🐟🐠

Parking and Access to Trout Streams – An interactive, downloadable KMZ Map.
Lakes with DEC Contour Maps – A KMZ Map links to Contour Maps for Fishing.

🌨🏔 Sled & Wheel 🚙❄

State Truck Trails Over A Half Mile – Dirt roads to explore in the backcountry.
NYS Statewide Snowmobile Trail System – State trails on public and private lands.

📉📊 Learn 💵📈

Interactive Maps of NY Census – Explore and download KML files.
Charts and Interactive Diagrams – From population to pollution control.
Andy Arthur GitHub – Git my R and Python scripts used to make maps and diagrams.
Use ArcPullR to Get Geospatial Data – Super easy way to connect to get GIS data in R from government servers.
GDAL Opens E00 Files – Most open source programs nowadays can open common geospatial formats.
NY Building Footprints – Where to find on the internet for making maps.
WMS and ArcMap Services – Downloadable CSV file listing services used on the blog.
2022 US Census Population Estimates – Red states, south continue to gain population.
2020 Cartogram of State Population

💳 🏛 Property Taxes 🏠💸

Properties in Albany Pine Bush Study Area, Excel Files: Various Tax Rolls, Find coordinates and political districts, Look Up State Tax Records and a Script for Processing RPTL 1520 PDFs. Match NY SWIS Codes to FIPS Codes and GEOID

🚗🚗 Big Red 🚗🚗

Big Red – Photos and Videos of my lifted truck with its camper shell. Big Red’s Dual Battery Setup for Camp Power, Video Tour and Diagram. Big Red is getting old. What is next? I’ve thought about going carless for a while to save money and reduce pollution. Or maybe going bigger? Or smaller? Five dollar gas sucks.

🔥🌲 Off-Grid Living 🏠🤠

I am seriously thinking about building an off-grid house. I have a first draft. I need to learn CAD! I have a road map towards buying land and building. I concede might have to live with long commute and give up traveling and camping. I need to be strong.

Why off grid? Well, I’m not into contemporary society. I want to own land, but not be called a landowner, and a cabin, not hooked to electrical grid, farm, raise pigs for food and burn my own trash. I’m saving for a better tomorrow, hoping to make the leap to another freer state. Having acreage is important. Cornfields aren’t bad neighbors. Maybe though my vision has grown smaller and more local. More on off-grid living.

I am 16 years into my career and have made some significant progress in my life. I love my job. But I do wonder on all the things I’m missing out but saving sure makes me high. Maybe it will be different when I own my own land — the end of goal of all this saving.

2020 into 2021 during the pandemic was a year of remote work. It was a struggle not having internet at home, worked a lot out of my truck. But I worked remotely from Horseshoe Lake which was super cool.

Generally I like the idea of owning land in a red state, particularly Idaho, Iowa, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wisconsin — and Midwest more generally. But I may settle for New York – it’s all about the f-ing money!

Learn to code for free modern HTML, Javascript, Python and SQL at freeCodeCamp and web development at the Odin Project.

Politics

Crunched Election Results with Turnout for Albany County: November 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019 and Primaries June 2019, Pres/June 2020, June 2021, June 2022, Aug 2022, June 2023.

Albany County Races converted to the new 2023 EDs using Super EDs and Code: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019 and Primaries June 2019, Pres/June 2020, June 2021, June 2022, Aug 2022.

Above Election Results as zipped Excel files.

Albany County Legi slature Districts 2024 Maps –

Maps Comparing 2017 and 2023 Albany County Election Districts and a Crosswalk Table Showing the Proposition of Voting Age Population in New and Old EDs

Maps of 2022 NYC Assembly Races, NYS Assembly Races, NY Senate Races, Governor’s Race in Erie County and Statewide. Partisan shift in governor race between 2010 and 2018.

A comparison of Democratic Performance 2022 Assembly Districts to those proposed in 2023 by the IRC. Here is latest 4/20/23 IRC Maps, showing ADP and how they change from existing Assembly districts. Most towns upstate, outside of cities, are quite red. Using LATFOR data with R to calculate Average Democratic Performance.

You can scrape employee salary data from SeeThroughNY using R. Other useful investigative resources.

I often think politics is for losers. I’m into the politics of statistical analysis and reading history books.

I believe strongly in the first amendment, second amendment, oppose gun restrictions and I support de-funding the police in favor of lower-cost technology and civilian employees. Maybe use red flag laws for voting to stop dangerous voters? And the media should stop promoting mass-shootings, even if it’s super profitable for all involved. They should tax the media when it promotes violence. I think some people are much too paranoid in politics. How elections are rigged under law to benefit incumbents. But vote, it’s the best option and inexpensive.

Yeah for the third parties! I voted for Larry Sharpe for Governor and Jo Jergenson for President but my views are complicated and often vote for Democrats, after voting Jill Stein Green Party in 2016.

Generally, I think Biden has been a good change over DJT and glad the Trump era is over and are glad prosecutors and grand jurors are holding him responsible by indicting him for many serious felonies. I don’t think Trump can win in 2024, as nothing has changed politically from 2020.

I think rural people should be left alone and not worship government workers or have parades for them. I am no fan of Donald Trump, his speeches are bad, I don’t like Trump’s embrace of radical environmentalists, but do admire the homemade roadside monuments to DJT.

I don’t toke. But whatever. There are too many transit authorities.

The Earth

Why I oppose wilderness areas and parks. It’s trendy to be green these days, but is eco-marketing good for the planet? I visited the Mount Storm Coal Plant and Corridor H.

I worry about a lot about overly-aggressive Climate Change Action, and Undermining Environment Laws for Climate Action. I think we should all admit we are Addicted to Fossil Fuels. These days, urban recycling has become a joke, when it’s still an option at all. It’s better to just buy less shit and avoid the alure of Costcos. I really don’t like how aging radicals have become industrial solar salespeople.

Big bucks are coming to state-designated disadvantaged communities under the CLCP. Which counties and political districts are in line for the the most pork? Interactive map.

I’m a big of farmers who are essentially Living Off the Earth and think Rednecks are Noble Savages. Dairy Farming are key to our rural landscape. I’d trust a farmer or a hunter in a pile of guts he’s butchered over any ivory-tower scientist.

🌎🔆 Industrial Solar 🌞 🏭

Hundreds of multi-acre industrial solar farms are being built in our state. How bad is solar for the environment? We should ask tough questions. Interactive of recently built solar farms, proposed facilities. List of proposed industrial solar facilities. See how the Greenville Solar Farm changed the landscape.

Saving Money

I am not a fan of ESG Investing as it’s not well diversified. I prefer index-funds and other tax-advantaged ways of saving. Why I am concerned about saving enough for retirement, even though I’m in my late 30s. We as a nation should save more, consume less. I like the idea of carbon tax to replace capital gains taxes to discourage consumption.

Mission Fifty & Being Healthier

I am now officially in my 40s! I am building to a better life in my 50s, which means getting up early, walking a lot, saying no to cake and yes to more fruit. In many ways, the forties are an awesome time to be alive.

And eating healthy for less without losing sleep over arsenic. And I don’t think we should subsidize unhealthy habits. How I got started in eating healther. Meals are too focused on meat and carbs due to how we describe them, maybe I eat too many bananas in the office, what to eat while camping, worry more about salt then GMOs, eat more beans. Do spend extra for farmers market peaches, especially doughnut peaches and plums. Consider ethnic supermarkets. Thinking about how to make a healthier macaroni and cheese, spinach-mackeral-pasta salad, quick-cook biscuits and whole-wheat bread. That said, too many recipes are junk food crap. Okay in moderation is not okay. The fact that I’m thinner is not a sign I’m dying.

A few years back I decided to explore my mental illness with therapy, thinking about why I have so much anxiety and how many of my values are rational or just thinking too much rednecks’ burn barrels and how much of a throwaway society we live in. Do I want to change?

I’ve learned to care less about the world, and focus more on myself. Maybe I am happier as I am now, saving and investing a lot towards owning my own land, where I don’t have to deal with all the bullshit of modern life.

Mission Fifty: Getting to the point where I own my own land.
Healthy Eating / Growing My Wealth
Healthy Thoughts / Enjoying Life

Questions, comments? Feel free to email me at andy@andyarthur.org.

I use GNU open source software.
Plus I like buck goats,
because they’re real macho men
spraying their beards with goat urine.

“We made it to spring time. I bet the black flies and cows are super excited about that.” – Andy Arthur

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June 1, 2021 Morning

Good morning! Suddenly it’s June 🐮 ! Dairy month with all those cows eating delicious first cut hay and corn silage popping up out of ground, 🌱 Gay Pride month so hang your flag, 🏳️‍🌈 and Black Lives Matter month. ✊🏾 Next Tuesday is 8:30 PM Sunset. 🌇 Mostly cloudy and 59 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ Calm wind. A bit gray this morning, but it’s expected skies will clear around noontime.

I can’t believe that the we are starting out this morning so cloudy ☁️, but I’m hopeful that we will see more sun ☀ later. At least it’s a nice enough of a morning for the walk 🚶🏻. My laptop is fully charged so I can work out back later on when it’s gets nicer. Might as well work outside today as tomorrow and Thursday it’s back in the office 🏢. I don’t mind but I like the sunshine when I can get it.

Today will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 76 degrees at 3pm. Typical for today. Maximum dew point of 49 at 11am. Calm wind becoming southwest around 6 mph in the afternoon. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 68 degrees. The record high of 94 was set in 1918.

Today I will work from home after my morning walk. I need to get groceries, 👜 contact solution, 👀 and some other supplies at lunch time so I want to head to Walmart today. I probably should get groceries for the weekend, although maybe I can get out on Thursday night after work. I will probably start packing for the weekend, 💼 as I might have to work late on Thursday night or end up over in the archives continuing to sort, pack and dry John Wolcott’s files. 📂 I plan to leave early Friday morning at this point to work remote from Lake Pleasant and camp up that way over the weekend. 🏖 Going to be a hot weekend and even hotter next week. While I could probably work remote on next Tuesday, I probably will come back Monday night after work so I have time to prepare for next week in office and Wednesday and Thursday and work from home on the following Tuesday.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:54 pm with sun having an altitude of 69.5° from the due south horizon (-1.3° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 2.2 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:45 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (295°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (302°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:27 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 23 seconds with dusk around 9:00 pm, which is 47 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:45 pm. At sunset, look for mostly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 66 degrees. The dew point will be 51 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 15 hours and 6 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 16 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌤, with a low of 50 degrees at 4am. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 23rd. Light southwest wind. In 2020, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became light rain by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 45 degrees. The record low of 39 occurred back in 1971.

Today I expect my Bluetooth speaker 🔊 to arrive in the mail ✉. The old one I’ve had for six years now stopped charging 🔋 and the battery life wasn’t great. I thought about trying to take it apart for parts or repair 🛠 but opening the waterproof case will be a rather destructive process I fear and the result wouldn’t be great in a wet and muddy camp environment. I kind of think it would be fun to shoot 🔫 it and then burn it but that rubber would stink to high heaven and I couldn’t salvage parts. I hope I got a good quality model, I researched it over a couple of days but I don’t know. Always hard to know which on line reviews are legit. As long as it’s loud enough to be heard over woods and road noise and the battery life is reasonable I’m good.

Going to be a nice, hot summer weekend. 🏊 Saturday, a chance of showers after 2pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 86. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Maximum dew point of 64 at 7pm. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 89. Maximum dew point of 66 at 7pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 77 degrees. Yeah, that’s going to be a toasty one especially back in Albany. With that heat I’ll definitely want the screen tent not just to keep cool but control the bugs. Thinking of doing some swimming in Speculator and maybe some fishing. 🎣 I thought about going to the Green Mountains but I like being closer to WI-FI should something come up, and I prefer to do my Friday meeting using the laptop rather then the phone, especially when I’m away from home with the virtual background.

As previously noted, next Tuesday is 8:30 PM Sunset 🌇 when the sun will be setting at 8:31 pm with dusk at 9:06 pm. On that day in 2020, we had mostly sunny and temperatures between 81 and 49 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 77 degrees. We hit a record high of 93 back in 2011. It is quite possible we break that record this year, it seems like the dog days of summer will be coming early this year.

April 6, 2021 Morning

Good morning! Happy Tuesday. Three weeks to Pink Moon 🌕 . Albany got rid of their Pinkster festival 🌺 some years back to focus on a bigger tulip festival. 🌷 Sunny and 38 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌞 There is a northwest breeze at 7 mph. 🍃.

Up early this morning, 🌅 as I have to drop my truck off for the oil change this morning. 🛢 I could do it myself, but it’s so much easier to have it dropped off at my mechanic 🔧 and let him deal with getting the rusty salt-encrusted filter off and draining and changing the oil. Small engines aren’t so bad, but it can be a bitch to get that filter off sometime, and I can never find 5W-30 synthetic at the store. Then I should be good until November or 7,000 miles when my inspection is due — although I might do another oil change before I go to West Virignia in the fall, especially if it’s in the shop for other repairs at the same time. Not like the bad ol’ days when you did oil changes every 3,000 miles. I’ll drop it off, walk home, and pick it up at lunch time. 🚶‍♀️ That way I get my morning walk in to on this most beautiful of spring days.

Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 64 degrees at 4pm. 10 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 28th. Northwest wind 7 to 10 mph. 🚩 Another red flag day with the wind, the warmth and the dry grass. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 62 degrees. The record high of 82 was set in 1921. 17.3 inches of snow fell back in 1982.❄

At lunch time, I will probably head down to the store 🏬 and pick up some groceries. I need more frozen fruit 🍓 as I am pretty addicted to that and the Maine frozen Wild Blueberries that they have at Hannaford are like crack, and maybe some eggs and other things. I probably should get the groceries I need for the week, as I don’t have any other reason to drive anywhere this week, although maybe I will go somewhere on Saturday for a hike. I’m thinking Rennselear County but I could decide to just walk somewhere on Saturday and then Sunday maybe do Partridge Run or Rennselearville State Forest. Depends on the forecast.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:58 pm with sun having an altitude of 54° from the due south horizon (-16.9° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 4.4 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:50 pm with the sun in the west (274°). 📸

The sunset is in the west (280°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:27 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 56 seconds with dusk around 7:55 pm, which is one minute and 8 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:30 pm. At sunset, look for mostly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 59 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 7 mph. Today will have 12 hours and 59 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 50 seconds over yesterday. it sounds like a pleasant evening, I might go down to park. 🏞 I should get more books at the library. I’ll have to look and reserve some, especially as when I head up to wilderness I like to have books to read.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 38 degrees at 6am. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 16th. Northwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. Almost warm enough to leave the windows open, for good sleeping. In 2020, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 42 degrees. The record low of 13 occurred back in 1982.

Not a particularly nice weekend on tap. 😞 Saturday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 63. Maximum dew point of 46 at 11am. Sunday, a chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 60. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Typical average high for the weekend is 56 degrees. No camping plans for this weekend, 🏕 as the weather doesn’t look great, and I’m worried about it being so dry with a rip-roaring fire in the woods. 🔥 The snow is gone even up in the Adirondacks. I am hoping this weekend into next week we will get some rain, 🌧 and then I can head up north for an extended weekend come Thursday of next week. By then the state budget should be done and things will be quiet.

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until Pink Moon 🌕 when the sun will be setting at 7:51 pm with dusk at 8:21 pm. On that day in 2020, we had rain showers, cold, cloudy and temperatures between 46 and 37 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 63 degrees. We hit a record high of 91 back in 1962.

Andy Arthur.org

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