Search Results for “city of troy ny” | Page 3

Why Kayak the Hudson River Between Albany and Troy?

Most people have probably never kayaked between Albany and Troy on the Hudson River. Yet, it’s a trip one should make, because it’s both fascinating and relaxing, as you paddle between two cities through a lush green landscape.

Not only is the Hudson River conviently located between the two cities, a short drive for residents of the Capital Drive, it demostrates the solitude one can get, and still be within a couple of miles of major former industrial cities in Upstate NY.

It shows the scale of man’s industrial works up close, as they tower far above you. Who would have ever thought the South Troy Bridge was so tall?

And while the river is much cleaner then yesteryear, you will still smell the raw sewage floating in from some storm drains.

You’ll find secret little tributatories, all but forgotten about in the era of powerboats and superhighways that once buried important little rivers and creeks, and made islands into mainland.

You will get a new impression of the river and it’s many crossings, and the noisey automobile traffic that “flies” over the river.

You’ll notice how nature’s creations tower far above our cities and urbanized areas.

And you’ll get a new look at the ordinary city, that often looked at as one passes it buy almost in an ignorant fashion.

Electricity

The second part of the series I’ve written on Truck Camping deals with the use of electricity and inverters. The first article is about the truck I currently use for camping and my future plans. A third article is coming soon.

A Must Have:
An Inverter for Household Electricity.

No truck camping set up is complete without having access to electricity. Foruntately, we live in an era with inverters, that quietly turn the 12v electricity from your truck’s electric system and battery into household electricity. They make no noise except for a low hum of the cooling fan in the inverter, that keeps the transformer from overheating. The silence is nice compared to noisy, smelly, and bulky gasoline powered generators some people use to power their camping equipment.

Inverters are now inexpensive. I am a fan of the Vector Inverters from Pepboys. I currently use a $75 dollar, 800 watt Vector inverter, which is large enough to power a small dorm-room refigerator or a microwave, although I don’t currently use either one of them. I previously had $35 dollar, 400 watt Vector inverter from spring 2004 to fall 2008, but I replaced it as I thought it was broken, even though the real problem was the electrical line from the truck battery to the inverter had broken, shorting out and blowing the in-line fuse.

Managing Your Battery Load:
Idle Your Engine Every 2-3 Hours for 10 Minutes.

One of the reasons that I bought the 800 watt inverter over the 400 watt inverter was for the built-in Digital LED voltage meter. Few things are more critical when camping, then to ensure you have sufficent cranking battery power to start up your truck in the morning. When the battery voltage gets below 12.0 volts unladen (ie. with your electrical load unplugged), you know you should start the truck up for 10 minutes to ensure the battery charge is maintained.

I’ve discovered that idling the truck for 10 minutes every 2-3 hours of moderate load (50-200 watts draw), ensures your battery remains a strong charge for starting even in cold weather. Their should be sufficent charge at all night for camping, and powering a florescent reading lamp, alarm clock, and other small devices (20-30 watts), although one should always start the truck up 10 minutes before bed to ensure the a sufficent charge come morning. For heavier temporary loads, like running a microwave or toaster, it’s probably best to idle your engine while in use, and few a few minutes there after to ensure a strong battery charge.

The colder the weather the quicker the discharge and the more power you need for starting, however if you keep the battery meter above 11.8 volts, there should be sufficent charge. Most inverters will shut off at 11.7 volts, however, this in many cases is not sufficent power for starting a cold engine, and risks damaging a typical truck starting battery through warping the electrode plates.

We are often educated to think idling a car is wasteful and consumes large amounts of gasoline. Indeed, idling a car without purpose, or even to warm up a car (for the engine’s sake), is wasteful of gas. However, idling to charge a battery uses minimal gasoline, my Ford Ranger uses maybe a 1/4 gallon of gasoline per day camping, just to generate electricity. Modern engines have little drag at idle, and therefore consume minimal energy running the alternator and other equipment when parked.

When in doubt, idle. It’s uses minimal gas and a lot easier then having to jump start in the morning.

Have A Back Up Plan:
For a Dead Battery.

Don’t go alone without a plan in case you have a dead battery in the morning. If your traveling with buddies who also have pickup trucks, then just make sure you have jumper cables. Be aware that smaller cars will not be able to neccessarly provide the power you need to jump start your truck, especially in cold weather due to the amperage requirements.

If your traveling alone, bring another battery to jump start. I currently use a Vector “Hot-Shot” Emergency Battery Jump Starter Kit that I bought for $40. It is a stand-alone battery that you charge in advance, and in case of emergency, you hook the jumper cables built into the “hot-shot” battery to your truck’s battery, providing the extra current needed to turn over your motor.

I currently store the “hot-shot” behind the driver’s seat in the cab. It’s 12 volt trickle charger cord is currently hard wired into the line that provides power from the main truck battery to the inverter. I unplug the “hot-shot” charger cord from the inverter power line when using the inverter, to keep the inverter from robbing electricity from the “hot-shot” when camping. Otherwise, when I’m driving, the “hot-shot” is constantly getting trickle charged at the proper voltage, controlled by the truck’s built in voltage regulator in the alternator.

Previously I had a transformer cord that I used to charge the “hot-shot” at home, but it got accidently destroyed, and I figure it’s smarter to have the “hot-shot” in the truck at all times and persistantly charged.

Future Set Up.

When I get my next pickup truck, a full-size truck, with more room under the hood, I plan to have a second battery installed under the hood. This will be a marine or deep cycle battery, designed to provide longer battery charge for powering the inverter, providing more electricity for longer periods of time. Likewise, due to the thicker plates of a deep cycle battery, it’s unlikely to be destroyed by the use of

The deep-cycle battery will be electrically isolated from the main starting battery using a device called a battery isolator, which is a block of diodes. While the truck’s alternator will provide electricity to charge the deep cycle and starting battery, the isolator prevents the deep cycle battery from stealing electricity from the starting battery.

In addition, I’m considering getting a set of low-cost 50-watt solar panels, to provide about 10 amps of 12vdc power through a solar charger, to feed into the battery isolator when the truck is off. That said, I’m not sure if it’s cost effective compared to simply idling the truck when the battery is low.

Rural Means Free

There are many state lands away from big cities that are relatively unrestricted in their use. They are so free only because they are largely unknown by the public and the lack of use means they can be used extensively without serious environmental damage.

The wear and tear by a few pickup trucks, quads, and horses seem minimal compared to the damage we see in far more restricted urban areas. I am inspired by Rural America and how little us humans have destroyed it compared to the big cities.

People can pollute more per capita and do far more damage then would be permissible if more people where out here. A truck can tear up a muddy trail pretty badly, but many people walking on one trail can do far more damage as witnessed in the Northern Catskills. People who live out here can have dirty diesel tractors, big gas-guzzling pickup trucks, and burn trash without significantly compromising their clean air or their quality of life. We could only wish that to be the case in the big city.

My biggest fear is what will happen when the cities expand further and further out into the country. What will happen with a new class of people coming out to enjoy the land? More people will ultimately mean more rules, less, freedom, and certainly no camping or four wheeling. The area won’t be as beautiful as farmsteads and forests get replaced by McMansions enjoying the mountains. What once was empty roads is increasingly becoming houses.

You just have to fear what it will mean when people come out here and settle the land. Outsiders will start demanding that we change, and that we start following their orders. Rural America might ultimately be the Pine Bush of the future a seriously compromised area that only is preserved for historical memories of the great beauty. Life in Rural America is nice now, but how will it be when country ain’t country no more.

Region 4 Combined Sewer Overflows

The dataset represents the locations of combined sewer overflow (CSOs) outfall locations in DEC Region 4, specifically the Albany Pool. It also includes overflow detection capabilities of CSO communities and overflow frequency data within a specified timeframe.

Combined sewer systems (CSS) are sewer systems that are designed to collect storm water runoff, domestic sewage, and industrial wastewater in the same pipe and bring it to the publicly owned treatment works (POTW) facilities. During rain events, when storm water enters the sewers, the capacity of the sewer system may be exceeded and the excess water will be discharged directly to a waterbody (rivers, streams, estuaries, and coastal waters). http://www.dec.ny.gov/chemical/48595.html

The cities of Albany, Troy, Cohoes, Rensselaer, Watervliet, and the Village of Green Island make up the partner communities in the Albany Pool Communities. Among the six communities there are nearly 100 CSO discharge points. The Albany and Rensselaer County Sewer Districts are connected to the CSO program through their State Pollution Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permits, and are cooperating with the Pool communities in implementation of the Long Term Control Plan (LTCP) for the abatement of CSOs. Read more about this program at http://www.cdrpc.org/CSO.html.

Data Source: https://data.ny.gov/Energy-Environment/Combined-Sewer-Overflows-CSOs-Beginning-2013/ephi-ffu6

Capital Region Snow Accumulations as of January 8, 2024

Below is the listing of the snowfall that has fallen in various locations of the Capital Region, according National Weather Service.

Albany County

Albany city – NWS Albany (NY-AB-21)
7 inches ☃☃☃☃☃☃☃☃ 12pm

Coeymans town – Alcove Res. (ACVN6)
6 inches ☃☃☃☃☃☃☃ 1pm

Colonie town – Albany Intl AP (ALB)
7 inches ☃☃☃☃☃☃☃☃ 12pm

Colonie town – Albany International Airport (KALB)
7 inches ☃☃☃☃☃☃☃☃ 12pm

Rensselaer County

Brunswick town – Troy 2.1 NNE (NY-RN-20)
6 inches ☃☃☃☃☃☃☃ 12pm

Schaghticoke town – Hudson River @ Green Island (TRYN6)
None 12p

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.

Happy World Population Day, at least if you are a mosquito or a tick 🪰

We got a brief respite from the muggers after the rain and it cleared out. But the mosquitoes are celebrating their new found pools of water and the ticks have been so bad, I found one crawling up my leg in the office downtown yesterday.

Good morning! Clouds and 62 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁️ Calm wind. The dew point is 61 degrees. Not quite as muggy as before the rain though it will be muggier come midday 🕛.

Out walking 🚶 this morning, did 10.8 miles and 40 flights of stairs up and down yesterday, as the rain stopped early yesterday and it was nice for both for a lunch time walk and especially in the evening. So buggy down at the park but since they’ve improved the trails they’ve been pretty dry. I liked that cream of wheat with the frozen blueberries and Greek yogurt yesterday that I’m thinking that will be breakfast again with a fresh pot of coffee ☕. Quick breakfast too.

Black beans are cooking on the stove 🍲 which I will use for a cold lunch with red onions 🧅 and sliced peppers 🫑. Last night was kale – spinach blend as I ran out of the prior with some pasta and mackerel. 🐠 I was looking at the label 🔎 trying to figure if mackerel or tuna fish is a healthier option but I guess it matters if you prioritize vitamins and minerals, along with total omega 3 over slightly more calories and saturated fat. Most of the calories comes from the pasta at any rate, which I used the last half box of white pasta I had left in my kitchen with 1 1/4 lb of frozen spinach and a half lb of frozen kale. Tuna fish salad thet won’t kill you! All that fiber with the delious omega 3 fat fills you up quickly so it’s not so bad but I’m only buying whole wheat or chickpea pasta going forward.

Yesterday the 40″ waist seam jeans and XXL shirt 👖 I wore to work looked cartoonishly big on me, as I’ve lost so much weight. I’ve recently bought 38″ shorts thinking they’ll be good as I like my shorts loose and they also are running kind of big one. Even some of the XL shirts, especially undershirts now seem to big for me. I guess I never thought I would loose so much weight so quickly, though I’m still very hesitant to buy more clothes as I don’t know what size will fit well. Maybe come August I’ll have to shop the thrift stores to see what I can get, although it’s still tough as I’m so tall. I just worry about weight gain though I think I’ve really changed what I eat.

Speaking of which I was really happy to hear that Stanton now has both sweet corn 🌽 and tomatoes 🍅. I am not really sure which I’m most excited about, probably my favorite nightshade as tomatoes are so good in many foods and fresh tomatoes are the best! If I go to Schoharie this weekend I’m hoping to get somewhere I can stock up. I’ll eat them quickly so they don’t ret a chance to go bad, lol 😂.

Today will start out cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny ☁️🤜🌞, with a high of 88 degrees at 5pm. Kind of a game of weather punch buggy, as the sun and hot weather push out the cooler rainer weather of yesterday. Four degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 65 at 11am. Light and variable wind becoming west 5 to 10 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with a few breaks of sun the afternoon. The high last year was 91 degrees. The record high of 98 was set in 1936.

At this point I’m getting a bit impatient about getting Blackie 🚵 as last night I figured out what heavy gauge u-bolt lock to get to secure my bicycle, a USB rechargeable long lasting rear light for the rear and a waterproof carrying mount for my phone. 📱 I tested out my phone to see if it would work okay as a GPS bicycle speedometer / trip odometer, turned out that 45 minutes on and off the bus with the GPS location and screen on only used 3% of the battery life, so should be good. 🔋

Mostly want it to keep track of distance out on the trip so I know how long the return will be though watching my speed on the down hills would be fun and I want to track my distance. It’s good that I can avoid adding any more expenses to this ever growing bicycle project. 💸But I figure now is the time to equip the bicycle as I want it, so it will be ready for adventures as close to day one as possible and I can work out kinks before vacation. 🏖

One issue I might run into is I don’t know if the Trek MIK rack will fit on the XXL model of the Marlin 6. 🚲 I’m going to ask and buy at the shop when I pick up the bicycle for just that reason. If not there are many after market bike rack systems you can get and either use a MIK adapter or maybe a different rack system. I just want something I can bolt 🔩 to a milk crate storage containers and do the quick release for packing inside or at camp, and load the bike in the truck or on the bus 🚍. I really want to have the storage before vacation especially for longer rides so I can bring lunch and supplies without having them in a backpack 🎒 on my back in the heat. I might even do some hammock camping on vacation depending on where I’m riding.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:01 pm with sun having an altitude of 69.5° from the due south horizon (-1.3° vs. 6/21). The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:52 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 8:35 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 23 seconds with dusk around 9:07 pm, which is 29 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:53 pm. At sunset, look for mostly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 82 degrees. The dew point will be 65 degrees. There will be a west breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 15 hours and 9 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 14 seconds over yesterday.

The Verizon salesman 📴 stalked me out at home last evening, seeing if I would be interested in signing up for internet today. 🖥 I was like not really bro, I don’t have a TV or internet at home and I’m not really interested in all that technology stuff. He wasn’t that persistent when he learned I didn’t own a television or had a computer at home (I store my laptop at work). Truth is during the pandemic that was the closest I ever got to getting home internet as it was cold especially in the winter working out of my truck 🛻 down at the library but now with unlimited phone data and 5 GB Hotspot, I’d much rather just use my phone 📱. Phones are so powerful these days, yet they are so portable, can he used virtually anywhere and use very little electricity to charge. 🔋 Heck, I’ll probably leave my laptop locked in my office 🏢 rather than bring it on vacation this year.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 64 degrees at 6am. One degree above normal. Maximum dew point of 65 at 8pm. West wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies. It was humid. It got down to 70 degrees. The record low of 44 occurred back in 1978.

After reading 📖 more of the Boggleheads Guide to Investing, I just ordered up my yearly free credit report 📜 and no surprises there, it was super boring 💤 and accurate. I did find one issue – my Experian report wasn’t properly locked 🔒 so I did that to protect against identity theft. The other two were good. Updated my assets spreadsheet, 🧮 that’s looking far better now than six months ago. I was pleasantly surprised that my ratio of bonds to stocks has increased but then again I’ve been buying more bonds lately as I’m getting older 🧓. The higher fed rate is helping with the cash side of things too. Far better than wasted year in the market in 2022. The out year projections look good, based on the past decade but I’m sure we are going to have a recession but I figure that’s just a loss on paper and in the long run, it’s a potential for gain.

On this day in 1962, live television was transmitted for the first time across the Atlantic Ocean. On Telstar! 📺 Seems odd nowadays, when so much commerence is global and we can access a server next door as quickly as in France. 🇫🇷 Of course ultimately Telstar 📡 would be destroyed by above ground nuclear ⚛ testing. 💣Which was pure foolishness of a deadly kind of way that was making the sweet corn 🌽 radio and putting strontium 90 in children’s ice cream cones. 🍦Now we just have PFAS and dioxin in our ice cream and everything else.

A nice summer weekend ahead. 🏊‍♂️ ⛺ Saturday, scattered showers and thunderstorms after 2pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 86. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Maximum dew point of 70 at 11am. Sunday, scattered showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 86. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Maximum dew point of 71 at 11am. Monday, scattered showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 88. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Typical average high for the weekend is 84 degrees.

Still thinking this is the weekend to go out to Schoharie though a lot depends on timing of getting Blackie, my new bike. I keep waiting for that call from the shop, though I realize it’s only been two days, or maybe three. Maybe I’ll get the call this afternoon, though I’m not sure if I can leave work early today, but maybe tomorrow. I guess I don’t need to have the rack on my bicycle, I can use a backpack for this weekend for supplies along the rail trail but I do want to get things tested out. I haven’t decided about Monday yet, but it looks like a much better day to take off then Friday.

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until August 🌻 when the sun will be setting at 8:17 pm with dusk at 8:48 pm. On that day in 2022, we had hot, partly sunny and temperatures between 89 and 69 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 84 degrees. We hit a record high of 101 back in 1933.

Andy Arthur.org

Search Results for: city of troy ny

Why Kayak the Hudson River Between Albany and Troy?

Electricity

A Must Have:
An Inverter for Household Electricity.