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Today was a great day up on Canaan Mountain ⛰

Morning started out cold and so was the evening but tons of sunshine by midday and beautiful deep blue skies with temperatures in the low sixties by afternoon.

Good evening! Clear and 45 degrees in Canaan Heights, WV. Calm wind. The skies are full of stars. ✨

It was a nice day though it started out cold ❄ with a hard frost. As the previous night it was cold and I got here late, spent the morning pitching the tent and setting up camp for the week, gathered firewood 🔥 , then a nice lunch of salmon 🐠 , broccoli 🥦 and onions. 🧅 Dinner was rice and lentils with too much garlic and some beer. But I enjoyed most of all was the many cups of coffee ☕ ☕ ☕ and eggs and vegetables. 🍳 I mean the hard boiled eggs and banana 🍌 limited piss breaks on the way down but I was all for having a real breakfast this morning.

I spent a lot of time getting camp set up for the week, ⛺ organizing gear and food. Laid back in the hammock for a while. It’s vacation, and this year I’m determined not to spend every waking hour rushing from point A to Point B. It’s not like I’m planning fewer adventures but I’m trying to explore more what is close to camp but have previously overlooked then the crowded tourist trap kind of places like Spruce Knob, Dolly Sods and Seneca Rocks. I’ve been to all those places many times before, no reason to go back. Truth is though I kind of want to go back to the Dolly Sods 🌾🌲🌳 but I don’t like the crowds or the rough steep road up there and it’s a bit out of the way. I guess I’ll decide later in the week.

Did a leisurely bike 🚲 ride along a portion of upper Canaan Loop Road and then hiked down to Blackwater Falls State Park 🏞 spending some time at the scenic overlooks before hiking back through the mountain and giant laurel lined trail. With the giant laurel so tightly growing in Canaan Heights there wasn’t much of a chance of loosing the trail.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 30 degrees at 5am. South wind 5 to 7 mph. Colder then Albany but also tomorrow will be warmer than back home. Lots of sun too. In 2022, we had mist in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It became humid as the night progressed. It got down to 58 degrees. The record low of 19 occurred back in 1981.

I’m starting to upload photos 📸 but with spotty cell service I’m having trouble. You might have to wait until next week to see more photos of my adventures, though I might upload some to Facebook in the meantime. Plus I’d rather be out doing fun things then messing around with social media on vacation.

Tonight will have a Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon with 76% illuminated. The moon will set at 4:17 pm. The Hunter 🏹 Moon is on Sunday, October 29. The darkest hour is at 12:40 am, followed by dawn at 7:01 am, and sun starting to rise at 7:33 am in the east-southeast (105°) and last for 3 minutes and 1 seconds. Sunrise is one minute and 12 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 8:09 am with sun in the east-southeast (112°). Tonight will have 13 hours and 17 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 43 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 69 degrees at 3pm. Calm wind becoming south 5 to 8 mph in the morning. A year ago, we had light rain in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 59 degrees. The record high of 75 was set in 2017. There was a dusting of snow in 1962.❄

The plan for tomorrow is to drive down to Davis 🛻 then to Blackwater Falls State Park and hike out to Lindey Point. Then poke around the village, 🏘️ and then ride Camp Seventy Road along the Black River to Canaan Wildlife Refuge. Then get milk, ice, coffee grounds and paper towels at the Stop and Shop Express or Dollar General, the only real choices you have here.

Today in 1973, President Richard M. Nixon agrees to turn over subpoenaed audio tapes of his Oval Office conversations. 📼 Nowadays politicians rarely tape themselves in preparation for writing books in retirement 📝 though apparently George Romney’s son is a profilic journal writer.

While so far every night I’ve camped has been below freezing in the High Country, there are 3 weeks until Average Night Below Freezing back in Albany 🌌 when the sun will be setting at 5:06 pm with dusk at 5:33 pm (Standard Time) here in West Virginia. On that day in 2022, we had partly cloudy and temperatures between 49 and 36 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 50 degrees. We hit a record high of 69 back in 1964.

Plastic

Plastics have been in the news a lot lately, with the relatively low oil prices and the boom in plastics manufacturing brought on fracking. 🛢️ A lot of the articles lately note that not only is plastic a non-renewable material, coming from the co-products of oil and gas production, it’s long chains of carbon atoms are often difficult to break down by bacteria and sunlight. Plastic is only easily broken down by heat and combustion, when the carbon molecules bond to oxygen to produce carbon dioxide and other byproducts.

In many ways, I would argue that plastic is environmentally superior to metals and glass for packaging. 🥫 Metal and glass does not break down in fire, there is no “natural” process to break it down in the environment, it must either be landfilled, buried, or brought back to industrial recycling. In many remote areas, metals and glass become litter that never leaves the land. Glass in particular is notorious, as it can break, leaving dangerous materials that can cut people’s feet, damage tires and produce a long-term nuisance. Metal — especially cans made out of iron rust — but it often lasts a long time in the woods.

The toxicity of some plastics is a concern, more then plastic becoming litter in the environment. Chances are in the back country, on the farm dump, in the woods, plastic is not piling up. It’s getting burnt.🔥 It may not biodegrade by bacteria, but there is a natural process that breaks it down, namely fire, which leaves waste metals and glass untouched. Glass is just so much nastier in the sense it breaks, and doesn’t ever leave the woods unless somebody hauls it away to the landfill.

More needs to be done to reduce the toxicity of common wastes. Replacing PVC with HDPE is a big step forward. ♻I am glad to see things like soap bottles and charcoal lighter packing is no longer coming in vinyl, but instead safer plastics that produce fewer noxious chemicals when leached out to environment or burned. In urban areas, more needs to be done to recycle plastic — something that will get a boost when oil prices inevitably go back up.

Come 50 years from now, I doubt your going to find much in the way of plastics dumped in the woods. You might find metal (although less with the high value of scrap metal), glass, and certainly other things like discarded masonry and plumbing, but not plastic. ⛰ Plastic is lightweight packaging, and while it doesn’t biodegrade, it does combust and is unlikely to have the long-term pollution problems that alternative packaging is likely to have.

Watching the sun rise on this Columbus Day 🌄

Up bright and early as often is the case in the morning. Coffee and eggs just enjoying the quiet over the land as the sun rises. In the distance is the roar of an ATV as I sit warming my hands over the propane heater.

Good morning! Happy Columbus Day. ⛵🍂Mostly clear and 43 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a south breeze at 5 mph. 🍃.

Five o’clock I rose as always 🛏 and it was dark in the woods. I don’t mind, I like an early start and a good breakfast. 🍳 Annoyed I left the sweet corn 🌽 and onions 🧅 home but I had plenty of other good things to use in my eggs – I packed the jalapeño I had plus canned 🥫 olives and chopped tomatoes. Kind of getting past the farm fresh tomato 🍅 time of year.

Columbus Day will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 60 degrees at 3pm. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 19th. Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 63 degrees. The record high of 83 was set in 1949. There was a dusting of snow in 2000.❄

Cold this morning with the breeze 🌬️ but should get nicer as the day progreses. Going to ride Blackie 🚵 around Rennselearville State Forest on some roads and trails, have lunch 🍲 and then head over to Partridge Run WMA for biking along the Switzkill and other gravel rides for the balance of the day. Hopefully it will warm up. Yesterday was kind of cool and wet at times, I retired to bed at nine o’clock as it started to rain as I sat by the fire 🔥. At least my only time limitation today is getting home by dusk.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:43 pm with sun having an altitude of 41.2° from the due south horizon (-29.6° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 6.9 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 5:47 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (256°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (262°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 6:25 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 55 seconds with dusk around 6:51 pm, which is one minute and 42 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 7:26 pm. At sunset, look for partly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 55 degrees. There will be a southwest breeze at 7 mph. Tomorrow will have 11 hours and 22 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 48 seconds over today.

Today is the big blog renewal day. 📄 I’m going to bite the bullet and get it done. I like blogging and telling my story. Plus the ad revenue has been pretty good, looking forward to that first check come November. And in a few months time I should be mostly made whole, when I don’t count my time. ⌚ But it’s something I like doing. Kind of like my vacation next week.

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌃, with a low of 39 degrees at 4am. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 21st. South wind around 6 mph. In 2022, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 40 degrees. The record low of 25 occurred back in 1980.

That new bicycle lights are awesome. 🔦 Super bright for riding at night, no worries about hitting potholes or missing something on the road or trail riding after dark. I was so impressed doing a little bit of night riding on CCC Road last night. 🛒 While it might be dusk 🌆 riding home from the grocery store tonight I should be good with that nice bright light. Plus I’ll have plenty of good fruits and vegetables to eat for the week to come. Still will need to visit Walmart probably on Tuesday for socks 🧦 and other supplies.

Yesterday I totally fell off the health wagon 🍻 having a few beers, eating too many carbs 🍞 and even maybe sneaking in a dart or two 🚬 around the campfire. 🔥 Big portion of couscous, chicken, celery and spices for dinner. I don’t smoke or drink except by the fire sometimes. 🍏 Way too many apples and Greek yogurt. So bad! Got to have some fun, tonight it will be back to rice and lentils I think. 🤔 I need to get to the supermarket 🛒 and get more fresh produce tonight as I will have finished off the carrots 🥕 and celery along with apples 🍏 and bananas 🍌 by the end of the day and I need them to eat at work tomorrow.

Rainy weekend on tap to start the October Vacation. 🌧️ Saturday, rain likely. Cloudy, with a high near 55. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Sunday, rain likely. Cloudy, with a high near 55. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Typical average high for the weekend is 62 degrees.

What a bummer. 😔 I’m really watching next weekend to see how my October vacation is going to go. I really don’t want to postpone it due to rapidly dropping daylight, leaves and temperature. I can live with a rainy weekend as I drive south to West Virginia 🗻 but not a week of rain and high temperatures in the mid 40s. I might have to reconsider my trip – cancel it, postpone it or choose another location closer to home. I don’t know, going to watch the forecast for Thomas WV as it draws closer, the 8-14 day outlook suggests cool but dry which I’m good with if not too windy. 🤷‍♂️

Looking ahead, there are 5 weeks until Average Night Below Freezing 🌌 when the sun will be setting at 4:36 pm with dusk at 5:05 pm (Standard Time). On that day in 2022, we had partly cloudy and temperatures between 49 and 36 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 50 degrees. We hit a record high of 69 back in 1964. Those days are coming much too quickly and I’ll eventually need to turn back on the heat and plug air leaks in my apartment.

I guess Columbus Day Weekend isn’t a go 🌧️

Some crappy tropical storm is coming to crap on another long weekend, wash away the colorful leaves with the driving rain and cold winds to follow in the wake. Next weekend starts my October vacation and it looks like rain so I might drive down to Pennsylvania on Saturday and West Virginia on Sunday rather than spend the weekend exploring the Pine Creek Rail Trail.

Good morning! Yeap, it’s Friday Going into Columbus Day Weekend!, ⛵🍂🌧️Better get my ass to work as the other director took it off and I was disappointed about that until I saw the long weekend forecast. To be fair, I took off the day before Labor Day Weekend and I think that was one of the few nice weekends of the summer. Independence Weekend was super smokey with the wildfire smoke. I really hemmed and hawed about heading out of town this weekend but they’re talking about an inch of rain come Saturday. Then cold windy weather Sunday into Columbus Day.

Cloudy and 62 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ There is a south-southeast breeze at 8 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 60 degrees. The skies will clear Sunday around 7 am.

Slept in late again until ten minutes before the 5:50 alarm ⏰ but then again I woke up from some crazy dream about rats 🐀 taking over the world because I had that mouse yesterday that I caught and the stupid ads I’ve been seeing on the blog. I was going to cook up quinoa with canned pumpkin 🎃 this morning but decided I wasn’t feeling like carbs this morning I told myself so I had a slice of bread that I made up yesterday plus eggs with all the usual vegetables.

Really thirsty this morning so I had a glass of water before coffee ☕. Since moderating my coffee habit and drinking a glass of water 💦 in the evening I’ve fixed my pissing problems. Now I just got to send the lab 🔬 my $25 for checking my blood and urine. At least I don’t have bladder or prostate cancer it seems. I guess it was good to get checked out it was bad for a few days. 🧑‍⚕️

Today will have a chance of showers, mainly after 3pm. Cloudy 🌦, with a high of 71 degrees at 2pm. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around September 25th. Maximum dew point of 64 at 12pm. South wind 8 to 10 mph. 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. The high last year was 75 degrees. The record high of 90 was set in 1900. There was a dusting of snow in 1954.❄

Decent enough of a morning to ride to work 🚲 though I’ll probably ride the express bus 🚍 home as it might rain by afternoon and I plan to bring my computer 🖥 home for the weekend. Out walking 🚶 the usual loop around the High School 🚸 and then I’ll shower 🚿.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:44 pm with sun having an altitude of 42.3° from the due south horizon (-28.5° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 6.6 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 5:53 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (258°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (264°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 6:30 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 55 seconds with dusk around 6:57 pm, which is one minute and 43 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 7:31 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 69 degrees. The dew point will be 64 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 9 mph. Tomorrow will have 11 hours and 30 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 50 seconds over today.

Tonight will have a chance of showers before 11pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms between 11pm and 2am, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 2am. Cloudy 🌧, with a low of 62 degrees at 5am. 18 degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 64 at 6pm. South wind around 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. In 2022, we had partly cloudy skies. It got down to 48 degrees. The record low of 27 occurred back in 1986.

Tomorrow will have showers and possibly a thunderstorm. ☔ Temperature rising to near 65 by 11am, then falling to around 57 during the remainder of the day. Southeast wind 7 to 10 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon. Going to have to close the windows by midday. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between three quarters and one inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 71 degrees. The record high of 89 was set in 1963.

Looking ahead to Sunday, a chance of showers, mainly before 2pm. Partly sunny, 🌤️with a high near 58. West wind 13 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Typical average high for the weekend is 65 degrees.

Looking ahead, there are 7 weeks until Buy Nothing Day 🛍️ when the sun will be setting at 4:27 pm with dusk at 4:57 pm (Standard Time). On that day in 2022, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 49 and 24 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 46 degrees. We hit a record high of 70 back in 2014.

Today would not be a good day to be out camping 🌧

It’s not to say that I couldn’t have set up in the rain, and probably by tomorrow it wouldn’t be so wet, but today so far has been a good soaker. Totally wouldn’t have expected it from the forecast as recent as Wednesday when I originally took off the day, but things changed yesterday and so did my plans for the weekend.

It’s not like I haven’t camped plenty in the rain, including on cold and wet autumn days. Indeed, I may get that chance to camp at least a bit in the rain in two weeks when I go down to West Virginia. Good warm meals cooked on the camp stove, huddled under the tarp by the heater and fire helps. But it doesn’t mean it’s something I warmly embrace, or seek out. I am glad I saved this vacation day for a future day, maybe next week when the weather is hopefully much nicer out.

Here is some random financial advice that the good ol’ boy came up with …

1) Debt is evil, don’t make it.
If you can’t afford to buy something with cash, you can’t afford it. Your poor. Be a grown up and accept that fact.

2) Live in poverty.
It’s always bad to have money in your bank account, because it doesn’t earn much interest and means it will get spent on things that you’ll spend later to get rid of at the landfill. I rarely have more then a $1,000 in the bank, because I’d rather live paycheck-to-paycheck, knowing that every time I look at my bank account I can’t afford to buy junk. Lock the rest of the money up in investments and savings accounts, the later that offers more flexibility during emergencies and for buying bigger purchases after a few years.

3) Remember 90% of things you buy are going to either become poop or smell like burnt plastic in the burn barrel within 2 weeks of buying it.
While we all like playing with fire, watching things melt, and colorful flames, buying things to set on fire is a waste of money. So in other words, don’t buy it.

4) Do antagonize over $20 purchases.
Little things add up quickly. Do you really need it? Anything that is non-essential should not be purchased — even if you like watching plastic melt and burn.

5) Don’t take a raise — or at least the majority of a raise.
Rather then taking a raise, use automatic deposits to savings accounts, 401ks, IRAs, or any other vehicle that defers the money to make raise never appear in your bank account rather then take it and spend it.

6) Always look for lower-cost ways of doing things.
Does the government offer the service for free or low-cost? Public libraries, public transportation, and public forest lands are free (or low cost) for your use and enjoyment.

7) Try to save more then you spend each week.
If you take home $1,300 then invest $700 of that check a wide variety of ways. It’s okay to withdraw money every few years for a big purchase, but at least you’ll be getting a better deal then most by buying it with money that has earned compounded interest rather then paying finance charges.

8) Sales are horseshit.
Buying things on sale usually is a bad way to save money on the purchase, unless you’ve been deferring a necessary purchase for a number of months.

9) Celebrate when the stock market goes down.
It means you can buy more stock for less money. Stock paper is just that — it has no value until you it cash it in. You shouldn’t give a rats ass about the stock market going down — except to look forward to the deals you are going to get. You shouldn’t be buying stock paper unless it’s for long-term goals, that can be sold when the market is booming.

10) Cheap, diverse investments are better then expensive ones.
Self-investing in boring, uninteresting broad-based funds are better. If you don’t understand an investment, then you shouldn’t be investing it. Have a dozen different ways of investing with different banks, different funds, and different investment types. It’s good to bet against your own investments with mutually opposing investments. If one thing goes bad, you’ll have other things to fall back.

11) Keeping buying a little bit of your investments each week, when you get paid.
The fancy financial types call this cost-based-averaging. It’s also not bad idea to wait until the market drops back down and convert some savings to stock, but be patient and wait for a good drop in the market. When people have been panicking on Wall Street for a week, that’s a good time to drop that $5,000 or $10,000 you don’t really need and toss it in the market for the hell of it — knowing that you might never get the money back — but you might also make out well.

12) Pretend money in retirement accounts and stocks, unmature certificate of deposits is totally inaccessible and for all intents and purposes does not exist.
I mean I think have a ballpark idea what is in my investment accounts, but I don’t really give that much of dang, because it changes every day. I’m betting that in 20 years it will be a bigger amount. And for all intents and purposes, stock paper is an imaginary money — as stock paper has zero value until you cash it out.

The New York North Alternative for Vacation

If the government shutdown persists into the second half of October, and the President is very aggressive at shutting down access to the federal back country, the West Virginia and Pennsylvania options that rely on camping in the back country of National Forests may not be an option. This also is a lower milage option, that will be more affordable, put less wear and tear on the truck and still let me explore areas I haven’t before.

Saturday 10/14 to Monday 10/16 – Head up to the Otter Creek State Forest outside Lowville to camp and ride trails in the
Monday 10/16 to Thursday 10/19 – Camp up at the Frank Jadwin State Forest, or alternatively Greenwood Creek State Forest
Thursday 10/19 – Hike and explore Fire Fall – Trout Lake State Forest
Thusday 10/19 through Sunday 10/19 – Camp up at Brasher Falls State Forest (CCC Dam Camping Area), explore Massena, ride the many sand roads through Brasher – Bombay State Forest.
Sunday 10/19 – Spend all day taking a leisurely drive down through the Adirondacks via NY 30 and NY 28N, getting on the Northway in Warensburg before it gets too dark.

Andy Arthur.org

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