Photo of Andy Arthur

Andy Arthur

I am a temporary refugee from the heat. 😰 Or maybe it’s the for clarity of thought only the woods can bring. 🌲 But I’m getting away for a few days to work, plan and paddle from Spectulator 🏊 and then do some swimming and relaxing down at the potholers, floating away in the tube. ⭕️ And then maybe Lily Lake or Little Falls to paddle on Sunday. πŸ›Ά Not a full vaction but getting away a bit from the heat and craziness of it all.

In this heat packing for camping is a slow drag 😰

I’m doing the best I can at getting things set up for the next six days camping but so many things are on my mind. I hate to lose what could be my starter dream homestead but there are also so many red flags in my mind. I need to talk to some more people. And I really need to decide if moving back out to the country is right for me at this point.

I went shopping this evening, gassed up the truck and got ready for the trip. Many things are packed, many are not. It’s just tough in the heat, it makes me feel weak and want to collapse. I’ve kind of forgotten about what summer is really like. I went to the Alfred Smith building today to talk to old colleagues about my thoughts about whether I should buy or wait for something better but it never came up.

Time for sleep then it’s the hurry to finish up in the morning and then off to work then to the Adirondacks in the heat. Hopefully it will be somewhat cooler there especially in the swimming holes. Its tough to do research when I’m supposed to be working in the office but I’m thinking Wednesday when I’m in Spectulator I can give it more thoughts and ask for more advice. I’d like to reach out to some of the neighbors to get their thoughts on the house and me as a potential neighbor. Some of those kids in high school were such bullies but we’re now adults and I get the class divide and how my parents were liberal back to the landers in a conservative, often generations and generations deep countryside.

Kinzua, PA 1949

Old topographic maps from before the flooding. Contemporary DRG map can be seen by dragging the transparency slider above.