I can’t keep but thinking that summer vacation is but one weekend or maybe two weekends away in the Finger Lakes. Then comes August. I’ll probably be back up to Pisceo-Powley one time during the August swelter then Labor Day comes early, and I’ll have to do my usual end of summer thing on Hardwood Hill in Perkins Clearing, with the sun setting around 7:30 PM.
Summer really is such a brief period – 10 weeks between when the calendar says summer and Labor Day. 🏖️ That’s the only time the state beaches and pools are officially open, and it always go by so quickly especially once I’m back from summer vacation.
It seemed like I was just up here for Juneteenth Weekend and summer swealter, 😰 taking down, heading home, and then on Thursday coming back, setting up early, spending the day reading, smoking and drinking, hanging out by the Potholers and lighting off sparklers. 🎇 Some swimming on Friday and especially yesterday, hitting up three different swimming holes, but in general it was pretty cool. Yesterday, my eyes 👀 were quite irritated from the contacts but today I replaced them and they are much better. Do need to call 📞 about LASIK this week when I’m back at work.
Yesterday I was doing a lot of reading, finished up a book about DIY grid tied solar (primarily), that was already a bit out of date published in 2017, but the principals remain the same. The book was still discussing old fashioned solar controllers and lead-acid batteries, or actually discouraging people from not doing grid-tied as this was long before LiFePo batteries 🔋 and modern all-in-one hybrid inverter-controllers. Amazing how quickly things have changed in the solar world – especially the off-grid world in the past decade. Then also finished up the book on Organic Farming I had, plus gota good way into the book on Timber Framing for Houses and barns. 📚 Definately did a lot of reading yesterday, but it was still fairly cool for swimming 🏊 though did some of that too.
Spent some time watching and listening to YouTube videos about the National Forests in Northern Michigan. 🌲 Really have me excited about the trip next year seeing all those dirt roads, scenic visas, roadside campsites in wilderness. Everything you see from the tourist bureaus emphasizes ways to spend money, but what I crave is wilderness. These videos remind me there is a lot out there that tourist bureaus aren’t promoting.
I’ve been taking down camp 🏕️ as I cook breakfast. Not that I am in a rush to get out as it often seems people are on end of holiday weekends, but I want to avoid the situation of nine days ago when it was hot and buggy while I was taking down camp swatting deer fly. I’ll leave the hammock up for now, but other things can come down now. Pumpkin 🎃 banana pancakes this morning, 🥞 though I think that banana 🍌 was a bit past prime.
So once I finish taking down camp, I might do some reading and floating on East Canada Creek and then head up to Potholers. ⭕I am thinking about going down to Little Falls and riding along the bike trail to Illion , then poke around Little Falls. 🚲 If I want to go to Little Falls today, I should leave by around 2 PM, then get on the trail by around 3 PM with the goal of leaving Little Falls for home around 7 or 7:30 PM, which will leave light for the drive home, which I’ll probably take NY 162 to US 20 and avoid the city. Depends on how hot is by mid-day.
If I decide I need more Potholers 🏊 time, then I’ll leave around 4 PM, drive down to Canajaoharie and maybe sit down by the river on one of the swings there, then ride west to St. Johnsville, along with poking around Fort Plain and Canajaoharie a bit. I know the famous 🚦 dummy traffic light on the post has returned to Canajaoharie so that would be fun to check out. But it’s also been a few years since I’ve been to Moss Island so I kind of want to visit that.
I am pretty sure it will be a August swealter before I’m back up here, ☀️ but that’s fine, I’m kind of bored with it this year, having camped here nine days ago and this year being kind of cool but sunny up north. But it sure seems like summer is going by much too quickly.