things | Andy Arthur.org

November Days Are So Short

Andy | October 29, 2012

One of the things you have to consider about camping in November is how short the days are so darn short. Literally, you get up to darkness, and by 4 PM, you have to get camp set before the impeading darkness.

Literally, you won’t see the sun most mornings until 6:45-7 AM, so you wake in darkness. And total darkness overtakes the landscape by no later then 5 pm. While artificial light can help make the nights a little shorter, it really cuts down on time for the day’s adventures.

I’ve found the best way to handle the long nights is to get up early. Set up the alarm clock and be up prior to dawn. Cook breakfast under the camp lights and wait for morning to come.

Then at the break of dawn, get on to the day’s activities. Try to make the best out of your limited hours prior to dusk appearing once again at 4:30. It’s just the nature of this time of year.

It’s Not Fair That They Get To Burn Things

Andy | September 15, 2012

Pennsylvania has some of the loosest restrictions on open burning in most of it’s rural communities in the Northeastern states. People can and do have fires, and burn brush, trash, and all matters of things on their rural acerage.

Most folks down there heat with wood or coal. They burn there trash daily — and all of it including plastics — and dump out the unburnable bottles and cans in woods. Life is a non-stop opporunity to play with fire.

From the blackened trash burning barrels, to the black smoke rising behind the houses, to the flicker of flames, the smell of burnt plastic rising in air. Good ol’ fire.

I wish I could burn things like they do get to down in rural PA…

As Summer 2012 Fades Away

Andy | September 4, 2012

The endless summer has shown it must come to an end. I woke up the other day at Moose Plains, and the temperature was only 46 degrees out. It was a chilly morning out, but only a symbol of what is to come as we fade into winter. Daylight is rapidly dropping every day.

Probably it would not be as big of deal for me, if I didn’t have to work so much during the fall. But I expect this fall to be a very busy season, where I won’t get to spend much time in the wilderness, camping, hiking, and spending time outdoors until mid-November. You know, I got to work and make money for the toys. And by mid-November, the winter will be well among us.

There is nothing to stop to winter from returning. And as soon as winter comes, winter will be on its way out, as we move back towards April and ultimately mid-May when things finally green up and the endless days of summer return once again. It’s the cycle of life.

… It just seems like summer is much too short.

2010 Statewide Elections in Maps

Andy | November 19, 2011

2010 Statewide Elections in Maps A look back at the last election cycle and how things played out.

Here is a map of the Average Democratic Preformance for all Statewide Candidates in 2010.

Here is the Gubernatorial Race. Notice how Andrew Cuomo won most rural and urban communities, with the exception of the most conservative towns in the Southern Adirondacks, Catskill Mountains, and also Western NY, where hometown favorite Carl Paladino snapped up many votes.

In Competitive State Senate Elections (which there many in 2010), Democrats won over many small towns in Upstate New York. That said, the votes that Democrats won, often where not enough to offset the more populated areas where Republicans won. Votes on third party lines (not included) also helped win Republicans over in certain districts.

The same can be said with the State Assembly. Despite winning far fewer towns, they kept a strong majority, in part thanks to their strong New York City base, and fushion candidates, running on multiple lines not shown on this map.