66 degrees and humid this evening. The rain has stopped but showers are heading our way later. Tommorow starts July with even more showers and thunderstorms but that’s the last expected through the holiday weekend.
Tomorrow evening I will pack for Moose River Plains but not leave until early Thursday morning. I have the day off, so I rather drive up there in daylight and stop up in Queensbury or Glens Falls and pick up some fireworks there. I also need to buy some food but I will likely just get that tomorrow evening at Shoprite. My goal is to be to Moose River Plains no later than noontime, so I can get a good campsite and have time to go fishing or for a short hike.
I ordered a second Bluetooth speaker to use with my phone for playing music at camp from Walmart and despite promises that you can pair the speakers together for stereo and louder sounds, it didn’t work, so I ended up returning the extra pair. I was super bummed out but I guess the two models were slightly different models, despite ordering the same model online. The return process wasn’t too bad but it still kind of sucked. Might look if I could hand pick out matching ones, even if it means I won’t get the $13 online discount.
Really trying to get away from using truck radio at camp to minimize use of the starting battery ever since I I had that situation on Memorial Day Weekend when my starting battery went dead without warning when I left the truck radio on (which runs on the starting battery). Normally the radio shuts off automatically and it warns you to start the truck but not this time. First time ever this has happened to me in the woods with Big Red Red over the past 3 1/2 years.
Fortunately, Red and the Boonville Boys gave me a jump but there is no guarantee that there is someone around to help…. And some campsites lack easy access for a second car to jump start.
I made some changes the last time I camped. I installed new, always on, easy to read voltage meters on the starting and accessory batteries. I previously did not even have a volt meter on the starting battery as I foolishly relied entirely on the truck’s built-in in low battery alarm which never failed until it did. Another issue I fixed was the alternator under charging both batteries in hot weather as the ground on the accessory battery was not connected to the starting battery and the hall effect sensor. That’s been fixed. Under charging plus not driving anywhere at North Lake Reservoir plus not running the engine much slowly killed the starting battery without dropping the voltage low enough to let cause the low battery alarm to kick in. But now I know better and have a guage to carefully monitor the starting battery charge at all times to be safe.
Some quick cellphone pictures from the Valentines Day 2014 snowstorm, where we got close to 2 feet on top of the existing foot of snow, leading to some awful tall snowbanks along the road.
Cold, wintery weather continues I muse about some random parts of life during the bus ride to work.
Good Morning. Happy Tuesday. The recent cold spell continues, with a stiff breeze. The spin-masters want you to either believe it’s the fault of climate change or that climate change doesn’t exist, but I think that’s kind of a mistake to over-think it too much. It’s just the coldest time of year in Albany. This week and next week, on average is as cold as the climate gets year around. And it’s not that cold historically speaking. The upside: it’s bright and sunny out.
Really Not a Lot to Talk About. Granted it’s a bit weird to be getting back into the groove, and dealing with the shit I have to deal with at work once again. Then again, I was looking at my last pay-stub from the year, and realized my hard-work pays off at work. It’s kind of nice that I can afford a fairly middle class life, unlike so many of my peers who got caught up in the last recession.
84 Days Until April. I know that’s a long time away, but I do look forward to the warmer weather. Easter is late this year, and that week I hope to spend a portion of it out in the wilderness, doing some camping, probably in the Finger Lakes, although I am flexible. Probably jack up my truck then, although I am always weighing the options and figuring out what I really want to do. It will be fun rolling on 35s …
Started Researching My Summer Road Trip. I am thinking of exploring the national forests in Virginia and West Virginia. I think I want to see Skyline Drive and Blue Parkway, but also spend the bulk of the week in the back-country, doing roadside camping. It looks like I will have to plan to overnight during the trip down there. I am thinking of camping at a state campground near Harrisburg one night, and then on the way back, maybe camping in Allegheny National Forest – even if it is a bit out of the way.
The month of January is the coldest month of the year, if the thermometer is to be believed. It’s not the grayest or snowiest month of the year, or even the most harshest month of the year (a time reserved for February). While the days are slowly getting longer in January, the growth in daylight is small compared to months to come.
We will go out skiing and snowshoeing, spending time riding snowmobiles and enjoying nature’s gift of the snow. It won’t always be perfect weather, but like every season we must make the most of it. It’s winter, and it only lasts for about half of the year in New York State.
There will be days where we will go outside, and the mercury won’t even reach 0 degrees Fahrenheit, and the wind is whipping down from the North. There will be days and weeks when the roads are covered with ice and snow. People will struggle to find parking spots in the city, as parking spots are replaced with ice covered patches and snow banks. Driving will only be nice this time of year, because the insides of cars will be toasty. It’s going to be very winter-like out there for the next month.
At the same time, there will be the much needed winter thaw. We might finally for a few days loose all of the snow, and it get up into the balmy 40 degrees range. Winter doesn’t always mean that it’s going to be supercold, and indeed, we must certainly will see a brief mud season during January for a couple of days when the sun makes us think of a false spring.
January is when we get over the Christmas Season high. The lights on the trees are taken off, the Christmas trees are dumped into the brush pile to be chipped sometime when spring comes in another five months. The colorful wrapping the presents have come in are now charred down to nothing but ash. New Years Eve celebrations are just a memory, as we wake up hung over on this first day of the year.
We will all promise ourselves to do better this year then last year. Whether or not we will live up to it in the new year, is a totally different thing. Maybe we will do good for this month of January, then fall down in subsequent months. Regardless, in many ways, January is a month of great hope that we can change and overcome our human fallacies. A benchmark, that is pretty meaningless, but one we must find ourselves embracing every year.
The month of September is when the summer season officially winds down. It’s also when it starts getting a bit cooler and clearer our, and when we start seeing the first hints of fall’s beauty.
It’s the time of high-harvest and a closing out of summer. Kids go back to school this month, and young adults go back to college. Primary day comes and goes, political candidates focus on their general election.
Leaves start to fall. The humidity drops even faster. Some of the nicest weather of the entire year comes about. It promises to be a pleasurable time.
