1.2 Mile Walk at Tinker Nature Park
Saturday, March 31, 2018
Saturday, March 31, 2018
Friday, March 30, 2018
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Tuesday, March 27, 2018
A TURTLE IN THE PLUMBING...
Tuesday, March 27, 2018
After that ominous-sounding title - all I have to say is, if you ever find yourself wondering if you can replace a leaking TPR (temperature & pressure relief) safety valve on a hot water heater, the answer is yes, you can. Other than the trip to Home Depot to pick up the parts, it took me about half an hour or so (and a lot of that was draining water from the tank) and initial signs are that the operation was a success. So my landlord should be happy because I saved her money on the plumber who would have come in to do the work and will be saving her money on her water bill in the future, and I'm happy because that water heater is no longer wasting water and the dirt floor in the basement might actually dry up now.
JMH
Tuesday, March 27, 2018
After that ominous-sounding title - all I have to say is, if you ever find yourself wondering if you can replace a leaking TPR (temperature & pressure relief) safety valve on a hot water heater, the answer is yes, you can. Other than the trip to Home Depot to pick up the parts, it took me about half an hour or so (and a lot of that was draining water from the tank) and initial signs are that the operation was a success. So my landlord should be happy because I saved her money on the plumber who would have come in to do the work and will be saving her money on her water bill in the future, and I'm happy because that water heater is no longer wasting water and the dirt floor in the basement might actually dry up now.
JMH
Monday, March 26, 2018
Sunday, March 25, 2018
Saturday, March 24, 2018
Friday, March 23, 2018
Thursday, March 22, 2018
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
CLOSING THE GAPS
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
I got off the Thruway at Amsterdam so that I could take 5S through Rotterdam Junction and check out the condition of the bike path. From just west of the Junction to just east of Amsterdam, the Canalway Trail is on-road - though it looks like that may be changing this year, since there were crews surveying and clearing trees and brush along the old railbed that runs alongside the road from the trailhead to Lock 10. Perhaps I will have a new section of off-road trail to ride later this year as I (hopefully) complete my goal of riding the entire canalway trail from Albany to Buffalo.
JMH
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
I got off the Thruway at Amsterdam so that I could take 5S through Rotterdam Junction and check out the condition of the bike path. From just west of the Junction to just east of Amsterdam, the Canalway Trail is on-road - though it looks like that may be changing this year, since there were crews surveying and clearing trees and brush along the old railbed that runs alongside the road from the trailhead to Lock 10. Perhaps I will have a new section of off-road trail to ride later this year as I (hopefully) complete my goal of riding the entire canalway trail from Albany to Buffalo.
JMH
SKY FULL OF GEESE
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
While I was driving back to Albany this morning I was treated to an incredible sight a few miles west of the Montezuma National Wildlife Reserve - the sky was full of geese flying every which-way. You couldn't look anywhere without seeing flying geese. And from the flashes of white, I suspect some of the groups were snow geese, which are often migrating back north around now.
One of those occasions when I wish I'd been able to stop safely and take pictures - they would have been awesome.
JMH
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
While I was driving back to Albany this morning I was treated to an incredible sight a few miles west of the Montezuma National Wildlife Reserve - the sky was full of geese flying every which-way. You couldn't look anywhere without seeing flying geese. And from the flashes of white, I suspect some of the groups were snow geese, which are often migrating back north around now.
One of those occasions when I wish I'd been able to stop safely and take pictures - they would have been awesome.
JMH
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Sunday, March 18, 2018
Thursday, March 15, 2018
Sunday, March 11, 2018
Saturday, March 10, 2018
A VERY SHORT RIDE
Saturday, March 10, 2018
Took my mountain bike over to the rail trail - the sections I could see from the road looked partially clear - but found too much snow and ice past the overpass to make it worth continuing. My fat bike could have handled it just fine, though I'm not sure I would have wanted to ride that back up the hill from S Pearl St.
JMH
Saturday, March 10, 2018
Took my mountain bike over to the rail trail - the sections I could see from the road looked partially clear - but found too much snow and ice past the overpass to make it worth continuing. My fat bike could have handled it just fine, though I'm not sure I would have wanted to ride that back up the hill from S Pearl St.
JMH
NOT WITH A BANG, BUT A WHIMPER...
So Much For Snowshoe Season 2017-18
Saturday, March 10, 2018
The original plan was that I would run the men's 10k and the half marathon National Championship races this weekend at Prospect Mountain Nordic in Woodford, VT. Except a distinct lack of snow in Albany, a bout of some flu-type bug, and a certain amount of laziness/exhaustion on my part left me pretty unprepared for the half marathon. Last weekend I found out that a friend I don't see very often was planning to run the 5k, so I transferred my half registration to the 5k and planned to do a shorter overall distance, with only one trip to Woodford this weekend.
Except when the alarm went off at 5:30 I found I had no enthusiasm for getting up so early - while this week hasn't been as long as last week, it was still pretty long - so I relaxed for a while and figured I'd just do the 10k later in the day. But then as I was eating breakfast I found myself trying to come up with reasons not to go, which started me wondering if I really wanted to run the 10k. Eventually I concluded that the answer was no, and that was it - last weekend was the last race of the 2017-18 snowshoe season for me.
One of the things I've come to realize is that while I appreciate snowshoeing as a way to run and hike trails in the winter, I don't love snowshoeing like a love running, especially in recent winters where the snow has been intermittent at best and just about every time I go out on snowshoes I'm back to square one instead of gradually building snowshoeing fitness. Which raises the question of why I used to look forward to snowshoe season so much - and I think the answer was the people. Snowshoe season was an opportunity to share time in the woods with people that I very much enjoyed being with - and a lot of those people aren't snowshoe racing anymore.
JMH
So Much For Snowshoe Season 2017-18
Saturday, March 10, 2018
The original plan was that I would run the men's 10k and the half marathon National Championship races this weekend at Prospect Mountain Nordic in Woodford, VT. Except a distinct lack of snow in Albany, a bout of some flu-type bug, and a certain amount of laziness/exhaustion on my part left me pretty unprepared for the half marathon. Last weekend I found out that a friend I don't see very often was planning to run the 5k, so I transferred my half registration to the 5k and planned to do a shorter overall distance, with only one trip to Woodford this weekend.
Except when the alarm went off at 5:30 I found I had no enthusiasm for getting up so early - while this week hasn't been as long as last week, it was still pretty long - so I relaxed for a while and figured I'd just do the 10k later in the day. But then as I was eating breakfast I found myself trying to come up with reasons not to go, which started me wondering if I really wanted to run the 10k. Eventually I concluded that the answer was no, and that was it - last weekend was the last race of the 2017-18 snowshoe season for me.
One of the things I've come to realize is that while I appreciate snowshoeing as a way to run and hike trails in the winter, I don't love snowshoeing like a love running, especially in recent winters where the snow has been intermittent at best and just about every time I go out on snowshoes I'm back to square one instead of gradually building snowshoeing fitness. Which raises the question of why I used to look forward to snowshoe season so much - and I think the answer was the people. Snowshoe season was an opportunity to share time in the woods with people that I very much enjoyed being with - and a lot of those people aren't snowshoe racing anymore.
JMH
Sunday, March 04, 2018
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