one week

One more week until I zoom off to the wilds of Denali. Well, the wilds of Fairbanks first. Then Denali.

Co-workers are asking me what I'll be doing up there ... and when I explain, they give me that side-ways glance, as if to say, "you, my friend, are a strange one". Yup. That would be me.

Three day weekend coming up too. And actually a decent weather forecast. Looks like some hiking & canoeing are in order!

Neglect

I haven't written anything on this blog for over a month ... and there had been a long lapse between previous posts as well. Nothing to write about? No, not at all. Just haven't had the ambition to put anything down in the blog. Lazy? More like procastination.

In two weeks I should be in the Denali backcountry ... volunteering for the NPS as a Backcountry Observer. For a whole week!! I can hardly believe that this is happening.

A few months back I was surfing the web, looking at NPS jobs, and ran across a Volunteer America webpage, and just out of curiousity, checked the Alaska page for volunteer opportunities. Lo and behold, there was this Backcountry Observer position, and people were needed for hunting season, or at least until September 25th or so. I filled out the application, submitted it, and waited for some sort of response. And then I e-mailed my daughter-in-law up in Alaska ... she's the volunteer coordinator for APLIC (which is part of the NPS) ... she contacted her counterpart at Denali and put in a "good word" for me. In early August I received a call from Ranger Scott at Denali ... about the position! We exchanged several e-mails, and I confirmed my interest in the opportunity ... and then I was set ... September 12 to September 19!

Of course, no problem getting the time off at work. I have the best boss around, most definitely. She's probably more excited than I am!

So now I'm getting ready ... I have dehydrated meals to take with me, and I'll be bring a variety of clothes. I'll borrow equipment from Patrick once I get to Fairbanks. Awesome!!

In the meantime, we've gone canoeing a bit, exploring the Raquette River a couple times, and likewise for the West Branch of the Sacandaga. A lot of fun.

The weather has been uncooperative ... lots of rain this summer. And I mean LOTS of rain. Which kept the bugs around much longer than they needed to be. Mosquitoes and deer flies ... in great abundance all summer long. Crazy.

over two months later ...

I haven't written anything for over two months ... just didn't have much of anything to say. Not that I do at the moment either.

Layoffs ... not gonna happen now ... the gov and the unions worked out a deal. Like we all knew they would. And everyone looks like a winner.

Job ... going great. Love it.

Maine! We went to Maine for a "long weekend" (5 days) ... I love downeast Maine, and it's one of the places I would love to live (there or Homer, Alaska). We walked and hiked every day ... we took the dogs!! They had a blast. Fog? of course. Skeeters? of course. Clouds? of course. but we did have some sun & we managed to spend an entire afternoon on a beach, all by ourselves (in Petit Manan Wildlife Refuge)!! Hit heavy rain around Boston, and then near Albany... where a dashboard warning light came on and the car bucked all the way home (throttle issues). Took the car in right away ... their diagnosis? moisture in the throttle system.

The car. A disappointment. It has lots of room, reasonable gas mileage, but it seems to be a money pit. Brakes, tie rods, etc. We have toyed with the idea of getting a different car, maybe a used Escape. I dunno.

Weather. We have had little summer this year. Lotsa rain. Lotsa cool weather. Unreliable forecasts.

Canoeing! We went down the Spruce Lake outlet a week ago ... very very nice!

Hiking!! Pharoah Lake today ... Hadley Mtn a few weeks ago. Squeezed in those hikes between rain days.

And that's all she wrote.

it's been a while ...

since I've posted anything.

Took a short trip to Florida to meet my sister & discuss the health situation of our parents ... we accomplished a few things, but there's still more to do for them. It's tough to see your parents get so frail ... even our Dad is showing his 89 years. And there's much to do around their house & they really don't see it ... we washed windows, planted flowers, trimmed bushes ... but ran out of time.

Florida is not my cup of tea ... too flat, too hot ... and it's like rows and rows of masoleums, no one around during the day, and very few in the morning & evening either.

But it's the weekend again ... and Mother's Day as well! We'll have fun!!

looking ahead ...

Well ... the union meeting was last night, and it was the typical dysfunctional gathering. The initial presentation was pretty good (regarding civil service rules about a reduction in workforce). But then the floor was opened for questions and comments ... and it's apparent that those in charge (at the union) aren't really interested in hearing views/opinions that differ from their own. And then you could feel the discord between those employees who've been working for the state for quite a while and the 'newer' crowd.
What did we learn? Not a whole heck of a lot! But if there are any layoffs, it's going to be quite a while before anything comes to pass ... like in November or December. And then there may be choices to be made rather than accepting a layoff. Who knows? We'll just have to wait and see.

I am fighting a head cold ... the past two nights have been really rough, with my head plugged up despite the use of nasal spray. I'm taking amoxicillin now and that seems to be helping out.

Signed my evaluation this morning ... MT told me that I'm off probation now. Definitely good news!!

Saturday is supposed to be our first canoe jaunt of the season ... and it's supposed to be warm & sunny! Warm as in 80 degree temps! wow. It'll feel good to get out like that and enjoy the water.

it's freezing in here!

Okay ... much of the winter it was very cold in the office because the heat was never up very high ... and now the air conditioning is on, blowing cold air everywhere. And it's rainy, cloudy, and chilly outside. Amazing.
And to top that off I'm not feeling all that well ... went to bed last night feeling like I was coming down with a cold, and sure enough, that's what I have now ... stuffy nose, slight headache, general run-down feeling. At least it's supposed to get warm and sunny by the weekend so I'll be able to bake whatever bug is in me!
Tomorrow is our union dinner ... this should be interesting. The union president answered my email ... but his response seems to indicate that he only read part of the letter, or pretty much ignored the other things I said. But what else could I expect? Apparently the union doesn't take criticism very well.

I wrote a letter ...

to the union last night ... sent it right to the top guy, Mr. Ken. I'm sorry, these guys aren't representing the bulk of their members, only themselves and a handful of long term employees who could care less about anyone but themselves. And for a union that's supposed to be representing professional people, the attitude and tone of the union honchos is unbelievably low brow. It's ridiculous. And now we have a union dinner meeting next week, in the cafeteria no less, so we can voice our opinion, and the union can review the civil service layoff process. Apparently they've already resigned themselves to a layoff rather than a negotiated compromise with the governor. Great. Just great.
Anyhow, on a brighter note, it's going to be moving day on Saturday for S & C, into their new home. We should be able to get the grand tour on Friday night after their closing. Awesome.
The weather has been great this week, very springlike indeed. We've been able to walk at the canal every day so far ... so that's a good 2 1/2 miles a night at a brisk pace ('cause of the dogs). Tonight we ran into a large snapping turtle that was crossing the trail ... the dogs went ballistic of course! We think "she" had been laying eggs and was returning to the deeper portion of the old canal.
That's it for tonight!!

is the ax about to fall?

Everyone received a letter in their email today from our good governor ... basically stating that he had no choice but to order layoffs across the state. The two agencies with the biggest hits? OMH and OMRDD. This whole thing is a big tug of war between the unions and the governor ... and it's not very pretty.

So by the looks of things I'll be out of a job come July.

And no prospects in sight. No one is hiring anyone, anywhere. Especially someone my age. Or with my education and job experiences.

This is definitely going to freak J out something awful.

Ah, but life goes on.

another weekend passes by & another budget meeting

Fast weekend, almost like it never happened! Saturday was shopping here and there for stuff, and then Capital Steps at Proctors in the evening. Very funny, a good time for all! Sunday was a hike up Buck Mtn at Lake George under sunny skies. In fact I overdressed for the hike up the mtn, didn't really need long underwear ... I'd dressed warmly because it was still cloudy and misty when I left home but the skies were clearing when I arrived at the trailhead. Windy at the top though, and chilly. The views were great, like they always are. Seemed like a tough slog up the mountain, took lots of quick breaks along the way.
Back to work this morning ... budget meeting first thing ... agency budget is in good shape but nothing definitive about layoffs. One thing for certain, no layoffs this summer because the layoff process is very involved, and it will take much longer to sort things out. We shall see!

Friday, Spring, and Capital Q

A nice sunny day ... so off we went for lunch at the Capital Q. The BBQ was great, as it typically is. There was a different guy behind the counter, and he was much more efficient than the last guy we had a couple weeks ago. We ate outside on the picnic table, very nice indeed!

I asked directly about layoffs ... and I was told that there would be NO layoffs at Central Office, and not to worry. Most feel that it's a political move by the governor to try and back the unions into some concessions, but who knows? Everything about the NYS budget is so secretive, all done beyond closed doors and then suddenly there will be this budget before the legislature.

Wii Fit ... I have to admit that it's addictive. I've skipped it on some weekends and I've actually felt guilty about doing that! Usually I've skipped it because we've been doing something else during the day as a substitute. And that tune from the step program, it just sticks in your head.

Facebook. I've been able to connect with several people from high school days, and that's kinda wild. And wow, have some people changed. Some people I don't really know, although they seem to know who I am ... I was in a pretty small circle of friends in high school, and some of these folks were the "popular" ones, ones who wouldn't have given me the time of day back then. Again, go figure. And there are a few who seem to be pretty computer challenged, and that surprises me. Next year will actually be the 40th anniversary of high school graduation, and that seems so far away, so long ago, and not all that memorable either.

Tomorrow we might go hiking. Maybe up near Lake George. I think there will still be snow on some of the trails, especially on the shaded, northern sides of the mountains. We shall see. Sunday is supposedly a rainy day, so maybe it's movie time again.

The volcano is still erupting in Alaska ... this time ash is falling on the Kenai instead of being blown further north and west.

that's it for today!

time to worry?

Well, the good governor has announced that he's going to have to lay off nearly 9000 state employees in July because the unions won't agree to concessions. True, the unions have said no deal to his proposals. But then the governor stated that the unions haven't offered any other suggestions to help close the budget deficit ... and that is pure political BS. Is the governor deaf? Or perhaps the unions' proposals weren't written in braille? To the unions' credit, they have suggested several proposals for helping out, and they've done so since the day the governor began talking about union concessions. (The concessions include a 5 day payroll lag, forgoing the 3% COLA that's due in April, instituting another pension tier, and increasing the retirement vesting to 10 yrs) So, what's gonna happen? The online version of the Albany newspaper is full of reader comments with lots of suggestions, and it seems that one of the most popular ones is a move to offer early retirement incentives to current employees. Many school districts are doing just that right now, and that's reducing their payroll costs immensely. Makes sense to me ... you'd cut down on pension payments (most of those close to retirement are tier 1 or tier 2, with loads of pension bennies), reduce healthcare contributions by the state, and lower the average wage across the state employee system. Of course the governor hasn't done himself any favors by buying all sorts of goodies for himself at the executive mansion, hiring a bunch of his cronies at pretty high wages, and then giving raises to lots of his staff. NYS still has a lt. governor's staff on the payroll, even though there hasn't been a lt. gov. in office since Paterson took over for Spitzer! Go figure.
Guess we'll just have to wait and see what the deal is.
The sun is shining once again, and it's slightly warmer today ... maybe spring is really here.

It has been several days since my last post on the blog ... probably because there hasn't been all that much to write about.
Spring is definitely "in the air" ... most of the snow in our yard has melted, and we've been able to get out most evenings for a nice walk with the dogs. But it's like one of those "limbo times", where you really can't do anything with the lawn or the garden because it's too wet, or a bit too chilly, or whatever. Soon enough though! I'd like to plant more veggies this season but I'm not sure where to expand the garden (my idea of planting veggies by the deck instead of geraniums was shot down the other day).
This weekend ... an anniversary party, which we're not thrilled about attending, but it's family so we're pretty much obligated to go. Sunday should be a birthday dinner for son #2, but he hasn't told us which restaurant he'd like to go to. He probably has a lot of other things on his plate right now (school, work, buying a house, all those grown up issues!).
Our friends have accepted our invitation to join us for a mini getaway over the Memorial Day weekend down to Lake Hartwell in South Carolina ... visiting my sister. We really didn't think they'd accept the invitation ... but I suppose we really shouldn't be surprised because we have been able to talk them into some other getaways over the past few years ... and they've all been lots of fun.

One Year Old Today!!

Today is TWild's 1st birthday ... wow, how time has flown by.

So many things happening, and your kids are no longer kids, they're parents, homeowners, and carving out their own paths in life.

Wow.

Spring is in the air?

Warmer today ... in the 40s much of the day ... started out sunny, cloudy by 2pm, raining by 5:30pm. Rained hard for a while too. Tomorrow it's supposed to be in the 50s. We saw two relatively large flocks of geese this morning on our way to Troy, and several hawks, including one that flew right overhead as we were traveling down I-90 in Albany.
We visited the indoor Farmer's Market in Troy today ... quite a number of vendors with a few familiar ones from the Schenectady market. Bought some bread, pork chops, and goat cheese spread. There was one vendor with a live rooster who perched on their sign while customers flocked (hahahaha) all around him.
We visited the outlet stores in Lake George after that ... bought some TWild stuff along with some shirts and shoes.
Met S, C, and C's mom for dinner after all of that and heard all about their house hunting adventures. Dinner was great!
Hard to believe that at this time last week I was in the shower, warming up after the 11 1/2 hour snowshoeing adventure in the high peaks.
Gotta turn the clocks ahead tonight!

Thursday already ... seems like it was only yesterday that I was standing on Pyramid and Gothics in the sunshine, soaking in the views.
We received our Wii on Monday ... couldn't set it up on our living room television (no matter how I tried to configure everything, it never worked), so it's in our bedroom. Temporarily. Our plan is to purchase a new television for the LR and move the Wii into one of the spare bedrooms along with the older television.
Anyhow, the Wii. We bought it specifically for the Wii Fit program. And so we've both started exercising, using Wii Fit as our guide. Some of the exercises are not easy, especially some of the balance ones. Others are fun, and actually make you sweat! But we definitely need to move everything to a more open space than our bedroom; it's just too confined an area for any real exercise.
Another sunny but cold morning today ... but it's supposed to get warmer by this afternoon, and potentially be in the 50s by Saturday. I love the snow but I hate it when it starts to melt and get all dirty and yucky in March ... sometimes I wish it would just magically vanish overnight & then have warm temperatures. And the kids are supposed to get some snow up in Fairbanks over the next couple of days ... their winter drags on forever!

13 miles, 5000 total vertical feet, make for sore legs the next day

It was a beautiful winter day in the high peaks ... blue sky, almost no wind, temps in the mid-teens ... we met at the Ausable Club parking lot and began our trek around 7:45am. We were able to follow a fairly good snowshoe track up to the col between Sawteeth and Pyramid/Gothics ... after that the track wasn't all that good. We got off trail once but the GPS tracklog got us on the right path, and we were soon enjoying some snacks along with the views on Pyramid. Then we dropped down a couple hundred feet and then back up onto Gothics. More awesome views. The picture posted here shows the ridgeline trail as it goes down off of Gothics ... we estimated the snowdrift to be about 12 or 13 feet deep ... the trail was firm and that made for a much more comfortable trip off from the mountain. Once into the woods it was steep until we got to the Armstrong trail junction ... then it was off into some fairly thick spruce (thick only because of the snow depth which made the branches face level), with some icy ups and downs. That lasted about 1/2 mile or so, and then we were into open woods, steep again, and down the mountain. The last 30 yards, at the bottom, were very dicey, with lots of ice. I went off trail and butt slid, or crab walked down to the bottom. Beaver Meadow Falls were all frozen over. We made it back to the cars by 7pm, and I was home by 9pm. My thighs were very sore today ... walking on level ground is fine, but going up and down the stairs is another story!

More snow forecast for tonight ... maybe up to 4 inches around here, more in Albany. This almost looks like the winter that just won't quit.

That's it for today!

pondering on Wednesday

Young son and girlfriend are exploring the possibilities of home ownership now ... posing lots of questions, many of which I cannot answer. They are tired of renting, have some $$ saved towards a down payment, and want to start looking. I am encouraging them to keep all of their options open, and not concentrate on any one particular area. They tend to have expensive taste, or get something in their heads, and it's tough to talk them out of these things (like their hell-bent desire to rent a brownstone in downtown Albany ... yes, it's a nice area but parking is an issue as well as traffic, etc.). But they are asking questions, and seem willing to listen.
Union dinner tonight to discuss the state budget and what it might mean to all of us ... personally I'd prefer forgoing my 3% raise and agreeing to the payroll lag if that means keeping everyone working! We shall see ... update on the meeting ... nothing really new, but I am convinced that there are a lot of, well, not-so-bright individuals working in my building. Why can't they just listen to what's being said? Why do they ask questions which require a one-on-one answer 'cause it's specific to their situation? Why ask things that the speaker has already told you about? Oh yeah, they had 'door prizes' ... hahahahaha, union tee shirts, hats, and windbreakers. But the Italian buffet was decent (very surprising).

And why am I so intrigued by this video game? (see picture) It's not a new game, in fact it's several years old! But I am drawn to the story line, and various you tube videos! Sheesh ...

Lastly ... order a Wii yesterday along with the Wii Fit bundle. Should arrive next week. J says that the weather will get nice once it arrives, and she's probably right. But I think it will be fun.

after the weekend

Sunday was fun ... out to breakfast (as usual), home for a short time, then off to the Farmer's Market for a bit, exchanged our tickets for the Rat Pack musical for Capitol Steps, then hung out at the coffee shop doing some people watching before heading back into Proctor's for Happy Days. Happy Days was okay ... not a great musical but not the worst either, certainly not memorable. Then we headed back home, stopping at the Raindancer for dinner. Raindancer was almost empty when we arrived, and really not very full when we left either. It was entertaining though, listening to the people in the next booth (who were from NJ & apparently on their way home from a stay near Piseco)! Then home ... webcammed with the kids for a bit ... that's very distracting when you're trying to hold a conversation ... TWild is definitely a kid in motion!
Windy this morning, car covered with some snow. Several people MIA at the office, very odd.

another Saturday goes by ...

Windy although sunny this morning, made it feel colder than the thermometer said it was. Didn't stop us from going out for breakfast though! After breakfast we just hung around the house, checking stuff out on the computer, reading, and napping. J made a blueberry pie & we made plans to visit Hawk later on in the day. We had to go to a memorial service for our friend's dad this afternoon ... we knew our friend would struggle with his composure during the eulogy and remembrance ... but he did fine.
After the service we returned home, changed our clothes, grabbed the pie, and headed for Hawk's house. V & K were there when we arrived, so had lots of time to chat and meet their new dog. Hawk fixed dinner for everyone, something we didn't anticipate (or expect). It's pretty obvious that Hawk is starved for company ... it's tough to imagine living in such a small town with no means of transportation outside of walking around the village. I think he feels a little trapped. But he's keeping busy with his dehydrated meals business. We watched nearly 15 deer cross the lake after dinner ... quite the sight.
We took it slow on the way home because we had seen quite a few deer in the woods on our drive up to Hawk's ... fortunately we didn't see any on the way home. K invited me to go snowshoeing next Saturday ... up Gothics. That'll be a first for me, a winter peak. Hopefully I'll be able to complete the hike without too much difficulty ... it's longer than my usual snowshoe excursions have been, and K is a strong, fast snowshoer.
After we got home we watched "Taking Chance" on HBO ... what a film ... really tugged at the heart, that's for sure. Nice job by Kevin Bacon too.
Snow is predicted for tomorrow ... and we have tickets for "Happy Days" ... but the weather probably won't deter us from taking the drive to Proctor's for the musical (and the farmer's market that's in the same building every Sunday ... have to get more yummy bread there). And, of course, it's supposed to get windy after the snowstorm!

at work ...

and it 'sounds' like everyone else here is just about done for the day. Not that there's all that many people here today ... a number of people are sick, and an equal number have taken much of the week off (it's President's Week for those with kids at home). Someone commented earlier that they were having a tough time staying awake and focused today ... I don't have any trouble staying awake, but staying focused is another story! I've found it best to break up my day by getting up and walking up and down the stairs (5 flights) ... I've been doing the stairs eight times a day this month ... I'm thinking of stretching that to 9 times a day next month, but maybe it'll be nice enough outside where I can take a short walk during lunch. Anyhow, I finished my 'project', so that's out of the way.
I'd like to go snowshoeing this weekend but I don't think I'll be able to fit it in ... going to see "Happy Days" on Sunday afternoon, so that day is out. Saturday ... well, we'll probably end up going to a memorial service for our friend's father (in the afternoon) ... not one of our favorite things to do but A&G have come to both of J's parents' memorial services in past year. Not that the snow is going anywhere soon ...
Speaking of the snow ... it was snowing and blowing when I left the house this morning but by the time I reached the Rotterdam exit of the t-way the road was bare and the snow wasn't flying around at all. In fact there isn't much in the way of snow in Albany at all! Almost a different world.
Found a couple more blogs to follow (Alaskan blogs) ... more searching to do in the days ahead. Gotta find some hiking and writing blogs out there ...
That's it for now!

first post

So here it goes ...
I've been thinking about blogging for a while, but never really knew what I wanted to write about. After spending some time today looking at some blogs, I decided to just start writing ... anything.

I could write about the weather ... the wind is howling, again, if we had a windmill in the yard we'd be generating some watts of power tonight! Come to think of it, it's been windy quite a bit this winter, lots of cold fronts passing through it seems. We have snow, although half of what it once was, but still there's nearly a foot in the backyard.

Snow and winter. I'm one of those strange people ... I really like winter. The cold doesn't bother me all that much, and I love snow. Snow gives me the opportunity to snowshoe/hike into places that are fairly inaccessible in the warmer months because it's too wet/boggy/overgrown. And you can cross lakes and streams with relative ease, and explore places that can be tough to get to in the summer. I used to downhill ski a lot, but that's changed since my older son moved to Alaska. My younger son wasn't much of a skier, although he's shown interest in recent years, but just not with me. So I've gotten away from it, and my equipment is pretty old-fashioned by the current standard. And snowshoeing is definitely cheaper! I would like to start x-country skiing again ... probably next year.

I haven't bought x-country skis because I've suddenly gotten frugal/cheap. Not all that long ago I would have just gone out and bought the equipment. Or a new flat screen tv. Or or Wii. Or a new computer (younger son upgraded the old one with new parts, far cheaper). When I shop for hiking clothes/equipment, I'm always looking for sales and bargains, I seldom buy anything for the 'regular retail' anymore. Even shirts and pants for work ... all from the Van Heusen outlet (it's cheaper than any WalMart and certainly better quality)! Go figure.

Wandering. I would love to take some time off from work and just wander around for a while. I'd love to go visit the southwest again, and explore. On foot. Or Colorado, maybe hike a portion of the CDT. Or back to Alaska ... I had so much fun hiking the Chilkoot. I was drooling when looking at my son's photos from his Pinnell Mtn hike last June ... even if it was only a weekend hike. I fell in love with the Homer area in Alaska, and I would love to explore more of the area across the bay. Or hike near or in Denali. I think it would be awesome to wake up to the sights of Denali on a clear blue day (and those days are actually few and far between).

Writing. I wish I could collect my thoughts together and just write. A reflective journal to publish. Some sort of travel narrative. Not that I could be funny, like Bryson or Cahill ... but something. Maybe this blog is a start.

Well, this is enough for tonight. I don't when I'll return to write again, hopefully, very very soon.