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Democratic Party event in Ulster Landing
Saturday, October 26 2024
I had some unusual social demands today and I also wanted to make progress on the necessary solar panel refurbishment project, so I took a recreational 150 mg dose of pseudoephedrine this morning.
Gretchen had somewhere she needed to be this morning, so it fell to me to walk the dogs. It was late enough in the morning that Neville actually came, and we went on a wide loop west of the Farm Road. I tend to think of the forest over there beyond the highest escarpment as a flat highland covered with scrubby trees (of the sort that fills in after unsuccessful attempts at sheepherding) and punctuated by a fair number of large bluestone boulders. But there is a little relief here and there. Today I found a wooded knoll I'd been unaware of, as well as several unfamiliar boulders, some of which had decomposed into reasonably-good above-ground bluestone quarries.
Back at the house, I got a flattened pry bar, climbed up on the solar deck, and began tearing off the mostly-rotten OSB backing on the panels, exposing the underlying styrofoam, which still had writing I'd done on it in faux Greek back in the years before I installed that backing. Interestingly, there were a great many wasps that had crawled into the space between the styrofoam and the OSB backing, presumably intending to hibernate there. It's a warm space, at least during the day, but not too hot due to the insulating layer of styrofoam between them and the stuff in the panel that gets hot. Still, I have my doubts it would make a good hibernaculum given the many wide temperature swings it experiences throughout the winter. It's likely that these wasps wouldn't survive in there. So, though I felt bad flinging them and the rotted backing they clung to down into the weeds below, I was actually giving them a chance to live.
I wrapped things up for the day just as Gretchen and I left for our next thing, a political event over near the Hudson River a little south of Saugerties in a place called "Ulster Landing." It was at the sprawling residence of a local internet zillionaire (42.00667N, 73.95233W) complete with ugly manmade ponds, one with an actual fountain (that Google Earth view seems to date to just after it was built). We arrived a little early, but there was already a little cluster of ten or twelve pro-Palestinian protestors out on Route 37 at the entrance to the event. (I don't understand how electing MAGA Republicans is going to help the Palestinians, but that would be the effect if their protests achieved their goals.) After parking in the field and being checked in, we received nametags and entered the event, which was held outdoors around the swimming pool while a small jazz ensemble in the gazebo played the kind of unremarkable music suitable for such an event. There were two open bars, several tables offering food, and there were young women dressed all in black coming around with plates full of non-vegan food. Fortunately for us, there was hummus and pita bread, though. (Did the pro-Palestinian protestors know that?) Normally the things Gretchen and I go to aren't nearly as mainstream as this event was, and more effort is put into providing food for people who view eating as an ethical matter. Indeed, some of the people there could've passed as Republicans.
Gretchen said that we'd gotten our tickets to this exclusive event for free, but only because Gretchen had helped sponsor a fancy fundraiser for Congressman Pat Ryan down at David & Marisa's place in Manhattan (which had probably cost her thousands in donations; I don't ask questions about such things). The big draw today was a speech by Kathy Hochul, the Governor of New York, though Pat Ryan also spoke. (Pat Ryan has never been our congressman, though his district begins less than a mile from our house in Hurley.) Our friends from last night Lynne and Greg were supposed to be at this thing, as were our friends Paula and Howard (whose Thanksgiving we attended back in 2022). But the only people we (well, actually Gretchen) really knew initially, other than Pat Ryan, were the widow and daughter of Happy Traum, a Woodstock legend. So I sipped my glass of free wine and ate my hummus until the Pat Ryan was introduced by the internet zillionaire, who then introduced the governor. Kathy Hochul is not especially charismatic, but she seems to be doing good things politically by working to build out the New York Democratic party at the local level. The hope, as she put it in her speech today, was that Democrats can win the swing districts in the Hudson Valley (such as Pat Ryan's and our district, the one currently held by Republican Marc Molinaro), which would be all it would take to flip the House and get a Democratic speaker, hopefully grease the skids of a Kamala Harris presidency.
Also at this event was State Senator Michelle Hinchey, whose computer I remember removing crapware from back in the Naughties, when she was an eye-rolling 14 year old and I was in my late 30s doing computer housecalls.
Temperatures had been dropping all day, and it was maybe a little cold for an outdoor event, especially with the winds (which had been especially unpleasant earlier when I'd been working on the solar panel). But the sun was still shining and the 170 or so bodies present seemed to take the edge off the chill.
After the governor's speech, Lynne and Greg arrived, having blown a lot of time trying to vote early in Saugerties. Paula and Howard were there by then as well, and Howard and I had a long conversation about things like heat pumps and foundation insulation. He seemed surprised that two inches of extruded styrofoam was all that was needed to keep a basement in the Adirondacks from freezing, but that had been my discovery.
After the political event, the plan had been to maybe go to Saugerties and get dinner at Rock Da Casbah. But Greg seemed to prefer going to the Garden Café, something Gretchen (for once) didn't seem excited about doing. But that was where we went. They had mushroom tacos on the specials menu today, so I ordered that and a side of black beans. Gretchen couldn't figure out what to order and ended up getting fried rice off the kids' section of the menu with a side of fried tofu. She thought this combo was so good that she said she'll be ordering it in the future. I don't remember much of what we talked about (the Garden was crowded and loud today) but I do remember Greg asking me whether I'd stay vegan if Gretchen ever decided to no longer be vegan. It was such a trippy question that it kind of broke my mind. "She would never do that," I assured him, adding, "but it is an interesting thought experiment." (Greg is a psychotherapist, so he's good at coming up with mind-breaking questions.)
Governor Kathy Hochul, viewed over Gretchen's shoulder, speaking at the event. This is the closest I've ever been to a governor of a state.
Don't bother to enlarge.
People at the political event today. You're not going to go too broke offering an open bar to a crowd that looks like this.
Don't bother to enlarge.
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