01: well-hydrated ferns - Recent rains was all it took. Also, somewhat disappointed that Tim Walz doesn't really live up to the picture I had of him in my mind.
02: maddening phone experiences - A recruiter at a call center in Indian hangs up on me when I can't tell what he's saying through his thick accent. And then I struggle to talk to a human at the NY Unemployment office.
03: welding stainless steel - But the filler steel I used was not stainless.
04: Johnstown Walmart is Idiocracy - Full of unphotogenic people and affordable SD cards.
05: not willing to bet my life even on very good odds - Contemplating the unlikely risks of digging in a four-foot-deep hole next to a concerete support pier.
06: diminishing returns on foundation insulation - It doesn't provide much benefit to insulate horizontally under five feet of soil.
07: little vegan corndogs - They're waiting for me on the kitchen table when I return from the Adirondacks.
08: maybe it was a kite - A graceful bird of prey over the farm at the end of the Farm Road.
09: a little uncomfortable even inside the house - Two dog walks while October gets colder. Also, my brother Don admits he is lonely and our mother at the old folks' home in Virginia now needs to be fed by staff.
10: a political event and a play - Pro-Palestinian protestors disrupt AOC at Keegan Ales and then we drive to Ellenville to see a play featuring one of our neighbors as an actor.
11: thinking man's Bob Dylan - We see Jeff Tweedy at the Bearsville Theatre after eating a Mexican meal at the nearby Bear Cantina.
12: Neville steals Gretchen's glasses - A freakish theft on the road to the cabin. Also, fixing a lingering gas leak using an internal pipe wrench.
13: inter-trail wetland - Figuring out the dimensions of a wetland between the cabin and the dock. Also, moving plumbing and running wire for a minisplit.
14: bluestone causeway at the bottom of the mountain goat path - Eliminating another dip in a causeway. And baking a good pizza.
15: almost always worth paying whatever you can afford - What to do when buying the perfect house. Also, a little landlording chore in an apartment with a recue chicken.
16: mold as a fashionable reason to freak out - Surely our bodies can deal with moldy conditions. Also, not being able to let a dog out.
17: tiling with old CDs - A material for protecting styrofoam surfaces.
18: Gretchen sees the big rock in the shallow valley - Gretchen arrives at the cabin with a bunch of bagels from Pearl's in Albany.
19: procrastination and deprocastination - Multiple simultaneous projects at the cabin.
20: very squat trapezoids - A solution to voids in the wall on either side of my porch ceiling project.
21: nineteen years takes its toll on thin planks of treated wood - I have to do some emergency fixes of the homemade solar panel before winter.
22: bleached tree frog and insects - Bigger suicidal creatures have been able to get into my dilapidated solar panel.
23: West Bifurcation Cliffs from a distance - And Charlotte finds something to bark about in the Adirondack wilderness.
24: a path restricted by cellphone availability - I find a way to walk the dogs while maintaining connectivity.
25: The Jayhawks at the Bearsville Theatre - We randomly run into some good friends before the show and eat with them at the Bear Cantina.
26: Democratic Party event in Ulster Landing - Hobnobbing at a very mainstream event around a swimming pool in the late October chill.
27: unwarping the homemade solar panel - It wasn't easy, and it was a bit dangerous at times, but I made good progress on the solar panel refurbishment project.
28: Charlotte's dead rabbit - I'm not sure how she got it, but she seemed proud of it.
29: post-Amazon mall in Syracuse - A late October roadtrip to Rochester.
30: our new house is better in person - Crumpets, Vietnamese food, our new house, vegan pizza, and a play.
31: Halloween on Mulberry Street - Visiting Susan B. Anthony's house and eating at Swillburger on an unseasonably beautiful day and then doling out candy on a street that loves Halloween.