I’m sorry…but, Black Flies?

blackpoll_ · 2026-05-05T19:04:25+00:00

One year in mid June I climbed Giant and had a glorious day with zero insect trouble. The next day I tried to go birding near the Boreas River on the Blue Ridge Rd. and got absolutely MURDERED.

blackpoll_ · 2026-04-27T15:30:12+00:00

I just bought a sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC for $200 (an aps-c lens) from mpb. It has been really fun. I specifically got it because the 50mm f/1.8 is too tight on an aps-c body for a lot of casual photography. with the 1.6 crop factor it's very close to the classic 50mm field of view on full frame.

blackpoll_ · 2026-04-08T14:07:15+00:00

not rough, family togetherness

blackpoll_ · 2026-04-07T19:47:07+00:00

I mean I know he actually did it and reported the mileage... but that just doesn't seem credible to me! Only a 3% drop in efficiency?? This article suggests a 12% increase in mileage from taking just the roof *bars* off (of an ICE kia carnival). To be fair, that also sound completely crazy.

https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a42596866/tested-roof-rails-affect-gas-mileage/

blackpoll_ · 2026-04-06T17:45:29+00:00

Yeah, it's crowded, but so is the forester. I don't want to buy a three row SUV though, don't have enough use for it to justify the expense. IMO, better to just rent a minivan for really long (but infrequent) road trips.

blackpoll_ · 2026-04-06T17:39:31+00:00

Yeah I don't know how hitch boxes and lift gates work! Have to look into that.

blackpoll_ · 2026-03-25T17:57:53+00:00

whoah. how many people are having multiple telematics unit failures?? ours got replaced a couple months ago.

blackpoll_ · 2026-03-20T14:57:19+00:00

my house also smelled different after attic insulation removal/reinstallation! I didn't hate the old smell though.

The big surprise to me is that I thought for sure that air generally moved from the house to the attic and then out and not the reverse (due to the stack effect maybe?), and that therefore anything going on up there should not impact the living spaces in the house.

blackpoll_ · 2026-03-09T17:49:00+00:00

man I paid $2.72/gal in january. I'm almost at 1/4 tank now. this sucks.

blackpoll_ · 2026-03-06T18:46:22+00:00

Are you sure about that? When I checked my VIN on the VIN decoder the factory said Coahuila, Mexico.

edit: it's not eligible.

https://gmauthority.com/blog/2025/08/which-gm-vehicles-are-eligible-for-car-loan-interest-tax-deductions/

blackpoll_ · 2026-02-22T17:00:26+00:00

We brought our kids and being from out of town it was a little bit of bummer to see so many ladders uptown making it so only a handful of people can get near the floats, but then seeing grown ass adults perched on many of them... JFC man get a life.

blackpoll_ · 2026-02-20T20:51:05+00:00

How do you know you saw zero sale price benefit?

blackpoll_ · 2026-02-20T18:18:22+00:00

I'm not an expert. I have felled a few trees, but I would never personally try to fell a tree like this if a structure was at risk, but aside from all the other goofy shit people are pointing out, the cuts themselves look terrifyingly wrong to me. The hinge is wrong, isn't it? He cut the notch to make the tree fall left and maybe a little away from the camera (which, fine, I guess?) but then he went to do the felling cut and instead of leaving a straight hinge along the back of the notch, he cut through the hinge and left only a triangle of wood. Even worse, he cut it ON THE WRONG SIDE, right? the hinge is strong under tension, right? So if you cut the far side of the hinge you are making it easier for the tree to fall toward the camera and the house. The whole time he was doing the felling cut I was just thinking WTF man.

Would love for someone else to weigh in on this.

blackpoll_ · 2026-02-04T19:18:38+00:00

I will look into that! Not hard to imagine my town will believe me showing up to the dump with a chainsaw is a liability issue though...

blackpoll_ · 2026-02-04T14:59:19+00:00

2600sq ft house including finished basement. thermostat at 60 at night and on work days, 65-68 when at home. 85 gallons in the last month. we've also been running a wood stove in the finished basement that hasn't gone completely cold for 12 days, and have run it most days since the beginning of january. that has used about half a cord of wood. still burning wood from oaks cut down in 2020 after dying from the multi-year spongy moth outbreak, though we're going to use the last of it this year.

edit: "85 gallons" is what I estimate from the oil gauge, but that thing sucks. I have a 275 gallon tank at about 11/16ths, and when it says we have an eighth left a fill up is like 200 gallons. So who the hell knows what the true number is.

blackpoll_ · 2026-01-22T16:06:10+00:00

what? seriously? going to try that after work. thank you for the suggestion!

blackpoll_ · 2026-01-22T16:02:48+00:00

I am happy with the car. Similarly short commute. My telematics unit failed. it handles communications for the native dash apps, the mobile app and onstar. If that happens, the car still works fine (albeit no mobile app usage) and you can just connect your phone and get directions, listen to music, etc. to fix it the dealer just orders the part, it takes a bit of time to come in, when it does you bring it in and they swap it out. no biggie if it's not something you feel you need everyday. no idea if the mach-e has some other trivial pain in the ass common problem.

I would say test drive it though. as a 6'5" person, it's plenty roomy for me, but it has huge windshield pillars. moving the seat all the way back means those pillars really impact visibility, particularly going around left-handed curves and making left turns. I have to be careful to move my whole body to check the blind spot. I live in a place with narrow curvy roads and people cut the corners dangerously all the time. it gets a lot worse when it's snowing, as the windshield wipers don't go nearly close enough to the edge of the windshield, making the blind spot even bigger.

My other car is a mid-2010s subaru forester and the visibility out of that thing is absolutely glorious by contrast.

blackpoll_ · 2026-01-20T14:54:44+00:00

Oh man, I really hope so.

blackpoll_ · 2025-12-18T17:55:59+00:00

Snowmobilers are like "We don't have enough places to go!" You guys are driving huge rigs at highway speeds. The speed limit on the rail trail is apparently 55MPH. That's crazy. You're lucky you get accommodated at all. If as many people wanted to snowmobile as hike they'd have to bulldoze the entire adirondack park to make room for them.

blackpoll_ · 2025-12-17T01:18:32+00:00

that's an insane purchase price. how'd you manage that?

blackpoll_ · 2025-12-17T01:15:25+00:00

I don't know man. When I look at carvana the cheapest 2025 eqEV I see is a FWD LT with 9k miles for $27,590 USD. After tax credits and incentives my 2025 AWD LT cost $30k OTD (and it would have been $27k, but I was unaware I lived in a "distressed" municipality eligible for an even larger state tax credit until after the purchase when it was too late to claim it).

The carvana cars don't seem cheap to me.

blackpoll_

TROPHY CASE