Photo of Andy Arthur

Andy Arthur

The color television assures us that April showers bring May flowers. ๐ŸŒท๐ŸŒป๐ŸŒผ I'll believe it when I see it, though there are definite hints of the green up -- grass is looking greener in the city, some bushes are starting to bloom and there are signs of the days to come. Days have gotten longer, windows open and it's generally just nicer then not that long ago.

Vlomans Kill

After Saturday's rain, there is quite a bit of rain coming through the Vlomans Kill.

First Friday in May ๐ŸŒธ

Friday already. Another work week is coming to a close. But it’s been a busy one with meetings downtown, picking up my bike from the shop, lots of reading and work. Not to mention installing Fedora 40 on my laptop,

Good morning! Yeah, it’s Friday! Mostly cloudy and 56 degrees in Delmar, NY. ๐ŸŒž Calm wind. Not too bad out, but then again, it’s May.

Started out the morning around 5 am with some delicious Johnny cakes ๐Ÿฅž with cottage cheese, lots of onions, peppers, Tumeric and spinach. Kind of a healthy treat of sorts – – that said I do like that carb-rich cornmeal too much but today I accidentally left out the egg but it came out fine, probably because I’ve been adding wallpaper paste to the cornmeal lately to keep things from being too runny, as often happens when much of the mix is fresh veggies like onions and peppers which are largely water. ๐Ÿ’ฆ

Today will be partly sunny ๐ŸŒž, with a high of 70 degrees at 6am. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around May 10th. North wind 5 to 8 mph becoming southeast in the afternoon. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning, which became light rain by afternoon. The high last year was 56 degrees. The record high of 89 was set in 2001. There was a dusting of snow in 1986.โ„

Yesterday riding to work I got into a minor fender bender ๐Ÿšฒ when I crashed into a stone retaining wall, as I approached a pedestrian as I was focused on traffic and the podcast I was listening to, on a sharp bend on the bike trail at the Corning Preserve. Took a bit of paint off my bike, skinned up my leg and it was a bloody mess, ๐Ÿฉน and ripped my jeans, ๐Ÿ‘– but I could have been hurt worse. My knee was sore all of yesterday, but I concede it probably was my fault as I was riding too fast and the bald tire on the front wheel really reduces my traction. I really should get new tires for my bike sooner then later – – not just due to the risk of crash but also puncture.

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 12:53 pm with sun having an altitude of 63.2ยฐ from the due south horizon (-7.6ยฐ vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour ๐Ÿ… starts at 7:19 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (286ยฐ). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west-northwest (293ยฐ) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:58 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 8 seconds with dusk around 8:29 pm, which is one minute and 8 seconds later than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ The best time to look at the stars is after 9:08 pm. At sunset, look for clear skies ๐ŸŒ„ and temperatures around degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 14 hours and 15 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 28 seconds over yesterday.

Saw this great off-grid hunting camp property ๐Ÿ›–, that I was thinking I could turn into an off-grid homestead but I have some questions about the property access that I emailed the seller about. Then I also need to confirm it’s properly permitted and would allow year-round residential. Perfect size cabin, beautiful but very basic inside, would need solar and road improvements but I’m waiting to find out more before scheduling a property tour. It has septic and water on site, which is great though and is like 600 sq feet. ๐Ÿšฝ Not so far from Albany too, but I’m sure there are dealer breaker with access or permitted as it’s probably too good to be true.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy ๐ŸŒฅ, with a low of 50 degrees at 6am. Six degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 20th. Southeast wind 7 to 9 mph. In 2023, we had partly cloudy skies. It got down to 45 degrees. The record low of 28 occurred back in 1985.

Last night I attended a happy hour after work ๐Ÿป with colleagues and it was a fun evening though I was a bit tipsy on the ride home, ๐Ÿ˜‹ but this time I didn’t crash ๐Ÿ’ฅand the alcohol probably helped with me sore knee. ๐Ÿฆถ But after all that and because it was fairly late and I was dog tired ๐Ÿถ I decided just to go down to the Elm Ave Park for a while before coming home and laying back in bed doing a bit more reading of e-books on my phone. Lately I’ve had a lot of interest in technical books ๐Ÿ“š like the one I’m reading on Linux system administration as it gets me away from the rest of the world. I also have several books on cabin construction ๐Ÿก and rural living that I’ve been studying but not last night. Plus then I wasted more time on Facebook AI Image Generator which I think is so much fun for generating images of Garfield and Snoopy in places you never would think to see them. It’s all fun and games until the copyright lawyers get such programs banished from the internet.

Tomorrow will have a slight chance of showers after 3pm. Partly sunny ๐ŸŒž, with a high of 68 degrees at 6am. Typical for Tomorrow. South wind 8 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning, which became light rain by afternoon. The high last year was 60 degrees. The record high of 91 was set in 1944. There was a dusting of snow in 1986.โ„

I don’t have ambitious plans for the weekend, ๐Ÿšฒ but I have library books to return ๐Ÿ“š, yes besides the e-books I’ve been reading I got some physical books out of the library too though I discovered most of them are either on Hoopla or Libby so I don’t know how necessary that will be in the future but with Libby only working for two days off the cell network, I might have to take that in consideration when doing extended trips to the Adirondacks this summer, though I have my doubts with work that I’ll have a chance to get away for any extended period of time.

Looking ahead to Sunday, showers likely. Cloudy, with a high near 56. ๐ŸŒง๏ธ Southeast wind 11 to 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. Typical average high for the weekend is 68 degrees.

Sunday is the shopping day ๐Ÿ›’ and more then likely I’ll be stocking up and going out to the parents house ๐Ÿ‘ช for Sunday dinner. Next week is Mother’s Day but the family is out of town so I won’t be going but my hope is to also be out of town, namely riding the Catskill Scenic Trail.

As black flies every where are noting, next Friday is Average High is 70 ๐Ÿฎ when the sun will be setting at 8:07 pm with dusk at 8:37 pm. On that day in 2023, we had sunny and temperatures between 77 and 39 degrees. Already we’ve had some way of a preview of that nice summer weather, and it’s only going to get better. We hit a record high of 92 back in 1970.

Trees

Brewerton

Brewerton - Syracuse

Brewerton is located on the western side of Oneida Lake and is bordered by the Oneida River which feeds into the Oswego River. This area is fairly flat with only modest rises of hills around the marshy areas at the end of the lake.

Second Pond Trail

 Second Pond Trail

The Second Pond Trail is a 2.5 mile hike back from Chatiemac Lake Road in Bakers Mills.ย While the trail can be muddy, especially in the spring, this remote lake is good for solitude and brookies.

Tenant Creek Falls Trail

An interactive map of the new trail up to Tenant Creek Falls, at least the lower falls, as apparently the DEC has not digitized the improved trail up to the upper falls and Tenant Creek ATV Trail - Dominic Bridge (which doesn't apparently exist in state's SAM database). It's actually kind of neat that there are places that state doesn't have on their map.