On this day, West Virginia starts controversial statehood process

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On this day, West Virginia starts controversial statehood process

"On October 24, 1861, a group of delegates in 39 Virginia counties decided to start the process of forming their own state during the Civil War, beginning a constitutional debate that continues to this day."

"The federal government later recognized West Virginia as a state on June 20, 1863, while at the same time Virginia, one of the original signers to the Constitution, remained in rebellion. But soon after the Civil War concluded, questions started popping up about West Virginia’s unusual path to statehood. A Supreme Court decision in 1870 seemingly settled the question, but it didn’t answer directly the statehood issue in a 6-3 decision."

"The counties of northwestern Virginia had disputes with eastern Virginia that well-preceded the Civil War about voter representation and property. Those problems came to a head in April 1861 when Virginia’s governor and legislature approved of the state’s secession from the federal government. A subsequent referendum approved the withdrawal from the Union on regional voting lines."

October 24, 2017 8 AM Update

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Good afternoon! Happy Tuesday. Two weeks to Election Day 2017. Rain and 67 degrees in Albany. Breezy, 22 mph breeze from the south-southeast with some gusts up to 44 mph. The dew point is 63 degrees. Blustery and wet day today. The skies will clear tomorrow around 8 am. At least we are getting some much needed rain, and it’s midweek so it won’t interfere with our weekend plans.

This afternoon will have showers and possibly a thunderstorm. Some of the storms could produce gusty winds and heavy rain. High of 72 degrees at 12pm. Despite the wind and the rain, quite a mild day 15 degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 67 at 1pm. Windy, with a south wind 22 to 26 mph, with gusts as high as 50 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly cloudy skies. The high last year was 52 degrees. The record high of 74 was set in 1973. There was a dusting of snow in 1962.

The sun will set at 5:57 pm with dusk around 6:26 pm, which is one minute and 28 seconds earlier than yesterday. At sunset, look for cloudy conditions and 70 degrees. The dew point will be 65 degrees. Breezy, 21 mph breeze from the south-southeast with gusts up to 36mph. Today will have 10 hours and 37 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 41 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have showers and possibly a thunderstorm before 10pm, then showers likely. Some of the storms could produce gusty winds and heavy rain. Low of 56 degrees at 6am. 18 degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 65 at 6pm. South wind 5 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible. Quite a wet evening . In 2016, we had mostly cloudy skies. It got down to 34 degrees. The record low of 19 occurred back in 1981.

Today in 1977, pursuant to the National Holiday Law, Veterans Day is observed on the fourth Monday in October for the seventh and last time. The holiday is once again observed on November 11 beginning the following year. Many states never observed the fourth Monday holiday law, and there was universal resistance by Veterans groups. I wonder if in the future though with the World War I Veterans all but gone that things will change on this front.

Busy week being back to work, but tomorrow I have my dentist appointment at 9:40 AM. I may try to get a flu shot right before I get my teeth cleaned. Then I can legitimately say that the whole time I was late to work was medical related so I can use medical time for it.

I think tomorrow I will call the lift kit installer about getting the lift kit fixed on my truck. I really think it’s just a bolt that needs to be torqued, but I don’t have any wrench that is big enough to do it. At worse, it’s likely just the shock absorber. It could be a wheel bearing, but I’ve wrecked those on other trucks, and I know that’s a different noise.  Hopefully they can do that early next week. I don’t want to do this week and get stuck without a car this weekend.

I also still need to have a state inspection done theoretically before the end of the month, the oil changed (down to below 25% oil life) and the tires rotated. I am not sure if the rough road rattle of that shock absorder would cause it to fail inspection, but I want to have that fixed first. I kind of want to put off the state inspection until the first week of November so I can get a November sticker (and another increasingly angry reminder email from DMV). Maybe the DMV will next call me a poopy head for not getting inspected. I don’t drive daily, and until I get the new inspection sticker, I won’t drive except for limited purposes. I guess I could ask the lift kit installer if they could inspect things in the process.

I could take the truck off the road. I’m considering that for the winter but I don’t know. I still like to be able to go places in the winter, especially if the winter turns out to be mild. I just got to buck up get the lift kit fixed, truck inspected, and other regular maintenance done.

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until Election Day 2017 when the sun will be setting at 4:39 pm with dusk at 5:09 pm (Standard Time). On that day in 2016, we had mostly sunny skies and temperatures between 53 and 28 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 51 degrees. We hit a record high of 75 back in 1938.