Good evening! It’s the deep and dark off the winter with the roads and sidewalks encrusted with salt. I tell you it’s so bad downtown that you can taste the salt on your lips from the passing cars kicking up the salt. Partly clear and 21 degrees in Delmar, NY. Breezy, 23 mph breeze from the west-northwest with gusts up to 40 mph. The current wind chill is 5. It was fairly cold waiting out for the bus although I no longer go outside until 5:13 or later depending on what the real time bus info says. 

Tonight will have a slight chance of snow showers before 7pm, then a chance of snow showers after 11pm. Increasing clouds, with a low of 14 degrees at 5am. Eight degrees below normal. Maximum wind chill around 6 at 7pm; West wind 9 to 14 mph becoming light and variable after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. In 2016, we had cloudy skies with some clearing in the early hours of the next day. It got down to 19 degrees. The record low of -5 occurred back in 1898.

Tonight will have a Waning Crescent Moon with 15% illuminated.The moon will rise tomorrow at 3:35 am. The New Moon is on Sunday night. The sun will rise at 7:17 am with the first light at 6:45 am, which is 45 seconds later than yesterday. Tonight will have 14 hours and 55 minutes of darkness, an increase of 32 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be cloudy through mid morning, then gradual clearing, with a high of 26 degrees at 1pm. 10 degrees below normal. Light southwest wind becoming northwest 10 to 15 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 30 mph. Going to be a cold day. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies. The high last year was 33 degrees. The record high of 63 was set in 1901. 12.5 inches of snow fell back in 1956.

I took tomorrow off from work. I don’t have am plans except to do some cooking for the Christmas party at work. I still haven’t decided for sure what I will make but I’m leaning towards a chicken salad type dish. I will have to go shopping tomorrow. 

I am just having an awful time getting that lead free solder to stick. I remember that I think I have leaded electrical solder downstairs so I think I’ll see if I can find that, and if it will work. I also have some extra flux that I might be able to coat the lead free solder with. I’ve tried increasing the iron output but that seems to get the flux too hot and boiling off, preventing it from sticking. I’ll figure this out eventually. 

A cold but fairly sunny weekend on tap. Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 31. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 31. Typical average high for the weekend is 36 degrees. Save the Pine Bush hike on Saturday at 9:30 than my family Christmas party thereafter. Then the following weekend is Christmas. Can you believe that? 

I bought a small promoted event on Facebook for the Save the Pine Bush hike. It will be interesting to see if more people will see the event and show up for the hike. 

In four weeks on January 10 the sun will be setting at 4:42 pm, which is 19 minutes and 50 seconds later then tonight. In 2017 on that day, we had rain, snow, cloudy skies and temperatures between 38 and 17 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 30 and 14 degrees. The record high of 55 degrees was set back in 2016.

Looking ahead, State of the State Day is in 3 weeks, Coldest Day of Year (Avg. 14-30 degrees) is in 4 weeks, Blue Moon is in 7 weeks, February Save the Pine Bush Dinner – 40th Anniversary is in 10 weeks, Independence Day is in 29 weeks and Inaugeration Day 2021 is in 162 weeks.

“Chewing on a piece of grass / Walking down the road / Tell me, how long you gonna stay here Joe?” – America, Ventura Highway

Good morning! What day is it? They don’t advertise this day on Ford trucks. Three weeks to State of the State Day. Partly cloudy and 19 degrees in Delmar, NY. Breezy, 16 mph breeze from the west-northwest with gusts up to 28 mph. The current wind chill is 3. The skies will clear around 5 pm.

Today will have a chance of snow showers, mainly between 3pm and 5pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high of 24 degrees at 1pm. 12 degrees below normal. Maximum wind chill around 3 at 8am; Breezy, with a west wind 16 to 24 mph, with gusts as high as 41 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies. The high last year was 39 degrees. The record high of 58 was set in 1984. 14 inches of snow fell back in 1915.

The sun will set at 4:22 pm with dusk around 4:54 pm, which is 12 seconds later than yesterday. At sunset, look for partly cloudy conditions and 23 degrees. The wind chill around sunset will be 7. Breezy, 23 mph breeze from the west-northwest with gusts up to 40mph. Today will have 9 hours and 4 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 33 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have a slight chance of snow showers between 9pm and midnight, then a slight chance of light snow after midnight. Mostly cloudy, with a low of 15 degrees at 5am. Nine degrees below normal. Maximum wind chill around 7 at 6pm; West wind 9 to 14 mph becoming light southwest after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2016, we had cloudy skies with some clearing in the early hours of the next day. It got down to 19 degrees. The record low of -5 occurred back in 1898.

So it’s Hump Day. Ended up catching the later bus downtown. I have a bit of vacation time to use up before the end of the year, so I think I will request Thursday off. Like today, Thursday is going to be cold but I don’t mind sleeping in. Friday is the Christmas party at work so maybe I could make up a dish on Thursday. It will be my 11th Christmas party. It amazes me to think of all the years I’ve been taking Route 18 and 719 to work. I really don’t like driving in the city, so I’m glad I always have the bus an option. I am finally feeling better but honestly I could use a little more sleep. 

I am ready to give up on the lead free solder. I think I may order leaded electronics solder because honestly I can’t get the lead free stuff to flow properly without burning off the flux needed to properly stick. I have an adjustable power solder iron but despite trying different heat settings, I’m not having good luck. Leaded solder is supposed to be a lot easier to to work with as it melts at lower temperature so you have a much greater chance of being able to get it stuck without it boiling off. In the grand scheme of things, lead in solder is tiny compared to the lead in ammunition which gets spread all over the air when the bullets fragment. To say nothing of the lead used in gasoline at airports and race tracks. Or old automobiles without catalytic convertors. 

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until State of the State Day when the sun will be setting at 4:35 pm with dusk at 5:06 pm. On that day in 2017, we had rain, drizzle, freezing drizzle, mist, cloudy skies and temperatures between 37 and 31 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 31 degrees. We hit a record high of 61 back in 1913.