Good morning! The rain is gone but clouds are lingering for a while around 43 degrees in Delmar, NY. Calm wind. Damp outside and chilly inside from last night’s rain. My heat is turned off. The skies will clear around 3 pm.

Today will be mostly cloudy mixing with more sunshine come the afternoon, with a high of 57 degrees at 4pm. Three degrees above normal. Light and variable wind becoming west 5 to 10 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies and a high of 36 degrees. The record high of 82 was set in 1928. 1.1 inches of snow fell back in 1914.

The sun will set at 7:26 pm with dusk around 7:55 pm, which is one minute and 9 seconds later than yesterday. Today will have 12 hours and 58 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 51 seconds over yesterday. Almost 13 hours a day. Tomorrow. 

Tonight will have a chance of rain, mainly after 3am. Mostly cloudy, with a low of 40 degrees at 5am. Six degrees above normal. Maximum wind chill around 33 at 5am; Southeast wind 5 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. More rain tomorrow. In 2016, it got down to 17 degrees under mostly cloudy skies. The record low of 14 occurred back in 1943.

Looking ahead, there are 2 weeks until Average High is 60 when the sun will be setting at 7:42 pm with dusk at 8:12 pm. On that day in 2016, we had rain and temperatures between 65 and 44 degrees. We hit a record high of 92 back in 1976.

That rain we got last night was good, especially in light of the warm and dry weather expected next week. It might reach 77 degrees with a stiff dry breeze on next Tuesday, and thats wildfire weather but the heavy rains of late should help. The lack of freezing temperatures should make the grass green up a lot in the city with rain. Might be a bit farther away in the mountains though. That said I hope the woods doesn’t get too dried up because I want to be able to have a big ass campfire and burn shit when I’m up in woods. I hate living in the city. 

Just a good ole boy… Making their way the only way they now how. I’m just glad in the Trump era we can now watch Dukes of Hazard Again. 

Ended up walking down to the library last night. It wasn’t raining much on the walk down there but on the way back I was glad I brought my umbrella and rain coat. Raining fairly hard but things weren’t that flooded on the sidewalks and without the wind I remained fairly dry. 

More waffles this morning. I couldn’t get the whole grain waffle mix at Hannaford on Saturday so I’m going to have to get to Shoprite. They have a nice selection of waffle mixes. I am going to need to get shopping on Thursday I guess because I really didn’t get enough supplies at Hannaford. I guess I can make it to the weekend but it will be stretching it. 

Bought two new, inexpensive flags for camp. One is an Earth (Blue Marble) and the other is a Gadsden (Don’t Tread on Me Flag). I’m sure the later will horrify my liberal friends but that’s okay because I’ve always kind of liked the Tea Party message of defending the second amendment, individual empowerment and less government interference with the lives of private citizens. I guess my views are closer to Malcom X and Huey Newton then Donald Trump or Paul Ryan but I couldn’t find an inexpensive Black Panther flag that I liked. The Panthers Flag while nice isn’t as pretty as the yellow tea party flag. I thought about getting a Molon Labe flag but I didn’t like the colors or the military undertones. I’m not a war monger but I believe in citizen empowerment and the right of self defense and self reliance. Red white and blue 4×6 foot American flag goes well with the yellow 3×5 Gadsden flag and the 3×5 blue marble earth flag. I need not explain why I have an Earth flag, except that I believe in conservation and protecting our planet, even while i enjoy slinging mud in my big jacked up truck. I’m more concerned with air pollution from coal power plants and large landfills then marginal farmers in the mountains grazing cattle and rednecks burning trash and riding quads in the woods. Right now they are hung in my bedroom and look quite nice. I forgot how enormous my American flag really is, especially when it’s not hung high in the big wilderness but in my tiny apartment. The colors complement well. 

Now just to finish wiring up the truck cap and inverter and replace the accessory battery so I can have another great summer camping with all those colorful flags in many great backcountry campsites. I also need to replace one of the propane hoses that sprung a leak and ever so frighteningly was leaking liquid propane until I turned off the lantern and tank as quickly as I safely could. Many great summer adventures are ahead. 51 days from now will be the start of Memorial Day Weekend. 

Today I’m driving Big Red into work. Going to be a long day with final budget passage but hopefully not that late into the early morning, but I’ll bring a pillow so I can get some sleep on the office and take some five hours energy shots to wake up when it’s time to drive home. As long as I get a few hours of sleep and I have a energy shot and Frank Zappa’s Peaches En Regeta cued up I should be fine. I could leave Big Red home and take the bus but if we are released at 1 AM, I want to get home and sleep in my bed. Next year I’ll have the option of paying like $15 and the security of taking an Uber or Lyft home. 

Today marks the 30th anniversary of the Schoharie Creek Thruway Bridge disaster. I was still a preschooler when it happened but I vaguely remember hearing about it and seeing it on my grandfather’s television. You can still see the scars of the emergency temporary bypass driving along NY 5S they built after the bridge collapsed and people had to detour onto an old rail bridge. Kind of a sad story, but we learned how to build better bridges. I have some graphs, videos and maps on the status of New York’s bridges that I will share later today. 

Ordered another pair of dress pants online that I’m on the fence about returning. They are super comfortable but seem a bit more casual than what I normally wear with my blazer. I have to think about it more. I might return them or I might not. They are I think mostly cotton and I worry they might shrink when I wash them and the color doesn’t quite match. I do have free returns and they came with a pre printed return label so I might send them back. I’ll have to think about it some more.  

Hearing on the radio about yet another massive industrial solar facility. I think it’s just madness to invest in these dubious large solar farms when it better to add the land to the state forests or wildlife management areas. Or sell development rights of these farms to prevent suburbanite developments. We have existing fossil plants that can be run at a higher capacity level and engage in more energy efficiency. I’m all for roof top solar panels and wind turbines but covering the land with semiconductor panels just doesn’t make much sense to me. At least the politicians aren’t advocating for a coal fired power plant there and a coal ash landfill.