Stoney Pond

November 5, 2020 Night

Good evening! Partly cloudy and 51 degrees at the Stoney Pond. 🌌 There is a south-southwest breeze at 9 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 42 degrees.

A nice evening quite mild 🍁 for November out here in Madison County. 🐮 Quite mild but the leaves are all gone and the nights are quite long at this point. It was a nice drive out here but kind of a long trip because I had to stop 🛑 for remote work 💻 calls 📞 and meetings. Plus I also got food 🍲 at the Hannaford in Esperance – I was a bit creeped out by the clerk touching my shopping bags 🛍 and my ID. I’m just so used to people so aggressively social distancing in the Albany area and not wanting to touch others property. I mean the check out lady 👩‍🔬 was very friendly in the small town kind of way.

I did enjoy the drive out here along US 20 and the rural countryside. 🚜 Still farmers bringing in the high moisture corn 🌽 but the land is very gray with lots of browns. Not much has changed along the road in recent weeks, the homes are still old and ramshackle 🏚️, people doing the best they can to make a living off the land. The fields are being fertilized, the air has that pungent but essential smell 👃🏻 of dairy country 🐄 in the autumn months. I hope to eventually live in such deep rural areas but where there aren’t so many restrictions on guns 🔫 and having a burning barrel 🛢 and bonfires 🔥. I just want to own land out in the country where everybody leaves you alone. I love rundown houses with piles of manure, broke down tractors, goats 🐐 tied out front and of course a burn barrel out back.

I was actually surprised how few big TRUMP signs I saw along the way. 🚩While I did see some Trump flags and signs, I’ve certainly seen more over the top displays on the back roads of the Adirondacks or Pennsylvania. At one level, I do get the appeal of the president – some of those urban laws and policies do come down hard on farm families and country boys who are trying to scrape a living from the dirt. 🚜

Tonight will be mostly cloudy, then becoming mostly clear toward daybreak 🌥, with a low of 45 degrees at 5am. Still can see some stars ✨ but I wouldn’t call it a really clear night. But definitely mild. 11 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 2nd. Southwest wind 7 to 9 mph. In 2019, we had light rain. It got down to 30 degrees. The record low of 15 occurred back in 1951.

I had a nice big fire tonight 🔥 as I was fortunate somebody else had left a pile of wood at their campsite. Thats good because after reassembling the camp lantern 🏮 it didn’t work. Had a couple of beers 🍻 and a big pot of macaroni and cheese 🧀 with diced tomatoes 🍅 and topped with bread crumbs. A fitting meal 🍴 for a long winter night. ☕ Also had some coca and chocolate 🍫 candy I bought on sale after Halloween 🦇.

I sat and listened to the radio 📻 coverage of the presidential election. No real big news 📰 right now but I seems like Joe Biden is pulling ahead. I’m not a big fan of Joe Biden – I voted for the libertarian Jo Jergenson 🗽 but I do ultimately think 🤔 Biden would be far more professional than Trump but I hope congress keeps him on a short leash. 🐶 I think every president should be impeached from time to time to keep them accountable and honest. ⚖

Tonight will have a Waining Gibbous 🌖 Moon with 74% illuminated. The Beaver 🐻 Moon is on Saturday, November 21. The darkest hour is at 11:47 pm, followed by dawn at 6:14 am, and sun starting to rise at 6:44 am in the east-southeast (111°) and last for 3 minutes and 7 seconds. Sunrise is one minute and 16 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 7:25 am with sun in the east-southeast (118°). Tonight will have 13 hours and 54 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 29 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 64 degrees at 1pm. 12 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 6th. Maximum dew point of 47 at 1pm. West wind 5 to 8 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became partly cloudy by afternoon. The high last year was 49 degrees. The record high of 73 was set in 2015. 3.2 inches of snow fell back in 1933.❄

Going to be an absolutely beautiful day tomorrow. ☺ All weekend should be nice. I’m going to work from Cazenovia library 📚 and then spend some time down by the lake. 🏞 Saturday and Sunday will be much more relaxed and I’ll head home before dark on Sunday which happens early this time of year.

In four weeks on December 3 the sun will be setting in the west-southwest (240°) at 4:29 pm,🌄 which is 20 minutes and 42 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had partly cloudy, snow showers and temperatures between 32 and 22 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 41 and 26 degrees. The record high of 63 degrees was set back in 2009.

Looking ahead, Thanksgiving 🦃 is in 3 weeks, Repeal of Prohibition Day 🍺 is a month away, 7:15 AM Sunrise ⌛️ is in 5 weeks, Christmas Eve 🎅 is in 7 weeks, New Years Eve 🎆 is in 8 weeks, National Bird Day 🐧 is in 2 months, Coldest Week of the Year 🌬 is in 10 weeks, Wolf Moon 🌕 is in 12 weeks, Don’t Cry over Spilled Milk Day 🥛 is in 14 weeks and National Drink Wine Day 🍷 is in 15 weeks.

View from the Tip of Point Peter

California Voters Give Uber And Lyft A Win : NPR

Prop 22: California Voters Give Uber And Lyft A Win : NPR

California voters handed Uber and Lyft a big victory — and labor unions a big setback — when they approved a measure allowing the ride-hailing companies to keep classifying their drivers as independent contractors.

For Joe Renice, who drives for Uber in San Francisco, the measure's passage was a relief.

"This is a job that I make over $100,000 a year doing. And I have complete and total freedom and flexibility to do that," he said.

The measure, known as Proposition 22, cements the business models of transportation and food delivery apps, which pay workers for the services they provide on demand. If the measure had failed, the companies would have had to abide by a new state law that says gig workers should be considered employees, and therefore entitled to costly benefits such as unemployment, health insurance and paid sick leave.

April 27, 2016 Morning

Good morning. Cold start to our Hump Day. 27 degrees under mostly cloudy skies. For a while this morning I saw the sun but now it is gone. I blame Obama. It was quite pretty for a while this morning. In a little bit, I’m going to hit up fishing hole in Cazenovia Creek that I like and hopefully limit out on trout by mid morning, so I can head to Montezuma. Bragging assures I won’t catch a thing. Lol.

A bit cold this morning. I will get the propane filled today so I’m not cold for the rest of the week. That new stove is great, I had piping hot coffee within 5 minutes of getting up. Had to turn down the stove in two minutes because it was boiling over.

Sunny with a high giving out at 47 degrees at least in Nelson. Certainly warmer back in Albany and probably so in the Finger Lakes. The balance of the week will be sunny but about 5-10 degrees below normal for the last week of April.

Sunset tonight in Nelson will be at 8 pm with dusk at 8:30. Obviously earlier back in Albany. Despite the cool weather, should be a good pretty decent day.

April 26, 2016 Night

Good evening. 35 degrees, cloudy, and damp at Stoney Pond in Madison County. 29 degrees and clearing by morning. It’s a lot colder here then in Albany and much fewer leaves on the trees. Kind of a wet drive out here. But the rain stopped by the time I set up camp, so I didn’t have to set up a tarp.

I guess I am out of propane in the big tank. I can still run the lantern off the big tank but neither the stove or the heater will run on it. For the camp stove, I was able to run it on a portable disposable tank I brought as a backup. I will get the big tank refilled tomorrow in Auburn and then refill the disposable tank later using my refill adapter. Kind of a chilly without the heater on my back but next to the fire with ample clothes on it’s reasonably warm.

The small 3-watt LED light bulb I got for the flag seems to work well. It is bright enough and helps to save a lot of power. The 2013 7 watt LED bulb I have still works but has been retired for other uses.

There was a lot of cops along US Route 20 coming out here this evening. At one point it looked like they had a trap out for someone… More than just a simple speed trap. Maybe it was just one of the anti-texting or anti-speeding initiatives. Waze is great but there aren’t the reports on the back roads. Then again, I’m a pretty slow driver, so I don’t speed and I don’t text while driving.

With the new camp stove, I set up the coffee tonight so as soon as I get up in the morning I can turn the stove on and get the stove going. I think it’s probably safe to leave coffee out overnight as I don’t think most wildlife would be interested in coffee grounds. We will see. But I’ve never had problems in the past.

Tomorrow it’s off to fishing at Cazenovia Creek than Montezuma for wildlife viewing then down to the Finger Lakes National Forest for day two of the trip. Sunny and 47 degrees tomorrow. Should be a nice day.