Topics

A variety of maps, writings, and photos on a various topics that can’t easily be categorized into a county or place.

Why I am so honest on the blogπŸ™πŸΌ

People say I talk too much on my blog both about the mundane in life and some personal details about my life. Why after all put your most intimate thoughts on the internet. Not that it’s fully true – some things I intentionally omit but I also like being real and telling my story. Old fashioned blogs like mine these days are far and few between on the internet.

Plus many people are over protective of information with an extreme notion of privacy. They want to hide facts about themselves that are easy to find on the public record or by using a bit of Google. It’s stupid to hide behind what is widely known. Why hide an interesting and good story?

Hump Day starting out nice πŸͺ

Sunny and not too cold for mid April but so far no real warm weather. Those days most certainly though are coming.

Good morning! What day is it? Hump Day, of course. But as they say, the nice weather is not expected to last. Mostly sunny and 43 degrees in Delmar. β˜€ There is a north breeze at 7 mph. πŸƒ

French toast this morning πŸ₯–, slicing off some slices of the homemade bread I made last week that was getting stale. Not bad topped with strawberries πŸ“ and honey 🍯. Dinner last night was fried zucchini πŸ† with sweet onions πŸ§…, riding home last night I picked up some more.

When I was cooking this morning 🍳I apparently startled a mouse 🐁 which proceeded to jump from the counter to the hot stove and then across the room in the air. Apparently the electric mouse zappers didn’t get him as I ignored the mouse captured blinking light on it last night. πŸͺ€A mouse trap don’t work if it’s full.

Today will have increasing clouds β˜€ πŸ‘‰ ☁, with a high of 64 degrees at 3pm. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 25th. North wind 5 to 7 mph becoming calm in the morning. A year ago, we had light rain in the morning, which became mostly sunny by afternoon. The high last year was 64 degrees. The record high of 91 was set in 2002. 0.3 inches of snow fell back in 1965.❄

Should be a beautiful day for riding in 🚲 but depending if it rains β˜” I might have to bus 🚍 it home. So be it. Still good exercise. πŸ’ͺ🏻 Yesterday it was nice reading πŸ“– down at the park. 🏞

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:55 pm with sun having an altitude of 58.1Β° from the due south horizon (-12.8Β° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 3.7 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour πŸ… starts at 7:02 pm with the sun in the west (279Β°). πŸ“Έ The sunset is in the west-northwest (286Β°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:40 pm after setting for 3 minutes with dusk around 8:09 pm, which is one minute and 8 seconds later than yesterday. πŸŒ‡ At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous πŸŒ” Moon in the south-southeast (155Β°) at an altitude of 64Β° from the horizon, 250,209 miles away. πŸš€ The best time to look at the stars is after 8:45 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 59 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 9 mph. Today will have 13 hours and 33 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 43 seconds over yesterday.

They’re continuing to gut the apartment next door and tore up part of the slab. πŸ‘·Quite the construction 🚧 project, they’re must have been a lot wrong with the physical plant of the unit next door, probably this explains why my apartment is always wet and the bathtub never properly drains. 🚿 Or the mold issues. Who knows if the fixes next door will also improve my unit as a side effect. I can hope.

Tonight will have showers likely, mainly after 10pm. Cloudy 🌧, with a low of 45 degrees at 6am. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 5th. Southeast wind 8 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. In 2023, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 38 degrees. The record low of 21 occurred back in 1948.

Cool this weekend with temperatures running 6 degrees below normal but otherwise sunny. πŸ˜ƒ Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 58. Breezy. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 55. Typical average high for the weekend is 62 degrees.

Still not sure what my weekend plans are going to be 🌲 in part because it’s going to rain on Friday evening and I’m thinking in a few weeks it would be nice to go out to Schoharie County and do a spring time ride along the Catskill Scenic Trail rather than do it this weekend. I do want to camp β›Ί maybe just a quick overnight but it’s probably too cold to do a hammock camp just up in the woods. I thought about heading back to the Adirondacks but it’s a pretty good trip to just head there for the weekend.

Looking ahead, there are 2 weeks until May πŸ•Š when the sun will be setting at 7:57 pm with dusk at 8:26 pm. On that day in 2023, we had rain and temperatures between 59 and 45 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 66 degrees. We hit a record high of 86 back in 2001.

Winding Road

Trump’s Final Pardon

I think the concept of the self pardon by Donald Trump should he be elected in 2024 is exaggerated. While it’s true that the president may have the power of self pardon, it’s likely to be deeply unpopular and will most likely be the political death of his presidency – as nobody likes it when a politician is primarily self interested and tampers with the administration of justice.

The reason why Donald Trump is still a popular candidate at this point is he was an effective leader at addressing conservative concerns – delivering tax relief, returning regulation of abortion to the states, making limited progress on gun rights and appointing a decidedly conservative Supreme Court. But if the president elects first actions are solely to benefit himself then I find it hard to fathom that he’ll have the popular support to accomplish the rest of his agenda.