Good evening! All afternoon, the snow and sleet has stayed south of us, but it is starting to sleet now, as heard at the bus shelter and now at home. Not sure how much will accumulate with temperatures around 34 degrees in City of Albany. It’s more wet then ice pellets now. Thrre is a east-northeast breeze at 11 mph with gusts up to 22 mph. 

Not a terrible day with most of the usual stuff ongoing. Things keep moving forward, and we get one step closer to the weekend. And I got out of work at 6:45. Not too bad for a Monday night 

Tonight will rain and snow before 1am, then snow and sleet. Low of 32 degrees at 1am. 18 degrees above normal. Northeast wind 11 to 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total nighttime snow and sleet accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible. In 2016, it got down to 9 degrees under partly cloudy skies. The record low of -17 occurred back in 1948.

Waning Crescent Moon tonight with 23% illuminated. The moon will rise around 2:47 am. The New Moon is on Saturday night with mostly cloudy expected. The Full “Snow” Moon is on Saturday, February 11th. The sun will rise at 7:16 am with the first light at 6:45 am, which is 48 seconds earlier then yesterday. Tonight will have 14 hours and 17 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 2 minutes and 6 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will rain, snow, and sleet before noon, then drizzle likely between noon and 5pm, then rain and sleet likely after 5pm. High of 35 degrees at 1pm. Four degrees above normal. North wind 9 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow and sleet accumulation of less than a half inch possible. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies and a high of 29 degrees. The record high of 54 was set in 1999. 7.6 inches of snow fell back in 1948.

Right now, a split verdict on the weekend. Saturday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 35. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 34. Typical average high for the weekend is 31 degrees. Maybe the forecast is decent enough to get out on Sunday, although I’m not sure if I will go camping with the fresh snow that I expect the hilltowns to get tonight. Maybe some good cross country skiing.

In four weeks on February 20 the sun will be setting at 5:34 pm, which is 36 minutes later then tonight. In 2016 on that day, we had rain, snow and temperatures between 62 and 35 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 36 and 18 degrees. The record high of 66 degrees was set back in 1930. By then the temperatures will be getting more mild. Depending on how much snow we get in March, I might be out pickup truck camping, although often I am quite busy with work during that month.

Today I applied for the Deferred Compensation Program, as yet another way to save for retirement. I now have ten years in with state retirement system and I didn’t want a further bump in taxes when my 3% contribution ended for Tier 4. I’ve been maxing out my Roth IRA for a few years now, and putting part of every paycheck in index funds and savings in hope of a secure retirement in another thirty odd years. 

I’m not sure what I’ll do in retirement but I want to live off grid with out utility connections on enough land where I can shoot whatever guns I choose to own and burn whatever I want to. I don’t think I need the high amperage electrical connections the utilities offer or any of those fancy things. Smaller is better in my book, land and a lack of nearby neighbors who give a duck are better than marble countertops and geegaws. I like having a nice pickup truck with a cap and traveling. Maybe do something like John Steinbeck’s Travels with Charlie when I get older. And get out of the rust belt with its salty winters, high taxes and overzealous government. 

I do think my current one bedroom, two floor apartment is much too large, and would eventually like to move to one of those mini houses with much less space to clean and accumulate stuff in. 

Speaking of cleaning, I got to get the belt on my vacuum cleaner so I get cleaning. Not a big thing but something I should get done tonight. 

Looking ahead, Presidents Day is in 4 weeks, Patriots Day is in 12 weeks, May Day is in 14 weeks and Memorial Day is in 18 weeks.