Good evening! Partly clear and 61 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a west-northwest breeze at 10 mph. The dew point is 43 degrees. Not a terrible evening, cleared out a bit after those persistent northern clouds pushed south for a while a few hours ago. 

Today was a fairly successful. Got my oil changed and had breakfast at my parent’s house and spent some time with my niece. She is growing fast, now that she’s at something like 15 months old. Already knows a ton of words. I’ve always changed my own oil but it’s sometimes a pain to find oil to the Dexos2 specifications, and I always have trouble getting off the filter. Because my truck uses six quarts of oil, it always is expensive to buy that sixth quart, so it ends up costing basically the same for the professionals to do it as myself. And I don’t have to get coated with oil or return it to the store. I sometimes i used to burn the oil to perk up campfires in the wilderness but six quarts is a quick lot of oil, and gosh it can stink at times and certainly anything that doesn’t burn up could pollute the water accidentally. So it’s not a great idea. Synthetic oil does burn good though I must say. At some point I might go back to changing my oil myself but with modern oils and engines, I don’t change my oil but every 7-8 months although maybe six in the summer when I drive a lot more. Those engine oil life systems make it easy to keep track when you need to change the oil. 

Wired up a new light for under the rear seat of my truck, so I can find stuff easier under the seat while camping after dark. I often lose stuff under the seat. I still need to get a light bulb for one of the sockets (I used the old sockets from the license plate lights after the rear end crash a few years back) and a switch but I should have that ready for tomorrow. 

Later on I went hiking at Harvey Mountain to the Blueberry Patch and later to the lean to at Harvey Mountain State Forest and Beebe Hill. I thought about camping at that lean to – little known but quite nice in part because it’s very underused. I thought about camping there tonight but I didn’t feel like all the packing for one night. Harvey Mountain was beautiful, covered with pink flowers, some lady slippers and mountain laurel. Birds were chirping and very spring like. Beebe Hill Fire Tower was okay but the time I had climbed it, clouds had creeped in and things were rather glary. I need to carefully clean the oil off the lens or my camera before I use it again. I have gotten finger prints on it I think. 

I decided not to take the Thruway but instead the remnants of old Albany Post Road and Pleasant Valley Road. Some pretty interesting old homes and historical towns as you go through East Chatham and Old Chatham. Some of the road is rerouted by the Thruway but a lot is much more scenic than the toll expressway. You might describe me as a Shunpiker. Even when free expressways exists, I prefer country roads except when they have exceptionally slow speed limits or go through the big cities. 

Sat out back for a while, had burgers for dinner. It was nice evening, wouldn’t have been half bad for camping. I can smell smoke from one of my neighbors campfires. 

Tonight will be partly cloudy, with a low of 50 degrees at 4am. Five degrees below normal. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming light west after midnight. In 2016, it got down to 61 degrees with heavy fog and fog and shallow fog and patches of fog and mist and cloudy skies. The record low of 36 occurred back in 1947.

Waxing Gibbous Moon tonight with 67% illuminated. The moon will set around 3:26 am. The Full “Strawberry” Moon is next Friday night with mostly cloudy skies expected. Still Saturday might be good for observing the nearly full moon. The sun will rise at 5:18 am with the first light at 4:44 am, which is 23 seconds earlier than yesterday. Tonight will have 8 hours and 49 minutes of darkness, a decrease of one minute and 4 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have showers likely, mainly after 2pm. Increasing clouds, with a high of 66 degrees at 6pm. Eight degrees below normal. Maximum dew point of 55 at 6pm. South wind 3 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. A year ago, we had heavy fog, fog, shallow fog, patches of fog, mist, cloudy skies and a high of 84 degrees. The record high of 97 was set in 1919.

In four weeks on July 1 the sun will be setting at 8:36 pm, which is 8 minutes and 18 seconds later then tonight. God willing, that will be the second night of my Independence Day Weekend Moose River Plains and trip. In 2016 on that day, we had thunderstorm, thunderstorm rain, hail, rain, heavy fog, fog, mist, cloudy skies and temperatures between 85 and 58 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 81 and 60 degrees. The record high of 99 degrees was set back in 1913.

Looking ahead, 50th Gas Up in Gallupville is Next Saturday, Eat Your Vegatables Day is in 2 weeks, Latest Sunset of Year (8:37 PM) is in 3 weeks, July 1st is in 4 weeks, Cow Apprechiation Day (Moo?) is in 6 weeks, Hottest Time of Year Ends (83 Average) is in 7 weeks SAD!, National Lasagna Day is in 8 weeks, Last Sunset After 8 PM is in 10 weeks, National Dog Day is in 12 weeks, Lowville Cream Cheese Festival is in 15 weeks, Friday the 13th (October) is in 4 months, Beaver Moon is in 22 weeks, Cold Moon is in 6 months and Election Day 2020 is in 40 months. Hopefully goodbye Trump! 

I’m tired. Good night!