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Daily Update – August 16, 2021

Good morning! Happy Tuesday. ๐ŸŒ„

Already noticing how much later the sun is rising though it’s still a pretty nice morning.

Partly sunny and 58 degrees in Delmar, NY. โ˜€ Calm wind. The dew point is 56 degrees.

Out walking ๐Ÿšถ at six o’clock as I find it makes the day go so much smoother. I get my steps ๐Ÿ‘ฃ in earlier which means that they are more likely to get done and I don’t drag so much getting started. Then I come home and have breakfast ๐Ÿฅž take a shower ๐Ÿšฟ and then catch the later express bus ๐Ÿš downtown.

I was in bed ๐Ÿ› before nine which seems early but I sleep so much better when I’m in bed at nine and get up at six o’clock. It also helps to manage the daylight so much more efficiently especially as we head into the dark time of the year. Once it gets cold, I can crawl under the electric heated blanket and stay warm without big bills.

Monday was busy but relatively sane. ๐Ÿข What needed to get done got done at work in an orderly way. ๐Ÿ›’ I got to the grocery store and stocked my pantry. I should be good until I get the weekend. I wanted to wash my truck ๐Ÿ›ป but the wash bay was closed. Doesn’t matter, truck will get dirty this weekend. โ™ป I returned my beer cans and dwelled on how empty my trash cans are. ๐Ÿ”ฅ I try to avoid buying things in metal or glass except for beer.

I early voted yesterday on my walk home from the express. ๐Ÿ—ณ Only one race locally with a primary, the Congressional with Rar vs Zip or whatever you want to call the man from Amsterdam who lives in the same place as his mom and dad. I like Tonko and Amsterdam more generally, but who knows besides myself who I voted for.

I am still thinking about heading north this weekend, maybe the last time to Piseco Powley ๐ŸŠโ€โ™‚๏ธ and the Potholers this year. The rest of the summer into the autumn, trips will likely involve a degree of remote work so I’ll have to camp โ›บ places with cell service. ๐Ÿ“ฑ

Been going through my blog logs ๐Ÿ“œ trying to come up with some ideas for blog posts based on searches. ๐Ÿ”ŽYou know things like maps and coordinate data for places to camp or hike. Some of it is QGIS stuff but it’s hard to resist the power of R for doing geospatial things.

Daily Update – July 2, 2022

Good morning! Independence Day weekend! ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ

Maybe it would have been nice to head out to town for the long weekend but work didn’t wrap up until after 8 pm, I didn’t have the coolers packed and I needed groceries, plus it is a holiday weekend so I figured the best campsites fill early.

Partly cloudy and 75 degrees at John Boyd Thacher State Park. ๐ŸŒฆ๏ธ Occasional rain showers, very humid. There is a west breeze at 7 mph. ๐Ÿƒ. The dew point is 67 degrees. The skies will clear around 11 am.

It was such a long and miserable day yesterday, ๐Ÿคฎ just hours and hours waiting around until that gun bill got started and New Yorkers got to start to learn what second amendment rights ๐Ÿ”ซ they were loosing based on a law negotiated in complete secrecy under the cover of darkness. Twitter and the reporters had no idea – and I doubt ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™‚๏ธ even the lobbyists knew as insiders like myself had no idea. Wrecked any hopes of getting out of town early for me, not the it’s a banner weather day today. ๐ŸŒฆ๏ธ Showers about, very humid.

Today I’m out walking ๐Ÿšถ and exploring Thacher Park. ๐Ÿž The bus is free although I much preferred the schedule last year when it ran weekly on the hour so. This year it is far less frequent and I have to get the bus from Slingerlands which is far less nice than Five Rivers. ๐Ÿธ But it’s still free. Not as popular as the old service though. Very hazy today.

Tomorrow I’m heading out to Rennselear County to hike ๐Ÿšถ and possibly hammock camp. ๐Ÿ˜ด Nothing is set in stone but I have packed maps and have a plan. ๐Ÿ—บ Nights are short now, though might be buggy but I might pack a bed sheet to cover me in the hammock. I also want to get some sparklers โœจ and fountains to shoot off the next time I’m in the woods. Do a late four of July celebration.

Next weekend I’ll probably head up north to the Potholers and do a long weekend. โ˜บ A lot depends on the forecast but I hope to leave fairly early on Friday and take off the following Monday. I have a pre-poll memo ๐Ÿ“ to review next week but I’m hoping to do it before I leave.

Good Morning – August 30, 2021

Good morning! Happy Average High Falls To 79 ๏ธDegrees โ›ฑ๏ธ๏ธ๏ธ !

There is your evidence that summer is ending. That and traffic volumes are picking up. ๐Ÿš˜ Next Monday is Labor Day ๐Ÿ‘ท and then its back to downtown five days a week and back to school ๐Ÿšธ for the youngens.

Mostly cloudy and 70 degrees in Delmar, NY. โ˜ There is a south breeze at 10 mph. ๐Ÿƒ. The dew point is 68 degrees. The skies will clear around 5 pm. Muggy out but not hot yet.

Breakfast was pancakes ๐Ÿฅž and frozen cherries ๐Ÿ’ and then it was out for the morning walk ๐Ÿšถ. I’ll head home, take a quick shower ๐Ÿšฟ then head down to the office ๐Ÿข.

The weekend was nice but the four days in the Adirondacks ๐Ÿ—ป came and went much too quickly. Maybe later in September I can get to the Potholers one more time before it gets too cold. That said this weeks forecast looks cold.

Oil change and tire rotation tomorrow ๐Ÿ›ข as I try to milk whatever life I can out of those 35s plus remote work ends Friday so it’s just so much easier to get done now. ๐Ÿ›’ Also grocery shopping and a car wash tonight. I could have waited on the oil change but I want to do the tire rotation to keep the tires from getting too cupped. Later in September I’ll make my Watkins Spring appointment with their big alignment machine.

Canceling the deposit to my savings account this week because my bank account is a joke ๐Ÿฆ and there isn’t any money left at least before pay day. What can I say, we live in inflationary times. Now if they could increase the fed rate. ๐Ÿ“Š At least we won’t be wasting so much money in Afghanistan ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ซ.

Maybe I should create a budget, as the advertising suggests ๐Ÿ’ต but I’m not sure how much savings I can find. Most of my money goes towards savings, investment. and retirement as it is. I already take maximum advantage of tax advantaged retirement accounts, index funds ๐Ÿ“‡ and high interest savings. I am just so focused on my long term goals.

This week thought I want to continue learning more PANDAS ๐Ÿผ and new skills with Python. When I have some down time, I want to keep researching how to make more interesting output of data, especially interactive graphs and maps.

May 30, 2021 Morning

Good morning! Happy Sunday. Two weeks to Fathers Day ๐Ÿ‘จ . The unofficial end of black fly season, although I tend to think they’re around until July 4th, although come late June it’s mostly mosquitos then July comes around and things aren’t so bad. Rain and 47 degrees in Delmar, NY. โ˜” There is a north breeze at 8 mph. ๐Ÿƒ.

I wanted to walk around to Five Rivers ๐Ÿฆ this morning before the rain, but it’s already raining and I did not get up early enough apparently. ๐Ÿ˜ด I’ve been bad this weekend about getting started, after getting up at 6:30 AM each day last week, so I could go for my morning walk before heading downtown on the bus. ๐ŸšŒ Memorial Day Weekend will continue to be cold, damp and rainy but the skies will clear tomorrow around 5 pm in time for picnics, although you’ll definitely want a long sleeve shirt. ๐ŸŒญ ๐Ÿ”

Today will rain, mainly after 10am. ๐ŸŒง High of 50 degrees at 4pm. 25 degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 28th. North wind around 9 mph. It’s already become a very wet day, and it looks like it only will get wetter. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 78 degrees. The record high of 92 was set in 1987.

Yesterday, I was over at the apartment where they are storing the recovered documents for John Wolcott. ๐Ÿ“œ Didn’t find a lot of interesting things, more papers and photos, mostly personal stuff. Important for him, but it wasn’t a lot of great historic value we found yesterday. But I’ve been mostly looking through photos that we’ve been saving by soaking, separating, and drying. ๐Ÿ–ผ ๐Ÿ‘ƒ At least the files don’t stink as much yet, although we are starting to run the clock with the damp weather ๐Ÿ’ฆ and mildew starting to grow on the wet documents. I’m going to head back there later today.

I was worried that the Fairchild Aerial Photos of Albany Pine Bush in the 1920s were misplaced, but Lynne was able to find them. I really want to get a high resolution scan of them, maybe because I’m a bit biased towards them with my love old aerial photos. ๐ŸŒฒ But they can also really tell a story about the Albany Pine Bush and world long gone. The USGS photos taken in the early to mid-1950s for stereographic mapping of the land for topographic maps is great, but it’s from the 1950s, and a lot of land use change occurred earlier then the 1950s in Pine Bush. ๐Ÿ”

While I should have done this a long time ago, ๐Ÿ“ธ I finally took high resolution photos of my guns and their serial numbers, along with various diplomas and certification documents including my truck title an birth certificate, ๐Ÿ‘จ‍๐ŸŽ“ and family photos, and put them in an encrypted file both on my laptop and for off-site storage. Just with my ordinary camera. ๐Ÿ“„ This way I figure if I am ever a victim of a natural disaster, be it fire, riot, tornado, flood, I’ll have my photos and important documents backed up, with all the numbers and key information. ๐Ÿ’พ Sure, I’ll probably have to get a new copy of my birth certificate, et. certera at some point but when you have the information it’s easier to get. Data storage is cheap, and while I don’t do the whole cloud thing, โ˜๏ธ off-site is important in case the building I live in is destroyed or my laptop is stolen or damaged. ๐Ÿ”ซ Likewise, with the guns it’s a lot easier to file a police report if you have the serial numbers and photos. Salvaging all those charred documents ๐Ÿ”ฅ really makes me want to be a lot more careful at backing up everything. Plus I’ve purged a ton of paper documents that aren’t relevant anymore. ๐Ÿ—‘ I need to tackle the crawl space and get rid of some worn out clothes and other things this summer. ๐Ÿ‘š โ™ป๏ธ

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 12:54 pm with sun having an altitude of 69.2° from the due south horizon (-1.6° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 2.3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour ๐Ÿ… starts at 7:44 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (294°). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west-northwest (301°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:26 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 23 seconds with dusk around 8:59 pm, which is 50 seconds later than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ The best time to look at the stars is after 9:43 pm. At sunset, look for rain ๐ŸŒง and temperatures around 48 degrees. There will be a north breeze at 8 mph. Today will have 15 hours and 4 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 23 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will rain, mainly before 4am. ๐ŸŒง Low of 47 degrees at 9pm. Nine degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 4th. North wind around 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. In 2020, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 46 degrees. The record low of 34 occurred back in 1961.

Tomorrow, which is Memorial Day will have a chance of rain before 7am, then a chance of showers, mainly between 7am and 3pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 61. ๐ŸŒฆ Northwest wind 6 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

I had higher hopes about Memorial Day ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ but it seems like the bad weather will continue until Tuesday when it will get nice. I can work from home on Tuesday, and while I have to work in the office on Wednesday and Thursday, I’m thinking of working from the Speculator area on Friday and Monday, just because there is that great library there and decent places to camp in the area. ๐Ÿ• I am going to hold off on the Potholers for this weekend, although looks plenty warm. I could go for a swim at Speculator Beach.  ๐ŸŠ‍โ™€๏ธ Not sure if I will bring my kayak — my initial feeling is no to that, because I will need the solar power to work. ๐Ÿ›ถ

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until Fathers Day ๐Ÿ‘จ when the sun will be setting at 8:34 pm with dusk at 9:08 pm. On that day in 2020, we had cold but otherwise partly sunny day and temperatures between 66 and 46 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 79 degrees. We hit a record high of 94 back in 1892. Back before my time, and I suspect yours too.

Grass Along Lake

January 8, 2021 Morning

Good morning! Happy Bubble Bath Day ๐Ÿงผ ! Never was into the bubble bath, but I do like the bubbly potholers on a hot summer day. ๐ŸŠ Three weeks to my 38th Birthday ๐ŸŽ‰ . 17 years until I will be 55. That said I’m not sure if I will stick around in Albany for another decade and a half. ๐Ÿ‘ด So many things to do before then. Cloudy and 21 degrees in Delmar, NY. โ˜ There is a north-northwest breeze at 7 mph. ๐Ÿƒ. There is a inch of snow on the ground. โ˜ƒ ๏ธThings will start to thaw out at around 2 pm. ๐ŸŒก๏ธ

Kind of a cold and gray morning. ๐ŸŒฅ I am rather disappointed with the weather. Fewer dog ๐Ÿถ walker to have to put the mask on for and step off the trail for on the era of THE COVID. Hopefully, we will have more sun later โ˜€ as I like looking at blue skies with the endless work zoom meetings of lately. โŒจ๏ธ Normally I mute ๐Ÿ”• myself but lately with too many Ferris Buehler moments I left the microphone on and then my typing got picked up and I got yelled at during the meeting. I just find the phone zoom app is incredibly hard to unmute I a hurry. So it’s back to staring out the window. โฌœ

I think today will be a work from home day, ๐Ÿ  that is after I go for my morning walk on this most cloudy start of day. โ˜ Yesterday was so nice with all that sun to get the morning started, but that’s definitely not to be today. But hopefully it will get nicer once that high level front passes through. But I was hoping for seven days of blue skies in the morning, but that was not to be.We can have hopes for nice weather, but that rarely comes to be. But still I enjoy my morning walks. ๐Ÿณ I had a good pan of eggs with a chopped up ham-steak, broccoli, cheese and lots of coffee โ˜• so I should have plenty of energy for the day. ๐Ÿ’ค Slept well last night.

Today will be cloudy through mid morning, then gradual clearing โ›…, with a high of 34 degrees at 3pm. I am surprised how cloudy it out this morning. I thought the week was supposed to be a lot more sunny. Debbie downer I guess. Geos-East shows a row of clouds pushing through. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around February 11th. Northwest wind 7 to 9 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became mostly clear by afternoon. The high last year was 39 degrees. The record high of 60 was set in 2008. 8.3 inches of snow fell back in 1923.โ„

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 12:03 pm with sun having an altitude of 25.2ยฐ from the due south horizon (-45.6ยฐ vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.8 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour ๐Ÿ… starts at 3:55 pm with the sun in the southwest (232ยฐ). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west-southwest (240ยฐ) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:40 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 22 seconds with dusk around 5:11 pm, which is one minute and 2 seconds later than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ The best time to look at the stars is after 5:47 pm. At sunset, look for mostly sunny skies ๐ŸŒƒ and temperatures around 32 degrees. There will be a north-northwest breeze at 7 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 14 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 14 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly clear ๐ŸŒƒ, with a low of 17 degrees at 6am. Two degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around February 11th. Maximum wind chill around 14 at 3am; Northwest wind 6 to 8 mph. In 2020, we had light snow in the evening, which tapered off and the skies become mostly clear and cold by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 13 degrees. The record low of -20 occurred back in 1968. But not 1968 cold, as it rarely gets that cold these days around here, but who knows with the polar vortex roaring around, although it seems unlikely to hit here in New York.

Tomorrow will be mostly sunny ๐ŸŒž, with a high of 33 degrees at 1pm. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around February 6th. Northwest wind 7 to 10 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became mostly clear by afternoon. The high last year was 30 degrees. The record high of 62 was set in 2008. 9.9 inches of snow fell back in 1953.โ„

I haven’t decided yet for sure but I might just walk ๐Ÿšถ๐Ÿป out to Five Rivers tomorrow ๐Ÿฆ to watch the birds rather than driving anywhere. ๐Ÿš˜ I just washed my truck yesterday and I don’t want to get it dirty plus the fuel tank โ›ฝ is getting low and I don’t want to have to get gas until next week and I’ll save money ๐Ÿ’ต by not visiting Aldi for even more groceries. Although I do also want to explore the Van Dyke Preserve which is near Meade’s Farm Road — never been there before, and it’s a short walk from the house. Maybe I’ll hike to the Van Dyke Preserve then out to Five Rivers. That will give me a full day of hiking and keep me busy if the weather is decent. I never trust the forecast these days.

Looking ahead to Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 34. ๐Ÿ˜ŽNorthwest wind around 7 mph. Typical average high for the weekend is 30 degrees.

I am thinking Sunday I will go for a walk ๐Ÿšถ๐Ÿปaround the Holt Preserve. Been a while since I was last there, and I don’t want to drive too far this weekend. ๐Ÿš˜ Close to home and it’s an easy drive out there without too many back roads to get my truck dirty with.

Finally got to the bank yesterday, ๐Ÿฆ and got the stack of checks I had been hoarding into the bank. I’ve gotten good at driving my big jacked up truck to the ATM. ๐Ÿง There was a big line at the bank drive through as all the interior banking facilities are closed due to the COVID, and I had trouble making the turn to get to the ATM but eventually traffic moved ahead, and with a little jumping of the curb with the back wheel of Big Red and some careful negotiation of the drive through, I made it there safely.

I wasn’t going to do the IRA thing this year in favor of a Roth, ๐Ÿ’ต but after looking at my tax situation, I’ll probably do some of a regular IRA for part of $6k. If I do move to a low tax state in my later years for my homestead it won’t be that big of a deal, and if I have my own land, I’ll probably not be spending that much money on any particular year so my income will be lower. Then when I max out the IRA, I’ll just do the CD or investment account. Should do the trick. And I’ll keep looking at properties in rural Missouri and Neberaska to tease myself in thinking about a better tomorrow.

I also got a bunch of groceries, ๐Ÿ›๏ธ and cleaning supplies. ๐Ÿงฝ I bought this big bottle of ammonium – lemon cleaning solution and it stunk to high hell, ๐Ÿฆจ but it did a good job cleaning the kitchen and bathroom. At first I thought I thought there had been a mixture of some of the old residual chemicals and the ammonium producing noxious chloramine but no, it just was a lot more pungent ๐Ÿ‘ƒ then the other knock-off Pine Sol I normally get. The stink quickly dissipated though, and it was very effective at cleaning the floors and countertops. I am trying to spend a few hours year week cleaning to keep things a bit nicer around here. โ˜  Probably toxic as hell but so be it. We live in a world of chemicals.

I haven’t seen any mice since the mouse I caught yesterday, ๐Ÿ so that’s a good thing. I thought this would be a mice free winter, and until January 6th, that was the case. Then that one made a riotest appearance. Despite the news from that hick town some 500 miles south of me, I thought Wednesday was a pretty quiet day except for that one mouse I caught. I also bought more peanut butter for traps or to use with lunch.

The peanut butter will be good for snacks.๐Ÿช I got kind of a sweet tooth when I got that big bag of Christmas cookies at Aldi’s two weeks ago, but I normally don’t have cookies or sweets at home, but a glob of peanut butter along with the frozen fruit in the freezer should help make up for it. I don’t like to have cookies at home, as they’re not healthy and there are a expense I can’t afford with my budget being as tight as it these days. ๐Ÿ’ธ๐Ÿšญ I’ll eat cookies and drink beer and maybe even drag on something when I’m camping but I refuse to do any of those vices at home.

I’ve been using less data then expected, ๐Ÿ“ถ so come April if I’m still working from home, I’ll probably switch back to the 10 GB hotspot plan and then back to the old, cheaper phone plan once I’m back to work again downtown. Right now, things are working out good, just spending one afternoon a week at the library parking lot when it’s not to cold to get the big files I need for mapping or other purposes. The extra $20 a month (or $10 if i go back to 10 GB) is reasonable these days with no or little bus fares to pay working from home. But I think I’d prefer to work down at the library or the park when the weather is nice and not have to be watching every megabyte on the gauge. ๐Ÿ”Œ Then I’ll be just watching the watt-hour gauge and resetting the undervoltage relay when it clouds up too much.

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until 38th Birthday ๐ŸŽ‰ when the sun will be setting at 5:05 pm with dusk at 5:35 pm. On that day in 2020, we had partly cloudy skies ๐ŸŒฅ and temperatures between 35 and 19 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 31 degrees. We hit a record high of 54 back in 2002.

๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒป๐ŸŒผOnly 71 days remain until the first day of calendar spring!๐ŸŒน๐ŸŒป๐ŸŒผ Tomorrow marks ten weeks until calendar spring. But sometimes we get nicer weather before then but who knows. It varies a lot from year to year, with sometimes the worse blizzards in late March, although that time of the year with average highs in the 40s, snow doesn’t last long.

Ice Shimmers Through Trees

Gold Mine Stream Falls, the Potholers Little Brother ๐Ÿž

Gold Mine Stream Falls, the Potholers Little Brother โ›ฒ

Roughly 200 feet south of Campsite 14 on Piseco Powley Road, past a small wetland there is a trailhead marked with a water bottle. This unmarked trail is roughly two miles back to the Gold Mine Stream Falls. This gentle set of cascades and drops has several small pools at the bottom with a gentle flow of water over the rock face. It’s a nice place to hike to and cool off on a hot summer day. Not as big as the Potholers and lacking the little deep pools or big waterfalls, it’s still a nice place to cool off on a hot day.

Gentle Drop Into A Golden Pool

Pool

Goldmine Stream Falls