Good morning! It’s Memorial Day Weekend. Happy Black Fly Season! Two weeks to 50th Gas Up in Gallupville. Big anniversary. Some of the tractors they show now were brand new back then. 

Partly sunny and 63 degrees in Kelley Stand, Vermont. 24 degrees colder then last year. There is a north-northwest breeze at 5 mph. The dew point is 48 degrees. The skies will clear tomorrow around 7 am.

Now that the sun came out its pretty nice. A bit cool and still fairly damp but with the sun I’m hopeful that with the sun and breeze the mud will continue to dry on up. I dug some trenches to help the mud dry up. This isn’t a particularly wet campsite and it’s hardened with gravel but it still pretty wet here in the woods. 

Already went through a shit ton of socks. I packed extra but my cracked boots leaked a lot and I didn’t want to wear my hunting boots by the fire, lest I melt them and I didn’t want to wear my new boots and get them all muddy. I hope I have enough socks, I could run back to the Walmart in Bennington if I need more. 

With all the rain and now the sun, the black flies are out and showing zero mercy. I soaked my cowboy hat with DEET and rubbed some picardian on my skin, so they aren’t biting much but they are swarming. A light breeze is helping too. The black fly season only has two or three weeks left. Thank the Black Fly God. 

Today will be partly cloudy, with a high of 68 degrees at 4pm. Five degrees below normal. Maximum dew point of 49 at 10am. North wind around 5 mph. A year ago, we had thunderstorm, rain, but other wise mostly sunny skies and a high of 87 degrees. I spent most of that day swimming in Grout Pond. Much warmer that year. I might go for a paddle on Grout but no swimming thus year. The record high of 94 was set in 1914.

The sun will set at 8:21 pm with dusk around 8:55 pm, which is 53 seconds later than yesterday. At sunset, look for partly cloudy conditions and 62 degrees. The dew point will be 49 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 15 hours and 3 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 31 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have a slight chance of showers before 1am. Partly cloudy, with a low of 50 degrees at 3am. One degree below normal. Light and variable wind. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2016, it got down to 67 degrees with shallow fog and mist and mostly cloudy skies. The record low of 33 occurred back in 1994.

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until 50th Gas Up in Gallupville when the sun will be setting at 8:31 pm with dusk at 9:06 pm. On that day in 2016, we had mostly sunny skies and temperatures between 74 and 47 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 77 degrees. We hit a record high of 96 back in 2008. I think I will probably go. I want to have some of their ice cream. Maybe camp at Burnt Rossman and swim at Mine Kill? 

The selfie stick works well. You can laugh at it but it’s good for making videos and taking pictures. At $16 including tax it was very affordable and included a Bluetooth remote which doesn’t work with my camera. But still I’m happy with it. 

The laser lights are cool with the trees in the woods but I tell you I’m sure it would attract the attention of any passing fire warden as they look like embers burning on the branches or fireflies as they are supposed to look like. On a flat surface like a wall, they are pretty boring but in the wilderness, they are quite pretty.