29 days left in the year ⌛

Depending on how you count it, basically four weekends left if even that before we start the 2024 year. Going to be a busy year, but I am looking forward to the next chapter of my life working out in the suburbs, really putting my data science knowledge and experience to work in my new job. But first a rainy but mild weekend to get through and the holidays.

Good morning! Happy Saturday. Finally the weekend! Not such a drag as I had Monday off and the rest of week was pretty busy, although Friday morning dragged a bit waiting for the next project to come in. Mostly cloudy and 37 degrees at the Delmar, NY. ☁ Calm wind.Temperatures will drop below freezing at Tuesday around 4 am. ☃️

Started out my morning a little after 5 o’clock as I always do. ⏰ I’m not one to set an alarm but I wake up at that hour as I’m usually asleep before 9 PM and around then I have to get up and do the bathroom thing, 💩 so it’s best to get up and going and get a bright and early start on the morning. Decided to bake a breakfast cake this morning 🍰 — this time I started with food-processor milled oatmeal, whole wheat flour, stevia, two bananas, baking powder, canned pumpkin an egg, and some water and baking it. Topped it with lots of pumpkin pie spice. 🎃 It was pretty darn good, the egg and gluten from the whole-wheat flour made it very cake like and not so dry as often comes out when cooking with milled oatmeal. Plus some stomach-filling protein from the egg, and two types of fiber — insoluble fiber from the whole-wheat flour and pumpkin plus soluble fiber from oatmeal. ☕ I had to go to Stewart’s to get milk for the coffee but now this morning is a go.

Today will have a slight chance of showers between 10am and 1pm. Mostly cloudy 🌦, with a high of 47 degrees at 1pm. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 22nd. South wind 3 to 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 41 degrees. The record high of 66 was set in 1998. 6.8 inches of snow fell back in 2019.❄

I am going to take a wait and see approach to today 🌧 but if it looks like it’s going to remain just cloudy I might head up to the Albany Pine Bush for a bike / hike on some of the trails, 🚲 🚶‍♀️ and then head up to the Salvation Army to look at clothes, especially dressier things for work. 👔 I am though most likely going to have to just buy some dress shirts and pants for work 👨‍💼 as nothing I have really fits well anymore after loosing so much weight. Then I need to get spices and probably some other groceries at Walmart, though truth be told my pantry isn’t bad currently but I need more frozen fruit and vegetables, 🍓 🥦 along with the spices. Turmeric and ginger in particular but also some cinnamon and Chipotle would be good as I’m low on all those things. I don’t really have to go shopping, but at some point I do want to replenish my pantry and I hate to stay home all day. 🛒

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:46 am with sun having an altitude of 25.5° from the due south horizon (-45.4° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.6 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:39 pm with the sun in the southwest (233°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (241°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:24 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 21 seconds with dusk around 4:54 pm, which is 18 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:31 pm. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies ☁ and temperatures around 46 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 18 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 18 seconds over today.

I haven’t decided to make bread or pea soup today. 🍞 That was originally the plan but I kind of forgot or was tired and cold after last night so after my salmon 🐟 for dinner, I had some Greek yogurt and pumpkin, 🎃 then settled down to bed 🛌 doing some more of the Udemy course 🎓 on machine learning and went to sleep. I might wait until Sunday evening to kneed and make more bread, and enjoy it fresh come Monday. Maybe the same thing with the pea soup. I do have kidney beans cooking down on the stove, so I could do beans and rice later, and I took both some previously cooked and frozen chickpeas and butternut squash out of the freezer. Also still have spaghetti squash in the fridge from earlier in the week I should eat before it goes bad. Maybe it’s best to save the bread until Monday. Pea soup is good but it can make me gassy, 😤 which is why I was thinking maybe better to have it during the weekend. Helps though if I make sure to drink plenty of water with it and avoid the shredded carrots 🥕 in the bread I’m serving with it.

Tonight will have a chance of showers, mainly after 5am. Cloudy 🌧, with a low of 39 degrees at 5am. 13 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 23rd. Light north wind. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2022, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became rain by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 38 degrees. The record low of -1 occurred back in 1976.

The blog advertising pulled in $165 since September 23, 🤑 which isn’t too bad and will help me recoup at least some of the costs of the web hosting come a few weeks when finally the money is deposited in my bank. It looks like I will be earning roughly $75 a month going forward, getting paid every other month. By April, I should have recouped the hosting and domain costs from advertising, though some depends on ad rates which decline after the Christmas season and web traffic, 🕸 which always picks up during the summer months when people are looking for trails and places for camping. 🏕 I probably wouldn’t have done the advertising thing but I didn’t like the sting of the rising hosting bills a few months back, of which my bank account still hasn’t fully recovered.

I put in a FOIL request for the Recreation Unit Management Plan Shapefile with the DEC. 🏕 This would be nice for making maps, somebody asked for it a while back and I never was able to get them the file. Basically this shapefile includes the area covered unit plans, and I can’t find it online on an ArcGIS REST/Service or the DEC website. I don’t like doing too many FOIL requests 🏣 these days, as I don’t like my name all over government documents, but this would be useful to have, and could create many good maps and analysis for the blog 🗺 which could further drive traffic here. Come February 2024, I am also going to get the update voter file for the full state rather than just the county that I have now, 🗳 so I can use it for analysis, especially machine learning purposes to see if I can figure out new ways of targeting 🎯 voters.

As previously noted, next Saturday is Average High is 40 🌨 when the sun will be setting at 4:23 pm with dusk at 4:53 pm. On that day in 2022, we had sunny and temperatures between 39 and 25 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 40 degrees. We hit a record high of 62 back in 1966.

April 29, 2023 Morning

If you don’t get up and walk in the rain at 6 am on a Saturday morning you’ll feel like crap next week 🌧

That’s what I told myself as I felt like the Monday morning walk was too difficult after taking the morning slower last weekend in part because I had work to do. Maybe sometimes it best to be early to rise.

Happy Saturday on this rainy Weekend! Rain and 46 degrees for my morning walk in Delmar. ☔ There is a south breeze at 8 mph. 🍃. That cow 🐮 chow smells good on the air. Almost like a county fair. The skies will clear Monday around 7 am. Just in time to get back to work.

Out walking this morning. 🚶 Besides my usual morning walk going to do a little down at the Town Park for a while so I can get in as many steps as possible 👣 before the rain picks up. My goal is to have close to 10,000 step in before breakfast, then come home have breakfast, sit back for a while then go down to the library for a while to work on the internet. Then maybe if the rain holds off go to Five Rivers or maybe spend the balance of the day at home. I don’t know I don’t really like dreary days ☔ when I’m stuck at home.

Today will rain. 🌧 High of 54 degrees at 4pm. 11 degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 7th. Not only damp, kind of chilly for late April. Maximum dew point of 42 at 3pm. 🏖️ Southeast wind 8 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 61 degrees. The record high of 88 was set in 1888. 1 inches of snow fell back in 1885.❄

I wanted to finish the wheel on my bicycle 🚲 so I could move on to the derailleur cable and getting it closer but I opened the outer packaging and noticed they sent me the wrong spoke size. 😲 So that project will get laid aside for the weekend. Next weekend if it’s nice I want to be out of town, so this might get laid aside for a few weekends, as I really don’t have time to work on the bicycle after work. Maybe by Memorial Day I’ll have my bike up and running again.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:53 pm with sun having an altitude of 61.8° from the due south horizon (-9° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 3.2 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:14 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (284°). 📸

Trying some new foods this week. 🥑 Last week I bought an avocado and scooped it out, refrigerating the flesh. This week I got celery 🥗 and it’s perfect for dipping in avocado and is a great healthy snack. Okay, maybe a bit fatty but low on sugar and it’s a healthier fat combined with the fiber in celery. I also got eggs and some feta cheese, going to make something in the broiler on Sunday I’m thinking for breakfast with lot of peppers, onions, kale, tofu and topped with feta. 🍳 Today though for breakfast when I get back from walking, it’s going to be the mixture of barley and quinoa with pineapple chunks and cinnamon. I found I don’t really like quinoa alone — too earthy for my tastes and barley is kind of a lot of fluff but together they are a perfect mix. 🍵

Also on my list of things to do is roast those chickpeas 🌰 that I have soaking in my refrigerator. I’ve heard it’s a good snack and a healthier alternative to nuts, which can be kind of fatty. Maybe I’ll mix and match. I’m thinking it could be something good to have up at camp. Soak the chickpeas in water overnight and then roast them the next day. Good stuff. I’ve looked at nuts and raisins 🥥 for trail mix but both are very high on sugar and fats so I’m trying to stay away from that. Some whole nuts though like almonds are okay, if fatty but also are kind of expensive too.

The sunset is in the west-northwest (291°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:53 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 6 seconds with dusk around 8:23 pm, which is one minute and 8 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon in the south-southeast (166°) at an altitude of 62° from the horizon, 251,293 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:01 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 52 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 11 mph. Today will have 14 hours and 3 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 33 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will continue to rain. Cloudy 🌧, with a low of 46 degrees at 1am. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 8th. Southeast wind 8 to 11 mph. Works for me. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. In 2022, we had clear skies. It got down to 35 degrees. The record low of 25 occurred back in 1874.

Looking ahead, there are 8 weeks until Latest Sunset 🌆 when the sun will be setting at 8:38 pm with dusk at 9:12 pm. Then we start the slow but continuous glide to winter. On that day in 2022, we had partly cloudy and temperatures between 86 and 61 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 82 degrees. We hit a record high of 96 back in 1943.

February 9, 2023 Morning

Good morning! Firery red skies to the south east and 22 degrees for the morning walk. 🌅 Calm wind for now. ️Things will start to thaw out at around 8 am. 🌡️Then more rain. That should kill off most of the remaining snow.

Skies are certainly colorful for the morning walk 🚶 but it’s a sure sign of the coming clouds and rain. I will try to get as many steps as possible in before the rain, probably walking the Concourse and museum at lunch time so I have my ten k in without having to walk in the rain ☔.

Out walking by 6:30 which is good 🥞 though it’s still to dark to walk before breakfast at six but maybe next week. I generally like walking earlier in the morning when it’s quieter out. Also if I walk first then I feel like time is less compressed in the morning. 🗜

Today will rain, mainly after 11am. 🌧 High of 42 degrees at 4pm. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 6th. Light south wind increasing to 12 to 17 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. I’m old enough to remember when it snowed in the winter but not this year. A year ago, we had snow in the morning, which became snow by afternoon. The high last year was 24 degrees. The record high of 57 was set in 1925. 13.7 inches of snow fell back in 1906.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:10 pm with sun having an altitude of 32.7° from the due south horizon (-38.2° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 9.4 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:39 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (244°). 📸

The sunset is in the west-southwest (251°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 5:19 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 4 seconds with dusk around 5:48 pm, which is one minute and 18 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:22 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 42 degrees. Breezy, 17 mph breeze ⛅ from the south-southeast with gusts up to 30mph. Tomorrow will have 10 hours and 24 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 36 seconds over today.

Tonight will rain likely before midnight, then a chance of showers, mainly between midnight and 5am. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 42 degrees at 6pm. 26 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 27th. South wind 10 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 12 degrees. The record low of -21 occurred back in 1948.

A picture perfect weekend on tap. 😎 Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 37. Northwest wind 10 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 43. Typical average high for the weekend is 35 degrees.

Maybe a bit breezy but the sunshine ☀ should be nice. Still think this should be a stay at home weekend though I’m considering stopping by Indian Lader Farms 🍏 and doing some bird 🐦 watching at the marsh out in Voorheesville though with the muck boots 👢 on.

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until Read Across America Day 📚 when the sun will be setting at 5:47 pm with dusk at 6:14 pm. On that day in 2022, we had cold, mostly sunny and temperatures between 24 and 9 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 40 degrees. We hit a record high of 65 back in 1991.

January 29, 2023 Morning

Good morning! Happy Fortieth Birthday to Me. 🎂 I’m not telling anyone on Facebook, we’ll see if anyone notices, lol. 😂 Getting up and starting breakfast shortly. Then taking down camp and heading out for a walk. Later on depending on my mood I might go to Rennselearville Falls and hike there though it’s a cloudy day and I doubt there will be much ice this year due to being so mild. Come next weekend might be a different story though it’s going to be frigid then and I doubt I’ll be camping then.

Mostly cloudy and 33 degrees in Rennselearville State Forest. ☁ There is a south breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. There are 3 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ The warmth and sun was tough on the snow yesterday and it will be warmer today for just one more day. ️Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 5 am. ☃️

Yesterday was a beautiful day for skiing 🎿. Lots of blue skies and sun ☀ and not much wind. Still the morning was cold enough the snow was good though midday it got a bit tacky by melting and a few bare patches. But much better than the initial forecast. I did a lot of skiing last night. 🎿

Today will have a chance of showers, mainly after 1pm. Cloudy 🌦, with a high of 41 degrees at 1pm. Eight degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 3rd. South wind 7 to 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 14 degrees. The record high of 54 was set in 2002. 8.3 inches of snow fell back in 1990.❄

Does forty feel much different than 39? 👴🏻 Not really. I don’t think I’m much more gray than yesterday. But it’s still both an exciting and somewhat scary time as things are bound to change at an accelerating rate. But I’m ready to embrace it and take the necessary steps to make my 50th birthday in ten years especially special. There are so many things I want to do but there are steps in the mean time to follow. 🔮

Sunset tonight is at 5:06 pm with dusk 🌆 around 5:37. 9 hours and 56 minutes of daylight an increase of two minutes over yesterday. Cloudy breezy and 36 at sunset with a chance of rain showers. And then cold for mid week into next weekend. Cold then even by January standards, though Wednesday starts February and the Ground Hog reports to duty on Thursday. He’ll see his shadow and it will be cold ❄ for a while.

Later on today, going out to my parents house 🏡 for Sunday dinner and to spend the evening with them. Than back to work next week. A real five day work week. 🏢 Like everything it will go by quickly. Not planning any more trips in the near future as it’s going to be cold but maybe if it warms up for President’s Day Week I’ll plan a long weekend somewhere to be decided. Maybe Five Rivers next Saturday though it will be cold or maybe I’ll go up to see John Wolcott and his wife. I guess I could always mall walk if it’s truly frigid with the muzzle on. 😷

Since the start of December I’ve camped eight nights ⛺ only two of them in the heated tent the rest in my truck cap. 🛻 I actually prefer to sleep in an unheated place, I sleep better 😴 although even the heated tent isn’t heated while I sleep for obvious safety reasons. While the trip to Rennselearville State Forest wasn’t as invigorating as Madison County with all the farms and rural landscapes 🐮 its nice to get away from the city 🏙 for a few nights. 🌲

January 9, 2023 Morning

Good morning! Mostly cloudy and 27 degrees in Delmar. ☁ Calm wind. Things will start to thaw out at around 10 am. 🌡️

By recent standards I would call this a fairly cold morning but we are in the coldest part of the year historically. Running a minute or two late for my morning walk 🚶 as I’m taking the local bus 🚍 in as it’s a session day. 👨🏻‍💼

Decided to be a cereal 🥣 killer this morning and had cereal that I bought yesterday. it’s a quick breakfast when time is tight. I don’t buy the kind loaded with sugar but I do add frozen blueberries and honey 🍯. What can I say I’m not perfect. And I’m sure by mid morning I’ll feel sick 🤮 as the sugar high wears off.

Today will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 37 degrees at 2pm. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around February 18th. Calm wind becoming northwest 5 to 9 mph in the morning. A year ago, we had light freezing rain in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 36 degrees. The record high of 62 was set in 2008. 9.9 inches of snow fell back in 1953.❄

I was thinking what an awful experience going to Colonie really was yesterday. 🚦 Seemed like one traffic light after another between the garbage heaps towering over the suburban homes and those polished brass turds, I meaning brass frying 🍳 pans soon to be compacted in the back of a garbage truck and hauled to the growing mounds on the outskirts of town.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:03 pm with sun having an altitude of 25.3° from the due south horizon (-45.6° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.7 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:56 pm with the sun in the southwest (232°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (240°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:40 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 21 seconds with dusk around 5:11 pm, which is one minute and 3 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:47 pm. At sunset, look for partly sunny skies 🌃 and temperatures around 35 degrees. There will be a west-northwest breeze at 8 mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 20 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 19 seconds over today.

This evening is probably the best to go to the laundromat. 👖Mainly because it will be quiet tonight and I have plans for Tuesday to attend a public hearing on a proposed development in the Pine Bush. 🌲 Doesn’t take me long to get sucked into things like that. But I try to be less political these. I try to be more selective on things I get involved in these days. Although if I can find enough clothes maybe I can wait until Wednesday. I’m often really tired on Mondays after work. 😴

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌤, with a low of 28 degrees at 5am. 11 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 21st. Maximum wind chill around 24 at 6pm; West wind 10 to 13 mph. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 16 degrees. The record low of -13 occurred back in 1968.

The Kings Weekend looks good especially once we get past Saturday morning. It could still change. Not a lot of snow though for skiing 🎿. Saturday, a chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 38. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Sunday, sunny, with a high near 34. For Martin Luther’s birthday 🎂, sunny with a high around 40. Kind of like my upcoming birthday which also is a holiday in the sense it’s a Saturday. 😊 At least it’s not my birthday like that one year when the legislature worked late into the night to deprive my gun rights. Typical average high for the weekend is 33 degrees.

I think I do want to get out of town this weekend ⛺ but how far I go really depends on the weather. I’m kind of glad there is no snow around thought maybe they’ll have a couple of inches in the higher elevations by the end of the week. 🌨

As previously noted, next Monday is Martin Luther King Day 🖤 when the sun will be setting at 4:49 pm with dusk at 5:19 pm. On that day in 2022, we had freezing rain and temperatures between 37 and 30 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 32 degrees. We hit a record high of 62 back in 1995.