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Spring 2014 Camping Plans

Typically the first spring weekend is the earliest time in shoulder season for roadside camping in this part of the country. Often by that weekend, many of the back-roads are relatively free of snow that in drier locations, roadside camping is possible.

Shoulder-season camping can be somewhat tricky as snow and mud stays a long time in the back woods of the mountains, and it’s usually still fairly cold and the days are still relatively short, however it can be done if due care is well planned.

Early April – Wilcox Lake Wild Forest

My first camping trip of the year will probably be a weekend trip up to Wilcox Lake Wild Forest. Depending on the snow and mud conditions, I may camp off of NY Route 8 or possibly Hope Falls Road. I’d rather do Hope Falls road and maybe hike along Stony Creek, but I am not sure if it’s possible that early in the year. NY 8 is nice except for all the noise pollution from traffic.

Might do some hiking back to one of the lakes or trails in the region that I haven’t done lately. Might try some trout fishing up in the East Branch of the Sacandaga River.

Late April – Finger Lakes National Forest

The first big trip I plan to take is the Finger Lakes National Forest. I am thinking of taking off a Thursday and Friday, and doing a three night trip out there. It’s a bit of a drive out there, but the Finger Lakes are pretty, and by late April should be greening up. I enjoy seeing the open and wild farm country out there. Probably visit some of the state parks out there. I don’t have an Empire Pass this year, but I suspect most state parks won’t be charging on a Thursday or Friday in April. I might dip down to Pennsylvania for a bit on the return trip.

Early May – Vanderwhacker Wild Forest

Assuming the snow is gone relatively early and the ground is relatively dry, I may go up to Vanderwhacker Wild Forest and camp along Moose Club Way or North Club Road. Those roads can be soft in the spring time, but a lot depends on the weather. There always is the campsites along NY 28N as another option.

Mid-May – Mary Jane Hill and Western Catskills

I want to spend more time in Western Catskills this year. While it’s a bit of a drive, now that I know about a few of the roadside campsites up that way, I have a place to base my camp out. I only have a preliminary idea of what is back there from the two nights I spent out there on Veterans Day Weekend. There looks to be a lot of interesting and unexplored land out there.

It’s a bit of drive down there, but mileage wise, it isn’t awful. It might be a relatively quick drive if I take the Thruway to NY 28 then go straight across to NY 30. I also want to check out Tomannex State Forest in Hancock I heard a rumor on the Internet that there is some nice roadside camping along the East Branch of the Delaware River down there, not to mention good fishing opportunities.

Memorial Day Weekend – Moose River Plains

Memorial Day Weekend I always like do something fun where I am way back in the woods. Maybe Moose River Plains. That said this year, I will not be going up there if most of the weekend is for cold pouring rain or snow. I did that last year, and it was miserable. I may have told myself repeatably that camping out in the rain was more fun then being stuck back in the city, but I was pretty much lying to myself.

Early June – Southern Green Mountains

The Southern Green Mountains are always nice to visit. The Deerfield River is pretty and there are some nice truck trails and hikes up in the area. Maybe hike Mount Greylock then drive north and camp on one of the forest roads not too far back from VT 9. Always fun to visit Vermont and spend time in other states.

Mid-June – Brookfield, Central NY

I am usually on-call for several weeks in June, so I need to be somewhere where I have cellphone service. I have good cellphone service at Charles Baker State Forest. Maybe do some paddling and fishing on one of the creeks or ponds around there. The Rogers Environmental Education Center is always delightful in the early spring.

A list of trip ideas I have for the months of April, May, and June as we move from shoulder season to spring to summer. Also known as the first 1,500 miles.

Weekend at Bear Springs Mountain, Delaware Wild Forest, Warren Highlands

Based on the forecast for the long weekend, I decided to head down to the Western Catskills rather then Moose River Plains. It certainly was a bit sunnier, drier, and less snowy then it looks like they got up at Moose Plains. I simply did not another Memorial Day Weekend at Moose Plains, sitting in rain and snow showers.

I ended up heading down to the Western Catskills. Didn’t leave home until after 10 AM, because I was putzing around. So be it. I also had to stop at Walmart to buy another blaze orange hat, for hiking, because I lost mine. I knew it would be hunting season down there, and figured better safe then sorry. The previous night, they didn’t have one at Glenmont Walmart, so had to visit the Decided to head out the Warren Anderson Expressway (I-88) down to NY 10, and take that all the way south to Walton.

Driving down NY 10, as soon as I reached Summit, you could see a dusting of snow on the summits around. Stopped in Stamford, drove up to Mount Utsaythana. There was a dusting of snow there too, in parts it looked like a winter wonderland. Then it was down to Walton, following NY 10 and the East Branch of Delaware River. Drove through Delhi, a small rural college town. I had been through Delhi years ago, meandering around Stamford, but not in years. Then I went down to Walton, climbed an enormous hill in the truck, and was at the Bear Spring Mountain Wildlife Management Area (aka Public Hunting Grounds).

At Bear Spring Mountain WMA there is a state DEC campground known as Bear Spring Mountain Campground. It consists of two parts, a fully developed campground with hot showers that is open during the summer months near Launt Pond, and the Spring Brook area with stud pends and a pit privy, similar to Charles Baker State Forest. Both areas are a $18 a night in summer, but from October to the end of hunting season, the lower area is free, but the water is shut-off down there. The designated campsites there are crunched together, and there is no privacy, so I can’t imagine it’s much fun camping there, especially with the smell of horses on a hot summer’s afternoon.

By the time I got down there, it was fairly early, so decided to explore a bit. Drove up to Corbett, explored the Corbett Suspension Bridge, and an old chimney from the “acid factory”, which made an acid from tree bark for smokelesss gunpowder. Decided to head back and explore Bear Spring Mountain WMA a bit more, and drove up West Trout Brook Road, past several hunters. There are some limited views from end of East Trout Brook Road, namely at the summit Bear Spring Mountain. There are better views from NY 206, climbing up from Walton, but with few view points. Also explored Beers Brook Road, which had some limited but nice views into the valley below, and Russ Gray Pond.

Bear Spring WMA, being a federally-funded public hunting grounds, does not allow camping. The only camping there is those tiny, smashed together developed campgrounds known as the Bear Spring State Campground, operated by the DEC. I decided it was getting late, and I would camp there tonight, especially because it looked like one of campers had packed up, and the only other person around, was a female bow hunter, on far end of the campground. I wasn’t thrilled, as it meant I would have to keep the music down, but at least the campground was deep in the valley, protected from the wind.

It wasn’t a bad night though. The pit privies were kind of gross, but probably not worst then most of the outhouses in the woods. There was surprisingly a lot of wood in woods near the campground. The truck worked well with keeping the lights on, since switching the truck’s radio back to the starting battery and evenly discharging both batteries. The radio shuts off automatically when the starting battery is starting to get a bit low, and Big Red’s DIC says “Battery Low: Start Engine Low”. Previously, with the starting battery at full charge, hooked up to the discharged auxiliary battery, the alternator wouldn’t kick up to full charge, so the auxiliary battery would fail to get fully charged. Now, with the starting battery slightly discharged – but with enough charge to crank the engine, things kept working well all night long. There was a little bit of sleet in the evening, but nothing major.

The next morning, I got a slow start. It was drizzling, and I kind of slept in. I didn’t have a tarp set up, which didn’t help. I probably didn’t break camp until 10:30 AM..I was thinking of hiking the NYC DEP trail that overlooks the Pepacton Reservoir, but I ended up turning off onto Holiday Brook Road, and deciding to check out Huggins Lake. Hugging Lake was a nice hike back, following an old woods road back there. There is a campsite down by the lake. Apparently on the ridge above Huggins Lake, there is an old growth forest, but I never got back there.

Then it was off to Mary Smith Road. On Campground Road, one of the cut-over roads, I got to a cover bridge, which had a clearance of 6’6”, which is about an inch too low for my pickup truck with the cap and racks on. So I had to turn around, and back track for about 5 miles. That sucked. Stopped and grabed a few pictures. When I got on Mary Smith Road, and back in forest preserve, I was pleasantly surprised to find three roadside campsites on it. I ended up camping at the most used of the sites – as witnessed by vegetation – along the Finger Lakes Trail/Mary Smith Trail/Middle Mountain Trail. It was a pretty nice roadside campsite.

About as soon as I scoped out the campsite, I realized it would be a pretty night up there. Despite the mountains on both sides, the north wind was whipping along the col. But I liked the campsite, and there was plenty of trees to hang a tarp up. I starting setting up camp at 2:30 PM – which was kind of early – but I figured it was too late to hike Mary Smith Hill (which wasn’t true), but it did start to rain/sleet a bit. Got the tarp up, then the lights strung up and flag up. A heavy sleet squall pounded the col, for a while bad enough I hid out in the cab of the truck. Then I went out, built a fire, and spent sometime listening to a podcast and reading a book about the 1964 World Fair in New York.

The new 60-watt equivalent LED bulb I bought worked real well in the cold, which got down below freezing that night.. But with the bulb focused on the book, it was easy reading and plenty bright. In the cold, the 60-watt equivalent LED bulb was actually brighter then the 100-watt florescent bulb I had at camp, even after fully warming up, because the cold wind made it impossible for the florescent tube to get warm enough to fully atomize the mercury in the fixture.

At times the wind picked up, and it was pretty darn cold, to say the least. I end up putting the fire out cold before bed, to reduce the risk of the fire spreading, and because the tarp partially covered the fire pit, I was afraid it could fall into the fire, and possibly set the truck on fire or cause dripping plastic to fall on it. The fire was out cold, and I went to bed around 10:30 PM. No nightmares.

After bedding down, the wind started to whip around. It literally was howling, and the tarp was snapping up and down, making quite a bit of noise. Morning came, and it was beautiful blue skies, but very cold. That was when I first saw car actually pass by on Mary Smith Hill Road – despite being a through-road, and not a super remote road at that. Had another slow breakfast, and built a small fire to burn up some camp garbage. Usually I don’t start fires in the morning, but I was chilly, and knowing that it may be a while until I got out camping again, I wanted to have a fire.

Once I finally got going, I hiked up Mary Smith Hill to the overlook. It really was a lot less further then I expected, and ha+d some interesting views to the north. Nothing totally breathtaking, but still an interesting short hike of maybe 20 minutes each way. Then I drove over to Russell Brook Falls, making a wrong turn and ending up going through Livingston Manor and the world famous fly fishing town, Roscoe. My impression of Roscoe, was it was a very a long and pokey 30 MPH zone, but with more stores then one would expect in such a rural, small town. I probably should have stopped, but I was burning daylight.

Finally made it to Morton Hill Road, and passed a Game Warden in a unmarked green suburbanite-style Jeep. The only reason I know that, was I saw him outside of the car talking to somebody in full uniform. Morton Hill Road climbs a lot from Roscoe out to where it hits Russell Brook Road. There are three campsites along Russell Brook Road, although in all of them there is a boulder barrier between the campsite and fire pit. One might still be able to use them for a pickup with a camper on them, I guess.

I hiked back to Russell Brook Falls – a beautiful but relatively unknown set of falls – at least to non-regulars to that part of state. They are less then quarter mile from the Russell Brook Falls parking area. I stopped and grabbed some pictures. Then, it’s easy hike back to back to Trout Pond, following a gated road 9/10th of a mile from the parking area. There is a slight incline on the road, but nothing to make one break a sweat, even a fat out of shape dude like me, who spends too much time sipping cold buds in the woods. The road is a designated route for people with disabilities – somebody very strong with a wheel chair could theoretically get back there, or maybe with a CP-4 disabled with an ATV permit.

Back at Trout Pond, there is a campsite on the easterly end, and the gated road continues to the west end of lake. On the west end of the lake, there are two other campsites, spaced a ¼ mile apart, along with two lean-tos. All are designed for those with disabilities. There is also a trout spawning shelter on one of the creeks leading into lake. One of the lean-tos was well equipped – somebody left behind some nice pots and pans, all cleaned up, and a selection of perfectly good adult beverages and soda along the back wall of the lean-to. Talk about paying it forward to the next person who will use that lean-to – most certainly a hunter this time of year.

It’s small game hunting season, heard several small game bullets ring out, while hiking back there. No hunters nearby, as far as I could see, but I did wear plenty of blaze orange. I am sure next week, there will be a lot more hunters back there. Wish them luck. Hiked back to my truck and explored Campbell Mountain Road and Campbell Brook Road, looking for additional roadside campsites, preferably the kind you can back a pickup all the way back to. No such luck. Oh, well.

Then I drove down NY 30, through the hamlet of Harvard, then East Branch. Took Old Route 17 to Hancock, then poked around the Poconos and the Warren Highlands in Pennsyltucky, before eventually ending up in Susquehanna and Great Bend. The area around Hancock is very mountainous and beautiful. The Warren Highlands were rough, mostly hunting and rural landscape country, with a relatively small amount of farming going on. Lots of open burning going on too – I love Pennsylvania..

I love that wild country, and everything Pennsylvania. Fueled up, picked up certain Pennsylvania products not legal in New York and/or cheaper then New York, then hopped on I-88/Warren Anderson Expressway, and made a bee-line back to Delmar, stopping only momentarily at the rest stop on I-88. That place was creepy as all hell after dark, and not well lit either. I seriously thought of just taking a piss in some farm

I made it back to Delmar around 7 PM. It was a good adventure. Burned through more gasoline, then I had planned, although on the trip back along I-88, I average 19.9 mpg in my Big Red Silverado pickup, so not complaining.

A long-weekend trip in early November to explore the the Western Catskills.

Got to Get a Tire Plugged Tomorrow. Cold Weather is Delightful. Gets Dark Too Early.

Good Afternoon. Happy Friday. As they say the weekend has come back around on the calender once again. It’s a stay in town weekend — I actually need to take one of my tires on my truck to get patched, as I managed to run over a nail or screw somewhere along the way. It looks very pluggable. So it happens. I might also get the tires rotated, as it’s been a bit over the recommended 7,500 miles for the tire rotation.

It would be nice to have some tread life on the tires, when I take them off next spring, in favor of the wider and taller 35″ inch tires that will go with the lift kit.

It Gets Dark Early Out. I get home from work by around 5:45 PM. It takes like a half hour or longer to cook and eat dinner, and get cleaned up. Last night, by the time I was done, it was 7 PM, and while I did go for a walk down to the park, I didn’t even bother to bring a book, as it was basically dark by the time I got down there around 7:30 PM. I then went for a walk along the fitness trail, that winds through the woods, along the Phillipin Kill. I was dark and shadowy by then, but still nice.

Cool Weather of Late Has Been Nice. I don’t have air conditioning at home, and it sure was nice to leave the windows open, and let all that 40-50 degree cold air flow, and chill the apartment down after a long summer. It was a bit chilly in the morning, pulling back the covers, but it sure felt nice.

No Trips Planned for the Weekend. Actually, that’s not totally true. Once I get the tire plugged, I am thinking of going for a walk down at Schodack Island State Park. And on Sunday, if the weather is good, I may go to Bennett Hill or Thacher Park. Trying to keep the mileage budget down this weekend, to pay for the repair of the tire.

Going to Try to Do More Blog Posts. Lately I’ve kind of gotten away from blogging. I’ve been doing more photos and maps, and to a lesser extent, screwing around with the internals of WordPress. But moving forward, especially if we have less nice weather, I want to start to doing more blog posts, articles, and campsite reviews.

Happy Earth Day! 🌎

Going to be a beautiful day for riding to work. Carrot pancakes, need to stop at Hannaford to get bananas on the way in as a snack as I’ve not been shopping this week. Felt good to toss that empty plastic milk bottle in the trash on Earth Day knowing soon enough I’ll get it burnt, lol. Makes an excellent fire starter. Gotta celebrate Vladmir Lennin’s birthday with a little black smoke, as you turn the dirt with your plow or spreading manure on this Earth Day.

Good morning! Mostly sunny and 39 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a northwest breeze at 9 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 3 am. ☃️

Didn’t get a real early start 🛏 as when I first awoke I had a bit of nausea like I had been spinning. 🤯But once I finally got out of bed, got some coffee and carrot 🥕 pancakes 🥞 in me I was feeling better. I think I just have a bad case of the Monday’s. I am looking forward to the ride to work today, going to be a nice day. The weekend was cloudy, colder and wetter then expected but I had a lot of fun in the woods and a nice fire 🔥, rode some trail 🚵 and went for a nice five mile hike at Huyck Preserve.

Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 55 degrees at 5pm. Eight degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 7th. Northwest wind around 10 mph. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 68 degrees. The record high of 86 was set in 1985. 1.0 inches of snow fell back in 1928.❄

Going to stop on the way to work and get some bananas and apples at Hannaford 🍎 🍌 Got to fuel up for the busy week ahead, and I like having lots of fresh fruits and veggies to snack on when I’m in the office. 🤤 On the bike ride home I will stop and get more onions 🧅 and frozen fruit and veggies, and try to use up what I have around the apartment rather then doing a full grocery shop 🛒 until at least Wednesday, as I want to get down to the park after work to walk and read. 🚶📚️ I figure why fire up Red and spend a bunch of money on groceries 🛻 when I have a fair amount bar the fruit and vegetables, 🐄 which I can pick up riding to and from work. Also need to get more milk at Stewart’s. I know more plastic!

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:54 pm with sun having an altitude of 59.8° from the due south horizon (-11.1° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 3.5 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:07 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (282°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (288°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:46 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 2 seconds with dusk around 8:15 pm, which is one minute and 8 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Full 🌝 Moon in the east-southeast (119°) at an altitude of 16° from the horizon, 250,219 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:52 pm. At sunset, look for clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 51 degrees. There will be a west-northwest breeze at 7 mph. Today will have 13 hours and 46 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 40 seconds over yesterday.

I think it’s interesting how the greenies this year are focusing on single use plastics 💚 on Earth Day. Gets a little bit silly but I think they needed a new issue as they got their climate legislation through on the state level 🌎 but only time will tell what the effect is beyond using a lot of farm land and forest for massive solar farms. I’d be more concerned about the really toxic things in garbage today like all the electronics commonly discarded. ☠️ Or all the wasted building materials not the silly little plastic water bottles that are a tiny part of waste production made out of the least toxic forms of plastic – polyethylene. ♻ I really should get milk 🥛 delivery set up with Meadow Brook but it’s a pain having to call as they don’t have a website, and at least in the winter months I do recycle most of the discarded Stewart’s milk bottles. I wish they still had milk in glass for less trash like Byrne Dairy does. 🐮 I don’t drink as much milk as I once did since getting into healthy eating, preferring to drink more water from the tap, 🚰 but I still think those milk bottles take up much too much room in the trash or the recycle ♻️ when so inclined.

Tonight will be clear 🌃, with a low of 31 degrees at 4am. Nine degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 1st. Northwest wind around 6 mph becoming south after midnight. In 2023, we had thunderstorm in the evening, which became light rain by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 43 degrees. The record low of 26 occurred back in 1975.

First half of the weekend looks decent Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 62. Maximum dew point of 41 at 4pm. ☀ Not too bad but certainly can change. Sunday, a chance of showers. 🌦️ Mostly cloudy, with a high near 68. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Maximum dew point of 53 at 3pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 65 degrees. It is what it is, good I got out last weekend.

I am not opposed to doing a three-day weekend and heading up to the Adirondacks 🏕️ but only f the weather looks good. It would be nice to spend some time in the wilderness, have a good fire 🔥 and ride trail or explore the back country 🚵 before black flies are out in mass, 🦟 but only if the weather ain’t shit. 💩 I kind of want to wait until things green up 🌱 before heading out to Schoharie County to camp, and eat fresh ramps I found in the woods, and ride the Catskill Scenic Trail from Stamford to Bloomville 🚵‍♂️ and back again, enjoying the colors of spring and the smell of all that freshly turned dirt.🚜 Maybe that will be Mother’s Day Weekend.

Looking ahead, there are 9 weeks until Latest Sunset 🌆 when the sun will be setting at 8:38 pm with dusk at 9:12 pm. On that day in 2023, 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.

Hump Day starting out nice 🐪

Sunny and not too cold for mid April but so far no real warm weather. Those days most certainly though are coming.

Good morning! What day is it? Hump Day, of course. But as they say, the nice weather is not expected to last. Mostly sunny and 43 degrees in Delmar. ☀ There is a north breeze at 7 mph. 🍃

French toast this morning 🥖, slicing off some slices of the homemade bread I made last week that was getting stale. Not bad topped with strawberries 🍓 and honey 🍯. Dinner last night was fried zucchini 🍆 with sweet onions 🧅, riding home last night I picked up some more.

When I was cooking this morning 🍳I apparently startled a mouse 🐁 which proceeded to jump from the counter to the hot stove and then across the room in the air. Apparently the electric mouse zappers didn’t get him as I ignored the mouse captured blinking light on it last night. 🪤A mouse trap don’t work if it’s full.

Today will have increasing clouds ☀ 👉 ☁, with a high of 64 degrees at 3pm. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 25th. North wind 5 to 7 mph becoming calm in the morning. A year ago, we had light rain in the morning, which became mostly sunny by afternoon. The high last year was 64 degrees. The record high of 91 was set in 2002. 0.3 inches of snow fell back in 1965.❄

Should be a beautiful day for riding in 🚲 but depending if it rains ☔ I might have to bus 🚍 it home. So be it. Still good exercise. 💪🏻 Yesterday it was nice reading 📖 down at the park. 🏞

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:55 pm with sun having an altitude of 58.1° from the due south horizon (-12.8° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 3.7 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:02 pm with the sun in the west (279°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (286°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:40 pm after setting for 3 minutes with dusk around 8:09 pm, which is one minute and 8 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon in the south-southeast (155°) at an altitude of 64° from the horizon, 250,209 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:45 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 59 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 9 mph. Today will have 13 hours and 33 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 43 seconds over yesterday.

They’re continuing to gut the apartment next door and tore up part of the slab. 👷Quite the construction 🚧 project, they’re must have been a lot wrong with the physical plant of the unit next door, probably this explains why my apartment is always wet and the bathtub never properly drains. 🚿 Or the mold issues. Who knows if the fixes next door will also improve my unit as a side effect. I can hope.

Tonight will have showers likely, mainly after 10pm. Cloudy 🌧, with a low of 45 degrees at 6am. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 5th. Southeast wind 8 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. In 2023, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 38 degrees. The record low of 21 occurred back in 1948.

Cool this weekend with temperatures running 6 degrees below normal but otherwise sunny. 😃 Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 58. Breezy. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 55. Typical average high for the weekend is 62 degrees.

Still not sure what my weekend plans are going to be 🌲 in part because it’s going to rain on Friday evening and I’m thinking in a few weeks it would be nice to go out to Schoharie County and do a spring time ride along the Catskill Scenic Trail rather than do it this weekend. I do want to camp ⛺ maybe just a quick overnight but it’s probably too cold to do a hammock camp just up in the woods. I thought about heading back to the Adirondacks but it’s a pretty good trip to just head there for the weekend.

Looking ahead, there are 2 weeks until May 🕊 when the sun will be setting at 7:57 pm with dusk at 8:26 pm. On that day in 2023, we had rain and temperatures between 59 and 45 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 66 degrees. We hit a record high of 86 back in 2001.

It’s like late April in February 🌷

Maybe no tulips yet but it’s going to be a real nice one – I’ve seen daffodils starting to spring up and probably in warmer more sheltered parts of the woods coltfoot can be found. I’m sure we’ll still have cold blasts like on Thursday but it gets harder and harder for extended cold come March.

Good morning! Happy Tuesday. Starting out cold but will warm up quickly. Partly sunny and 37 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☀ Calm wind.

Definitely riding to work today, 🚲 leaving early so I can possibly ride up via the upper Menands ramp to extend the ride on this beautiful morning. 🌅 Plus I always have a stack of work to do over at Data Services, as the data keeps pouring in. 🖥 Don’t get me wrong, I love 😍 the work but it’s non stop. Data is dirty, it needs processing, manually and programmatically, has to be synced to the databases and user 👤 permissions updated. The work never stops in the world of data. 🔢 I’m becoming such a pro with unix textutils – awk, sed, tr, grep and cut are my go to tools ⚙.

Today will have a chance of showers, mainly after 5pm. Mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 63 degrees at 3pm. 24 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 22nd. I’ll take late April weather in February. Already opened a bunch of windows to let the smoke from cooking 🍳 and steam from showering out. 🌬️ Going to be windy, and you got to wonder about red flag 🚩 conditions although there is snow in the mountains ⛰ remaining for now. Light south wind increasing to 13 to 18 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with a few breaks of sun the afternoon. The high last year was 35 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 1997. 3.6 inches of snow fell back in 2019.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:09 pm with sun having an altitude of 38.9° from the due south horizon (-31.9° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 7.4 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 5:04 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (253°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (259°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 5:42 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 57 seconds with dusk around 6:10 pm, which is one minute and 15 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:43 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 60 degrees. Breezy, 16 mph breeze ⛅ from the south with gusts up to 28mph. Today will have 11 hours and 10 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 50 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have showers. 🌧 Low of 51 degrees at 7pm. 30 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 24th. Maximum dew point of 50 at 6am. 🏖️ South wind 14 to 16 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Leave the windows open? In 2023, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became light snow by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 26 degrees. The record low of -10 occurred back in 1950.

Right now, a split verdict on the weekend. 😕 Saturday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 51. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 57. Typical average high for the weekend is 40 degrees. Still looks great for camping 🏕 but I got to be careful with fire.

Looking ahead, there are 3 weeks until Last Day of Winter 🏂 when the sun will be setting at 7:08 pm with dusk at 7:35 pm (Daylight Savings Time). On that day in 2023, we had partly sunny, snow showers and temperatures between 33 and 22 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 46 degrees. We hit a record high of 78 back in 2012.

Hoping for a smoother Tuesday today 🧑‍🚒🧯

I did not appreciate missing the express bus home yesterday or the smoke alarm repeatedly tripping off after cooking dinner. Or repeatedly hitting the wrong keys in VIM at work yesterday, half awake on a Monday. But the salmon and frozen asparagus was good for dinner as was the larger paycheck with my new job.

Good morning! Happy Tuesday. Clouds and 28 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ Calm wind.There are 3 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Things will start to thaw out at around 1 pm. 🌡️

Made it through my birthday 🎂 without anybody saying anything besides my mom= and a few people at work. I keep my birthday locked down on Facebook as I get tired of all the fake happy birthdays you get on Facebook. I really don’t appreciate all the unwarranted attention to myself and my age, I’d rather tell my story but otherwise he ignored. Maybe that’s why I don’t do the social media.

Yesterday was a Monday and kind of a shitty one but it was always silly stuff. 💩 The kind of things that you can hit escape and then u in vim and undo. I just wasn’t feeling Monday, even if was my forty first time around the sun ☀. The smoke detector that kept going off time and time again from cooking smoke and moisture 🧑‍🚒 really set me off as did having to ride the local home. 🏡 Then I had to piss and crap so badly that I barely made the toilet 🚽 and had to clean up the seat but fortunately not my pants 👖 this time. 🤯 All that fiber and water from eating lots of fruits and vegetables can be tough at times. Especially spaghetti squash 🍆 which I find hard not to overeat but can he very lubricating of the gut and everything connected. Gawd, I’m getting old 👴🏼.

I got this enormous glass 🍸 at work as a Christmas gift that I love and when it’s full of water 💦 and ice 🧊 it’s so easy to overdo it and I was busy at the end of the day with work 📄 and didn’t have time to run to the bathroom before catching the shuttle 🚀 back to the Plaza. And then missing the express bus 🚍. Yeap. Forgot my fork 🍽 at lunch yesterday and didn’t have a spare one in my new office 🏢 so the cooked part of lunch with peas, corn, peppers and tofu got skipped for lunch as that ain’t finger 🖕 food. The milk 🥛 I had in the mason jar for my coffee ☕ at work went rancid. That was a Monday, my birthday. 🎂

I’m thinking today won’t be such a shit show 🤔 or so I tell myself. 🥞 Woke up at five o’clock like usual with no alarm ⏰ and made some good oatmeal banana 🍌 pancakes. I’ve finally mastered a good recipe that is absolutely delicious 😋 topped with mango and blueberries with real maple 🍁 syrup. The real stuff is so much better even if it’s slightly more calories. It’s not like I eat much meat or milk high in saturated fats these days or processed foods or added sugars so I figured I can use a little bit of natural sweetness occasionally like honey 🍯 or pure maple syrup.

Went for a five mile bike ride this morning after breakfast before showering and catching the express bus downtown. 🚲 Not so cold this morning for a change. My hands 👐 weren’t cold nor was my face. The cows 🐮 on Meads Road were up and around chewing their cud not all huddled together. 🚜 It was nice for a change. I probably would have gone for a longer ride, but time was tight as it was close to 6:50 AM when I got out riding. One thing is nice is that the mornings are a lot brighter then they were.

Today will have patchy freezing drizzle before 10am. Mostly cloudy 🌥, with a high of 33 degrees at 2pm. Typical for today. Calm wind becoming south 5 to 7 mph in the afternoon. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became light snow by afternoon. The high last year was 41 degrees. The record high of 56 was set in 2013. 11.0 inches of snow fell back in 1966.❄

After all of it, dinner last night was good, 🐟 even if the fire alarm problem was annoying. 👩‍🚒 I am not sure why it’s been such a problem with the smoke detectors this winter. I got a new smoke detector hoping it would stop false alarms, 🔕 without much luck. Fresh asparagus are hard to get this time of year, but the frozen ones weren’t bad. 🎍 Looking forward to spring 🐰 when the fresh ones are more available for a reasonable price, like around Easter. 👣 Evening walk was good too. I need to get back in the habit, if my fingers are cold all of the time, 🧤 I should learn to toughen up and get better gloves. It’s not like I have as much of an opportunity to get steps in working in the suburban office, though come nicer weather when I don’t have to dress up as much, I’ll probably be back to riding back in and home from the office. I figure after President’s Day, there will be enough daylight in the evening to ride home, and that’s where the real calorie burning takes place. 🌧 With the rain and cold, I’ve really gotten out of the habit, and my stomach and face are starting to show it.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:09 pm with sun having an altitude of 29.6° from the due south horizon (-41.2° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 10.6 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:24 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (239°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (247°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 5:06 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 10 seconds with dusk around 5:35 pm, which is one minute and 18 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:10 pm. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies ☁ and temperatures around 32 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 7 mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 59 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 18 seconds over today.

Maybe I’ve been overly cranky, but the smoke detector thing in particularly really set me off yesterday, 👩‍🚒 especially after such a long and difficult birthday. I am so done with winter, ready for nicer weather and longer days. At least the mornings and evenings aren’t as dark we move into February. I have a lot to look forward to once we get over the hump of winter. ⛄ I think what I really need is just more time in the wilderness. 🏕 Maybe this weekend.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 25 degrees at 4am. 10 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 11th. South wind around 7 mph. In 2023, we had light snow in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 18 degrees. The record low of -26 occurred back in 1948.

It’s always nice to see a bit of money in bank account 💰 before the money goes into retirement, investments, and my landlord’s slice. 🏘 My apartment is a dump but it’s affordable.

A picture perfect weekend on tap. 😎 Saturday, sunny, with a high near 35. Sunday, sunny, with a high near 35. Typical average high for the weekend is 33 degrees. I am thinking of doing an overnight in the woods this weekend, though I wish I had skis ⛷ but I should be able to ride roads if the trails have too much which they might. Kind of a birthday weekend camping adventure. ⛺ But a week late. Probably won’t head too far out of town for that. President’s Day Weekend, depending on how much snow there is, I might head up to the Adirondacks or Madison County.

As previously noted, next Tuesday is Save the Pine Bush Turns 43 🦋 when the sun will be setting at 5:16 pm with dusk at 5:44 pm. On that day in 2023, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 41 and 21 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 34 degrees. We hit a record high of 55 back in 1991.

Andy Arthur.org

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