Yesterday, I went for a quiet little walk up Bennett Hill. There were a lot of people up there, and I've taken many pictures so I didn't need more, but still I thought this picture captures late September fairly well.
Taken on Sunday September 20, 2020 at Bennett Hill Preserve.Good morning! Yeah, it’s Friday! Did it ever seem like we would make it here this week? This week bucked at times like the engine on the bus on the old I 787 in traffic but much like Friday, it made it to the destination.
Mostly cloudy, rather dark and 35 degrees at the for the morning walk in Delmar. ☁ There is a northwest breeze at 14 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 2 am. ☃️ Then again it’s 6:15 after the time change, though we are seeing some as the walk continues.
Not so cold this morning but the wind makes it a bit cool. 💨 The deer 🦌 are grazing on the well manured farm field 🐮 while a turkey vulture flies overhead and the sky to the east is a beat red. I was up before six and I finished off the last of the oatmeal 🥣.
Today will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a high of 47 degrees at 5pm. One degree below normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 21st. Just hearing that is a reminder that spring is coming soon. Northwest wind 10 to 14 mph. A year ago, we had light drizzle in the morning with a few breaks of sun the afternoon. The high last year was 46 degrees. The record high of 69 was set in 1976. 5.5 inches of snow fell back in 1956.❄
Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:03 pm with sun having an altitude of 48.7° from the due south horizon (-22.1° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 5.3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer.
The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:35 pm with the sun in the west (267°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (273°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:12 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 54 seconds with dusk around 7:39 pm, which is one minute and 9 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the west (262°) at an altitude of 34° from the horizon, 239,655 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:13 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 43 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 8 mph. Tomorrow will have 12 hours and 26 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 54 seconds over today.
I wasn’t sure but I managed to get out walking 🚶 down to the town park 🏞 right after work and did a few laps around the Nature Trail 🐸 before it got dark and started to drizzle. I had a small container of pasta with lots of vegetables, which has more sugar then I would like but I had previously bought, froze and didn’t want to go to waste by eating in moderation. 🥧
Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 31 degrees at 5am. Two degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 30th. North wind around 7 mph. In 2022, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 39 degrees. The record low of 0 occurred back in 1875.
Tomorrow will have a chance of snow before 9am, then a chance of rain and snow between 9am and 11am, then rain after 11am. 🌧 High of 38 degrees at 4pm. 11 degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around February 24th. Breezy, with a southeast wind 6 to 11 mph increasing to 15 to 20 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Little or no snow accumulation expected. A year ago, we had light drizzle in the morning with a few breaks of sun the afternoon. The high last year was 57 degrees. The record high of 74 was set in 1910. 1.9 inches of snow fell back in 1960.❄
Tomorrow I think I will get up early or at least at the normal time 🚶 and walk before the snow and rain comes. Maybe even do Five Rivers though Sunday sounds like a better day for doing that. I was hoping to get out of town this weekend but I didn’t think that was possible with the weather. It’s fine, I have some library books 📚 to finish up that are due back and I’ll probably end up working Saturday morning. I could do it remote but at home is easier.
Looking ahead to Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 50. ☀ Breezy, with a west wind 15 to 22 mph, with gusts as high as 33 mph. Typical average high for the weekend is 49 degrees.
Sunday sounds like the better day of the weekend ☺ though that wind of will make it feel colder than the mercury actually says. But I’ll probably hike Bennett Hill and go out and see the folks in the afternoon.
Looking ahead, there are 2 weeks until 7:30 PM Sunset 🌇 when the sun will be setting at 7:30 pm with dusk at 7:56 pm. On that day in 2022, we had rain and temperatures between 51 and 45 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 55 degrees. We hit a record high of 87 back in 2010.
Good morning! What day is it? Hump Day, of course. 🐪 Six weeks to Flower Moon 🌻 . Partly sunny and 52 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌞 Calm wind. The dew point is 42 degrees. Nice morning, although a bit groggy as I recover from COVID vaccine number 2 and because I had trouble sleeping again last night.
The morning walk was quite pleasant 🏃 with lots of sun, and nothing more then a t-shirt 👕 needed for my walk. Going to cloud up later but for now it’s pretty nice and I might drive down to the library to work this afternoon. 💻 I could work from home but on nice days like this I prefer to be outside where I can get some fresh air and relax. And maybe work on my tan some more.
The second COVID-shot went well yesterday, 💉 and I should be done and fully-vaccinated, with full-immunity in two weeks. My arm and shoulder blade 💪 feels like I have been doing a lot of shooting my 12-gauge shotgun, 🔫 or maybe like I got bit by a tick have Lyme disease in the shoulder 🐜 but I’m sure it’s just the vaccine kicking in. I am working from home, have no Zoom Meetings today, so nobody will know if I look or feel like a wreck today. Maybe less shooting this weekend if my arm is so sore. Or maybe I’ll have to use my .22 which doesn’t kick like a mule.
Today will have a slight chance of rain after 3pm. Mostly sunny to start out the day 🌞, with clouds pushing in later ☁️ and a high of 70 degrees at 4pm. 12 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around May 16th. Calm wind becoming southwest around 5 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 52 degrees. The record high of 83 was set in 1968. 1.4 inches of snow fell back in 1950.❄
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:56 pm with sun having an altitude of 56.9° from the due south horizon (-13.9° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 3.9 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:59 pm with the sun in the west (278°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (284°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:36 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 59 seconds with dusk around 8:05 pm, which is one minute and 8 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the west (274°) at an altitude of 23° from the horizon, 252,119 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:41 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 64 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 13 hours and 21 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 46 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will rain late, mainly after 5am. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 47 degrees at 6am. 10 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 15th. Southeast wind 5 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2020, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became light snow by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 33 degrees. The record low of 21 occurred back in 1940.
Last night was really nice for sitting out back ✨ although as the evening progressed, things got more cloudy. 🌽 The air had a sweet smell of corn silage, 👃 like they had just cut into some fresh silage that were feeding to cows at the farm down the way. 🐮 The smell really reminded me of summer, with the cows grazing on the grass at the Finger Lakes National Forest.
Some are calling for a nice spring weekend on tap at least in Albany-area. 😎 Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 54. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 60. More clouds up north, or maybe not depending on the model you look up. 🌦 Folks don’t really agree. 99% percent of forecasts are imaginary, up to random chance. Typical average high for the weekend is 59 degrees.
I am not sure if I will head north on Friday or Saturday, 🏕 a lot depends on the weather. I’d rather not be setting up camp in the pouring rain. 🌧 At least it looks like there won’t be much of a fire risk this weekend, so that’s good if I want to have a little campfire to stay warm 🔥 but I’ll also bring my heater too for warming my hands.
The first session of therapy went well, 💭 although mostly it was just an overview for intake purposes, understanding and discussing my issues. Listening to all the possible concerns and issues, legal and else-wise, I think I am glad I just have a little bit of anxiety, 😮 sometimes negative thought processes 😡 and a bit of pyromania when it comes to burn barrels 🛢 and the alike. Things could be a lot worse. 😩 All things that are curable with a little work on my part. I don’t want anything to get in my way of making more money, saving, investing and eventually owning my land. 🚜 One thing that kind of sucks that my next appointment is a week from 4 PM Friday, 📅 which means getting out of town to go camping might not be a reality, so it’s more important to plan to get out out of town this week if possible.
As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until Cinco de Mayo 🤠 when the sun will be setting at 8:00 pm with dusk at 8:31 pm. On that day in 2020, we had sunny skies and temperatures between 59 and 38 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 66 degrees. We hit a record high of 91 back in 1944.
Good evening! Mostly clear and 70 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌌 There is a northwest breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 57 degrees. It’s a very pleasant evening. Lots of stars ✨ out back and the crickets 🦗 are singing 🎶 their song.
I went over to John Wolcott’s house 🔎and we went through the most interesting file 📂 of old photos and documents relating to preservation or lack therefore of the Fort Orange site now buried ⚰ under Interstate 787. 🌉 I took some pictures of the files and I’ve posted some and will continue to post more in coming days. 🖼
It was a pretty quiet day at work 💻and I was able to get the quick photo 📸 uploader up and working. This allows me to quickly upload photos from my smartphone 📱 to the blog and some of the other content as an alternative to the traditional uploader which is better for uploading several maps or photos at once. 👆 Combined with the better camera on my new phone I should be able to post high quality pictures from my trips on the fly.
I got next week off from work 🏖️ and I’m heading out to the Finger Lakes this weekend for a week or socially distant vacationing. It’s a real vacation, none of this remote work from the wilderness. 💻🌲🌲 This year I don’t expect to spend every day at a state park 🏞 but instead will do more hiking and kayaking 🛶 away from the crowds. The first half of the week looks pretty nice ☀ but if the second half kind of is rainy ☔ I have lots of books to read 📖.
Might try to camp at that site with more limited cell reception as I kind of want more quiet. 🔕 I’m not saying I won’t visit the Glen Dairy Bar 🍨🍦 a few times or maybe get up early one or two mornings and get a spot to swim 🏊 at the Watkins Glen pool but it’s not going to be the focus of some years. 🌻I want to do different things, more hiking and paddling and less crowded gorges or touristy places during the pandemic. 👾 Nothing wrong with staying in camp a few days with a book 📙 or watching the cows graze on the pastures 🐮. I really do get tired of all the emails 📧 and social media 😜 especially the trolls send emails that are downright harassing.🤬
I picked up most of the supplies and food 🍲 I will need for the first few days of my Finger Lakes trip. I also got two waterproof cases for my phone and camera 📸 should I decide to bring them kayaking 🛶. I also have a knock off Go Pro camera 📹 which I should figure out how to attach to my kayak. I’ll need some night crawlers 🐛 for fishing 🎣 but I’ll get them once I get out there. I’m also looking at getting another water container with a spigot that I can put on a table and turn the spout 💧 for water.
Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 56 degrees at 4am. Five degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around September 3rd. Maximum dew point of 57 at 9pm. Northwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies. It became sticky as the night progressed. It got down to 63 degrees. The record low of 45 occurred back in 1994.
Tonight will have a Waining Gibbous 🌖 Moon with 93% illuminated. The darkest hour is at 1:02 am, followed by dawn at 5:21 am, and sun starting to rise at 5:53 am in the east-northeast (66°) and last for 3 minutes and 10 seconds. Sunrise is one minute and 3 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 6:32 am with sun in the east-northeast (73°). Tonight will have 9 hours and 42 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 19 seconds over last night.
Tomorrow will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 80 degrees at 3pm. Two degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around August 18th. Maximum dew point of 58 at 8am. Light northwest wind. Hell, that’s going to feel like a an autumn day. 🍂 Low due point, cool temperatures and deep blue skies. 🗻 A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 84 degrees. The record high of 98 was set in 1900.
Tomorrow as downtime allows I’m going to pack 💼 and clean my apartment 🚿getting ready to leave probably early Friday and working remotely from camp in Madison County. I could change my mind depending on how busy Thursday and Friday are but actually prefer to get up early rather than making the evening slog especially with the sun setting earlier now. 🌇 I also need to go to the laundromat, 👚 probably work from my truck there plus the atm 🏧 although I guess I could do that in Friday morning.
I got two more books out of the library today. 📙 Some how with the online ordering I ended up with more books than expected – I kept ordering things I thought I wanted to read 📖 and with delays I kept ordering more. Kind of like AliExpress 📦 but only free. Most of the books are on farming and homesteading – it’s a topic I’ve been doing a lot of reading about this summer plus one book on solar power and off grid living. 🏡 Also got Storey’s Guide to Raising Pigs 🐖. My fascination with pig farming started with Cam Edwards and maybe my neighbors raising pigs growing up and has only grown since learning about the grazing breeds like this Idaho Pasture Pig 🐽 that is so trendy these days at least on the internet.
In four weeks on September 2 the sun will be setting in the west (281°) at 7:27 pm,🌄 which is 42 minutes and 51 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had rain and temperatures between 76 and 62 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 77 and 57 degrees. The record high of 100 degrees was set back in 1953. It’s funny to think we’re talking about September so soon. I should see about updating the countdown clock, it’s been a while since I’ve done that. 🕒 Maybe tomorrow – got to find the dates of all the upcoming autumn holidays. 🍂
Good morning! Happy Snowy Tuesday. Next Tuesday is Christmas Eve 🎅. Snow and 27 degrees at the CDTA Bus Stop #10595. ❄ There is a north breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. There are 1.5 inches of snow on the ground and it’s continuing to accumulate. ☃ ️Things will start to thaw out at Sunday around noontime. 🌡️ God may have put it here but he’s in no hurry to take it away.
Slip sliding my way to work on the bus 🚍. By the speed the traffic is moving it must be fairly slippery around, indeed I’ve felt the traction control kick in hard a few times as the wheels had some slip on the hills. I am fully confident that I will make it into work on time. I thought about walking 🚶 down to the express bus 🚏but that’s the last express downtown for the day and if it got stuck I would be screwed. I will probably take the express home, as worse comes to worse I’ll be home late or have to walk part of the distance.
Today will snow. 🌨 High of 29 degrees at 1pm. Six degrees below normal. North wind 5 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 3 to 5 inches possible. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 41 degrees. The record high of 59 was set in 1984. 11.1 inches of snow fell back in 1970.❄ I don’t think we will beat the 1970 record today.
The sun will set at 4:23 pm with dusk around 4:55 pm, which is 18 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for even more snow 🌨 and temperatures around 28 degrees. There will be a north-northwest breeze at 8 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 3 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 22 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will have a chance of snow showers, mainly before 9pm. Cloudy, then gradually becoming partly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 22 degrees at 6am. Two degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 14th. Maximum wind chill around 22 at 6am; Light north wind becoming northwest 6 to 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. In 2018, we had light snow in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 20 degrees. The record low of -9 occurred back in 1919. It’s winter. Okay, maybe not officially until the weekend but so be it.
Today in 1777 durting the American Revolution, France formally recognizes the United States. 🍟I am sure that the Idaho potato farmers thank France for that invention of lard fried potatoes. I’ve heard North Idaho is a lot different than the potato growing and cattle grazing region of South Idaho. Beautiful state though.
Cloudy and cold weekend on tap. ☁ Saturday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 29. Sunday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 37. Typical average high for the weekend is 34 degrees. Welcome to the winter. I’m hoping for better weather for next weekend for my camping trip. It looks like the end of the month might actually be quite mild.
Looking ahead, there are 4 weeks until Coldest Week of the Year 🌬 when the sun will be setting at 4:45 pm with dusk at 5:16 pm. By then the evenings will be noticeably longer. On that day in 2019, we had partly sunny skies, with a few snow showers and temperatures between 28 and 8 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 30 degrees. We hit a record high of 66 back in 1932.
Good evening! Partly clear 🌃 and 53 degrees at the Monongahela National Forest. There is a southeast breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 43 degrees. Beautiful evening at camp listening to Mountain Stage, recorded live 23 miles from where I’m camping. 🎸
It was a beautiful day hiking at Dolly Sods. 🚶Definitely the best day so far on vacation. Dolly Sods was amazing for color, and I had a great campfire back at camp. Tired 😴 after hiking more than ten miles 🔟, it seemed like I barely went that far as with the open sods of the area, you can see a long way. Some parts of Dolly Sods were bone 🍖 dry, others down by the Red Crick where super wet. For being a drought isn’t expect to be hiking in ankle deep mud. But at the same time I wouldn’t want to have a fire anywhere in the sods like people often do camping in mid summer.
Honestly, when it wasn’t too cold and their isn’t a fire ban, ⛺ camping in the Dolly Sods must be an amazing experience full of stars. I had originally to camp down on Forest Road 75 below the sods where they allow roadside camping but that will have to wait for a future year.
Later on in the afternoon I stopped at Seneca Rocks. ⛲ Confirmed down there no fire ban. 🚫If it was earlier I would have climbed the Seneca Rocks but it was 5:45 pm and sunset 🌇 was just around the corner. ⌛They have a big developed campground there, I should have thought about paying the three bucks for the day use of the shower 🚿.
You see a lot of Black Angus cattle in this part of West Virginia. 🐃 You could smell them a bit at Seneca Rocks. 💩 Land is only good enough for foraging and grazing around here, a few chicken 🐔 or turkey farms 🍗 but they’re more in the wider and agricultural rich Sweedlin Valley where they can raise more corn 🌽 to feed the chicks 🐥. After spending so much time in the mountains, it was odd to smell the grazing cattle around Seneca Rocks. Dairy 🐄 up in Western Maryland but not here. Just not the forages necessary to sustain dairy cattle in the mountains.
I downshifted to first gear and took breaks going down Dolly Sods Road and didn’t have any issues with the brakes. 🚙 I thought about stopping by Spruce Knob Mountain to watch the sun set from West Virginia’s highest peak at 4,860 feet but I didn’t want to drive back to camp an hour away in the darkness.
There was a Southern Wedding 💒 at the Bear Rocks today in Dolly Sods. Kind of odd to see all those people in suits standing in the Mountain Laurel and Blueberry bushes but it’s certainly a beautiful place to get married in the wilderness. ♥ Looked like a beautiful ceremony in the wilderness. Very lovely, it looked like a real Appalachian couple 👫 not a high priced ceremony.
It was pretty crossing the Appalachian divide on US 33 this evening 🚚 except for the part behind a slow moving truck. US 33 in that part is pretty wide and while there are some hairpin curves ⤵ it’s fairly wide and an easy drive. Harmon WV is a cute Appalachian town nestled in the mountains, I’d eventually want to live in a place like that but not in the village proper but up in the hills. 🏡 Probably with open burning laws more like Pennsylvania though.
I did see a few burn barrels along the way, including a fire 🔥 on a hobby farm below Dolly Sods. 🚜 But not a lot of burning, it’s much more restrictive in WV than Penna. 📛 It has to do a lot with the state’s implementation plan for the Clean Air Act – go after the poor farmer and homesteaders rather than the coal plants. You know the coal plants that burn thousands of tons a coal every day, 🏭 sending electrons to far away places like the Washington DC metro area. Plus the area I was in is much more built up and in deep valleys compared to Pennsylvania.
Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 51 degrees at 1am. 10 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around September 18th. Maximum dew point of 47 at 6am. South wind 5 to 8 mph. Nice mild evening with the full moon or pretty close. 🌕 In 2018, we had light drizzle in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It was somewhat humid. It got down to 45 degrees. The record low of 22 occurred back in 1964.
Had a nice little camp fire 🔥 for a while now that the burn ban is over. Made sure to dig out the pit well before starting the fire and cleared all the leaves nearby, moved the tent further away and made sure to drown the coals and bury them in the pit to make sure that the fire was cold before bed. Probably excessive as this part of the Monongahela National Forest is not sioe dry – there is water in the ditch and digging through the leaf litter you can feel the dampness in the soil. But based on how easy the dry wood I used for firewood is obvious the dead wood is primed to burn. The fire was fantastic and made quick work of the camp trash.♻
Tonight is the Hunter Moon 🌕 or pretty darn close to it. The sun will rise at 7:23 am with the first light at 6:56 am, which is 59 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 Tonight will have 12 hours and 38 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 31 seconds over last night.
Tomorrow will be scattered showers, mainly between 10am and 2pm. I’ll probably sleep in tomorrow and if it’s really drizzling in the morning, hot tent with a good book. Mostly cloudy 🌦, with a high of 54 degrees at 7am. Seven degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 30th. Maximum dew point of 52 at 10am. West wind 10 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Doesn’t sound like a a major rain event, should be good enough at least for visiting Blackwater Falls State Park tomorrow. Batteries are well charged from the sun today and driving so it’s not a big concern for me. 🔋 Probably not a torrent going over the falls but the Blackwater Creek looked full enough when I crossed it yesterday. A year ago, we had light rain in the morning, which became light rain by afternoon. The high last year was 61 degrees. The record high of 85 was set in 1954. There was a dusting of snow in 1904.❄
In four weeks on November 8 the sun will be setting at 5:10 pm (Standard Time) in Davis WV,🌄 which is one hour, 35 minutes and 39 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2018 on that day, we had partly cloudy and temperatures between 49 and 31 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 51 and 34 degrees. The record high of 75 degrees was set back in 1975.
Looking ahead, November 🥧 is in 3 weeks, Veterans Day 🇺🇸 is a month away, Buy Nothing Day 🛍️ is in 7 weeks, Saint Nicholas Day 🎅 is in 8 weeks and Latest Sunrise of the Winter 🌄️ is in 12 weeks.
Good evening! Mostly cloudy and 33 degrees in Delmar. Calm wind. Kind of a gloomy but not too cold evening after a rather dark and gloomy day, that got off to such a bad start with the bus running late. But I’m not longer bitter. I promise. I guess they need emission and inspection checks from hardworking individuals to make the state wealthy, so it can spend it on the welfare queens. Steal from the poor, give to welfare queens who always are illegally parked in front of the County Welfare office. At any rate the gloom isn’t expected to last too much into tomorrow. The skies will clear tomorrow around 7 am. But more clouds for Thursday. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Tonight will be mostly cloudy, with a low of 29 degrees at 5am. Three degrees below normal. Cool but not that cold. Calm wind. In 2016, we had cloudy skies. It got down to 34 degrees. Closer to normal. The record low of 14 occurred back in 1939.
Tonight will have a Waning Crescent Moon with 10% illuminated. The moon will rise tomorrow at 3:40 am. It may be clearing by then, so you might see if you get up way before I will be getting up. The New Moon is on Friday night with a chance of rain then rain is likely. The Cold Moon is on Sunday, December 3rd. The sun will rise at 6:46 am with the first light at 6:16 am, which is one minute and 15 seconds later than yesterday. Tonight will have 14 hours and 15 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 10 seconds over last night.
Tomorrow will be mostly sunny, with a high of 45 degrees at 1pm. Yeah, the sun at least for one day. But still three degrees below normal. Calm wind becoming south 5 to 8 mph in the afternoon. A year ago, we had sunny skies with more clouds in the afternoon. The high last year was 46 degrees. The record high of 74 was set in 1993. 4.8 inches of snow fell back in 1906. Long time ago.
Not a particularly nice weekend on tap, even by November standards. Saturday, snow showers likely before 10am, then rain showers. High near 44. Chance of precipitation is 80%. I heard freezing rain up north. Sunday, a chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 43. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Typical average high for the weekend is 47 degrees.
I still think I will take Friday off, if I can get it off. I got the square nuts to build the rack for my solar panel. Now I just need to find bolts that will fit snuggly, cut and drill the aluminum bars that I will buy. Maybe I will do that on Friday. I will have to see if my parents will be around, as I may want to ask my dad if I can borrow his drill. I have diamond-blades for cutting into the aluminum but lack a power drill of my own. Maybe I should think though about adding that tool to my bin. But first I have to carefully measure everything out so I don’t accidentially mess up a hole and things don’t fit tight.
But I’m staying in town for the weekend, because I don’t want to deal with freezing rain up north. I’m not ready to be out washing the road salt of my truck, moreover, I don’t want to get frozen in the truck cap, or have to deal with the extra patrols for the opening of the Southern Zone regular season, even if I will be in the Northern Zone. I’m still hoping to get away on Black Friday through that Sunday though.
Traffic was pretty heavy coming home on the bus tonight, and I was pretty cheesed out on Facebook about those stupid huts they want to build in the Adirondack Preserve, and charge people big bucks to stay at. Public lands belong to the public, they should be free to use. Pay for public lands by selling timber, hay, and grazing rights. Some oil and gas development. Keep the facilities rustic and manage resource extraction so it pays for public use of the land without compromising it. I don’t get the environmentalists who don’t use office or toilet paper. Or those who want even higher fees to use public lands that should be free for a wide variety of rustic uses. Multiple use can benefit all New Yorkers, we don’t have live under the extreme idea that not a single tree may ever be fallen inside the blue lines of the Adirondack or Catskill Parks. But unfortunately, Manhattan and surrounding areas where all the people live don’t understand that natural resources can be managed for sustainable harvests for generations to come.
I put together a map of the relative state tax rates, but unfortunately the Google Maps export got messed up, so it won’t be posted until later in the week. It also sucks because the US Census Data on State Taxes doesn’t include local taxes, which actually makes New York look lowered taxed then it really is. New York has high state taxes, but when you add in local taxes, we have some of the highest taxes of all. Most states don’t rely on localities to tax as high as New York does, especially with the big Medicaid mandate that pushed down to counties.
I continue to work on my light dimmer program. Been researching color theory and things along the line of HSV to RGB conversions, along with color temperature algorthms, as I want to be able to have very percise flexibillity in getting just the right light for my bedroom. Also rewrote a timer algorithm that is non-blocking of the central loop, so I can use the remote to adjust lighting settings while a ongoing mode is occuring in my program. I can’t wait until my RGB LED strip arrives, along with the transitors and power supply so I can start playing with a real-life demostration.
Also been looking at the different methods of building circuits boards for permanent use — perf board versus strip board — various soldering irons versus kryon twist wiring. And all the stuff that goes along with soldering like choosing between lead and lead-free solder, solder wicks, etc. I have a solder gun and certainly have wired bigger things but I need to be more percise for soldering electronics. While I still hunt and shoot with leaded ammunition, and l’m not concerned about lead fumes when soldering as my other electrical solder is leaded and lead portion doesn’t melt or vaporize while solder typically, I think I’m going to go lead free for future electronic projects. That’s the future, and it makes the net result less toxic where it gets disposed of in a fire eventually or properly recycled at an e-waste event. I am planning to move out to country and live off gird after all eventually. And I hear a lot of fire is involved with that kind of life. Hopefully though I will get a lot of use out of the projects I end up building and will be able to salvage components from them at the end of their lives.
I might eventually even switch to lead-free ammunition for hunting and target practice, but that’s a whole another ball of wax because traditional ammunition is a lot cheaper, you use a lot more of it, and it’s a lot easier on your barrel. Solder in contrast is pretty small cost, as even if my electronics hobby picks up and I make a lot of solder bridges on perf board, it’s still only an occassional use. Lead poisioning of Bald Eagles and other raptors is tragic, but as species, it really isn’t a threat to them like DDT once was. Lead shot to humans might break teeth if your not careful, but I doubt you ever swallow it or get enough fragments to do any harm as an adult. I get to get out to range to do some shooting or somewhere in the back country where I have a safe backstop sometime soon. I do pick up my shotgun shells and spent brass as much as possible.
Back to electronics. I also found a local supplier of Arduino Uno cards for a good price in Newburgh on Ebay. Something like $7 each with free one or two day shipping. I should also look at EBay. I don’t have an Ebay prime account but my parents do. Once my LED driver is done, I will want future units for future projects. I calculated that the Arduino run on a 12 volt power supply consumes about a 1/4 watt an hour or 1.9 kWh a year, so it’s pretty reasonable. I expect the LED dimmer to always be powered up so to turn the lights by remote when ever I need them except when I’m out of the town for the weekend or on vacation or traveling for work.
I was also reading about the Raspberry PI. That’s a miniature full-blown computer compared to the Ardiuno which just a fairly basic microprocessor for driving simple electronics. The Raspberry Pi can drive LEDs at different but it really over kill for that, and at $35 is much more expensive. The base model of the Raspberry Pi uses 3.5 watts, which is nothing for a minature computer on a chip board, and has wireless internet, monitor and takes USB disk port, and runs Linux including a LXDE window manager. I could see the Raspberry Pi as a home computer in an off-grid home, as a much more efficent alternative to using my laptop with a 12 volt power supply. My laptop is fairly energy efficent, but when it’s charging, it can use upwards of 90 watts which is a lot of electricity, when your trying to make every watt count on a battery powered setup.
I don’t envision ever owning a television or home internet. My smartphone provides plenty of internet access, if I need high speed internet access like for uploading photos or video, there are always public hotspots in town that I can stop at local libraries and the alike. I had that TV tuner for a while before it stopped working, but I almost never used it except for occassionally watching the PBS Newshour. But I quit watching that, as I found it was just such a time waste. I really am not a fan of all that technology.
In four weeks on December 12 the sun will be setting at 4:21 pm, which is 10 minutes and 46 seconds earlier then tonight. The fact is the sunsets don’t get much earlier then they are now, especially on a gray and depressing days like today. In 2016 on that day, we had rain, snow, freezing fog, mist, cloudy skies and temperatures between 40 and 28 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 37 and 23 degrees. The record high of 62 degrees was set back in 1979.
Looking ahead, Election Day 2018 is in 51 weeks and Election Day 2020 is in 155 weeks. That’s pretty much all you do on Tuesdays is vote. That said, I need to start adding some of the 2018 calendar and special dates to holiday.txt file that powers that automagic date count down thingy-ma-bobber.
I think it’s time to get some sleep. Good night.