Search Results for “photo out my front door ”

How a Native Tree Became a Threat to Nebraska’s Grasslands | All About Birds All About Birds

Battling a Green Glacier: How a Native Tree Became a Threat to Nebraska’s Grasslands | All About Birds All About Birds

Sarah Sortum has a photo of her grandparents receiving a conser?vation award in 1973 for planting trees across their ranch in the eastern Nebraska Sandhills.

“In my grandparents’ generation they were really encouraged by conser?vation programs to plant trees,” says Sortum, who now helps run that same family-owned acreage, known as the Switzer Ranch. “Remember, this is the Arbor Day state. That’s a way of life in Nebraska, planting trees.”

The trees, primarily native eastern redcedar, offer shade and visual relief from the unrelenting horizon of prairie. Their dense branches and evergreen needles provide a windbreak and natu?ral snow fence to protect the homestead, and a virtual “outdoor barn,” in Sortum’s words, for calves in spring.

“Now we have these beautiful, mature cedar windbreaks, and they are valuable to us,” she says. “But now we have all this seed source.” subscribe to Living Bird magazine

Research from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln shows that that seed source—the fully grown redcedars burst?ing with tiny cones at the ends of their evergreen branches—can propagate a wave of cedar seedlings that spread out a couple hundred yards away from the parent tree. Two generations after her grandparents planted them, those redcedars are spreading out from the homestead and windbreaks, creating an ungovernable front of woodland. And it’s not just the Switzer Ranch. The same thing is happening throughout the Sandhills—and across much of the central Great Plains.

Went Out to Thacher Park and Schodack Island State Park

Left my camera home so no pictures of Thacher Park, but I did get some pictures of Schodack Island State Park, before I upset one my contacts and couldn’t see much of all, and had to limp back to my truck.

I am actually running low on contacts, and despite all my delays, I really need to schedule an appointment with some eye doctor – which because I always delay, I will probably end up seeing another guy in a cardboard box on the roadside to get my vision checked, and they will give me a prescription that I can’t really see out of the glasses. I really should plan things out a little better.

Snowshoed at Schodack Island State Park, and for the first time in a long-time cross-country skied at Thacher Park. At Thacher Park, I went from Ryan Road up to the Nature Center via that trail that crosses private land on an easement. It was nice to do some sking, and it’s much faster and easier on the shins then snowshoes, especially with warm sticky snow.

The next time I go to Schodack Island State Park, I will use skis rather then snowshoes. With the sticky snow of Saturday, I kept hitting my shins with the front of the snowshoes, which started to hurt after a while.

A good weekend of snowshoeing and outdoor adventure, even if Sunday was a bit nippy and Saturday was somewhat cloudy.

Moving onward 🚚

I often don’t want to change but the world keeps changing around me. Not only are things different with my new job out in the suburbs, I may likely have to move now that my landlord sold the apartment. It’s really falling apart and I’ve been rough on it over the past 16 ½ years and maybe it’s time to move on. I knew this day would come some day.

Good morning! Happy Thursday. Clear and 15 degrees in Delmar. 🌅 There is a northwest breeze at 9 mph. 🍃. The current wind chill is 3. There is a dusting of snow on the ground. ☃ Things will start to thaw out at around 11 am. 🌡️

That doesn’t sound like the warmest morning ever for the ride into work 🚲 but at least it won’t be quite as windy. The gloves 🧤 mom got me for my birthday 🎂 definitely help with the winter riding. Should a bit warmer once the sun rises.

Somehow I thought my evening commute last night would be cold but by the time I had climbed out of the gorge I was sweating. 😰 Felt great with my heart pumping as I reached out to the summit climbing out of the gorge. 💓 Now that I’m riding back and forth to work in Menands, my bicycle commute is 17 ½ miles total. 🏞 And that doesn’t include if I decide visit the Riverfront, Albany Rural Cementary or random back streets in North Albany at lunch time.

Today will have a chance of snow, mainly after 5pm. Increasing clouds 🌞, with a high of 36 degrees at 1pm. Typical for today. Northwest wind 5 to 8 mph becoming calm. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Little or no snow accumulation expected. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 64 degrees. The record high of 55 was set in 2006. 9.0 inches of snow fell back in 1894.❄

Breakfast this morning was red onions, peas, corn, eggs and corn meal 🥚 and an apple 🍏 for dessert. Dark and chilly when I first awoke but the sun is rising. 🌅 Drinking coffee ☕ chewing over the bombshell 💣 that was last night. It’s not a big deal, I have options but a lot to think 🤔 about in the coming days. Last night was sweet potatoes and onions fried with spinach and corn with turmeric and other spices. Then too much mango as I was stress eating. 🫦

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:11 pm with sun having an altitude of 34.6° from the due south horizon (-36.3° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 8.7 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:47 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (247°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (253°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 5:27 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 1 seconds with dusk around 5:55 pm, which is one minute and 18 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the First Quarter 🌓 Moon in the south-southwest (206°) at an altitude of 64° from the horizon, 232,122 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:29 pm. At sunset, look for snow 🌨 and temperatures around 34 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 9 mph. Tomorrow will have 10 hours and 39 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 42 seconds over today.

It is what it is, 🚚 I have options when it comes to moving or deciding to stay. My apartment has a lot of issues I’ve been rough on it but also not super demanding on the landlord when things wore out. I keep trying to patch the air leaks around the door 🚪 but that’s falling apart like so many other things. Maybe it’s a sign to start anew. My lease could change at any point, I’m sure rent will go up with the new landlord but how much is the question. Where to move to next, it would be nicer to be closer to my office 🏢 in suburban Menands but also I wouldn’t mind moving back to the country 🐔 but I don’t really love driving 🚘.

I fret the additional costs of moving on, 🏡 but I’ve been saving a lot and I do have options. Really if I had to I could find quite a bit more money 💵 in my budget but I fret to spend what I want to go towards my future 🔮. But maybe now is the time to cash in some of those stocks and bonds – or just cut back on my investing. 📊 It all depends on what I decide to do. I’d love to move back to the country and have land but being single in many ways that’s hard to do. I’m so jealous of my friends and colleagues that have land while I’m still in the apartment I’ve been in since a few months after graduation 🎓 from college and my first real post college job. But I’ve been saving end investing towards this next step though I’ll probably end up paying a lot of capital gains taxes should I end up having to sell a lot of stock to finance this next big step. 👣

Tonight will snow, mainly before 1am. 🌨 Low of 28 degrees at 5am. 10 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 21st. Breezy, with a south wind 14 to 19 mph becoming west 20 to 25 mph after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 43 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible. In 2023, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 40 degrees. The record low of -20 occurred back in 1943.

I am really getting up to speed at the new job, 🕴🏻 it’s just such a cultural shock 🤯 and different from when I worked downtown. Mastering all the particularlities of the job is a challenge 📄, it’s still so paperwork based. So many procedures to learn – as the manager your expected to wear any hat 🎩🧢🤠 depending who is out on a particular day. The money is good, I often complain about that but it’s because I see so little of it because I’m investing. And the technical skills I’m practicing, refining and building into my life and resume in a professional manner really will push me forward to the next step in life.

Cloudy and windy for the weekend. ❄ Saturday, a chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 33. West wind 5 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 34. Typical average high for the weekend is 36 degrees.

I was hoping for a nice weekend in Madison County 🐮 but it’s going to be cold, cloudy and windy. It’s President’s Weekend and that’s to be expected. I should chew over my options going forward about where I should move, looking at apartments and houses. I hate to change but time marches on. 🕰️ I remind myself I moved to this apartment when I was 24 years old back when my salary was $27,500 and I’m 41 now and significantly more. Time marches on.

One month 📅 from now will be Ides of March ✝ when the sun will be setting at 7:03 pm with dusk at 7:30 pm (Daylight Savings Time). The average high temperature is 44 degrees, with a record high of 75 in 1946. Hello, friendly strangers in a black sedan. 🖤

Up after the teat strippers, lol 🐄

Every morning I get the Morning Ag Clips newsletter delivered to my email box a little after 3 am. Who is up at that hour? Dairymen, nearly two hours before I wake up and get cooking and a jump on my day. After all, you gotta strip the teats before you milk the laddies so I can have cottage cheese with my eggs and milk in my coffee.

Good morning! What day is it? Hump Day, of course. Rain and 43 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ There is a west-southwest breeze at 8 mph. 🍃. There are 3 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Still too much snow to ride the bike into work on the rail trail, but regardless it’s still raining. Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 2 am. ☃️

I slept in late until 5:10 AM this morning, which really is about ten minutes later but I don’t set an alarm clock ⏰ so I get up when I wake naturally. I was in bed by 9 PM last night 🛌 so eight hours later is about 5 AM though I woke briefly at 3 AM when I heard the Morning Ag Clips come in but I didn’t read until I was up and out of bed, loading the oven with bread and taking the seeds out of the spaghetti squash, getting it ready to cook. A good nights sleep, despite the warnings of high wind and severe weather, all I heard was a bit of rain on the roof.

Woke up feeling a bit achy this morning from the rain, 😫 but I got some onions, spinach, corn, peppers eggs frying 🍳 with a bunch of turmeric, red chili pepper, and salt. Then coffee with lots of ginger and cinnamon. ☕ Feeling good now. Baked up some rye bread, with lots of dill weed and chopped red onions. I find for a good crispy crust, adding some baking soda helps. The red onions give it a dark, rich texture, almost like pumpernickel. Also cooked up a big pot of 15-bean Cajun soup, but then I added a bunch of corn, celery, carrots and spinach to beef up the soup. Will be good with the rye bread later. To keep the oven full, also made spaghetti squash. Using up a lot of stuff in my pantry but I’ll go shopping either Thursday or Friday night, or maybe early Saturday morning.

Today will have a chance of showers, mainly between 11am and 3pm. Mostly cloudy 🌦, with a high of 44 degrees at 12pm. 11 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 12th. I like mid March weather in January. Breezy, with a southwest wind 7 to 12 mph increasing to 16 to 21 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 41 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 38 degrees. The record high of 55 was set in 2016. 7.3 inches of snow fell back in 1984.❄

I wasn’t going to ride my bike to work, 🚲 until I decided to do just that. I will take Delaware Avenue in I guess, because I think there is still snow and ice on the rail trail ❄️ though I’d much rather take the rail trail and avoid traffic. 🚂 When I switch to the office in North Albany — maybe next week — if the rail trail is closed, I will take Second Avenue. I think there is less traffic there, and less risk of getting doored, 💥which scares me as much if not more then getting rear-ended on the bicycle. Riding on Delaware Avenue, it’s constant looking ahead and looking backwards, compared to the relatively easy to ride down the rail trail. 🚵‍♀️ Once I’m fully moved the suburban office, I will be able to take Albany County Rail Trail to Corning Preserve, almost entirely off the road, then it will be an easy ride up Erie Bouelvard, through the old Lumber District.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:03 pm with sun having an altitude of 25.4° from the due south horizon (-45.5° 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 3:57 pm with the sun in the southwest (233°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (240°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:41 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 21 seconds with dusk around 5:12 pm, which is one minute and 4 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:48 pm. At sunset, look for rain showers around 🌧 and temperatures around 40 degrees. Breezy, 21 mph breeze ⛅ from the west-southwest with gusts up to 41mph. Today will have 9 hours and 19 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 19 seconds over yesterday.

I was pleasantly surprised that the blueberry pancakes I made yesterday 🥞 didn’t cause me to have a blood sugar spike that I was afraid it would. Maybe it was because the pancakes were whole-wheat flour and some milled oats and made myself without added sugar or even bananas. Maybe using pure maple syrup 🍁 in moderation helped. I do love the sweetness of blueberries 💙 but it can come with an hour or two down the clock feeling really hungry and even a bit dizzy. But I was reading that such blood sugar troughs aren’t that uncommon for many people, and isn’t a sign of anything more serious besides bad dietary choices. I was looking at my online health record, and two times I got my blood and urine tested, my blood sugar levels were in normal levels and I didn’t have any glucose in my urine. 🥤 I did have slightly elevated bile in my urine, a sign of some kidney damage probably back when I was more overweight, but I was barely outside of normal level, 👩‍⚕️ nothing my doctor said I should be concerned about. I am super paranoid about diabetes these days, as I watch and it slowly saps the life away from my parents who are growing older. And I don’t like needles. 💉

Tonight will be mostly cloudy ☁️, with a low of 29 degrees at 4am. 13 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 24th. Breezy, with a southwest wind 14 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 38 mph. With that wind, I’ll probably need the heat again. ♨️ In 2023, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 19 degrees. The record low of -25 occurred back in 1968.

Last night was cold with the wind so I turned on both the gas heat down stairs and the space heater on as I was chilled through. 🌧 🌬 It was absolutely pouring when I was waiting out for the bus, and when I got home things were cold and damp. Cooking in the oven the salmon 🐟 things warmed up, and then I kneaded up the bread 🍞. Also made some corn mush mixed with peanut butter powder which was pretty good. And then shredded and orange and had that with a warm glass of milk with cinnamon and ginger before bed. Eating good. Wish I had gotten more steps in yesterday, but I did do that seven mile ride in during the morning.

Still looks like the weekend starts out rainy, but then gets cold for the balance of the M.L. King weekend. 🌦 Saturday, rain, mainly before 1pm. High near 48. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 31. Breezy. M.L.King Day will be mostly cloudy, with a high near 31. Typical average high for the weekend is 33 degrees. I am not sure if it looks good for getting out of town, thinking it will be a swamp on Saturday and then frigid come Sunday. Maybe just one night. Things could change though.

One month 📅 from now will be Clean Your Computer Day 🧹 when the sun will be setting at 5:21 pm with dusk at 5:49 pm. The average high temperature is 33 degrees, with a record high of 55 in 2016. Now that’s depressing on the mercury front, but let’s be honest, not much beyond there, things start to warm up once again as we head into the second half of February. 🌺 Spring will come eventually.

Maybe riding in yesterday wasn’t advisable 🌨 🚲

I had no issues but things were kind of slick on the way home to and from the bus stop on heavy braking and more of a concern what how much road salt got on my bike riding on the front of the bus coming home last night. I guess I didn’t expect the snow to continue on and off all day yesterday and the roads to be wet and slushy come evening commute. That said it’s not going to be much longer I’m riding to work until it’s lighter in the evening and the bike trail is snow free.

Good morning! Yeah, it’s Friday! Survived another week, it’s not been a bad one. Day by day. Cloudy and 28 degrees in Delmar. ☁ Calm wind.There is a dusting of snow on the ground. ☃ Really aren’t going to make a snowman with that. ️Things will start to thaw out at around 9 am. 🌡️

Ridden to work all five days this week. 🚲 Not too bad, a few days had to use some due care and the front break is squeaking a bit from the road salt. I should wash and grease the bike good this week. Only the ride in due to darkness in the evening, but that’s fine. Only a few more weeks, as I’m afraid January will be too cold or snowy, plus the issue of taking the shuttle with my bike on it, although I could instead use CDTA. Come the spring though, I expect except on rainy days I’ll be riding in each day. 😀 An no more State Street Hill but a longer ride.

Today will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a high of 38 degrees at 1pm. Three degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 15th. Calm wind becoming southeast around 5 mph in the afternoon. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 51 degrees. The record high of 58 was set in 1927. 4.3 inches of snow fell back in 2001.❄

Just kind of a bleak early to mid-December day weather wise. 🎄 I think part of the reason they celebrate the holidays this time of year is to overcome the darkness that is upon us. That said, come Sunday we start gaining daylight in the evening, with the 5 PM sunset returning by the end of January. ⛄ While I am still planning one or two more camping trips this year, I’m kind of bummed out about not being able to ride to work in a few weeks. But it’s fine, those days of wearing a suit and tie 👔 aren’t that far off either.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:48 am with sun having an altitude of 24.7° from the due south horizon (-46.1° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.1 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:38 pm with the sun in the southwest (232°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (239°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:23 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 22 seconds with dusk around 4:53 pm, which is 3 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:30 pm. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies ☁ and temperatures around 37 degrees. There will be a southeast breeze at 5 mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 11 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 55 seconds over today.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy ☁️, with a low of 31 degrees at 12am. Six degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 19th. South wind 5 to 7 mph. In 2022, we had clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 25 degrees. The record low of -11 occurred back in 1902.

In 1963, Pan Am Flight 214, a Boeing 707, is struck by lightning and crashes near Elkton, Maryland, killing all 81 people on board. 🌩✈️ As the flight approached Philadelphia, the pilots made radio contact with air traffic control near Philadelphia at 8:42 pm. The controller informed the pilots that the airport was experiencing a line of thunderstorms in the vicinity, accompanied by strong winds and turbulence. The controller asked whether the pilots wanted to proceed directly to the airport or to enter a holding pattern to wait for the storm to pass. The crew elected to remain at 5,000 feet (1,500 m) in a holding pattern with five other aircraft. The controller told the pilots that the delay would last about 30 minutes. At 8:58 pm, the aircraft exploded.[6] The pilots were able to transmit a final message: “MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY. Clipper 214 out of control. Here we go.” Seconds later, the first officer of National Airlines Flight 16, holding 1,000 feet higher in the same holding pattern, radioed, “Clipper 214 is going down in flames.”The aircraft crashed at 8:59 pm in a corn field east of Elkton, Maryland, near the Delaware Turnpike, setting the rain-soaked field on fire. The aircraft was completely destroyed, and all of the occupants were killed. A lot has improved in lightening and airplane safety since then. I think pilots generally try to avoid thunderstorms and turbulence these days, and radar is far better then it once was.

Tomorrow will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a high of 45 degrees at 1pm. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 27th. South wind 5 to 8 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 39 degrees. The record high of 62 was set in 1966. 7.3 inches of snow fell back in 2009.❄

Saturday plans are to be decided. 💭 I am of two minds. I would like to get the Salvation Army to look at clothes but I also don’t want to get a bunch of salt on my truck or have to gas it up. ⛽ Then do some riding on my mountain bike in the Albany Pine Bush and get groceries. 🛒 But I guess I’m okay with clothes for now, though I’d like to get some dressy stuff for wearing come January that fits well. 👔 Often I can find good things now that I’m so much slimmer. On the other hand, I could stay home, go for a nice long bike ride, maybe make some soup and then be home before dark and do more of the Udemy Machine Learning Course.

Looking ahead to Sunday, rain. 🌧 High near 55. South wind 11 to 16 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. Typical average high for the weekend is 40 degrees. It looks like the rain will be heavy enough that I won’t have to worry about much salt on the road at that point, and if anything any salt I get on my truck will be mostly washed off by the heavy rain. Not that I guess it makes much difference. Going shopping in the morning 🛒 would give me something to do and then go out to folks house later 👪 as I don’t think Sunday will be a good day for anything outdoors. ☔

Looking, next Friday is Bill of Rights Day 📜 when the sun will be setting at 4:24 pm with dusk at 4:54 pm. As I often point out, the constitution is not self-enforcing. It’s all a matter of quality of judges and the politicians people elect. Politicians and even judges ignore the law all of the time when it’s inconvenient and they have the power to get around it. On that day in 2022, we had partly cloudy, sleet and temperatures between 33 and 16 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 38 degrees. We hit a record high of 61 back in 2015.

Six Weeks Until New Years Eve 🎇

Those extra cups of coffee did me no good yesterday. Not only did it make it impossible to get to sleep, it contributed to my extreme anxiety I had most of the afternoon. I just kind of wanted to relax to some extra coffee yesterday but I guess I really overdone it. I swear I used to drink a lot more coffee when I was younger, and coffee ain’t as strong as it once was when sipping it, but the after effects are much worse. Between the garlic powder gas and shits, the anxiety and staying up too late, I didn’t get much sleep and sleeping past 6 o’clock is unimaginable in my mind at this point.

Good morning! Happy Sunday. Partly clear and 34 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a south breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 10 pm. ☃️

Not a super cool morning. 😀 I could go for a walk but I want to get to the store pretty earlier and my guts are mess after last night I don’t want to risk an accident out walking. 💩 Could be excess coffee of yesterday ☕ but I think it’s the garlic powder I added to the tomato sauce I had last night, as that previously gave me trouble in West Virginia plus one other time at home. Big bulk container I got from Hannaford, even in moderation it keeps me running to the toilet 🚽 . Could be salmonella or mold growing in the container. I probably should empty it and toss in the recycle bin ♻️ before it gets me sick again. 🤢

Decided on pancakes this morning 🥞 as that’s all I really had left. I was playing with recipes, decided to do ground oatmeal, with one egg, apple cider vinegar and baking soda for levity, and Splenda rather then bananna for sugar. Came out fairly good, little more filling then just ordinary oatmeal-banana pancakes. Topped with shredded apples from the food processor 🍏 heated and cooked down in the microwave, along with chopped bananas. 🍌 Pretty good.

Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 46 degrees at 12pm. Two degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 23rd. South wind 6 to 11 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with a few breaks of sun the afternoon. The high last year was 39 degrees. The record high of 71 was set in 1921. 4.2 inches of snow fell back in 1914.❄

First thing this morning is to shower 🛀 and then head over to Price Chopper in Slingerlands for grocery shopping, 🛒 that is once I get my list together. 📜 I need to get $50 in groceries to use my $5 coupon, though that shouldn’t be hard as groceries are so expensive these days. Only shopping through Friday morning, as I plan to get what I need when heading up to the Adirondacks. Not Walmart on Black Friday, but I don’t think Hannaford will be particularly crowded the day after Thanksgiving. Mostly just restocking the pantry full of fruits and veggies, though I’m also going to get a big bag of frozen salmon fillets as I have that other coupon too. 🎫 Eating lots of omega-3 is good.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:42 am with sun having an altitude of 28° from the due south horizon (-42.9° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 11.3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:48 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (237°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (244°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:31 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 14 seconds with dusk around 5:00 pm, which is 47 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the First Quarter 🌓 Moon in the south (170°) at an altitude of 28° from the horizon, 226,654 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:36 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 42 degrees. There will be a west-northwest breeze at 10 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 41 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and one second over yesterday.

Been continuing on the Udemy Courses. 🎓 I am on my third course after two courses on remote sensing. 🛰 So far done is Remote Sensing with QGIS: Basics of Satellite Imagery Classification and Fundamentals of Remote Sensing and Geospatial Analysis. Been learning a lot. It’s wonderful that my public library 📚 offers these classes for free and you get free certifications 📄 after you get done watching the classes and doing the quizzes. The most recent one is Spatial Data Analysis with R, QGIS & More which is good but it’s about 7 or 8 years out of date, and doesn’t show a recent version of QGIS and uses the obsolete R library of rgeos rather then sf and terra which is used today. But still it’s interesting and good to learn as a big part of the class is about kriging, which is something I am still struggling to fully understand. 🗺 📍

Yesterday I checked out the Bethlehem Sportsmart ⛷ and was shocked at the prices of skis, especially ones in good quality. At over $100 for a pair of cross-country skis, I think I’d be best off to get a pair at a retailer, maybe after the holidays, one that fits and works properly for my needs. It was mobbed at the sportsmart, with screaming babies 👶 and children running around. 🧒 The skis I have currently are groomed-track skis, which besides being broken, really aren’t good for the kind of cross-country skiing I do that rarely involves following groomed tracks. 🤑 The problem with those skis is they are too fast and sink too deep in unpacked snow, the prior is a particular concern when descending mountains, especially now that I’m close to 41 years old, and crashing with skis may very well mean broken bones. 🤕 Plus I wasn’t in the mood to spend any money right now, to say nothing about that I’m not sure if it will be a particularly snowy winter. I might just stay closer to home this winter, do more bike riding 🚴‍♀️ on the roads. Winter ski season is so short around here, and it’s often quite cold int he winter.

Didn’t end up being able to fix the vacuum cleaner yesterday, 🧹 turns out that after I got it all apart, then put it back to work, I found out the source of the rattle — bad ball bearing. After fiddling for it for a few more hours, I ended up pulling the motor and any part I could reuse or scrap. ⚙ Heck of it is I had it back to together and it was working until it’s started sparking and not working again. ⚡ Disappointing crap, I bought it only 7 years ago but ever since I got it constantly plugged, burned up belts and malfunctioned. If I get another vacuum, I am going to get a small rechargeable hand held 🤲 one as I don’t really have that much carpet in my apartment and then I can do the stairs and vacuum out the mud and dust from my truck better. I’m just annoyed by all that plastic trash, even I will be able to reuse the switch and cord from the vacuum for camp lighting, 🔌 and may be able to part out parts of the motor for electronics projects or add to the stack of scrap metal for eventual recycling at the scrap yard. ♻️ It wasn’t a real cheap vacuum — it was like $70 or $80 bucks, a Dirt Devil Pet Hair Vacuum but it constantly plugged on wads of hair and dust. I bought it because the reviews were good originally, and I figured a pet hair vacuum wouldn’t clog as much as a standard vacuum. 🐶 I guess don’t believe the review. I just hate carpet, when I have my own land, I don’t ever want that indoors. Especially not the gross, nasty worn out shag carpet like in my apartment.

The broken vacuum cleaner, the debate in my mind to renew or not renew my certificate of deposit, the signing of Clean Slate last week, getting my ego knocked down a peg for that messed up background at work, and cold weather 🤪 plus all that coffee just really got me into a bad place by last night. 🤯 My mind was racing, I just kind of felt sick. The whole thing was stupid, it wasn’t entirely my fault I messed up the background, the researcher and big boss didn’t catch it either. 💣 The vacuum cleaner was cheap shit it never worked right. The truck is going to be fine for another year. Then I got the shits from that garlic powder. 💩 Yuck, I was so sick for a while. Did I mention I burnt my finger 👆 on the soldering iron when I was working last night. 😠 I was just so bitter, angry and frustrated all evening. I mean it’s stupid, what happened at work isn’t the end of world, moving to a new department soon, the seven-year old vacuum cleaner was less then a tank of gas these days, my truck will likely make it another year, it’s winter it’s cold but I am still planning adventures, I can get better skis somewhere else, and the coffee and shits will wear themselves off.

But regardless, I had a nice bicycle ride out to Voorheesville. 🚲 The bridge is fully re-opened, they did a nice job, it’s a very smooth ride up and over the bridge. On the west side of the bridge it’s a slight upgrade, but the expansion gaps are remarkably smooth and it’s blacktop, all the more surprising for a “temporary bridge”. Truth is they did such a nice job on the “temporary” bridge that they really don’t have a good reason to necessarily replace it anytime soon. Sat and watched the 4 PM freight train roll through Voorheesville 🚂 then watched the sunset 🌆 from Bender Mellon Farms and rode home quickly, thinking it would get dark but it didn’t so I rode down to Adams Street then back along the designated bike route through the back roads of Delmar. Great evening even if it was shitty day in so many ways. That part of the day was pretty nice, even if I got sick in evening 😫 and my mind was racing the rest of day. 🤪

Tonight will have a slight chance of showers before 8pm. Partly cloudy 🌃, with a low of 26 degrees at 6am. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 3rd. Northwest wind 8 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2022, we had clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 24 degrees. The record low of 6 occurred back in 1986.

Last night made homemade tomato sauce with canned tomatoes, Italian spices, spinach, peas, chopped garlic, crushed red pepper, smoked paprika and kidney beans. Added a little bit of lentil pasta towards the end. Tasted good, very filling and kept me full. 🥘 It as all good until I added some garlic powder (really not much), which totally blew up my stomach starting around midnight, with frequent visits the bathroom and everything stinking of garlic. I don’t know why I have such problems with this garlic powder I got the other day — crushed garlic is good. I thought the problem was the whole wheat flour I got from Price Chopper but I’m pretty sure it’s the garlic powder. Been having a lot of stomach issues lately, I thought I would adjust to the high-fiber diet but it’s proven difficult. 🤰

Got reading about the latest generation of single board computers 🖥 which keep getting more and more powerful and cheaper. Technology on this front is advancing so quickly, it’s a golden age to be a hobbyist with things like the original Arduino from years ago seeming so out of date. 🤖 Then I got reading about stomach issues as my stomach grumbled, and this really weird thread on the internet where people fight about whether or not sugars in excessive fruit consumption 🍌 🍏 🐒 lead to fatty liver disease and diabetes. Most of the experts think the benefit of the extra fiber far outweigh any downsides to a diet rich in fruits, though I do eat a lot of fruit (and vegetables too). Probably too much fruit but I like sweet. But I also don’t eat any food with added sugars if I can all avoid it, which is what most doctors 👨‍⚕️ think really are a big threat to health. I am a bit obsessed with fatty liver disease after people warned me about the risk of loosing so much weight so quickly. Hell of it is I don’t have much control over my weight, it really is a just a side effect of diet. Hard to gain too much when your stuffing your face with fruits, vegetables and beans all of the time, and riding to work and walking everywhere.

Next Friday through the following Monday is looking good for the Adirondacks 🏕 though only time will determine for sure. ❄️ It looks like the snow event in Wednesday isn’t going to leave feet of snow up north, so I should be able to get back to camp without doing a lot of shoveling or hauling gear back, though worse come to worse, I’ll bring the sled and drag gear back. 🛷 The weekend looks to be cool but not as cold as they first predicted ☕ and warm coffee and meals along with the heater should be good. And I can get away from it all.

Looking ahead, there are 3 weeks until 7:15 AM Sunrise ⌛️ when the sun will be setting at 4:23 pm with dusk at 4:53 pm. On that day in 2022, we had mostly sunny and temperatures between 31 and 20 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 40 degrees. We hit a record high of 64 back in 1966.

It’s Monday – Let’s go chase that ducking money 💵

I mean Dan Halloran wasn’t wrong. Sometimes you got to swim in the mud and muck in the Cesspool of New York State to pay for the days riding Blackie through the cow shit and horse manure of Schuyler County. Those ten days went by so quickly and I’m back in Albany with the rain falling down doing my morning. The first day back is always the hardest, especially on such a dreary day but those eighteen flights of stairs must be climbed even with the door to door service of the local.

Good morning! Monday’s come back around again. Time for the morning walk and that old John Prine record. And maybe Paul Simon. 🎶 Rain I know I’m shocked and 65 degrees for the morning walk in Delmar, NY. ☁ There is a south-southeast breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 60 degrees. The skies will clear tomorrow around 9 am.

Out walking this morning 🚶 in the rain like so many days lately back in the Albany. The weather was so unbelievably nice out in the Finger Lakes. 📻 But it also was nice camping 🏕 somewhere without cell service 🔕 and no radio – avoiding the shit known as the news, all bad and useless crap – and the even worse social media. I heard that Florida Man got indicted for even more felonies over the past week and might soon be subject to a protective order. Good for him and I do think his cases will ultimately for first amendment law ⚖ and restorative justice. I mean he will likely be the first felon ever to be a major presidential party candidate. 👩🏻‍⚖️Maybe he’s bad for our country but he’s a good force for it’s laws. Crises are often best the time for reform. I’m excited about some of the second amendment cases in front of the Supreme Court in the coming year. 🔫 Whatever you think it Florida man, be has been a voice for change in the justice system – many times unintentionally.

Not to be overally negative after vacation, but I know I wouldn’t return to Albany if I didn’t like playing in the shit of the Cesspool, 💩 and making that big boy money 💵 from my corner office that overlooks the Capitol, Empire State Plaza and also the Hudson River and Dunn landfill that is when the caustic smoke from the Canada wildfires doesn’t drown out the skyline. I mean I wouldn’t listen to Paul Simon’s Duncan if I didn’t like that song. Like so many things in this world. It’s so hard to get up and going after 10 days of pure delight out in the Finger Lakes. I wish I could live every day out in the woods, in the country. 🚜 But alas, I’m back in the city, back taking the local bus downtown to work. I know it’s going to be a great week, 😀 I have good healthy food to eat,

Today will have showers and thunderstorms before 10am, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm between 10am and noon, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after noon. Some of the storms could produce gusty winds and heavy rain. 🌧 High of 75 degrees at 4pm. Six degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around September 8th. Maximum dew point of 71 at 3pm. 🏖️ Southeast wind 8 to 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New not rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. It became very sticky as the day progressed. The high last year was 91 degrees. The record high of 102 was set in 1918.

Pots of red kidney beans, brown rice with red lentils and split peas are cooking down this morning on the stove. 🧑‍🍳 Good carbs cooking down to be the basis of many meals this week. I double checked to make sure they were properly refrigerated or frozen and the stove off before leaving for work on the local bus 🚍. I was hoping to ride to work today 🚲 but the weather is not cooperating and I wasn’t running early enough to catch the express after all that cooking and breakfast to say nothing about the morning walk. Oatmeal pancakes 🥞 for breakfast with some chia seeds mixed in and topped with frozen peaches, strawberries, mango and whatever else was in the blend with a little sugar free maple syrup.

I ended up spending a shocking 🤯 $120 in food this week at Hannaford, I fully admit I should have gone to Wally World last night but I was tired and my pantry was bare. I did end up rugged getting a lot of things, many things like the 5 lb bag of brown rice should last a few weeks. They didn’t have store brand only 5 lb of Carolina brown rice but the price was reasonable for a bag that size. They also had non-fat plain Greek yogurt actually in stock at Hannaford so I ended up buying 2 large containers as it can be hard to get locally. Unopened Greek yogurt has a shelf life of about two months refrigerated and two years frozen, which I was reading how good it freezes. Not that it would ever last that long because that’s how I get my dairy fix 🐮 these days, though I try to eat in moderation st least when I’m not on vacation. 🍋 I also bought big bags of red and Vidalia onions 🧅and lemons because I enjoyed such things a lot on vacation. Both can be used in so many meals, plus I’m hooked on fresh squeezed stevia lemonade especially on a hot summer evenings. There is worse things to be hooked on.

I do wish I had stopped at that farm stand I passed in Chenango County to get zucchini and more sweet corn 🌽 🍆 but summer isn’t over and I should be able to get both at the farmers market at the Plaza this week. I forgot how wonderful zucchini I when I got some and chopped it up and fried it. I was tired 😴 and just kind of focused on getting home yesterday after vacation then stopping at farm stands. 🤷 I also would like to get more peaches 🍑 from the farm market, as they are so much better then the store-bought ones that are rock-hard and less tasty. Yesterday, I got plums 🫐 at the grocery store and they are pretty good. They are supposed to make your skin really shinny. Good after that sun tan I got last week. Trying to try new fruits when in season to learn new tastes, and maximize the health benefits of variety. Changes it up from apples and bananas 🍌 🍏 every week, though I still keep both of them in my office and like to have those for snacking.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:02 pm with sun having an altitude of 63.9° from the due south horizon (-7° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 2.9 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:30 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (287°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (294°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:10 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 9 seconds with dusk around 8:40 pm, which is one minute and 18 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:20 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and thunderstorms 🌩 and temperatures around 73 degrees. The dew point will be 70 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 10 mph. Today will have 14 hours and 18 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 22 seconds over yesterday.

More rain quite possibly tonight. They’re calling for a chance of showers and thunderstorms to start out the evening, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 10pm. Some of the storms could produce gusty winds and heavy rain. 🌩 Cloudy, with a low around 68. South wind 9 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. 💦 I have to say I’m glad I’m not camping this week at least not in the Albany-area. 🏘 The Finger Lakes have been much drier then locally. I guess there isn’t much of a fire danger locally at this point. 🚒 But I’m still hopeful to get out for my evening walk 🚶‍♀️ after my dinner of salmon, rice, spinach, onions and any other thing that wets my appetite. 🐟 😋

That said, we do have more good weather to look forward to come this weekend. 😎 Saturday, a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 83. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Maximum dew point of 66 at 1pm. Sunday, 😂a chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 80. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Maximum dew point of 68 at 11am. Typical average high for the weekend is 83 degrees. Just kind of a chance of thunderstorms, but that’s to be expected on a summer weekend. The plans for the weekend are to be decided, but it seems so nice. 🦷 I have my dental cleaning on Friday, so I have to take off the first part of the morning for that but it could also be jumping off start to the weekend. Schoharie? Potholers? Adirondacks? So many options, though it seems like lately I’m always on the road burning up increasingly expensive gasoline. ⛽ If the forecast slides downhill, I’m thinking of doing some mountain biking in the Albany Pine Bush, and getting some watermelon at Market 32 🍉 which apparently is on sale this week. I do dig the sweetness of watermelon like that one I chomped on summer vacation.

Looking ahead, there are 2 weeks until World Mosquito Day 🐞 when the sun will be setting at 7:50 pm with dusk at 8:18 pm. On that day in 2022, we had hot weather partly sunny skies and temperatures between 88 and 70 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 82 degrees. We hit a record high of 98 back in 1916.

Andy Arthur.org

Search Results for: photo out my front door