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Another Rainy Thursday โ˜”

Seems like this week is following the exact same pattern as last week, rain Wednesday evening, rain Thursday and Friday with showers and clouds and cool come Saturday. Kind of obnoxious in my book as I like riding into work and I would like to head out of town for the weekend at least the overnight.

Good morning! Happy Rainy Thursday. I know, again, really? Rain and 45 degrees in Delmar, NY. ๐ŸŒง๏ธ There is a south-southeast breeze at 7 mph. ๐Ÿƒ. I can’t control the weather but I can my attitude. ๐Ÿคฌ It would definitely would be a cold and wet day if I was out camping.

Started the morning with shredded oatmeal and some canned pumpkin ๐ŸŽƒ with a bunch of fried yellow onions๐Ÿง… with cornmeal, broccoli ๐Ÿฅฆ and eggs ๐Ÿฅšand some garlic. A few cups of coffee โ˜• and I’m up and off early to walk laps on the Concourse. ๐Ÿšถ If it’s going to rain โ˜” best to get my steps in early.

Today will have showers before noon, then showers likely with a chance of drizzle, mainly between noon and 1pm. ๐ŸŒฆ High of 46 degrees at 8am. 15 degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 19th. Southeast wind 5 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 51 degrees. The record high of 90 was set in 1976. 2.7 inches of snow fell back in 1887.โ„

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 12:55 pm with sun having an altitude of 58.4ยฐ from the due south horizon (-12.4ยฐ 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 ๐Ÿ… starts at 7:03 pm with the sun in the west (280ยฐ). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west-northwest (286ยฐ) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:41 pm after setting for 3 minutes with dusk around 8:10 pm, which is one minute and 9 seconds later than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous ๐ŸŒ” Moon in the southeast (141ยฐ) at an altitude of 55ยฐ from the horizon, 251,515 miles away. ๐Ÿš€ The best time to look at the stars is after 8:47 pm. At sunset, look for rain showers ๐ŸŒง and temperatures around 46 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Tomorrow will have 13 hours and 38 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 42 seconds over today.

Last night I took the bus ๐Ÿš home, made up Johnny cakes ๐Ÿฅž and oatmeal with pumpkin ๐ŸŽƒ and then went upstairs to do some reading ๐Ÿ“–. Ended up stumbling upon a very well narrated video series on statistics and spatial analysis using R by Great Courses on Kanopy from my local library for free ๐Ÿ†“. While I’m fairly experienced in R there is always more to learn. Spatial correlation is something I’m quite interested in but I find it’s a bit of a complicated theory to understand.

Tonight will have a chance of drizzle with a slight chance of showers before 1am. Mostly cloudy ๐ŸŒง๏ธ , with a low of 41 degrees at 3am. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 25th. Light south wind. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2023, we had light rain in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 35 degrees. The record low of 18 occurred back in 1875.

Blustery and cool this weekend but not so wet. โ˜€๏ธ๐ŸŒฌ๏ธSaturday, a slight chance of showers before 8am, then scattered showers after 2pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 60. West wind 9 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 56. Typical average high for the weekend is 62 degrees.

I am thinking about camping ๐Ÿ• locally this weekend if Saturday is half decent so I don’t have to listen to them working on construction ๐Ÿšง at the unit next door, even though the new landlord has been good about not running the jack hammer or loud equipment in the weekend and evenings. Still it’s annoying as often they have a lot of equipment on the driveway and I have to ask for them to move it to get our so it might be nice to do a quick overnight. I’m thinking the first or second week of May to do trip out to Schoharie ๐Ÿšฒ and ride the Catskill Scenic Trail once things green up, especially the greener farm section down in Delaware County assuming that it’s not so wet the trail is completely bogged down.

Winding Road

Rainy Thursday, Late Again โ˜”

I guess I won’t be heading in early this morning to walk laps on the Concourse though I should still be in on time to work which ultimately is what’s important. Kind of a dreary day but it’s nice that it’s warm enough to have my windows open.

Good morning! Happy Thursday. Rain and 50 degrees in Delmar, NY. โ˜” There is a southeast breeze at 7 mph. ๐Ÿƒ. The skies will clear tomorrow around 4 pm.

I really wanted to get an earlier start but it was not to be. ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™‚๏ธ My stomach was grumbling this morning and then I ended up going back to bed for some extra ๐Ÿ’ค sleep and then it just seemed like everything took longer than expected this morning. ๐Ÿ˜ฆ Blueberry pancakes this morning. ๐Ÿฅž

Today will have showers likely, mainly before 11am. Cloudy ๐ŸŒฆ, with a high of 62 degrees at 4pm. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 20th. Maximum dew point of 54 at 1pm. South wind 7 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter 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 74 degrees. The record high of 87 was set in 2017. 1.7 inches of snow fell back in 1942.โ„

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 12:57 pm with sun having an altitude of 55.9ยฐ from the due south horizon (-14.9ยฐ vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 4.1 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour ๐Ÿ… starts at 6:56 pm with the sun in the west (276ยฐ). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west-northwest (283ยฐ) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:33 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 58 seconds with dusk around 8:02 pm, which is one minute and 8 seconds later than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent ๐ŸŒ’ Moon in the west (273ยฐ) at an altitude of 35ยฐ from the horizon, 234,584 miles away. ๐Ÿš€ The best time to look at the stars is after 8:37 pm. At sunset, look for rain ๐ŸŒง and temperatures around 61 degrees. The dew point will be 55 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 14 mph. Today will have 13 hours and 16 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 48 seconds over yesterday.

Last night with the rain I came home on the bus ๐Ÿš and read for several hours. Similar to what’s going to happen today. Sucks that I won’t get a chance to get out walking but so be it.

Tonight will have showers, mainly after 8pm. ๐ŸŒง Low of 59 degrees at 4am. 22 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around June 16th. Maximum dew point of 58 at 5am. ๐Ÿ–๏ธ Breezy, with a southeast wind 15 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an 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 56 degrees. The record low of 13 occurred back in 1874.

Still looking cold and wet for the weekend. โ˜” Might be best for just doing more reading ๐Ÿ“–. Saturday, a chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 49. Breezy, with a west wind 16 to 24 mph, with gusts as high as 37 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 59. Typical average high for the weekend is 58 degrees.

Looking ahead, there are 12 weeks until Independence Day ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ when the sun will be setting at 8:37 pm with dusk at 9:10 pm. On that day in 2023, we had mostly sunny and temperatures between 84 and 54 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 83 degrees. We hit a record high of 104 back in 1911.

Down By Long Pond

Rainy Saturday โ˜”

Good afternoon! Rain and 44 degrees in Delmar. โ˜” There is a south-southeast breeze at 9 mph. ๐Ÿƒ. The skies will clear tomorrow around 9 am.

I’m feeling somewhat better today due to a fairly good night’s sleep ๐Ÿ› , it was tough last week I’ve had my very severe sleeping disorder coming back. Figuring out my housing situation and how I want to live when I grow up is increasingly frustrating ๐Ÿ˜ค. I really don’t like what is out there on the market for homes ๐Ÿก and really want to do the simple, off grid thing.

This afternoon will rain. ๐ŸŒง High of 45 degrees at 4pm. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 15th. South wind around 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 41 degrees. The record high of 65 was set in 1991. 11.9 inches of snow fell back in 2018.โ„

No big plans for today, books planning on going to the library to get more books out on owner home building and sustainable design. ๐Ÿ“š Plus I’m interested in learning CAD – computer aidedto design – so I can better put my dream house down on paper which will help me present my ideas ๐Ÿ’ญ to contractors and builders. I’m really thinking radically simple. With a plan in hand ๐Ÿ‘ท it’s so much easier to get what I want rather than vague notions of land out in the country ๐Ÿšœ maybe with livestock and some green features. ๐ŸŒฒI don’t want to box myself in but I also don’t want to be flopping around with no idea ๐Ÿ’ก what I want or much worse know what I want but lack words to describe it.

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 12:08 pm with sun having an altitude of 40.4ยฐ from the due south horizon (-30.4ยฐ vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 7 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour ๐Ÿ… starts at 5:09 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (255ยฐ). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west (262ยฐ) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 5:47 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 56 seconds with dusk around 6:14 pm, which is one minute and 13 seconds later than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ The best time to look at the stars is after 6:48 pm. At sunset, look for rain ๐ŸŒง and temperatures around 45 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 8 mph. Today will have 11 hours and 21 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 51 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will rain, mainly before 10pm. Patchy fog between midnight and 2am. ๐ŸŒง Low of 42 degrees at 4am. 20 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 27th. East wind around 7 mph becoming northwest after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth 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 27 degrees. The record low of -10 occurred back in 1950.

Today in 1989, Twelve European Community nations agree to ban the production of all chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) ๐ŸฅซโŒ by the end of the century.

Looking ahead, there are 8 weeks until Arbor Day ๐ŸŒณ when the sun will be setting at 7:52 pm with dusk at 8:21 pm (Daylight Savings Time). On that day in 2023, we had partly cloudy, patches of fog and temperatures between 62 and 40 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 65 degrees. We hit a record high of 91 back in 1962.

Paradox Lake Area

Places I Camped in 2023

While this year was a rainy one, and it rained during many of my trips, I was able to get out for 53 nights in the wilderness — mostly fairly close to home but I also did a trip down to West Virginia in late October with several trips to the Adirondacks, Central New York and summer vacation in the Finger Lakes.

Places I Camped in 2023

Martin Luther Kings Day โ€“ January 14-16 (2 nights)

To start out my camping adventures in 2023, I drove out to Charles Baker State Forest and Brookfield Horse Camp. There wasn’t a lot of snow — just a dusting but it was a fun weekend, topped off by a beautiful sun-full glittery hike up Tassell Hill after a hoar frost. Explored Lost Pond and several of the trails in the middle of state forest.

Home for the weekend

40th Birthday โ€“ January 27-29 (2 nights)

For my fortieth birthday, I took off the Friday leading up to my 40th birthday to cross country ski and winter camp at Rensselaerville State Forest. It was a beautiful weekend with lots of blue skies, sufficient snow for skiing but not so much that was a ton of snowmobiles out on the trails.

Beautiful Day of Skiing

Presidents Day โ€“ February 17-19 (2 nights)

I decided for Presidents Day Weekend to do another trip out to Charles Baker State Forest and Brookfield Horse Camp. Slightly more snow then last time but again largely a snow-less winter, with some nice days for hikes through the various truck and horse trails. I hiked around much of state forest, especially the more southern part of the forest.

Evening on Truck Trail 13

Easter Weekend โ€“ April 7-9 (2 nights)

On Good Friday through Easter I camped at at Rensselaerville State Forest. The snow was gone and it was fairly mild though at times it was a bit cool. Spent a fair amount of time walking around and exploring the new OSI Parcel that has been recently added to state forest and is still largely open fields with sweeping views of the Catskill Mountains.

Hillcross Farm Pond

Duck Pond Trip โ€“ May 5-7 (2 nights)

The first Friday in May I took a half day from work and headed out to Schoharie County to camp at Duck Pond at Burnt-Rossman Hills State Forest. Originally the plan was to camp two nights at Duck Pond, hiking along the Long Path and exploring the state forest and then on Sunday hiking the Catskill Scenic Trail. That part of the trip changed when driving along Duck Pond Road the low tire pressure light came on I found a pallet nail in my truck tire. I was able to top off the truck tire and then change the tire when I got home and got the nail pulled and plugged. But it wasn’t the best way ever to end a trip early.

Spring

Overnight at Cole Hill – May 13-14 (1 night)

After visiting the folks on Mother’s Day Weekend, I decided to do a quick overnight hammock camp on Cole Hill State Forest in Berne. Nothing fancy or formal, it was as much a way to test out sleeping in my hammock with the bug screen. Kind of a chilly night, I took camp down fairly and headed home early in the morning.

Hammock Camping on Cole Hill

Memorial Day Weekend at Cole Hill โ€“ May 20-22 (2 nights)

This year I decided to eschew the Adirondacks and Greene Mountains for Memorial Day Weekend due to the black flies, my desire to look at bicycles, and work I had to do on the Saturday morning leading up to the holiday weekend. I decided to hammock camp again Cole Hill State Forest in Berne. This was a three-day two night trip, so it it gave me a chance to bring more gear up the mountain, set up a more formal camp. Cooked on the fire, hiked around the forest. It was a warm weekend, but I enjoy the solitude, along with having good cell service for listening to podcasts and watching videos.

Cooking down dinner

Juneteenth Weekend on Piseco-Powley โ€“ June 15-20 (4 nights)

To kick off summer, I did my usual Juneteenth weekend camping trip, tacking on some days on the Juneteenth Holiday Weekend. It was a bit of a cool and rainy weekend to kick off summer, one that would actually be followed by many cool and rainy weekends where I would stay home. Camped at House Pond for the first three nights, spending time down floating in the tube on East Branch while the final night I camped up at Powley Bridge site and kayaked along the East Branch. Really, like often is the case, the best weather was the day I took down camp.

Evening on East Canada Creek

Catskill Scenic Trail Trip โ€“ July 22-24 (3 nights)

After several months of researching and visiting various bike shops, I finally got a mountain bike. I decided it would be fun to do as much of the Catskill Scenic Trail as I could before my summer vacation got underway. Actually did quite a bit of riding and hiking that weekend — started out hiking Pratts Rock’s then riding from Grand George to Hobart. Sunday, I rode from Fultonham to Middleburgh on NY 30, doing a quick climb up Vromans Nose, then stopping at the farm market then going to Mine Kill State Park to swim. Monday I rode from Hobart down to Bloomville, getting caught in a major thunderstorm and downpour a few miles north of Bloomville with no shelter in sight. The trail became super boggy, then I went to Mine Kill State Park for one more swim, and then out to folks house for Sunday dinner a day later then usual.

After the rain showers

Finger Lakes National Forest โ€“ July 28 โ€“ August 6 (9 nights)

Every year for nearly a decade and a half I’ve been doing summer vacation out in the Finger Lakes — camping in the National Forest and exploring as much as possible during my days there. The past few years I’ve been driving there on a Friday, to get a better campsite before they’re taken by the weekend campers. This year was no exception. With Blackie, my mountain bike, I did nearly all of the bike trails in the near vicinity, from the Black Diamond Trail to the Cayuta Valley Trail to Dresden – Penn Yan Canal Trail. Kayaked on both Cayuga and Scenic Lakes, swam many days at Watkins Glen State Park and Taughannock State Park, explored the Cornell Campus and Botanical Gardens on my bike. Got some good ice cream at the Spotted Duck, explored the Geneva Waterfront along with the Cayuga-Seneca Canalway. Some rain but compared to the wet summer that was, this was a pretty good week.

Morning on Searsburg Road

Piseco-Powley โ€“ House Pond Campsite โ€“ August 18-20 (3 nights)

The next few weeks for rainy and by the time I got away for one more long weekend, it promised to be fairly nice weekend but turned out to be fairly cool and cloudy with some rain. Back at the House Pond Campsite, did some swimming in East Branch, but with the mercury in the 60s most of the weekend, I didn’t spend a lot of time in the water. Hardly what I had dreamed when the I planned the weekend. Rode Blackie up to Goldmine Stream Falls and relaxed down by the falls for a bit, also sat down by the swimming hole off of the Old Edick Road Snowmobile Trail, watching the rain fall, bemoaning the wet and cold weather. Still it was good to get away for a bit, and I did do a fair amount of reading in hammock, under the protection of the bug net, as the bugs were bad after such a wet summer.

Gentle Drop Into A Golden Pool

Labor Day at Perkins Clearing – September 1-4 (3 nights)

I took the Friday off before Labor Day to get a jump on the holiday season travel, and set up camp at the site I really enjoy up at Perkins Clearing overlooking the mountains. Did a fair amount of riding along the various dirt roads of Perkins Clearing, including over to Mason Lake and on Sunday rode most of the way to the Spruce Lake Trailhead, though didn’t make it there in time as I got a bit of a late start as I spent the balance of the day reading and swimming in the Jessup River Bridge swimming hole. Labor Day, I rode around the Spectulator Tree Farm, doing a large loop, through the tree farm, past the north end of Elm Lake, then down to Austin Falls and Old Route 8B. I had hoped to get ice cream, but by the time I got to the ice cream shop they were out of soft-ice cream, and there was a long line. Summer was dragging to a close.

Kunjamunk River from Long Level Bridge

September Trip to Rensselearville State Forest โ€“ September 15-17 (2 nights)

With time being fairly tight and the weather only so-so I decided to do a two night trip close to home out in Rennselearville to ride some of the gravel trails, explore the OSI Parcel further and just enjoy an early autumn weekend camping.

Evening

Columbus Day at Rensselearville State Forest โ€“ October 8-9 (1 night)

Columbus Day Weekend was cold and rainy for the first half of the weekend, but the Sunday heading into Columbus Day was nice, so I decided to head out to Rensselaerville for a quick overnight at the campsite on CCC Road. Leaves were late this year, so not a lot of color, but it still was nice to get away for a night and ride some of the trails around.

Leonard Hill

West Virginia Trip โ€“ October 21-29 (8 nights)

The banner trip of the year was my trip down to West Virigina. While it started and ended in rain, it was a very enjoyable trip with lots of new adventures this year. Camped the balance of the week — 6 nights in Canaan Heights — doing day trips from that area. Overnighted one night driving down at County Bridge Campground in Pennsylvania, and a on the way back camped overnight at Long Pond State Forest in New York. Adventures in West Virginia included hiking at Dolly Sods, mountain biking at night in the sods of Canaan Heights, riding up and hiking to Table Rock, exploring Blackwater Falls State Park on the mountain bike, MonPower Mountain Bike Park, Thomas Rail Grade and the Olson Firetower. Rode part of the Great Allegheny Trail through the Cumberland Passage, and the two sections of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canalway, including the Paw Paw Tunnel.

Sunrise

Stoney Pond โ€“ November 4-7 (3 nights)

A little over a week back from West Virginia, I headed out to Madison County to ride the Tassel Hill Mountain Bike Trails at Alfred Woodford, the Chenango Canal Trail in Hamilton and Erie Canalway from Chittenango to Green Lakes State Park and then to Canastota and Wampsville. The first night was cold at Stoney Pond but the subsequent nights were quite pleasant and mild.

Old Canal Warehouse in Chittenango  [Expires November 19 2023]

Prospect Mountain – East Branch Sacanadaga โ€“ Buttermilk Falls/Hudson Special Management Area โ€“ November 24-28 (3 nights)

Strangely enough, I had never been up Prospect Mountain. So I decided the day after Thanksgiving (Black Friday) to hike up Prospect Mountain, and then spend the next two nights camping on East Branch of the Sacandaga River. The Saturday and Sunday was fairly cold, so I ended up spending the bulk of day hanging around camp, doing a bit of hiking around Fox Lair. Sunday, evening around 8 PM it started to sleet, then snow, then rain, Monday morning, it turned into a white globby snow, and I ended up taking down camp fairly early after discovering I was out of propane and then spent much of the day exploring the Hudson River Special Management Area – Buttermilk Falls.

Icy River Road

Stoney Pond – Charles Baker โ€“ December 21-26 (5 nights)

On the days leading up to Christmas I decided to take a second trip to Madison County. I was originally planning to camp two nights at Stoney Pond then two nights at the Charles Baker Horse Camp but my family’s holiday plans were cancelled due to illness in my family, so I ended up staying an extra night at the horse camp, through the day after Christmas. On Friday, I rode the Erie Canalway from Canastota to East Verona, nearly to Rome. On Christmas Day I rode around many of truck trails at Charles Baker with my mountain bike, leaving my face splattered with mud. Many of the days were fairly cold and cloudy, but that’s too be expected in late December. Still it was a special way to spend Christmas.

Camp on this cold but still morning ?

Tuesday, Tuesday. Four weeks and it’s back to work for the New Year 2024.

I saw that the new legislative session calendar was released for next year. Heavy weighted for January and February but that’s to be expected with the early primaries.

Good morning! Partly cloudy and 33 degrees at the Delmar, NY. โ›… There is a northwest breeze at 11 mph. ๐Ÿƒ. Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 6 pm. โ˜ƒ๏ธ Much cooler than yesterday.

Decided to do cream of wheat topped with shredded apples ๐Ÿ and homemade this morning cranberry sauce. Coffee โ˜• with lots of ginger and cinnamon. Plus some water with apple cider vinegar and ginger to smooth digestion, had a bit of an upset stomach ๐Ÿ˜ฒ after the pea soup last night. I really now understand why people add ham to pea soup – it’s for the fats which ease digestion by buffering the highly basic peas. ๐Ÿฒ Not the taste per se, despite what folks claim. It would help too if I added more water to the soup to make it liquid before reheating for buffering plus adding more aciditic balsamic vinegar when serving and possibly adding a healthy fat like maybe mashed avocado ๐Ÿฅ‘ or some olive oil to the mix. Ham isn’t required especially if you are adding salt to the pea soup for taste. ๐Ÿท

I think it will be nice enough to ride to work. ๐Ÿšฒ Wear gloves ๐Ÿงค and embrace the cold it won’t be much longer for riding to work until spring or at least a February thaw. โ˜ƒ I figure with the new office ๐Ÿข I’ll be able to ride in when there is enough daylight to ride back to the express bus in the evening. ๐Ÿš Which isn’t the case in January.

Today will be mostly cloudy ๐ŸŒฅ, with a high of 37 degrees at 11am. Five degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 18th. Northwest wind 5 to 11 mph becoming northeast in the afternoon. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 44 degrees. The record high of 65 was set in 2001. 9.0 inches of snow fell back in 1902.โ„

Stayed in the office late last night to watch the fireworks ๐ŸŽ†. Honestly I would have gotten a better view from the Plaza as the agency buildings blocked the view of lower firing fireworks. I figured view the fireworks from my office before I move on. It wasn’t that late and I just caught the 6:45 bus home. ๐ŸšŒ Already had dinner in the office, and I thought about going for a walk but my stomach was kind of upset after the pea soup.

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 11:47 am with sun having an altitude of 25° from the due south horizon (-45.8° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.8 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour ๐Ÿ… starts at 3:38 pm with the sun in the southwest (232°). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west-southwest (240°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:23 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 21 seconds with dusk around 4:53 pm, which is 10 seconds earlier than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ The best time to look at the stars is after 5:30 pm. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies โ˜ and temperatures around 36 degrees. There will be a north-northeast breeze at 5 mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 14 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 7 seconds over today.

I got home ๐Ÿก last night and with my upset stomach ๐Ÿคฐ๐Ÿผ decided it best not to do an evening walk ๐Ÿšถ plus I was tired ๐Ÿ˜ด and lazy being a Monday. Heated up a glass of milk ๐Ÿฅ› with lots of cinnamon and ginger and that was good, retired to bed ๐Ÿ› and watched some more of that class on machine learning ๐Ÿค–. I think even more than a so called smoothie which adds natural sugars in the form of fruit and or yogurt I’m just as good with plain fat free milk loaded up with cinnamon and ginger nice and warm. Supposed to help with sleep ๐Ÿ˜ด besides warming you up.

Tonight will be cloudy โ˜, with a low of 27 degrees at 5am. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 2nd. North wind around 6 mph. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became light rain by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 39 degrees. The record low of -5 occurred back in 1901.

Another rainy but mild weekend ahead. ๐ŸŒง๏ธ Saturday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 49. Sunday, showers likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 56. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Typical average high for the weekend is 40 degrees. No snow in the immediate future ๐Ÿ”ฎ but definitely cloudy and gray. And rain for the weekends, which seems like we are stuck on the pattern of rainy weekends.

Looking ahead, there are 3 weeks until Boxing Day ๐ŸฅŠ when the sun will be setting at 4:29 pm with dusk at 4:59 pm. A good day for burning up all those boxes and wrapping paper from Christmas. ๐Ÿ“ฆ ๐Ÿ”ฅ On that day in 2022, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 30 and 16 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 35 degrees. We hit a record high of 59 back in 1895.

Tonight

A Rainy Sunday Ahead ๐ŸŒง๏ธ

It could be snow but not with El Niño and the jet stream in its current position. At least we’re not expecting to get as socked by rain as the southern states in the coming weeks.

Good morning! Happy Wet Sunday. Yes, clouds โ˜๏ธand 40 degrees in Delmar. Rain coming soon. โ˜” There is a north-northeast breeze at 5 mph. ๐Ÿƒ. Temperatures will drop below freezing at Tuesday around 9 pm. โ˜ƒ๏ธ Still another pretty mild day, saving on the heat being off. I don’t know why I worry so much about heating bills, as they only work out in the coldest months to be like $30 over the normal non-heating bills, but I do. โ™จ๏ธ It’s not like I don’t make good money, though I’m always broke as I’m stashing so much in the market and for retirement. But I just don’t like seeing my money go up into smoke, ๐Ÿ’จ says the boy who drives a big jacked up truck that has a drinking problem. โ›ฝ

Yesterday wasn’t a real productive day, ๐Ÿ“š the biggest thing I did was go down to the library for a while to work on my laptop ๐Ÿ’ป and then reheat some chilli and cook some kidney beans. Like yesterday, this morning I baked a breakfast cake with oatmeal, whole-wheat flour, an egg, stevia, two bananas and cranberries. Good breakfast, super moist, really like a cake. ๐Ÿฐ Been doing a lot more cooking with cranberries as they’re dirt cheap this time of year — $1.50 for a large bag, and quite delicious. Been continuing on that machine learning course, ๐Ÿค– now that I’m in the deep dive into principal component analysis, really starting to learn a lot more. The course I’m learning is primarily about using R packages for machine learning, but most of the techniques could be used with Python. I probably would learn Python and scikitlearn for machine learning, but I feel like I know R better these days as that’s what I constantly use, as like the maggitr pipes and ggplot graphics output.

Today will have showers likely before 8am, then rain, mainly after 8am. ๐ŸŒง High of 44 degrees at 2pm. Two degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 29th. Northeast wind around 6 mph becoming east in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. A year ago, we had rain in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 53 degrees. The record high of 63 was set in 2009. 5.2 inches of snow fell back in 1893.โ„

After showering this morning, ๐Ÿ›€ heading to Walmart to get groceries for the week, probably around 9 AM before the crowds get there. The big thing is spices, but also frozen fruits and vegetables, plus the usual like another container of oatmeal as I used that up making breakfasts, pancakes and bread. ๐Ÿ›’ Making a list this time in hope that I won’t forget things, though chances are good at least some of things on my list won’t be in stock, as it always happens. Then I want to wash the kitchen floor, do some cleaning and straightening up. 

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 11:46 am with sun having an altitude of 25.3° 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 ๐Ÿ… starts at 3:39 pm with the sun in the southwest (233°). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west-southwest (240°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:24 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 21 seconds with dusk around 4:54 pm, which is 16 seconds earlier than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ The best time to look at the stars is after 5:30 pm. At sunset, look for rain ๐ŸŒง and temperatures around 43 degrees. There will be a east breeze at 6 mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 16 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 14 seconds over today.

This afternoon heading out to the folks house ๐Ÿฒ for some turkey soup and the Sunday dinner. Just going to be kind of a rainy day, but I figure get home early then I’ll have time to make up bread ๐Ÿž and soak beans or maybe peas in preparation for making soup come the morning. Then that will be Monday’s dinner. Been working on slowly but surely eating up some of the food I previously frozen but also making sure to maintain balanced meals each day. And maybe some time to read ๐Ÿ“– before heading to bed pretty early. No need to stay up late on such a dreary day.

Tonight will rain, mainly before midnight. ๐ŸŒง Low of 39 degrees at 6am. 13 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 23rd. South wind 6 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 25 degrees. The record low of -9 occurred back in 1940.

Yesterday I was thumbing through some properties and land on Zillow. ๐Ÿ˜ So much is that suburban crap with marble countertops and neighbors. It’s hard to find nice pieces of land with acreage. Not that I’m seriously thinking of buying at this point but it can be fun during downtime. That said, moving to the suburban office with free parking, makes it more tempting to think about moving back out to country. Plus I’ll be making more money at my new job, but I think that’s putting the cart before the wagon, because who knows how it will work out or how I’ll like it. It’s a big step forward though. But for now, I’ll probably stay in my apartment. It’s inexpensive, even if it is run down. I have my fun getting away and camping in the wilderness. ๐Ÿ• Looking forward to getting away again in two and a half weeks on the run up to the Christmas holiday.

As previously noted, next Sunday is 7:15 AM Sunrise โŒ›๏ธ 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.

House Pond is Getting Icy ?

29 days left in the year โŒ›

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

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

Started out my morning a little after 5 o’clock as I always do. โฐ I’m not one to set an alarm but I wake up at that hour as I’m usually asleep before 9 PM and around then I have to get up and do the bathroom thing, ๐Ÿ’ฉ so it’s best to get up and going and get a bright and early start on the morning. Decided to bake a breakfast cake this morning ๐Ÿฐ — this time I started with food-processor milled oatmeal, whole wheat flour, stevia, two bananas, baking powder, canned pumpkin an egg, and some water and baking it. Topped it with lots of pumpkin pie spice. ๐ŸŽƒ It was pretty darn good, the egg and gluten from the whole-wheat flour made it very cake like and not so dry as often comes out when cooking with milled oatmeal. Plus some stomach-filling protein from the egg, and two types of fiber — insoluble fiber from the whole-wheat flour and pumpkin plus soluble fiber from oatmeal. โ˜• I had to go to Stewart’s to get milk for the coffee but now this morning is a go.

Today will have a slight chance of showers between 10am and 1pm. Mostly cloudy ๐ŸŒฆ, with a high of 47 degrees at 1pm. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 22nd. South wind 3 to 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 41 degrees. The record high of 66 was set in 1998. 6.8 inches of snow fell back in 2019.โ„

I am going to take a wait and see approach to today ๐ŸŒง but if it looks like it’s going to remain just cloudy I might head up to the Albany Pine Bush for a bike / hike on some of the trails, ๐Ÿšฒ ๐Ÿšถโ€โ™€๏ธ and then head up to the Salvation Army to look at clothes, especially dressier things for work. ๐Ÿ‘” I am though most likely going to have to just buy some dress shirts and pants for work ๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ’ผ as nothing I have really fits well anymore after loosing so much weight. Then I need to get spices and probably some other groceries at Walmart, though truth be told my pantry isn’t bad currently but I need more frozen fruit and vegetables, ๐Ÿ“ ๐Ÿฅฆ along with the spices. Turmeric and ginger in particular but also some cinnamon and Chipotle would be good as I’m low on all those things. I don’t really have to go shopping, but at some point I do want to replenish my pantry and I hate to stay home all day. ๐Ÿ›’

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 11:46 am with sun having an altitude of 25.5ยฐ from the due south horizon (-45.4ยฐ vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.6 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour ๐Ÿ… starts at 3:39 pm with the sun in the southwest (233ยฐ). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west-southwest (241ยฐ) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:24 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 21 seconds with dusk around 4:54 pm, which is 18 seconds earlier than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ The best time to look at the stars is after 5:31 pm. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies โ˜ and temperatures around 46 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 18 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 18 seconds over today.

I haven’t decided to make bread or pea soup today. ๐Ÿž That was originally the plan but I kind of forgot or was tired and cold after last night so after my salmon ๐ŸŸ for dinner, I had some Greek yogurt and pumpkin, ๐ŸŽƒ then settled down to bed ๐Ÿ›Œ doing some more of the Udemy course ๐ŸŽ“ on machine learning and went to sleep. I might wait until Sunday evening to kneed and make more bread, and enjoy it fresh come Monday. Maybe the same thing with the pea soup. I do have kidney beans cooking down on the stove, so I could do beans and rice later, and I took both some previously cooked and frozen chickpeas and butternut squash out of the freezer. Also still have spaghetti squash in the fridge from earlier in the week I should eat before it goes bad. Maybe it’s best to save the bread until Monday. Pea soup is good but it can make me gassy, ๐Ÿ˜ค which is why I was thinking maybe better to have it during the weekend. Helps though if I make sure to drink plenty of water with it and avoid the shredded carrots ๐Ÿฅ• in the bread I’m serving with it.

Tonight will have a chance of showers, mainly after 5am. Cloudy ๐ŸŒง, with a low of 39 degrees at 5am. 13 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 23rd. Light north wind. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2022, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became rain by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 38 degrees. The record low of -1 occurred back in 1976.

The blog advertising pulled in $165 since September 23, ๐Ÿค‘ which isn’t too bad and will help me recoup at least some of the costs of the web hosting come a few weeks when finally the money is deposited in my bank. It looks like I will be earning roughly $75 a month going forward, getting paid every other month. By April, I should have recouped the hosting and domain costs from advertising, though some depends on ad rates which decline after the Christmas season and web traffic, ๐Ÿ•ธ which always picks up during the summer months when people are looking for trails and places for camping. ๐Ÿ• I probably wouldn’t have done the advertising thing but I didn’t like the sting of the rising hosting bills a few months back, of which my bank account still hasn’t fully recovered.

I put in a FOIL request for the Recreation Unit Management Plan Shapefile with the DEC. ๐Ÿ• This would be nice for making maps, somebody asked for it a while back and I never was able to get them the file. Basically this shapefile includes the area covered unit plans, and I can’t find it online on an ArcGIS REST/Service or the DEC website. I don’t like doing too many FOIL requests ๐Ÿฃ these days, as I don’t like my name all over government documents, but this would be useful to have, and could create many good maps and analysis for the blog ๐Ÿ—บ which could further drive traffic here. Come February 2024, I am also going to get the update voter file for the full state rather than just the county that I have now, ๐Ÿ—ณ so I can use it for analysis, especially machine learning purposes to see if I can figure out new ways of targeting ๐ŸŽฏ voters.

As previously noted, next Saturday is Average High is 40 ๐ŸŒจ when the sun will be setting at 4:23 pm with dusk at 4:53 pm. On that day in 2022, we had sunny and temperatures between 39 and 25 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 40 degrees. We hit a record high of 62 back in 1966.

Sun Peaks Over Ashokan Range