I’m still going to ride my bike to work as I’m crazy, lol. I may not be in my wilder years, but I like riding and I wish I had that off grid property about now that I was searching for yesterday about now. Hopefully my shaving in the dark wasn’t that bad. Probably be doing that more when I own that land, lol.

Good morning! Monday’s come back around again. And it’s dark with the time change and no electricity. Mostly cloudy and 34 degrees in Delmar, the land without power, says the boy researching property for an off grid homestead. ☁ Breezy, ️25 mph breeze from the northwest 🌬 with gusts up to 46 mph 💨💨💨. The current wind chill is 21. Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 8 am. ☃️

I was up at 5 AM which was good because the power was out at 6:45 AM. 🔌  Fiber-rich carrot and oatmeal pancakes for breakfast today. 🥞 My breakfast was done and I was getting ready to shower, 🚿 when the power went out, so I ended up showering and shaving 🪒 in the dark. Fun times!

So yes, definately riding in this morning. 🚲 It’s windy as all get out, and probably will be cool riding alng Erie Boulevard, but surprisingly much of the commute isn’t bad as the deep gorge helps protect it the trail from cross winds. 🌬 Heck, I might even ride home, but it depends on how windy things are come the evening. Going to be sunny later on, and now with the time change, we have sunlight until 7:30 PM, well at least some daylight. Won’t be rushing against darkness tonight, which is great. 😀

Today will be mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny ☁, with a high of 40 degrees at 3pm. Three degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 2nd. Windy, with a northwest wind 25 to 30 mph, with gusts as high as 49 mph. A year ago, we had light snow in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 41 degrees. The record high of 70 was set in 1977. 4.1 inches of snow fell back in 1941.❄

Yesterday was nice seeing the folks, 👪 and cruising the back roads looking at property, 🛻 though some of the roads were quite muddy and one of the properties I wanted to check out is up a “currently” seasonal use only road, and was impassible as there was a few inches of snow in Berne, and with the mud I wasn’t going to get stuck. 🐐 I am most interested in imperfect property, as it’s likely more affordable and with the good ol’ boy neighbors 👩‍🌾 which I think would be most compatible with my way of living. I kind of really like the idea of living on a dirt road, though maybe in the winter and mud season I’ll have second thoughts, lol.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:06 pm with sun having an altitude of 43.9° from the due south horizon (-26.9° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 6.2 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:20 pm with the sun in the west (260°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (266°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 6:58 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 54 seconds with dusk around 7:25 pm, which is one minute and 11 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the west (263°) at an altitude of 15° from the horizon, 227,362 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 7:59 pm. At sunset, look for mostly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 39 degrees. The wind chill around sunset will be 28. ☃️Blustery, 🌬 with a stiff breeze at 26 mph the northwest with gusts up to 44mph. Today will have 11 hours and 47 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 54 seconds over yesterday.

It will be nice having daylight in the evening. 🏞 Probably too cold to go to the park after work but if the wind isn’t that bad I’ll try to ride home. But it will be nice having daylight in the evening, for a walk or even just doing some reading. 📚 Sure, it’s not truly spring time yet, and 7:30 PM dusk is still pretty early but you have to work with what you have.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 32 degrees at 6am. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 2nd. Breezy, with a northwest wind 16 to 23 mph, with gusts as high as 40 mph. In 2023, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 21 degrees. The record low of -12 occurred back in 1948.

Today in 1993, Janet Reno is confirmed by the United States Senate and sworn in the next day, becoming the first female Attorney General of the United States. ⚖ She was kind of a jerk but many people who get appointed to that job kind of are, even though Ramsey Clark was awesome in his later years.

Right now, a split verdict on the weekend. 😕 Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 54. Sunday, a chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 52. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Typical average high for the weekend is 45 degrees. Maybe I can finally get out camping this weekend. I guess it depends. If not, I do want to either poke around Coeymans and New Baltimore in search of land and properties, or maybe Rensslear County. It would be fun to do some hiking and camping with such an adventure. 🏃‍♀️ 🏕 🛻

Looking ahead, there are 3 weeks until April Fools Day 🤡 when the sun will be setting at 7:23 pm with dusk at 7:50 pm. Trout season opener. 🎣 On that day in 2023, we had rain and temperatures between 74 and 41 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 52 degrees. We hit a record high of 77 back in 1986.

Good morning! Happy Sunday. Time to get up in a bit before it’s real wet then head home. Rain showers and 46 degrees at Long Pond State Forest in Smithfield Flats, NY. ☁ There is a north breeze at 8 mph. 🍃.

Back in New York State. I decided to drive all the way back to New York yesterday from Paw Paw as I figured it would mean back tracking to get back to Interstate 99 and heading north. 🛣️ Rain is expected before day break in Wellsboro so I figured that at any rate, not worth the back tracking and the $10 fee to camp in Pennsylvania. ⛺ At Long Pond State Forest which is two hours from home l figured that the rain would start later so maybe a quick breakfast and coffee ☕ 🥣 before the rain picked up.

Figured it would be interesting to come back via 81 and see at least the skyline of Hagerstown Maryland, Harrisburg, Wilkes Barre and Scranton Penna 🌆 but truth be told by the time I reached Hazleton it was dark, and from Hagerstown to the I-78 and I-81 split in Jonestown, traffic was much too heavy for ones eyes 👀 to leave the road for much scenic viewing. People often suggest taking Interstate 81 to West Virginia but I have to say at this point I don’t recommend it. 🚙 Too much traffic, especially truck 🚚 traffic compared to the leisurely drive along Interstate 99.

Truth is though I was bored with taking Interstate 99, I’ve done it several times in the past years to West Virginia. 🗻 It’s scenic but after a while the towns are all the same. Somehow I was hoping that 81 would change things up. Same thing with US 6 in Penna. It’s slow, and long, the farms 🚜 and rural homesteads 🏡 🐐 are still the same but with fewer burn barrels 🛢 as a decade or so ago. All that plastic shit stinks when you burn it, lol 😂.

Somehow I just had it in my mind that Interstate 81 would shave miles and hours off the trip. 🚘 But it’s really not that much of a time or milage savings. And while I’m only two hours from home compared to 3 1/2 that extra hour and a half got tacked onto yesterday’s drive, 🌃 meaning several hours of driving in the darkness and arriving at Long Pond State Forest at 8:30 pm rather than before six o’clock as I had planned. I had no cell service 📶 in Paw Paw so it was just a wild assed guess on the distance to Asaph Run or County Bridge compared to Long Pond.

The moonlight helped, as did getting up and walking 🚶 around the rest area near Wilkes Barre and ultimately getting a box of five hour energy shots 🤪 which not only made me awake for driving kept me up half the night. Almost stopped and got dinner at Dennys in Hazleton but I decided I was running so far behind schedule, best to have some energy shots, hard boiled eggs and bananas and push forward. ☕ Regardless, I made it to camp safely and expect a nice drive the rest of the way home. 🙏

I was pretty wired from the energy shot ⚡ last night and it was a pretty evening with the full moon 🌕 so I stayed up to midnight.🦆 Listened to the geese well into the night honking and every time I walked to the lake the beaver 🦫 would jump back in with a big splash 💦.

Today will have showers through 9 am, then rain after 10am. 🌧 High of 46 degrees at 6am. 10 degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 23rd. North wind 6 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 63 degrees. The record high of 77 was set in 1946. 3.8 inches of snow fell back in 2011.❄

Coffee ☕ and cream of wheat is cooking on the stove. It’s now just the final two hours home 🏡. Probably need to get a bit more fuel ⛽ and I’m likely going to stop and get apples 🍏 at Annuto’s in Oneonta. They open at nine 9⃣ but I don’t necessarily have to be there right at nine. And maybe other produce like Butternut Squash. 🍆 They have quite the selection of farm products. No doughnuts 🍩 though, even though they were good to start off vacation as a special treat. 😋

Then get home, unpack, shower 🚿 for the first time in nine days 👃 and knead bread 🍞 and soak peas for pea soup. Maybe go to the laundromat and buy produce at Hannaford, or that could wait until Monday.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:40 pm with sun having an altitude of 34° from the due south horizon (-36.8° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 8.9 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 5:14 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (246°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (253°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 5:54 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 2 seconds with dusk around 6:21 pm, which is one minute and 22 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waining Gibbous 🌖 Moon in the east-northeast (63°) at an altitude of 0° from the horizon, 235,306 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:56 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 43 degrees. There will be a north-northeast breeze at 6 mph. Tomorrow will have 10 hours and 27 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 36 seconds over today.

Rode about twenty miles of the Chesapeake and Ohio outside Paw Paw and then went into the village on my bike yesterday. Not a lot of note in the village that I saw but maybe I rode the wrong road. 🚲 That said, the Paw Paw Tunnel is really neat. 🚉 Not only can you hike – bike the canal tunnel when I was there people were kayaking in it. 🛶 Rode 19 miles or about three hours including breaks. Stopped at the Capacon Overlook 🏞 after driving WV 9 which is as curvy as you might expect any good ol West Virginia road to be going through the mountains. Phil Ochs wasn’t wrong when he sung about the roads would wind and wind through the hills of West Virginia.

Tonight will have showers before 2am, then rain likely after 2am. Cloudy 🌧, with a low of 42 degrees at 7pm. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 14th. Calm wind becoming southeast around 5 mph after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 28 degrees. The record low of 20 occurred back in 1969.

Next it’s watching the forecast for next week. 🐮 I’m still thinking about a trip out to Madison County either next week or the weekend after for four days, tacking a day onto the Election Day Weekend or Veterans Day Weekend. ⛺ I know it seems like it’s coming on right after vacation but rifle season 🦌 and Thanksgiving is right around the corner and who knows when we’ll get our first snowfall and those areas inaccessible. 🌨 Winter’s coming.

Looking ahead, there are 6 weeks until 7:15 AM Sunrise ⌛️ when the sun will be setting at 4:23 pm with dusk at 4:53 pm (Standard Time). On that day in 2022, we had mostly sunny skies and temperatures between 31 and 20 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 40 degrees. Winter’s coming. We hit a record high of 64 back in 1966.

The blog for the first month made a little over $80 a month or so worth in advertising. 🖥 Figuring th hosting and domains work out to $17 a month, its a nice little check. Won’t make me rich and it’s possible that I could potentially squeeze additional revenue by more obnoxious ads or changing the content on my blog but I want to maintain absolute editorial control over my blog. 📝 That’s one of the reasons I maintain a personal blog and don’t just do social media.