The thunder rumbled while I was in the swimming hole,
crack boom bang,
I headed back to camp when I saw the lightning,
Under the tarp,
Rumble, rumble.
The storm never came that close,
But it started to rain,
Not that hard.
So I sat and watched.
The rain picked up,
The 5 gallon bucket next to the tarp
Filled up.
And then it stopped,
much like it started.
I went for another swim.
Just taking it slow and easy, it’s summer vacation and it’s a hang out in the National Forest kind of day with rain and thunderstorms almost certain come midday.
Good morning! No rain yet but a fair amount of clouds, muggy. I’d call it times of clouds and sun about 75 degrees at the Finger Lakes National Forest. ⛅ More sun would be nice to charge the solar. 🔋 There is a west breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 69 degrees. Muggy but relief coming with the front this afternoon. The skies will clear around 9 pm.
Been having fun, so far a great vacation, very relaxing. 😁 Got the campsite I wanted, I have so many good healthy foods to eat. 🍏 went for a ride over to Teeter Pond 🚲 and the Horton Pasture hoping to catch a nice sunset 🌇 though it turned out to be grayer than I had hoped with a lot of clouds but listening to the bull frogs 🐸 and cows mooing as dusk approached was nice. Rode back to camp, laid in the hammock for a bit. The brighter light from my headlamp I mounted on my bike works decent, better than the bike light I have. Then around 9:30 decided to ride over to Foster Pond though it was buggy and cloudy when I got there so I didn’t stay long except to watch the froggers 🐸 out in the edge of the pond looking for some frog legs to cook up for dinner. Headlights on that dark road though from oncoming vehicles were quite blinding I must admit!
Today will have showers and thunderstorms before 4pm, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm between 4pm and 5pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 5pm. 🌦 High of 74 degrees at 11am. Eight degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around September 11th. Maximum dew point of 71 at 1pm. 🏖️ Northwest wind 7 to 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. An improvement over yesterday’s forecast but will be wet. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 89 degrees. The reI aglsotvycord high of 97 was set in 1894.
I plan to get firewood under the tarp before the rain 🌧️. It’s only a matter of time before the rain comes. I actually was expecting a wetter morning then turned out to be, as I put away the hammock last night and anything that I didn’t want to get wet as I’m so used to Albany where a threat of rain always turns out to be a certainty for rain but maybe not so much in the Finger Lakes. Only time will tell. Midday hopefully before the rain, want to ride over to Foster Pond and then up to the top of Hector Backbone 🚵 for the views and to get podcasts to listen to this evening back at camp. 📻 Then probably read in the afternoon, cook up onions and more salmon for dinner. 🐠 Thinking beans with maple 🍁 syrup for a light lunch.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:14 pm with sun having an altitude of 66.2° from the due south horizon (-4.5° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 2.6 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:52 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (290°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (297°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:32 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 14 seconds with dusk around 9:03 pm, which is one minute and 4 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Full 🌝 Moon in the south-southeast (159°) at an altitude of 16° from the horizon, 230,641 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:45 pm. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies ☁ and temperatures around 65.
Hoping it will clear out this evening for a nice Finger Lakes sunset 🌇 and it will be starry ✨ and clear to sit down at Foster Pond watching shooting stars. Probably though will be cold and damp though I expect the humidity to drop after the front comes through.
Tonight will have a chance of showers before 8pm. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 58 degrees at 5am. Five degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around August 30th. Maximum dew point of 64 at 6pm. Northwest wind 7 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. In 2022, we had cloudy skies. It got down to 64 degrees. The record low of 44 occurred back in 1968.
Tomorrow and the next four days should be beautiful ☀ and I plan to make the most of them. Tomorrow get a fairly early start, bike most of the Cayuta Valley Rail Trail. 🚲 Then swim at the Watkins Glen Pool, get ice cream at Glen Dairy Bar 🍦, ride along Rock Cabin Road, watch the sunset 🌇 on Seneca Lake. Monday I’m thinking of exploring the gorge at Cornell University and Ithaca bicycle trails and maybe swim 🏊♂️ at Taughannock before heading back to camp. ⛺ Tuesday either paddle Seneca Lake and float in the tube there or maybe head up to Penn Yann – Dresden for the Keuka Valley Trail and ice cream at the Spotted Duck 🦆. Then take it from there.
Looking ahead, next Saturday is Work Like a Dog Day 🐩 when the sun will be setting at 8:24 pm with dusk at 8:54 pm. On that day in 2022, we had hot, humid, partly sunny, patches of fog and temperatures between 93 and 71 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 83 degrees. I guess if swimming and bicycling is working like a dog I’ll be doing that on my final evening of vacation. We hit a record high of 99 back in 1955.
Partly clear and 69 degrees at the Kane Mountain Firetower. Light breeze. The dew point is 51 degrees. A very clear evening 🌃 for sure, good for watching the sunset. With the low dew point I can easily see the other side of the Mohawk Valley including some of the silos on the Schoharie side. Also the wind turbines on the ridge outside of the Adirondack Park.
It’s been a nice weekend up north, ☺ with way too many beer boiled clams, sausage and sweet corn 🦪🍻🌽 and swimming 🏊🏻♂️ holes and about 25 miles of hiking – well over 15 miles was today alone. Camped at the House Pond Campsite 2 again. Today I hiked from Seeley Road in Knapville to Dexter Lake and then to Spectacle Lake and then to Waters Mill Pond. Then about two hours in the evening cooling off in the Potholers, followed by a sunset hike up Kane Mountain. Now to drive home by 10 pm.
Yesterday, I hiked back to House Pond which had a lot of blow down over parts of the trail. 🎋 There was a bad thunderstorm ⛈ in July that I remember seeing on the news 📰 that caused some big trees to come down, but at least it didn’t wash out the road much or if it did Stratford had already fixed it. Looks like they had to saw and remove multiple trees off Piseco-Powley Road that had came down it and I could hear them cutting downed trees at the hunting camp down the road and I saw them leaving with several pickup trucks full of wood.
Also yesterday I hiked along the Edick Road Snowmobile Trail and then back to Edick Road Campsite #1 out along the ledge overlooking the East Canada Creek, spotting a photographing a doe up close. 🦌 I climbed down the gorge wall and watched the various birds 🐦 in the grass lands along that grassy part of the river. Then more clams, corn and sausage. And back to Potholers.
Friday was even more lazy — it was fairly hot. Many hours reading and learning more about Python, 🐍 and then I hiked to Potholers. 🏊♀️ Then after I got back to camp, I swam at the swimming hole across the road from House Pond Campsite 2 until dusk, listening to a podcast, started a fire 🔥 had more clams, 🕹 laid back in hammock until it started to pour 🌧 and then hung out under the tarp as it rained some more listening to podcasts until 11 PM.
Thursday, was a rather late start because it was so humid and I was on vacation and was lazy. I screwed up and didn’t get my turn signal on time for Sandell Farm’s to get sweet corn, and ended up going to Rogers Orchard to get sweet corn and blueberries. 🍎 Then I ended up running to Wally World and forgetting the main reason I wanted to go there — to get coffee. ☕ I like the large coffee containers they have there not just because they are inexpensive on a per pound basis, they make great containers for making ice in for camping. Or “donating” to the state to put toilet paper in the outhouses, to keep the racoons from shredding it. 🚽 I was hoping to check out Willie Marsh 🐸 but I got on the wrong road, so I didn’t go by there. I finally got camp around 12:30, set things up, made my first batch of clams, 🕹 and they were good. Swam in the swimming hole across the way from House Pond Campsite, 🏊♀️ which might not be the potholers, but it’s right next door. Sat back in the hammock for a while listening to some music 🎼 and the news 📻, then had a fire. 🔥 The wood sure was wet that first night, and it was a bit smokey until I got it going well.
Good evening! Mostly cloudy and 52 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ There is a south-southeast breeze at 9 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 42 degrees. The skies will clear Wednesday around 1 pm.
I am back home 🏡 as it’s going to rain tomorrow in Central NY and quite honestly I don’t want to drive home at 5 or 6 pm tomorrow in the dark especially in rain. Plus working all day under a tarp or in the truck doesn’t seem like much fun.
To be sure, it was a beautiful weekend 🍂 even if clouds pushed in early on Sunday. No rain ☔ but it was cold on Cherry Ridge 🍒 Camping Area 🏕 and I didn’t have the whole area so I couldn’t listen to Jason Aldean as loud as I wanted 🎶 while getting drunk 🍻 next to roaring fire 🔥. But the fire was big enough for a while that I was plenty to warm next to it.
I am cleaning out the cooler now ❇️ and I’ll get things ready to put back in the crawl space by morning. Then things will be packed up. With the late sunrise 🌅 and my busy schedule I’m not planning any further trips ⛺ until November. This year I doubt I’ll have enough time to take a full week off of work though in November as I often do.
Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 41 degrees at 5am. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 12th. Southeast wind 7 to 9 mph. In 2019, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 36 degrees. The record low of 20 occurred back in 1974.
Tonight will have a Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon with 7% illuminated. The Blue 🌝 Moon is on Halloween 🦇 Saturday, October 31. After trick or treating and spread COVID-19 don’t forget to set your clocks back one hour 🕒 so you can sleep in one hour 🎃. The darkest hour is at 12:41 am, followed by dawn at 6:45 am, and sun starting to rise at 7:13 am in the east-southeast (103°) and last for 2 minutes and 59 seconds. Sunrise is one minute and 11 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 7:52 am with sun in the east-southeast (109°). Tonight will have 13 hours and 6 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 46 seconds over last night.
Tomorrow will have a chance of showers, mainly after 3pm. Mostly cloudy 🌦, with a high of 60 degrees at 3pm. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 16th. Maximum dew point of 52 at 4pm. South wind 5 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 59 degrees. The record high of 79 was set in 1963. There was a dusting of snow in 1992.❄
It looks like the weather will be better back home 🏡 and I can work down at the library most of the day. Another busy day ahead, I’m glad I won’t be trying to drive back 🚘 in the dark.
In four weeks on November 15 the sun will be setting in the west-southwest (245°) at 4:32 pm (Standard Time),🌄 which is one hour, 35 minutes and 25 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had partly cloudy and temperatures between 50 and 32 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 48 and 32 degrees. The record high of 74 degrees was set back in 1993.
Looking ahead, November 🥧 is in 2 weeks, Daylight Savings Time Ends 🛥️ is in 2 weeks, First Sunday of Advent ✝️ is in 7 weeks, Saint Nicholas Day 🎅 is in 7 weeks, Bake Cookies Day 🍪 is in 2 months, Latest Sunrise of the Winter 🌄️ is in 11 weeks, Winnie the Pooh Day 🍯 is in 3 months, Martin Luther King Day 🖤 is in 3 months, Valentines Day ❤️ is in 17 weeks and National Drink Wine Day 🍷 is in 4 months.
Good evening. Clear and 74 degrees at the Perkins Clearing. 🌃 Light south breeze. The dew point is 62 degrees. A beautiful night, after laying in the hammock for a while looking at the stars I decided to start a small campfire 🔥 just to sit by and look at while starring up at the skies. I’ve dimmed the lights for the evening, and it’s very starry 🌟 on this final night of camping. Saw one intensely bright shooting star fall from the sky – kind of burned up with a bright flash. Made a wish and looked in disbelief that suddenly its 2020.
Tonight should be a nice night, partly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 61 degrees at 4am. 🌃 10 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around July 3rd. Maximum dew point of 62 at 9pm. Doesn’t feel that muggy here. But then again, I’m just hanging out by the fire and it’s a small one. Dry enough I will put it out cold before bed. A lot of dry grass around this campsite even as the green grass grows back up around it. Light south wind. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies. It got down to 55 degrees. The record low of 30 occurred back in 1969.
Tonight will have a Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon with 18% illuminated. Nice strong moon shadow tonight too. At 9 PM, the moon was in the west (272°) at an altitude of 33° from the horizon, some 234,985 miles away from where you are looking up from the earth. 🚀 At the state speed limit of 55 mph, you’ll make it there by November 21st. Buckle up for safety! 💺 The Strawberry 🍓 Moon is on Friday, June 5. The darkest hour is at 12:56 am, followed by dawn at 4:49 am, and sun starting to rise at 5:24 am in the east-northeast (59°) and last for 3 minutes and 25 seconds. Sunrise is 42 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 6:06 am with sun in the east-northeast (66°). Tonight will have 8 hours and 54 minutes of darkness, a decrease of one minute and 36 seconds over last night.
A fairly quiet but busy work day from camp. ⛺ Lots of phone calls 📞 and emails ✉ sent, lots of client business done. Memos written 📝 questions 🙋 answered. Kind of like working from home only more scenic. Very quiet up here now that the holiday weekend is over, I think I saw maybe three cars all weekend.
Tomorrow after I take down camp I’ll work from the Lake Algonquin Park and Speculator Beach or library if I need more bandwidth then I can do over my phone. 😎 Maybe get a burger 🍔 or something for lunch and ice cream for the heat 🍦, possibly dip my feet in at the beach and when work is done at five, head home 🏡. Honestly, I think I’m just as productive remote working from the Adirondacks 🗻 and a whole less stressed. And by the time I get home the heat wave 🌊 should be largely broken.
Had some rain showers today ☔ and a few claps of thunder ⚡ but nothing to dramatic. One shower probably could be heard a bit on a client call 📞 but I’ll chock it up to rain on the roof – of the screen tent. By no means does the tent 🎪 block all the rain but with the tarp I used to create shade it worked well enough.
Food today 🍲 was kind what I had leftover, I packed food and clothes for a maximum of four days and I’m day five of the trip. Lunch was tuna fish salad with breakfast sausage and pasta, while dinner was creamed corn, refried beans, pasta with mayo and cheese along with breakfast sausage. 👍 A garbage plate, yes but I wanted to eat up what I had before it went bad.
Tomorrow will have patchy fog before 8am. Otherwise, mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 85 degrees at 3pm. 12 degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 65 at 8am. Going to be sticky by the time I awake but this night is real pleasant. Calm wind becoming south 5 to 7 mph in the afternoon. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. It was somewhat humid. The high last year was 81 degrees. The record high of 94 was set in 1914.
In four weeks on June 23 the sun will be setting in the northwest (304°) at 8:42 pm,🌄 which is 15 minutes and 41 seconds later then tonight. The sun doesn’t set much later then it does now – only a fifteen minute gain. In 2019 on that day, we had mostly sunny and temperatures between 84 and 55 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 80 and 59 degrees. The record high of 96 degrees was set back in 1888.
Tonight is the last night camping ⛺ for my Memorial Day Weekend remote working trip, but it has inspired me to do more similar adventures in the future as long as I plan places that have good cell phone reception and sun for the solar panel. Over the past five days I’ve used over 1,000 watt hours of solar power camping, mostly for my laptop and phone charger for work and some camp lighting and starting battery 🔋 topping but that’s not been a lot quite honestly compared to keeping the laptop charged for work. I’m thinking a possible weekend next in Schoharie County may be next, but that’s a few weeks off and remote work may end sooner than later and it’s back to the old dungeon office 🏢. And riding the CDTA bus 🚍 to work every day. How novel public transportation seems these days. I do kind of miss the days of yore but I like the wilder side of life too during the pandemic. Maybe if they reopen Cherry Ridge 🍒 I can camp and remote work from the wilds of Madison County and do a nice day trip down to Rogers Center on the weekend for bird 🐦 watching.
Looking ahead, Primary Day 🗳️ is in 4 weeks, Election Day 2020 🗳️ is in 23 weeks and Election Day 2020 🗳️ is in 23 weeks.
Good morning! Today is Memorial Day 🇺🇸! Next Monday is June 🍹. Rain showers and 55 degrees at the Perkins Clearing. ☔ There is a south breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 47 degrees. The skies will clear around 6 pm.
Well, thank you for all those who have served and died for our country. 🇺🇸 While not everything is perfect 👌 in our country and the pandemic is scary, America is largely a free country and a I diverse and wonderful place to live. 💣Soldiers don’t decide on war, they simply implement the wars put down the politicians. 💥
Moved to the new campsite ⛺ and got set up as it started to rain ☔. Clocked in and got down to work. Kind of a cloudy and cool day but tomorrow will be hot. I will string a tarp over the screen tent to keep things cool. Hung up the hammock, I’ll probably not use it until the black flies are done for the day.
Memorial Day will have a chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 10am. Mostly cloudy ⛅ , with a high of 72 degrees at 4pm. Typical for Memorial Day. Maximum dew point of 55 at 6pm. South wind 7 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with a few breaks of sun the afternoon. The high last year was 73 degrees. The record high of 94 was set in 1981.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:56 pm with sun having an altitude of 67.5° from the due south horizon (-2.4° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 2.5 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:44 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (294°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (301°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:27 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 24 seconds with dusk around 9:00 pm, which is 57 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the west-northwest (282°) at an altitude of 24° from the horizon, 237,865 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:45 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 67 degrees. The dew point will be 56 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 15 hours and 3 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 41 seconds over yesterday.
I may stay up in the Adirondacks until Tuesday or Wednesday. ☀ This will avoid some of the heat in Albany and it’s fun working up here. But it all depends on how much sun so I can keep the laptop charged and things moving on.
Tonight will have patchy fog after 2am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 57 degrees at 5am. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around June 15th. Maximum dew point of 58 at 2am. South wind 3 to 5 mph. In 2019, we had rain in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It became somewhat humid as the night progressed. It got down to 57 degrees. The record low of 38 occurred back in 1972.
Cool next weekend with temperatures running 6 degrees below normal but otherwise sunny. 😃 Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 68. Maximum dew point of 50 at 6am. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 66. Maximum dew point of 37 at 6am. Typical average high for the weekend is 73 degrees.
It’s possible that I go to Schoharie County this weekend. 💻 I could work from there on next Monday from Duck Pond. Although who knows, it depends a lot on the weather.
Looking ahead, there are 4 weeks until Average High is 80 🏖 when the sun will be setting at 8:42 pm with dusk at 9:18 pm. On that day in 2019, we had mostly sunny and temperatures between 80 and 55 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 80 degrees. We hit a record high of 95 back in 1954.
