Good evening! Partly clear and 36 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a west breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. There is a inch of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Temperatures will drop below freezing around 2 am. ☃️

It’s actually a pretty nice evening, 🌃 and I sat out back for over an hour when it started to cool off a little bit. It wasn’t until quite late that it really started to drop off. Not going to be quite as nice in the Finger Lakes but not that awful either with each day expected to reach the mid 40s. Hard to complain about such weather on Festivus and I got a nice walk 🚶 before dark as I got out of work early today.

After which I came inside and rode the exercise bike 🚲 for a while listening 👂 to more of that trucker country 🚚 that I like from the late 1960s. That music 🎶 is crude and sleazy and sexist, probably gives one a taste of cigarette 🚬 and diesel 💨 on one’s mouth but it’s good for singing along especially if you’re not a real good singer and it has a good back beat. 🎸

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌤, with a low of 28 degrees at 6am. 10 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 29th. Northwest wind 5 to 11 mph. In 2018, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 31 degrees. Even milder last year. The record low of -15 occurred back in 1989.

Tonight will have a Waning Crescent Moon 🌘 with 1% illuminated. The moon will rise at 5:38 am. The New Moon is on Christmas Day with mostly cloudy skies. The sun will rise at 7:22 am with the first light at 6:50 am, which is 28 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 Tonight will have 14 hours and 57 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 7 seconds over last night. We never quite have 15 hours of darkness in Albany but if you go maybe to Warrensburg or there about, you do on the first day of winter. They have slightly longer summer days then more southerly locations but ultimately it balances out.

Tomorrow will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 36 degrees at 1pm. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 16th. North wind around 7 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 40 degrees. The record high of 72 was set in 2015. I remember that day we’ll, rained a fair bit then I went to my parents house – after working until 3pm and they lost power briefly while cooking Christmas dinner. Spent Christmas that year camping at the Cherry Ridge Camping Area in Madison County. 13 inches of snow fell back in 1966.❄

I thought about testing the propane lantern 🏮 after work today but I have no where to test it around home. I normally hang it between trees on a rope at camp but there are no trees around where I live because the landlord cut down all the trees on his property to avoid liability and leaf removal costs, although in the summer neighboring property trees seem to provide enough shade to keep the buildings cool. I feel like the lantern should work now that I cleaned it a few weeks and if it doesn’t I don’t know how I’m going to fix it before heading out to camp on Saturday.

While I haven’t really planned out my whole camping trip yet ⛺ I do have some things in mind and I’m thinking about what I will need for camping and my packing list 📃. I might start doing a little packing on Christmas Day 🎄 as I told John Wolcott I’ll be over to his house on Thursday after work 🔎and then Friday I’ll have to finish packing and getting finished for camp as I don’t want to delay my departure. I hate driving NY 79 through Ithaca with all the aggressive drivers so I’ll probably take US 20 out but that’s a long drive. Alternatively I guess I could take NY 13 down through Cortland but that can be pokey too. Seneca Falls, decorated as Bedford Falls 🌉 is fun to explore during the holiday season, Montezuma Wildlife Refuge will be closed for the winter. 🐦

In four weeks on January 20 the sun will be setting at 4:52 pm,🌄 which is 26 minutes and 47 seconds later then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had snow and temperatures between 21 and 0 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 30 and 14 degrees. The record high of 53 degrees was set back in 2006.

Not sure I’m happy with the current voltage settings on the voltage switch. 🔋 Neither the starting or the accessory batteries were well charged today, but then again I only got like 30 watt hours of power today. It said that the starting battery charged for 3 minutes today, not sure if the switch tripped multiple times. I may have to push the switch up to 14.0 volts again but in the lousey sun angle ☀ of winter not sure if I’m going to ever have enough power to make it ever engage. I might raise the voltage for camping as maximizing the accessory batteries charge us kind of a priority with the long cold winter nights. It easy enough to adjust those settings.

So far I’ve been fairly happy with the red screen both on my laptop and phone 📱 but it’s a pain to get things adjusted just right. But once the settings are good enough I can just turn them on and off and hopefully that will help with sleep 😴. Definitely it’s good to tone down the blue light from my computer monitor 💻.

I really do watch too many farm, hunting, trapping and off grid living videos on YouTube 📹 but it’s a much needed change from my urban life and takes me to worlds far away from Albany. A camera can bring you into a tie stall dairy barn and see the milking and feeding, show how to skin and process a coyote pelt or even many the day to day parts of living off grid with limited electricity generated on site, heating irg wood, etc. 🐻Wisdom shared over a camera. Because I downloaded the videos and watch them offline, I don’t have to watch those stupid ads but I also don’t get to like or comment on people’s channels. But if I had the internet at home, I’d probably be distracted all the other mindless things to do on the internet. 😼

Looking ahead, Bacon Day 🥓 is in 1 weeks, Make Your Dream Come True Day 🏡 is in 3 weeks, National Popcorn Day 🍿 is in 4 weeks, National Cheese Lovers Day 🧀 is a month away, National Pie Day 🍰 is in 4 weeks, Clean Your Computer Day 🧹 is in 7 weeks, Presidents Day 👴 is in 8 weeks, Read Across America Day 📚 is in 10 weeks, Worm Moon 🌕 is in 11 weeks, Arbor Day 🌳 is in 18 weeks, 8 PM Sunset 🌇 is in 19 weeks, Flower Moon 🌕 is in 21 weeks, Memorial Day Weekend Starts 🏕️ is in 5 months, Memorial Day 🇺🇸 is in 22 weeks, June 🍹 is in 23 weeks, Average High is 80 🏖 is in 26 weeks and Primary Day 🗳️ is in 6 months.

Good evening! Light snowand 32 degrees during the great Christmas Eve black out in Delmar. ❄ There is a west-northwest breeze at 10 mph. 🍃. There is a dusting of snow on the ground. ☃ Things will start to thaw out at tomorrow around noontime. 🌡️

As I didn’t want to sit in the darkness inside and because I really didn’t have any dinner when the power went out, 🌌 I sat out back for a while with my camp stove and heater and warmed up some dinner and hot coca.☕ Not a really cold night but I was getting tired and decided head back in and retire to bed. 💤 Pretty night when the moon came out and it started to snow. I stayed up too late last night and want to get to sleep soon.

I saw the power crew go by and it looks like points north and east of Cherry and Delaware still have power do I expect it to be on before long. But I also expect to be asleep by then.⌛ I tried to turn off the lights and unplug the strip over my bed so I won’t be awaken when the power returns.

Because it was so dark before the moon came up – close to full moon – I decided to hang Christmas lights on my truck to get into the spirit. 🎄 I’m going to leave them on all night but I expect it’s possible that the low voltage relay will kick in by morning but that’s fine, the starting battery is isolated and even the accessory battery should start charging by morning when the sun gets high enough to push power out to the solar panel.🔌 Might even be enough sun to reset the relay by morning by itself.

Power outage couldn’t have happened at a worse time for me, as I was sorting out electronic components into boxes on my floor, 🔩as they have become rather disorganized and hard to locate things. I’ve been buying these flat clear tackle boxes for that purpose of sorting them out and finally I’m getting around to having one box for LEDs, one for resistors and capacitors, one for microprocessors and other miscellaneous sensors. 📦Well I moved it out of the way with my flash light finishing up what I could. I guess at least I wasn’t cooking.

Tonight will have a slight chance of snow showers before 10pm. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 25 degrees at 6am. Seven degrees above normal, which is similiar to a typical night around December 7th. Maximum wind chill around 18 at 6am; Northwest wind 8 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2017, we had cloudy skies, clearing in the early hours of the next day. It got down to 17 degrees. The record low of -22 occurred back in 1969.

Tonight will have a Waning Gibbous Moon 🌖 with 91% illuminated. The moon will set at 9:54 am. The Last Quarter Moon is on Friday night with partly cloudy skies. The Wolf Moon 🌝 is on Sunday, January 20th. The sun will rise at 7:23 am with the first light at 6:51 am, which is 23 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 Tonight will have 14 hours and 56 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 15 seconds over last night.

Christmas Day will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 34 degrees at 1pm. One degree above normal, which is similiar to a typical day around December 22nd. Northwest wind 5 to 8 mph. Sounds like a really nice day. Maybe I should plan some hiking. A year ago, we had cloudy skies with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 33 degrees. The record high of 66 was set in 1889. 19.2 inches of snow fell back in 2002.❄

If I do go for a hike tomorrow, I am a bit undecided where.🏃 Probably not too far as I want to hook up the under cabinet lighting I got them for Christmas. I should plan a couple hours for that before Christmas dinner at the folks house. I think the next big adventure will be the long weekend for New Years Eve. 🎇

My parents had a nice Christmas Eve party with my niece, and my sister and my inlaw. Lots of good food and hanging around opening gifts. 🎁 It seemed like a lot of fun for all involved. It was nice seeing my parents, I hadn’t seen them since my trip. My niece seemed to like the star I built her. There is a lot I don’t like about Christmas which is why I don’t celebrate it personally but I family occasions are special. And this year thanks to the black out I actually hung up some Christmas lights on my truck. I guess I did string some warm white lights into my apartment that I bought for camping but honestly they’re not really strung for the holiday. If anything, they’re for Quinn the Eskimo.

I’m having some problems with the auto renewal on my phone, 📲 so I may not post any updates until later when I get to my parents house for Christmas dinner. I think the auto renewal is fixed but I won’t know until morning. If not I’ll have to fix it tomorrow, so I won’t have internet until it’s fixed. But then I won’t have to pay for my phone service for another six months. I’m thinking about buying the full year plan and paying the $500 up front but that’s a lot of money to have locked up in a service contract to save $15 total over the six months of service I buy twice a year. ☎ I don’t have internet at home so I’m very dependent on having my phone for connection to the interwebs.

A picture perfect weekend on tap for the final weekend of the year. 😎 Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 40. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 30. Typical average high for the weekend is 32 degrees. Figuring I have New Years Eve off, I’m really thinking about a 3 night camping trip starting right after the Save the Pine Bush hike. Maybe the Adirondacks as I think there will be snow at Charles Baker in Brookfield and I don’t want to go back to Betty Brook in Schoharie in the winter in case there is ice, and because that valley is so deep and dark in the winter.

In four weeks on January 21 the sun will be setting at 4:55 pm,🌄 which is 28 minutes and 5 seconds later then tonight. It will be nice with the later sunsets. In 2018 on that day, we had cloudy skies, snow showers and temperatures between 43 and 29 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 30 and 14 degrees. The record high of 61 degrees was set back in 2006.

Looking ahead, New Years Eve 🎆 is in 1 week, Coldest Week of the Year 🌬 is in 3 weeks, Martin Luther King Day 🖤 is in 4 weeks, Presidents Day 👴 is in 8 weeks, Average High is 40 ☀️ is in 10 weeks, April Fools Day 🤡 is in 14 weeks, Tax Day 💰 is in 16 weeks, Earth Day 🌎 is in 17 weeks, Memorial Day Weekend Starts 🏕️ is in 5 months, Memorial Day 🇺🇸 is in 22 weeks, July 🏊🏿 is in 27 weeks, Last Sunset After 8 PM 🌆 is in 33 weeks and Average High Falls To 79 ️Degrees ⛱️️️ is in 8 months. Too soon to be thinking about autumn again.