"Hey, well I'm the friendly stranger in the black sedan Oh won't you hop inside my car I got pictures, got candy, I am a lovable man I'd like to take you to the nearest star I'm your vehicle baby I'll take you anywhere you wanna go I'm your vehicle woman By now I'm sure you know That I love ya (love you) I need ya (need you) I want to, got to have you child Great God in heaven, you know I love you."
Good morning! Happy Ides of March ✝ ! Sunny and 19 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌞 Breezy, ️16 mph breeze from the north-northwest 🌬 with gusts up to 28 mph 💨💨💨. The current wind chill is 4. My morning walk was pretty cold.Things will start to thaw out at tomorrow around noontime. 🌡️
It’s cold, but it feels really cold due to the wind today. 
The morning walk was brisk but it helped me wake up when I was out walking and getting some fresh air. 
I got coffee at Walmart yesterday, so that helped with good fresh coffee. I didn’t want to have to make a special trip but I like the big containers of coffee they sell there that can be reused for ice for camping. 
I wish I had been able to get up north this past weekend to camp, but I got other important things done like the transfer station, 
and then some walking and birding 
at Hollyhock and Papcanne Island. My pantry is well stocked, I did some cleaning yesterday 
and things should be good for the week. I took a shower this morning :shower and trimmed my hair 
as I have a work Zoom at 11 AM.
Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 28 degrees at 4pm. 16 degrees below normal. Northwest wind around 16 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. A year ago, we had sunny skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 48 degrees. The record high of 72 was set in 2019. 10.4 inches of snow fell back in 1916.❄
Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:05 pm with sun having an altitude of 45.4° from the due south horizon (-25.4° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 5.9 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:25 pm with the sun in the west (262°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (268°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:02 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 54 seconds with dusk around 7:29 pm, which is one minute and 10 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the west-southwest (259°) at an altitude of 21° from the horizon, 251,198 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:03 pm. At sunset, look for clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 25 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 10 mph. Today will have 11 hours and 55 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 54 seconds over yesterday.
I know a lot of people complained about the time change, 
but with the bright sunny skies I didn’t have any real problem getting going this morning. I got to bed before 10:30 PM the new time last night, took a sleeping pill 
and slept soundly. 
I was up right at 7 o’clock — I set my alarm, and got up early enough to have breakfast and do my morning walk. Honestly, I am really looking forward to that extra daylight in the evenings so I can down to the park with a book 
although probably not today I think I will probably have to work late. 
Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 17 degrees at 6am. Nine degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around February 16th. Maximum wind chill around 17 at 6pm; Northwest wind 3 to 8 mph. In 2020, we had clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 20 degrees. The record low of 4 occurred back in 1980.
I wanted to get out hiking yesterday, 
but that wind was pretty intense and generally unpleasant. So that didn’t happen. But I did get the extra supplies I needed including a 9 volt battery for the smoke detector. 
As a lot of people replace their smoke detector batteries during the time change, it’s hard to find them this time of year. I also bagged up the old broken and quite moldy Foreman Grill, and some other miscellaneous junk and dropped that off at a garbage can I saw along the way. I’m starting to get rid of more junk, I really should just get rid some of the non-burnable stuff at the transfer station. 
I’ve gotten away from buying additional appliances at this point as I already have too much junk and they seem to break too quickly.
I got my electric bill yesterday, 
and while it was $87, I am not complaining as I’ve been working from home and I’ve been using my computer a lot, had the heat turned up all day as I’m home and sometimes been using the space heater a bit in the evening when it’s real cold. Less then the previous month. The weather is moderating, and I expect in a week or two the heat will be off nearly full-time. I’ll probably put the space heater away, then work down at the library more with the solar on my truck. Or from camp. 
Gas prices are way up, but that was not surprising with the ending pandemic.
Driving home last night from my parents house 
I saw the fire at John Mead’s house on the farm at Meads Lane. I only saw it from NY 443 and I was driving, but those flames sure were intense, lighting up the darkening sky. At first I thought it was a reflection off the solar panels of the setting sun, then I thought it was a controlled burn, but it was much too windy and grass dry. I haven’t been over there since it burned, but I kind of got to know it walking past there a lot heading over that way to Five Rivers. I thought it was the barn that burned but looking back at the dash camera 
and reports on Twitter and comparing them to the tax records, 
it was definitely his house. That sucks, but at least it wasn’t the barn so they didn’t loose hay, farm equipment or cattle most likely. 
I wonder if it was an ember from the outdoor wood boiler they have out back. Old 1925 era house, pretty run down but it’s a farm.
Switched over to my new credit card, 
as the old one was about to expire and the chip was worn out from riding around in my pocket and wasn’t always read at gas stations. I couldn’t get CDTA to update their website for autobuy, but it’s not really a big deal as I haven’t been downtown since January for work, due to everything being remote work with the pandemic. 
I’ll have to make sure though to get it straightened out before working downtown regularly again, but maybe by then the system will figure out my updated credit card number. Doesn’t like that I’m just updating the expiration date, like most people do from the time to time. Thruway Authority 
and Phone plan are updated, and the rent, insurance and electric bill come directly out of the account. I don’t have any other subscriptions — honestly I hate subscription services as they all seem like a waste of money.
Yesterday did some cleaning around my apartment. 
I put a fresh coating of paint on my refrigerator yesterday, 
which stunk, but it looks much nicer, especially if I do one more coat and clear coat. When I had that mold problem in the kitchen from the leaky pipe under the sink, everything rusted and got moldy. 
I really should have been more on top of that but now that’s half a decade ago now. Toilet acts up from time to time, but has been good all weekend, so I haven’t needed to call my landlord about that. 
If it needs repair, i want to be a day I’m not doing Zoom calls because I can’t have them flushing the toilet while I’m talking to a client.
Today in 44 BC, Julius Caesar, Dictator of the Roman Republic, is stabbed to death by Marcus Junius Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus, Decimus Junius Brutus, and several other Roman senators on the Ides of March. 
Doesn’t sound like a very nice thing to do, although I guess it could happen again, though maybe in a different way in New York. At least Vehicle by the Ides of March is a pretty groovy song that I am listening to on this Ides of March. 
A picture perfect weekend on tap. 😎 Saturday, sunny, with a high near 48. Sunday, sunny, with a high near 52. Typical average high for the weekend is 46 degrees. To go up to the Adirondacks or not? That’s the question. I heard Monday is going to be quite nice, so I could stay Saturday and Sunday and work from the Speculator Library. That said, I heard a new squeaking noise from my truck on Sunday, 
that I kind of want to figure out before planning on going anywhere this weekend. I wonder if that wheel bearing I heard clicking last year is now starting to go. Due for an oil change fairly soon too. 
🌹🌻🌼Only 5 days remain until the first day of calendar spring!🌹🌻🌼 I can’t wait. Of course, hopefully by the end of week we will have much spring like weather — the bright sun is nice today but the wind sure makes it cold. I look out my window, and I just feel cold. I will go for my evening walk, but tonight is not one to go down to the park and read. That said, I think work may run late, so I won’t have the ability to get down there at any rate.
One month 📅 from now will be Tax Day 💰 when the sun will be setting at 7:37 pm with dusk at 8:06 pm. The average high temperature is 44 degrees, with a record high of 72 in 2019. Hardly, an impressive record when we’ve had 80 degree days in March and I think . Yeah, I probably should stop procrastinating on my taxes.
Good morning! Happy March 🌨 ! Two weeks to Ides of March ✝ . I’ve always liked the song Vehicle by the Ides of March. Rain showers and 40 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ There is a south-southwest breeze at 8 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 5 pm. ☃️
Skipped my morning walk today, 
because it was raining and I slept in because I stayed up too late last night watching a Youtube video on my phone. Truth be told, ever since I upgraded to the unlimited data plan / 20 gb hot spot, I’ve been watching a lot more video 
and wasting time on the internet. I do look forward to when the library reopens and I am working back downtown and have to download videos either at the library or the park, so I’m more controlled in my internet and video watching usage. When you are all you can eat, 
you tend to eat more. I think once the panademic is over I’ll probably dump the hotspot and go back to a 25 GB data plan. And yes, I expect every Youtube video I watch over the next week on my phone now to have advertisements from low cost mobile carriers thanks to this blog post the Jetpack Advertising and Anaylsis network.
Today will have a chance of rain showers before 4pm, then a slight chance of rain and snow showers. 
Patchy fog before 9am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a temperature rising to near 42 by 10am, then falling to around 33 during the remainder of the day. Breezy, with a south wind 8 to 13 mph becoming west 20 to 25 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 40 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Little or no snow accumulation expected. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 37 degrees. The record high of 66 was set in 2017. 10.7 inches of snow fell back in 2005.❄
The weather is pretty dark and depressing today, 
but it looks like as the day progresses it will get sunnier but cold and windy. I think when the sun comes out later, I’ll go for a walk around 5 PM and call that my evening walk. Hoping for more sun later on, but at least after today it will be sunny — but cold tomorrow. Little worried about the temperature dropping with such high winds expected. I don’t want to loose heat.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:09 pm with sun having an altitude of 39.9° from the due south horizon (-30.9° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 7.2 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 5:08 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (254°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (261°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 5:46 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 56 seconds with dusk around 6:13 pm, which is one minute and 14 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:47 pm. At sunset, look for snow 🌨 and temperatures around 33 degrees. The wind chill around sunset will be 20. ☃️ Breezy, 24 mph breeze ⛅ from the west-northwest with gusts up to 39mph. Today will have 11 hours and 15 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 52 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will have a chance of snow showers, mainly before midnight. Partly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 11 degrees at 6am. 10 degrees below normal. Maximum wind chill around -9 at 5am; Windy, with a northwest wind 21 to 26 mph increasing to 28 to 33 mph in the evening. Winds could gust as high as 60 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. In 2020, we had clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 30 degrees. The record low of -4 occurred back in 1940.
Cool this weekend with temperatures running 6 degrees below normal but otherwise sunny. 😃 Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 33. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 35. Typical average high for the weekend is 40 degrees. I am considering going up to the Adirondacks this weekend. Would be good weather for camping, cold enough up north that the snow would stay frozen.
Landlord gave me notice over the weekend, 
that my rent is going up $25 a month come May to cover the cost of the replacement water heater. Figures, I wish he had just previously installed a quality unit that didn’t need to be thrown away every five years. He also sited in the letter the high cost of water bills, probably due to the leaking heater, although at times I’ve also noticed the toilet and sink are acting up again. The thing about it is, every time I go to call him, I tap float in the toilet and it works good for like a week and a half. Then one night at two in the morning I’ll hear the toilet tank refilling as the seal is leaking again. Maybe once it warms up a bit, and I can clean things up a bit, I’ll have him take a look again at it. 
He only installed the unit two or three years ago, but like all his repairs, they’re cheap but seem to work so-so for a few years before failing again.
I am really considering my options 
and if I should renew my lease. I have a lot of options, I actually make quite a bit of money more then when I first moved in. But my apartment is quite affordable, the rent has only gone up less then 17% over the past 12 1/2 years, while inflation has been nearly 26%. Just a casual review of alternatives would have me paying more, plus no access to the park, Five Rivers and the library. 
But at the same time, I really kind of want to move back out to country and own my own land. I’ve been looking at some property in Rensselear County, away from machine politics and with judges that are more reasonable when it comes to issuing pistol permits. 
Even though, I’d rather eventually live in a open carry state, 
where I can have a burn barrel for my burnable trash, have pigs 
and cattle 
, off-grid solar system 
, and there aren’t all the code things to be running up against, 
and pay a ton less in taxes. 
I pay far more in taxes then rent these days. But I can’t see killing the golden goose 
, I work hard, I have a job I like and it pays well.
That said, my Facebook friend who relocated from New York to North Carolina this weekend got a pickup load of bucket calves , and I’m so jealous of him. He moved for North Carolina because he didn’t want to register and disable parts of his AR-15, and I think he was tired of cold and harsh winters. 
I hate all the rust on my truck, it’s stupid after less then a decade it’s starting to look like garbage. 
I hate the big heating bills too and the months of gray. To be fair, already with the warmer temperature his farm is a pile of mud and manure, 
but that’s true up north too come another month. And I am a member of that Missouri Off-Grid Group, and I’m always a bit fascinated with the rural Midwest, where everything isn’t so expensive and folks aren’t so pretentious about everything (yes, referring to PROTECT the Adirondacks!).
I just feel like so many people I know are doing better off then me. 
It’s just fustrating to see how so many of my friends and colleagues are buying houses, 
starting homesteads, 
and really having a much better quality of life then me in my small, cold apartment in the suburbs. It’s cheap but it’s not nice. 
But all of the alternatives are expensive, and even if I did buy land and a house mostly with cash, everything else would go up and I’d have less money to save and invest. 
Getting a fancier apartment or even a home doesn’t get me closer to the off-grid property I want somewhere out west. And I don’t think I can get a cheaper apartment anywhere, at least without off-street parking at this point. Yes, $700 bucks plus utilities is expensive, although at least in the summer my power bill is pretty low, I don’t have wired internet or phone, and I take my trash to the transfer station, at least when I’m feeling green or its metal. And I shouldn’t complain that much, I make good money both with my regular job and in the markets.
🌹🌻🌼Only 19 days remain until the first day of calendar spring!🌹🌻🌼 That said, mos to the second half the week will feel quite spring like. But then as we head into the weekend, temperatures will drop but be sunny. The thing I look forward to most in the coming weeks is having the windows open, and nice warm evenings out back or better yet up the in the woods. I so hate living in the city, but at least I can escape where I can listen to wilderness and listen to music and have fires.
As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until Ides of March ✝ when the sun will be setting at 7:01 pm with dusk at 7:29 pm (Daylight Savings Time). On that day in 2020, we had mostly sunny skies and temperatures between 48 and 27 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 44 degrees. We hit a record high of 72 back in 2019.
Good morning! Happy Ides of March ✝! Three weeks to Palm Sunday 🌴. Mostly sunny and 33 degrees at the Albany Pine Bush Preserve. There is a north breeze at 8 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 8 pm. ☃️
Out for a walk this morning in the Pine Bush 🚶 and hope to meet some people later in the day. Really pretty morning, so much blue sky. 🌲🌲🌲Maybe later go to Thacher Park or maybe just Bennett Hill depending on the weather.
Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 45 degrees at 4pm. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 17th. North wind around 8 mph. A year ago, we had rain in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 72 degrees. The record high of 72 was set in 2019. 10.4 inches of snow fell back in 1916.❄
Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:05 pm with sun having an altitude of 45.4° from the due south horizon (-25.3° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 5.9 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:25 pm with the sun in the west (262°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (268°) starting at 7:00 pm and lasts for 2 minutes and 54 seconds with dusk around 7:30 pm, which is one minute and 11 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:04 pm. It’s nice having the extra hour in the evening. At sunset, look for clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 37 degrees. There will be a north breeze at 8 mph. Today will have 11 hours and 56 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 55 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 16 degrees at 6am. 10 degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around February 10th. North wind 5 to 7 mph. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 31 degrees. The record low of 4 occurred back in 1980. I Going to be chilly tonight, gonna have to turn the heat on before bed.
Today in 44 BC, Julius Caesar, Dictator of the Roman Republic, is stabbed to death by Marcus Junius Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus, Decimus Junius Brutus, and several other Roman senators on the Ides of March. Plus don’t forget that song Vehicle by the Ides of March. Good song for friendly stranger in black sedans. 🚙 Nowadays they’d probably be SUVs with big speakers.
I wasn’t so freaked out about the media crap over Coronavirus 😷 but increasingly I am concerned after hearing about it on the Skeptics Guide to the Universe 🌌. The truth is that there ain’t a lot to do besides wash one’s hands 👐 good and pray 🙏. Social distancing might help but I’m skeptical – how much time ⌚ will it buy? Is it worth the high economic and social costs? I guess only time will tell. The whole situation is both abursd and kind of frightening. 👾
🌹🌻🌼Only 4 days remain until the first day of calendar spring!🌹🌻🌼
As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until Palm Sunday 🌴 when the sun will be setting at 7:26 pm with dusk at 7:55 pm. On that day in 2019, we had partly cloudy, rain showers and temperatures between 42 and 25 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 54 degrees. We hit a record high of 82 back in 1928.
