May 17, 2016 Morning

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Good morning. Happy Tuesday. Second gear of the work week. 57 degrees and cloudy this morning. Mostly cloudy with a chance of shower later this afternoon and a high around 67. Sunset at 8:13 pm with dusk around 8:46 pm. Not a great day, but at least it’s no longer feeling like a winter day. That biting wind is gone. Clears out around midnight and nice spring-like weather returns for Wednesday through at least Monday. Waxing Gibbous Moon, approaching 80% visible with the full moon coming on Saturday night.

Today is School Board Election Day. None of the seats were competitive this year but it gave me an opportunity to register my thoughts about the state of education in our country nowadays. If you don’t fund something, you get less of it. Or more efficiency and less bloat. Or maybe make no difference at all. Well, it is right next door. I did make sure to support my local library. I like their fast and free WiFi at both the library and town park.

Today is Pack Rat Day. Good day for a bonfire. Just don’t tell Pete Grannis and the winny liberals in Albany. I forgot, Governor Patterson fired Grannis but not until the damage he did to our state. I heard they continued Grannis’ brush burning ban for two more weeks so if you’re within sight line of a public road, keep your bonfires looking more like campfires. You’ll be fine. Or move to Pennsylvania. Where not only allow open burning but they don’t treat gun owners like sex offenders.

On a much less political topic, the weekend weather continues to look quite nice. 73 or 74 degrees and partly sunny both days. I’m still thinking about the Adirondacks this weekend and hitting up the Save the Pine Bush Hike on the way home. Not sure if I will go paddling, hiking, or shooting, maybe a little bit of all. Depends where I’m going.

Today in 1973, televised hearings begin in the United States Senate on the Watergate scandal. Also in 1954, the United States Supreme Court hands down a unanimous decision in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas.

On that note, Have a great Tuesday!

May 16, 2016 Night

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Heading into the 11 o’clock hour we are at 42 degrees and partly cloudy. Increasing clouds tonight, looking for the temperature to drop a few more degrees, but not much colder. Dawn at 4:58 am. Tomorrow will be warmer with a nearly seasonable 67 degrees and cloudy. Chance of rain in the afternoon.

May 16, 2016 Evening

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I’m glad that I wore the overcoat to work today, As it was frigid at the bus stop. The bus tonight is running remarkably on time or maybe slightly early. But it is a chilly, blustery evening with temperatures around 53 degrees and winds pushing from the west around 20 miles per hour with gusts up to 40 mph. While it was clear earlier now some clouds are creeping in. Dusk tonight is at 8:45.

Traffic is light at this hour, and making good progress home. Been a long day, although everything mostly went without a hitch. Kind of hungry. I probably will have a quick dinner and then bundle up and head out for the evening walk. I guess it’s not really that cold out. No frost bite at 50 degrees even with gale strength wind.

Tomorrow is Tuesday and weekend ain’t far away. Saturday is the full moon. Cloudy and not so cold tomorrow. We might get a quick shower tomorrow but I’m not expecting a wash out.

Kind of a pretty evening with the clouds a pink and blue as this Monday concludes. Have a great evening.

May 16, 2016 9 AM Update

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Not sure if I really needed my wool over coat today but I wore it. 46 degrees and mostly cloudy but the breeze doesn’t seem super cold. A lot of gray creeping in now. Running late for work, I’m taking the late bus downtown. I guess I can always stay late if I fall behind on work. It’s Monday.

I hope that the weekend remains as predicted. I could really go for a nice weekend in the Adirondacks enjoying the black fly season. This spring has been ridiculously cold and wet. I’m super happy for the second half of week and the weekend should the forecast prove true.

Sunset tonight is at 8:12 pm and dusk at 8:45. We are only five weeks away from the first day of summer, the longest day of the year, with an 8:36 pm sunset. At sunset tonight, we are looking at 54 degrees under mostly clear skies with a pretty good breeze. I’ll probably end up walking down to the library.

Today in 1960, Theodore Maiman operates the firstoptical laser (a ruby laser), at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California. Lasers are common place and used in a wide variety of applications, such as LiDAR.

Have a great day. Before you know, we will be out of crawl gear of the week and in over drive.

May 16, 2016 Morning

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Good morning. Happy Monday. 44 degrees under partly sunny skies with blustery conditions. 56 degrees for the high which is 14 degrees below normal. Continued breezy and blustery downtown for the rest of the day. Rain showers for tomorrow.

May 15, 2016 Night

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Good evening folks. 42 degrees and mostly cloudy. At times the wind is gusting up 24 degrees but for the most part it’s a pretty light breeze. Tonight isolated showers and a low around 36, which is 11 degrees below normal for the first day of the second half of May.

Dawn tomorrow at 4:59 am. That’s so darn early, I pulled down my window shades hoping not to wake early. I may also want to buy another window shade for the small side window to increase darkness. Partly sunny in the morning with mostly sunny conditions by afternoon. Breezy and 58 degrees tomorrow. 12 degrees below normal, which is 70 for May 16th. The record low for tonight is 33 degrees set back in 1980.

Rain is possible for Tuesday. But sun and temperatures in the 70s for the second half of the week into the weekend. Should be nice. I’m thinking about heading up to the Adirondacks for the weekend, possibly Stewart Landing or Hope Falls Road. If it’s warm and I go to Stewart Landing, I’ll bring the kayak. I heard that the black flies are really bad up north this year with the wet spring. Still leaning towards Kelly Stand in Vermont for Memorial Day Weekend. Maybe Moose River Plains for Independence Day Weekend.

Bought a new showers curtain liner. I usually just get those clear non-pvc $5 ones at Walmart. I like clear because it lets in more light when showering. I don’t use a curtain besides the liner as privacy is not an issue in my tiny bathroom. I had to replace the old one because it had accumulated so much soap scum and probably mildew that every time I opened and closed it, caked on crap would fall off and was clogging the hair stopper on the drain. I got five years out of the old one, and it’s a non-toxic plastic which is good.

Went out for my evening walk. Not so cold but the wind mostly died down for the hike. Certainly too cold to sit out back. The second half of the week will be much nicer.

At the Lupine Festival they had a brush truck with a PA horn on it and were letting the kids play with it. With my CB radio I have a jack for that, and I think I could have a lot of fun joking around with it. I’ve not done it yet because hooking up an amplifier for the PA can be somewhat complicated as it requires a power supply and more than the few bucks I’m willing to spend on it. My max budget really is under $50, which doesn’t go far these days. I think I’ll get an unamplified horn and if I decide I need an amplifier later on, I’ll just add it in the cab of my truck. We’ll see. I’m thinking of stopping by Pilot Truck stop on the way up to the Adirondacks on Friday and checking out what they have there for PA speakers and amplifiers. I know they have all kinds of CB and truck equipment there. It would be fun to yell at friends from the cab of my truck.

Good night. It’s 11 o’clock and Monday morning is rapidly approaching.