June 13, 2017 Night

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Good evening! Light rain and 76 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a north-northwest breeze at 8 mph. The dew point is 60 degrees. Not too humid but the rain drops chased me inside my truck cap for watching the pre recorded PBS News Hour evening news. I haven’t watched it as much lately but I should try to be more informed on what is happening in the world. Still a bit too warm to sit in my apartment but with the fan and the windows open my truck cap is very comfortable.  I enjoy watching the lightly changing colors in the cap. LED technology is amazing and pretty.

Tonight will be partly cloudy, with a low of 60 degrees at 5am. Four degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 60 at 9pm. North wind 3 to 8 mph. Comfortable sleeping. In 2016, it got down to 47 degrees with mostly clear skies. The record low of 39 occurred back in 1970.

Waning Gibbous Moon tonight with 70% illuminated. The moon will rise around 10:31 pm. The Last Quarter Moon is on Saturday night with chance of t-storms expected. The Full “Buck” Moon is on Sunday, July 9th. The sun will rise at 5:16 am with the first light at 4:42 am, which is 2 seconds earlier than yesterday. Tonight will have 8 hours and 42 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 26 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be sunny, with a high of 77 degrees at 3pm. One degrees below normal. Maximum dew point of 51 at 6am. Should be a very nice day with low humidity. North wind 6 to 8 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies and a high of 77 degrees. The record high of 96 was set in 1892.

Humid and gray for most of the weekend. Saturday, a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 79. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Maximum dew point of 68 at 8pm. Sunday, a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 86. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Maximum dew point of 70 at 2pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 79 degrees.

In four weeks on July 11 the sun will be setting at 8:33 pm, which is one minute and 7 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2016 on that day, we had rain, mostly cloudy skies and temperatures between 79 and 59 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 82 and 61 degrees. The record high of 98 degrees was set back in 1936.

Looking ahead, Independence Day is in 3 weeks, Hottest Day of Year (83 Average) is a month away., August 1st is in 7 weeks, Altamont Fair Opens is in 9 weeks, Friday the 13th (October) is in 16 weeks, Election Day 2017 is in 21 weeks, Average High is 40 is in 22 weeks, Election Day 2018 is in 73 weeks and Election Day 2020 is in 177 weeks.

Today was a rather hot and humid day, although working in an air conditioned building it wasn’t a half bad day. I did walk outside down to the Capitol and I didn’t find it all that oppressive but I hardly was walking outside. Felt like it might be a nice day to be at the beach. Now it’s much cooler with rain showers. 

Bus home was running somewhat late but it made up time. They had the lights off on the bus and with the air conditioning on,  it felt nice and cool if not a bit dark on this cloudy evening. And despite was Moovit said, I didn’t have to wait 14,523 minutes for the bus. Math would suggest that the bus was running 10 days late not the 10 days late that my phone suggested. Sometimes technology malfunctions, although I think the primary issue was the bus was running late so the driver didn’t get a chance to properly enter in the block number on the bus. 

Tonight was Craft Brewers Night at the Legislative Office Building, which was kind of nice because we got released before it was underway, which is more fun than a beer tasting while you sneak out of the office. New York has a lot of good craft beers, some better than others. I always knew that there were perks to being an Albany Insider. I’ll be glad when session is over for the year. 

I am a bit disappointed with the weekend forecast but I guess it was nice that I got away last weekend and this one I’ll at least make it to the Gas Up. So it should be a fun weekend. Then Mine Kill the following week and then Moose River Plains for Independence Day Weekend. I can’t wait to get back up to MRP. Im hoping for beautiful weather during independence Weekend. 

I better think about bed soon because I’m tired and I need to try to get more hours of sleep. 

Cows Flown In To Alleviate Qatar’s Milk Shortage

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Cows Flown In To Alleviate Qatar’s Milk Shortage

"After they land, the cows will make a home in the Wisconsin of Qatar "on a site covering the equivalent of almost 70 soccer fields, (where) new grey sheds line two strips of verdant grass in the desert with a road running through the middle up to a small mosque," according to Bloomberg.

Al Khayyat, chairman of a company called Power International Holding, told Bloomberg that he had already been planning on importing the cows by boat. But when Qatar was cut off by Saudi Arabia and four other countries, he picked up the pace. He expects milk production to begin by the end of June and to meet a third of Qatar's milk demand by mid-July. He told the publication that shipping the cows by air raised the transport cost five times over, to $8 million."

A small town tries to put a lid on power of Big Trash

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A small town tries to put a lid on power of Big Trash

Private waste companies are looking to be “economically efficient and politically expedient,” says Daniel Faber, director of Northeastern University’s Environmental Justice Research Collaborative (NEJRC) in Boston. This means choosing host communities with lower education levels and less time, money, and resources to mobilize themselves, he says. “They are less likely to offer opposition.”

COBRA May Be The Best Insurance Strategy For Newly Unemployed Until Fall

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COBRA May Be The Best Insurance Strategy For Newly Unemployed Until Fall

"Q: I just lost my job, and I can either sign up to buy the same coverage through COBRA or go into a marketplace plan. COBRA is really expensive — $800 a month for me — but I'm worried that anything I buy on the marketplace now might disappear or be unaffordable next year. What's the best way to go?"

"You're in a tough spot. Many insurers that offer coverage on the exchanges are still weighing their options, but a number have announced plans to drop out of specific markets or states next year."

"The uncertainty about whether the federal government will continue to make cost-sharing reduction payments to marketplace insurers is a key factor contributing to instability in the marketplaces, according to insurers and analysts."

"The subsidies reduce deductibles, copays and coinsurance payments for some low-income people who buy health coverage on the insurance exchanges. However, the Trump administration has threatened to discontinue the payments to gain leverage in its efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act."

Sparkler

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Lighting off a sparkler at camp on Piseco-Powley Road.

Coolers

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I have two Coleman coolers, one from the 1970s from my parents and one I found on the curb from an apartment down the street. They seem to work fine, although I wish I had a drain in them for letting out water. But I’m not going to replace technology that I have that already works. I typically use two coolers in the summer months, because about half of each is taken up by ice in summer months. One cooler is used for meat and milk which has to remain particularly cold, the other is for beer, cheese, condiments, and stuff that has to remain less cold.

For ice, I use two gallons of ice placed in each cooler, frozen in old milk jugs. The milk jugs typically last for 2-3 camping trips before they have to be replaced. I’ve looked at using blocks of dry ice for longer trips, but only one place locally, somewhat out of the way, sells ice. Dry ice has the advantage of lasting a lot longer and not melting into water, but I’ve heard it can food an off taste and you have to be careful handling it. It generally lasts 3-4 days, on the hottest summer days. After that I buy ice from local retailers, preferably block ice but if they only have cubes, that will work.

I also have a 12 volt piezeoelectric cooler, but I don’t use it much any more. For one I’m not all that impressed with it’s cooling ability, especially in a hot vehicle (I leave the windows shut in bear country and when I’m parked on the street, in shade, while at work before camping) and I only have limited cooling capacity.

Firepit and Table