Good afternoon! Happy Tuesday. Two weeks to First Day of Spring 🐣. 42 degrees under nice blue skies in Albany, NY. Calm breeze🌄. Almost feels like spring time🌻but reality sets in tomorrow with up to foot of snow☃ expected.😎 Landlord fixed the hole so I can move Big Red🚗back up on the lawn so I don’t get plowed in.🕳

This afternoon will be sunny, with a high of 44 degrees at 3pm. Four degrees above normal. Calm wind becoming southeast around 6 mph in the afternoon. 🌞 I am happy with all the blue skies, after so many cloudy days. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies with more clouds in the afternoon. The high last year was 43 degrees. The record high of 63 was set in 1974. 10.5 inches of snow fell back in 1887.❄

I don’t know about you, but I’m digging that bright sunshine and blue skies. 😍I know when I get to the office I plan to leave the overhead lights off and light the bright blue sky and sun light flood into the office. Mild late winter days like this are definitely spirit boosting. They give hope that summer is just around the corner.

The sun will set at 5:51 pm with dusk around 6:19 pm, which is one minute and 12 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for partly clear conditions and 42 degrees. There will be a southeast breeze at 6 mph. Today will have 11 hours and 30 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 53 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have a chance of snow, mainly after 11pm. Increasing clouds, with a low of 29 degrees at 6am. Seven degrees above normal. Southeast wind around 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible. 🌞In 2017, we had mostly cloudy skies. It got down to 36 degrees. The record low of -6 occurred back in 1950.

Today in 1857, Supreme Court of the United States rules in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case. Conservatives even to this day champion Dred Scott as the ultimate in state rights cases. 🏢Honestly, I’m not for state rights but are instead for limiting the scope of power of all levels of government over private individuals lives. 🚨For too long the American government has grown too powerful and too draconian. 👮We need to reduce all levels of government in size and scope.

I expect a long day at work, not returning home until late into the day.🚌 Buses run until 11:30 but hopefully it won’t be that late. The Assembly in its true liberal obnoxious has decided to do its gun control package on Sportsman Awareness day.🔫🎣🦌 That’s New York for you. I’ve been to New York City a few times for work, and I tell you it’s a very different place. Lots of poor people, crime and climbing over bags of garbage every where.🏙🗑 Manhattan might be a lot nicer then others parts of city, but it’s still very troubled compared to the more rural parts of our state. Gun violence is awful in our urban areas, in our rural areas, if you don’t want to get shot, just wear blaze orange so you are seen during hunting season. Nobody has been shot in decades in New York during hunting season wearing blaze orange. Most of us are responsible gun owners, not the hoodlums and gang members that rule the cities.

I stopped by Sportsmen awareness day, got my free NRA beer koozie, some bumper stickers, and some other stuff. 🚘💳 I liked the one I got last year, although it’s kind of gotten stained from the mud camping, so I’m glad I got a new one.🍺 Beer koozies are great in the summer, to keep the beer cold. It’s always interesting to see what issues the sportsmen are lobbying on this year, as they’re some of the most concerned people when it comes to protecting our natural resources in our state — maybe only second to farmers🐮 who depend on having access to good quality land to produce their products. The other day I renewed my NRA membership. I let it lapse, as much as I like supporting gun-rights and sportsmen organizations, mainly because I’ve been tight for money, and I’ve been a little hesitant to back a group that has been such a vocal support of the buffoon known as our President, Donald Trump. I used to send a check each year to the state Trappers Association and Conservation Council but I haven’t done that in a few years. Maybe I will.

With work today, you know resigned to say it is what is. New York is good for all the money you can make and invest for a better tomorrow.🤑 Sometimes our state gives me such a bad taste in mouth, especially what I do for money. I don’t own anything I can’t tow out of the state once ample financial resources exist.🚛 I’m still fascinated by that advertising for South Dakota and the Black Hills I saw the other day. But I’ve been looking at the weather, and it gets mad cold in the Northern Midwest. Missouri is another interesting state. Pennsylvania is a pretty nice state too, especially in the Pennsylvania Wild region, but I do have some questions in the back of my mind on the future of the state. But I still need to save more money, and I would kind of like to have at least 20 years with in the state before I look at other options. 🌄 I think have many years to look at my options before I settle on place I want for my off-grid cabin that will ultimately take me through retirement to the final days.

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until First Day of Spring 🐣 when the sun will be setting at 7:08 pm with dusk at 7:36 pm (Daylight Savings Time). On that day in 2017, we had partly cloudy skies and temperatures between 49 and 19 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 46 degrees. We hit a record high of 78 back in 2012. This seems to be a fairly snowy March this year so I’m skeptical that we will see the 70s to kick off spring. But I’m hopeful to get out camping soon,🏕 hopefully without snow.