Earliest sunrise in NY State today was Champlain, Clinton Co. at 5:07 AM.

Latest sunset is Porter, Niag. County at 8:59 PM.

Good morning! Happy Summer, as we shift down into Direct Drive of the Week. 😎 Okay, maybe not for a few more hours but it’s a beautiful day to kick off summer. Blue skies, not a cloud and sunny and 63 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a north breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 54 degrees. Really not a drop of humidity to speak off. If I had today off and I wasn’t as tired, today would be a most excellent day for hiking up a mountain.

Today will be mostly sunny 🌞 , with a high of 81 degrees at 3pm. Two degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 56 at 11am. North wind 7 to 9 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 78 degrees. The record high of 97 was set in 1938.

An awesome weather day for kicking off summer.🏊 Now that session is over I got to make sure I’m getting out and enjoying summer before it’s done for the year. I expect things to pick up st work once fall approaches though. Summer vacation in the Finger Lakes and may be a little bit in Western New York or Pennsylvania should be great. I love swimming at the many Gorge Parks in the Finger Lakes, watching the sunsets, and the cows chew their cud. 🐮 Do some hiking, some fishing, camping, traveling, and kayaking. ⛺ Lots to do now that summer is officially underway.

Still thinking about West Virginia this November, ⛰ although I also want to possibly set up camp in Western NY somewhere and do some hunting too this fall. I’ll have to see about getting a camping permit from the DEC if I do that.🔫 I probably will have the time enough come November to do both. This summer I should spend more time at the range too.

The sun will set at 8:36 pm with dusk around 9:11 pm, which is 12 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for clear skies and 72 degrees. The dew point will be 48 degrees. There will be a north breeze at 8 mph. You don’t get more pleasant weather to kick off summer. Today will have 15 hours and 19 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌞 , with a low of 51 degrees at 5am. With clear skies and low humidity the temperatures will drop by early morning. Eight degrees below normal. Maximum dew point of 51 at 6pm. North wind 5 to 8 mph. In 2017, we had mostly clear skies. It got down to 53 degrees. The record low of 37 occurred back in 1940.

This evening I’m heading over to the Albany Pine Bush Commission’s World Headquarters to video tape and listen to Lynne Jackson speak about saving the Pine Bush. 🌲It’s nice once and while when a state l public authority recognizes the work of non-governmental volunteers. And if not for Lynne’s efforts after the past four decades there would have been a lot less of the ecologically unique Albany Pine Bush left.

I need to drop off my work dry cleaning this weekend to the cleaners. 👔I think I’m only going to bother with my good jacket as the old one has gotten to the point it really should be retired to the clothing donation bin to be donated to a foreign country or shredded into rags. I might steal some of the buttons though off it before I get rid of it in case I lose buttons on my other blazer. I will have to buy a second one maybe later in the autumn when we holiday sale is underway. Earlier in a week I heard a debate about new legislation to help dry cleaners upgrade their equipment — and got reading about the dangers of PERC ☢ — which I was surprised to find out is widely used in 2/3rds of dry cleaning facilities in New York still today.

Apparently, PERC is a wonderful dry cleaning substance, even if it horrible stuff to breathe or be exposed to. New York has some really tough regulations regarding PERC, as it’s pretty nasty stuff even in low levels, 😷requiring strict cleaning of the machines and various measures to keep PERC from leaking out into the ground and air. I know they spend millions to clean up old dry cleaners, trying to remove tiny amounts of PERC that build up in the surrounding soil and building materials.🗑 Probably explains why a simple jacket getting dry cleaned is now $8.

This weekend I’m going to buy new boots 👟 as the ones I’m wearing have worn through the soles and have developed cracks in them two. Strangely enough the leather is actually in good shape. I’ve tried really expensive boots over the Walmart Sweatshop Brand known as Brahman Boots but I rarely get much more life out there, as it’s the soles that tend to wear out as I do a lot of walking. Sometimes the leather fails first but that’s the exception rather then the rule. Maybe some of the more expensive brands are more sustainably sourced but it’s really hard to tell what is better or not thanks to global capitalism. I usually put the used boots in the clothing and boots recycling bin, as they are nasty to burn with all that rubber.

Looking ahead, there are 22 weeks until Thanksgiving 🦃 when the sun will be setting at 4:27 pm with dusk at 4:57 pm (Standard Time). On that day in 2017, we had rain, cloudy skies and temperatures between 46 and 34 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 45 degrees. We hit a record high of 70 back in 1931.

Good evening! Mostly clear and 66 degrees Delmar, NY. There is a west breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 53 degrees. It is a pleasant evening as the legislative session came to a conclusion this evening. I got out for a nice little stroll on the Empire Plaza around nine.

I went home had a quick dinner and then brought Big Red into the city in evening, 🚗 although I think I could have caught the bus home. 🚃 That’s fine, it’s was not a big deal to drive home. With the moonlight, things weren’t too dark but there was a lot of truck traffic. I could have stayed out and had a beer but not before driving so I had one when I got home. 🍺

I kind of am glad that session is done, and summer is ahead. New challenges lie ahead, different lines of work, more travel but at least there shouldn’t be so many extreme late nights, after the buses stop running.🌃 I got to take some vacation time, travel a bit, and enjoying life now that I have my evenings back to go down to the park. 🏞 And I can’t wait for summer vacation in the Finger Lakes. Hopefully I’ll have much nicer and less rainy weather than last year. 😎

It was eleven years ago when my internship ended with Assemblyman Joe Morrelle, long before he made the big leap to Majority Leader.😓 I’ll miss him when he moves on to congress or whatever he decides to do next. With so many diverse interests,a great personality, he’ll be missed in Albany for sure by many people. He really made sessions a lot of fun to listen to. I wish him the best of luck in congress, he will be a great representative.

Ten sessions at Assembly Communication Services have come and gone, I’ve seen and learned a lot over the years. Many I’ll try to do another ten before move onto other things.🏢 Many people make more money moving onto other jobs but I have a great job and I like working downtown and can take public transportation most days. It’s kind of pretty working downtown and the Empire Plaza is a monumental place like no other urban place to go for a walk at lunch time. 🏣There are many urban downtowns and Capitols but none as grand as New York. I don’t really like politics but it’s always an interesting adventure.

Tonight will be partly cloudy ☁, with a low of 58 degrees at 5am. Typical for tonight. Maximum dew point of 53 at 10pm. West wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. In 2017, we had partly cloudy skies. It got down to 60 degrees. The record low of 41 occurred back in 1970.

Tonight will have a Waxing Gibbous Moon 🌔 with 57% illuminated. The moon will set at 1:41 am. The 🌕 is next Wednesday. The sun will rise at 5:17 am with the first light at 4:42 am, which is 12 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 Tonight will have 8 hours and 41 minutes of darkness, a decrease of one second over last night.

Tomorrow will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 80 degrees at 3pm. One degree above normal. Maximum dew point of 54 at 8am. North wind 7 to 9 mph. Another beautiful, low humidity day. And I’ll be able to have my lunch breaks back, no suit to wear. 👔 A year ago, we had mostly cloudy skies. The high last year was 78 degrees. The record high of 97 was set in 1938.

Not a particularly nice weekend on tap. 🙁 Saturday, showers likely, with thunderstorms also possible after 2pm. Cloudy, with a high near 71. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. Maximum dew point of 63 at 8pm. Sunday, a chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 81. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Maximum dew point of 66 at 10am. Typical average high for the weekend is 80 degrees. HASHTAG YUCK.

I think I will be staying in town this weekend. 🏙 I guess it is what it is. I could use a week off. Maybe I should have gone camping last weekend, but I’m hoping the following weekend will be nice enough to get out to the Potholers.🏊 Maybe I can do some cleaning and other things I need to do this weekend, and hopefully it will be nice enough for the Save the Pine Bush Hike lead by the the wonderful Hugh Johnson, professional weather afficationato.

I also want to play with the ESP32 chip I ordered from China this weekend. It arrived in the mail on Tuesday. I have ideas for applications as there is much I can do with such a powerful, inexpensive microprocessor. 📺I also want to play around more with the software defined radio dongle I bought and maybe clean out my truck before camping next weekend. I think I already mentioned that.

In four weeks on July 18 the sun will be setting at 8:28 pm,🌄 which is 7 minutes and 47 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2017 on that day, we had rain, heavy fog, fog, patches of fog, mist, partly cloudy skies and temperatures between 86 and 64 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 83 and 62 degrees. The record high of 100 degrees was set back in 1953.

Looking ahead, Independence Day 🇺🇸 is in 2 weeks, Halloween 🛥 is in 19 weeks, Day After Election Day 🛀 is in 20 weeks, Boxing Day 🥊 is in 27 weeks and Inauguration day 2021 👴🏻 is in 31 months.