Good morning! Yeah, it’s Friday! Two weeks to Buy Nothing Day 🛍️. Thanksgiving is coming early this year as is the long weekend after it. Partly sunny and 31 degrees in Delmar. Calm wind.

Kind of a cold start to the morning, I really need to consider turning the heat on soon in my apartment. 🏠 It’s a bit chilly when I get out from under the sheets. That or may be put on a sweater. Beats though where I was staying in Syracuse and the heat was blasting every morning.

Today will rain, mainly after 2pm. ☔ High of 44 degrees at 2pm. Seven degrees below normal. Light and variable wind becoming southeast 5 to 10 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. I would consider leaving for my camping trip but not with cold rain and snow expected today. Tomorrow though will be nice so I’ll probably leave early for that. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies with more clouds in the afternoon. The high last year was 47 degrees. The record high of 71 was set in 1975. 10 inches of snow fell back in 1900.❄

This morning I have some code I want to work on for the blog, then I’ll head down to the library to do some internet work and get some books.📚 I also want to swing by the town hall and get my hunting license and later this evening – maybe fairly late after the Friday shopper are gone – to pick up food for my camping trip including coffee ☕ which I realized this morning I lack. I’m not a big coffee drinker but on a cold autumn morning that will be nice.

The sun will set at 4:38 pm with dusk around 5:08 pm, which is one minute and 4 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for rain ☔and 42 degrees. There will be a east-southeast breeze at 10 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 57 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 20 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will rain before 5am, then a slight chance of rain and snow. ☔ Low of 35 degrees at 5am. Two degrees above normal. Southeast wind 6 to 11 mph becoming northwest after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Little or no snow accumulation expected. In 2017, we had light rain in the evening, which became light snow by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 21 degrees. The record low of 16 occurred back in 1965.

Tomorrow I’m heading up to the East Branch of the Sacandaga River for a long weekend through Tuesday morning.⛺ It wasn’t my first choice but with the possible lake effect snow expected today, these sites are close enough to an all season road that I won’t have to worry about icy roads. Noisy yes, but at least it’s a good option and many of the sites have cellphone reception. That’s nice for passing the long nights.

My hope is to get a site with good sun so I can leave the truck shut off all weekend but the batteries fully charged. 🔌 I will set up a tent so that I can warm up by the heater and possibly hot tent if the nights are cold. Expecting a dusting or maybe a couple of inches of snow there, I would likely go for a hike back to Cod Pond and maybe back along the Stewart Creek Trail. I’m hoping not too much snow or I’ll have to haul my gear back to the site. I doubt it based on the snow fall predictions and the fact that it will be sunny and above freezing on Saturday. I will come back most likely on Tuesday or maybe Veterans Day Monday as I have to work on Wednesday through Friday. Wednesday I’ll be out out in the field to work, then Thursday it’s back to the Alfred Smith Building via the bus service. I look forward to returning to the old routine.

I checked the oil and it was down about half a quart after the many miles I drove for work this past few months, so that has been topped off. I wasn’t concerned about it. I do need to gas up the truck this evening. ⛽Headlights better aimed help driving on the rural roads at night although I still don’t particularly like driving at night on those rural roads. I’ve noticed no more suspension issues lately but I haven’t cranked the wheels to a full lock lately. I think it will be fine until I schedule service later this month. Yesterday I started to hook up the shunt for the new amp meter for the solar panel but stopped when I realized that I needed more connectors. Maybe I’ll play around with it come next week.

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until Buy Nothing Day 🛍️ when the sun will be setting at 4:26 pm with dusk at 4:57 pm. On that day in 2017, we had mostly cloudy skies and temperatures between 37 and 27 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 45 degrees. We hit a record high of 72 back in 1931.