That was my fear as the South Taconic Trail rapidly started to descend. Fortunately, the trail descends a lot, but works it way around the ridge into a relatively flat return home.
Taken on Sunday September 13, 2009 at Alander Mountain.
After decades of researching the impact that humans are having on animal and plant species around the world, Chris Thomas has a simple message: Cheer up. Yes, we’ve wiped out woolly mammoths and ground sloths, and are finishing off black rhinos and Siberian tigers, but the doom is not all gloom. Myriad species, thanks in large part to humans who inadvertently transport them around the world, have blossomed in new regions, mated with like species and formed new hybrids that have themselves gone forth and prospered. We’re talking mammals, birds, trees, insects, microbes—all your flora and fauna. “Virtually all countries and islands in the world have experienced substantial increases in the numbers of species that can be found in and on them,” writes Thomas in his new book, Inheritors of the Earth: How Nature Is Thriving in an Age of Extinction.
Thomas is a professor of conservation biology at the University of York in England. He is not easily pigeonholed. He has been a go-to scientist for the media and lawmakers on how climate change is scorching the life out of animals and plants. At the same time he can turn around and write, “Wild geese, swans, storks, herons and cranes are returning as well, and the great whales, the largest animals ever to have lived on Earth, are once more plying their way across our seaways in numbers after centuries of unsustainable butchery.” Glass half empty, meet Chris Thomas.
Good morning! Happy Friday the 13th 👿! I decided to wear my black shirt to celebrate 🎉, mainly because that’s the one I had ready to go this morning.👕 It really wans’t that intentional at all, I kind of like the black shirt, especially on the cooler days. It’s the whole Garth Brooks look, for when you want a good ride cowboy. 🤠 Sunny and 53 degrees at the Elm Ave Park & Ride – CDTA. Calm wind. The dew point is 47 degrees. 😎 Nice fall morning. 🍂
So far everything this morning is going smoothly. 🚍 I caught the express bus downtown on this most sunny of mornings. Having increased problems with waking my phone up 📱, I’ve had the same phone for about two years now and I think the button on the back wearing out. Eventually I’ll probably have to replace it. I thought about actually painting the case as it’s gotten pretty worn down color wise and is more white than black these days.🖌️
That said, except for my evening walk, I’ll probably stay home this evening, 🚶 lest I fall and break my ankle or get hit by a truck or something less then fun.🙇 I have some Youtube I’ve downloaded that I want to watch 📽 and maybe I’ll make up some more maps. You know, gotta catch up with the latest updates of people chopping silage, and working on their trucks. 🐮 Lately, I’ve been doing my evening walk earlier, 🏃as I find it’s awful dark walking at 9 PM at night, and I kind of like seeing the landscape, especially walking past Sunset Farm and Heldebergs on evenings doing my walk. That said, even at 6:45 PM, it’s already starting to get dark most nights.
Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 72 degrees at 3pm. One degree below normal, which is similar to a typical day around September 16th. Maximum dew point of 47 at 8am. Light and variable wind becoming south 6 to 11 mph in the morning. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. It was humid. The high last year was 83 degrees. The record high of 92 was set in 1948.
The sun will set at 7:09 pm with dusk around 7:37 pm, which is one minute and 46 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for mostly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 64 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 10 mph. Today will have 12 hours and 36 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 50 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will have increasing clouds ☁, with a low of 55 degrees at 12am. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around September 8th. Maximum dew point of 51 at 5am. South wind 9 to 14 mph. In 2018, we had partly cloudy skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It was humid. It got down to 65 degrees. The record low of 32 occurred back in 1963.
Tomorrow will have a chance of showers. Mostly cloudy 🌦, with a high of 72 degrees at 5pm. One degree below normal, which is similar to a typical day around September 16th. Maximum dew point of 62 at 4pm. South wind 13 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. It was humid. The high last year was 81 degrees. The record high of 93 was set in 1931.
Looking ahead to Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 75. West wind 5 to 8 mph. 🌞Maximum dew point of 58 at 7am. Typical average high for the weekend is 73 degrees. I am thinking this would be a nice day for a hike again in the Catskills. Not sure where, I would like to hike somewhere not too far from home. Maybe Windham High Peak? Been a few years since I’ve climbed that.
One month 📅 from now the Average High is 60 🍂 when the sun will be setting at 6:17 pm with dusk at 6:45 pm. Autumn will be well underway, and it will be my October vacation. I am hoping the leaves will be good then in West Virginia, going the week earlier, as they are often gone in the higher elevations by Columbus Day Weekend. I still got to take off that week, I think I will request it today.
