February 4, 2020 Night

Good evening! Cloudy and 37 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ There is a northwest breeze at 9 mph. 🍃. There is a dusting of snow on the ground. β˜ƒ Temperatures will drop below freezing around 3 am. β˜ƒοΈ

I went over to John Wolcott house for a few hours after work 🔎and continued working on his files. 📂 It’s been well over a year, one night most weeks. Learned a lot. I’ve started to tape record the audio 🔉 to capture some of our conversations. Now to just finish up the labels 🔖.

That bus really was smoking 💨 bad this evening. 🚍 I wonder if it’s an issue with the particle trap, I didn’t see it smoking downtown when I got one but I swear I’ve seen that bus smoking before but not all of the time. I was hoping to catch a glimpse of it at the end of my walk but no such luck.

Mild evening, I went for my evening walk 🚶. Not too cold out which is nice. I listened to a bit of President’s State of the Union address before turning it off. Honestly I’m hoping it’s Trump’s final state of the union and we will have a new president giving an inauguration address next year. 📝 I think the delayed results of the democratic caucus in Iowa kind of took all of the air out of the news cycle for the president. I’m sure he will be acquitted of the removal process later this week and hopefully we’ll have a new president soon.

Tonight will be cloudy ☁, with a low of 29 degrees at 6am. 14 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 24th. Northwest wind around 10 mph. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 32 degrees. The record low of -15 occurred back in 1918.

Tonight will have a Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon with 79% illuminated. At 9 PM, the moon was in the south-southwest (205Β°) at an altitude of 68Β° from the horizon, some 240,057 miles away from where you are looking up from the earth. 🚀 At the state speed limit of 55 mph, you’ll make it there by August 4th. Buckle up for safety! 💺 The Snow ❄ Moon is on Sunday, February 9. The darkest hour is at 12:10 am, followed by dawn at 6:38 am, and sun starting to rise at 7:08 am in the east-southeast (112Β°) and last for 3 minutes and 8 seconds. Sunrise is one minute and 7 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 7:49 am with sun in the east-southeast (119Β°). Tonight will have 13 hours and 53 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 2 minutes and 27 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 33 degrees at 2pm. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical day around February 6th. Northwest wind 6 to 9 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 57 degrees. The record high of 59 was set in 1890. 10.4 inches of snow fell back in 2014.❄

In four weeks on March 3 the sun will be setting in the west (262Β°) at 5:47 pm,🌄 which is 35 minutes and 50 seconds later then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had partly cloudy, snow showers and temperatures between 39 and 29 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 39 and 21 degrees. The record high of 64 degrees was set back in 2002.

Looking ahead, Don’t Cry over Spilled Milk Day 🥛 is in 1 week, National Drink Wine Day 🍷 is in 2 weeks, Average High is 40 β˜€οΈ is a month away, St. Patrick’s Day 🍀 is in 6 weeks, 7:30 PM Sunset 🌇 is in 9 weeks, 8 PM Sunset 🌇 is in 3 months, Cinco de Mayo 🤠 is in 13 weeks, Primary Day 🗳️ is in 20 weeks, Election Day 2020 🗳️ is in 39 weeks and Election Day 2020 🗳️ is in 39 weeks.

🇺🇸🦅Only 107 days remain until the start of Memorial Day Weekend!🦅🇺🇸

White Tail Walking Away

Pete Buttigieg!

Pete Buttigieg!

I honestly hadn’t been paying attention to him until it appears he won the Iowa primary. I was originally leaning towards Elizabeth Warren then in recent weeks I’ve been thinking more about Bernie Sanders. I do think our country needs some fresh ideas and the Democratic Socialists have a lot of them. I really like some of the Democratic Socialists ideas around the role of government and limiting the power of government over our lives while reining in the worse excess of business.

Mayor Pete has gotten my attention for one reason – he’s young, born a year before me in 1982. He is a man who came to age in the 21st century, he turned 18 in 2000. He was in college when September 11th happened just like myself. He’s not burdened with the legacy of growing up in 20th century, he’s a modern man. Not only that but if elected he would be the first gay married president. Now, I get that’s he’s super moderate and hardly exciting for Democrats. But he has a good relationship with business leaders and you need that if really want to get things done in the county. Maybe too practical but at least he doesn’t carry around the baggage of an earlier century.

Took the Gillig 4014H hybrid home

Took the Gillig 4014H hybrid home. 🚍 I get home off the bus smell burnt diesel. I look up and the bus is blowing out so much black smoke it’s blotting out the street light. Thank you for smoking. 🚬 

I though the DEC was requiring them to only run buses like that on South Pearl Street to protect air quality. It’s a hybrid, so it’s green smoke, right?

Or maybe this is to make up for running the electric bus earlier in the day on the 18. Run zero emissions bus during the daylight hours and run 100 percent opacity emissions buses after dark.

Hill Past Stantons Farm

Driving past the Old Homestead Stanton Farm in Westerlo, a few miles away from my parents house around dusk. The dairy cattle once milked in the barn have been replaced with a handful of beef cattle that graze on hay during these winter months. I remember years ago when I was in High School and the cows got loose and were blocking traffic on NY 32.

3 Big Questions : NPR

Iowa Caucus Results Meltdown: 3 Big Questions : NPR

Yes, it really happened. After millions of dollars spent by the candidates, Iowa's caucuses were a bust. A delay in results has stalled the Democratic presidential race.

Now, the country is (so far) left with no winner from the contest that was supposed to kick off the Democratic presidential contest and help determine which candidate will take on President Trump this fall.