April 25, 2020 8 AM Update

Good morning! Happy Saturday. Finally the weekend! Best spent in the wilderness. Three weeks to Average High is 70 ๐Ÿฎ. Cows and humans like that. Now drink more milk, it smells like the farm down the road from my place had to dump milk again and spread it on the fields. I do love drinking milk.

Partly cloudy and 43 degrees at the Black Creek Marsh WMA. โ›… Light wind. Stunningly beautiful day, a lot of wildlife to observe today. Finally clearing up after a cloudy start to the morning.

I got up at five AM to drive out to Black Creek Marsh ๐Ÿฆ to watch wildlife and social distance. The marsh is full of wildlife including wood duck, deer, mink, mocking birds, wood pecker, bluejays and a whiper will. Well worthwhile getting up early, the woods is full of sounds ๐Ÿ”Š although I wish there was a bit more sun but it’s clearing.

Today will be mostly sunny ๐ŸŒž, with a high of 62 degrees at 4pm. One degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 24th. Light northeast wind. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 66 degrees. The record high of 89 was set in 2009. 0.3 inches of snow fell back in 1928.โ„

Wonderful spring day. For the balance of the beautiful spring day I’m going to hike at Partridge Run ๐Ÿšถ, observe nature, take pictures then come night fall visit another state forest pitch a hammock and spend the night I think. โ›บ It might be cold by morning but I’ll survive and there aren’t a ton of bugs ๐Ÿœ yet.

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 12:54 pm with sun having an altitude of 60.7ยฐ from the due south horizon (-10ยฐ vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 3.4 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour ๐Ÿ… starts at 7:11 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (283ยฐ). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west-northwest (289ยฐ) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:50 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 4 seconds with dusk around 8:19 pm, which is one minute and 8 seconds later than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent ๐ŸŒ’ Moon in the west (278ยฐ) at an altitude of 22ยฐ from the horizon, 244,989 miles away. ๐Ÿš€ The best time to look at the stars is after 8:57 pm. At sunset, look for partly clear skies ๐ŸŒ„ and temperatures around 58 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 13 hours and 52 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 37 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy ๐ŸŒฅ, with a low of 42 degrees at 5am. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 28th. Light southeast wind. In 2019, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became light rain by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 49 degrees. The record low of 24 occurred back in 1972.

I am impressed how nice my sideburns are looking on my face. โ˜บ They’ve grown quite wild and thick, one part redneck one part Captain Kangaroo but a little less silly. Makes me feel like a real man ๐Ÿ‘จ. I did trim them a little bit but not that much. When this period of social distancing ends maybe I’ll change my mind although I doubt I’ll be wearing a suit or tie ๐Ÿ‘”any time soon so it doesn’t matter much.

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until Average High is 70 ๐Ÿฎ when the sun will be setting at 8:12 pm with dusk at 8:45 pm. On that day in 2019, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 69 and 48 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 70 degrees. We hit a record high of 89 back in 1991.

Canada Lake

Mink social distancing

So I’m sitting here in the woods, this mink starts to check me out, walks within about six feet and then scampers back out in the creek. #socialdistancing

Looking North

Looking North from the Hadley Mountain Firetower, towers Baldhead Mountain, Burnt Mountain, Moosehead Mountains.

Taken on Friday April 17, 2009 at Hadley Mountain.