Hillbilly Incense

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They call it hillbilly incense.

The putrid, toxic plastic smell of the rural burn barrel. The trash fire that consumes most of the waste of the rural household and the farm, allowing them to only haul their unburnable waste to the landfill, trash pit or recycling center once a year or so.

It’s become rare in New York except for the most outlying places due to the burn ban – most people now haul their trash to the transfer station, get a big old dumpster or get weekly service. Some trash gets recycled but in many cases recycling is fairly impractical in rural areas.

But I smelled some burning while I was driving up to camp and thought it might be my brakes dragging as they’ve been a bit noisy from the glaze I got on them the other day. But it was just another trash fire. Yuck.

Today’s Almanac for Wednesday September 16

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Today’s Almanac

Night before dawn is 6 hours and 8 minutes,
Dawn starts at 6:08 am and runs for 28 minutes,
Sunrise is at 6:37 am which is 5 hours and 22 minutes before noon,
High noon, the transit of the sun, is at 12:50 pm,
From twelve noon to the sunset at 7:02 pm is 7 hours and 2 minutes,
Dusk lasts for 31 minutes concluding at 7:31 pm,
Leaving 4 hours and 28 minutes until midnight.

Scenic Creek

Monsanto’s Roundup Ready Crop System Puts Monarch Butterflies at Brink of Extinction – EcoWatch

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Monsanto’s Roundup Ready Crop System Puts Monarch Butterflies at Brink of Extinction – EcoWatch

Monarch population numbers have fallen by 90๏ฟฝpercent๏ฟฝin less than 20 years. This year’s population was the second lowest since careful surveys began two decades ago. The critical driver of monarch decline is the loss of larval host plants in their main breeding habitat, the Midwestern Corn Belt. Monarchs lay eggs exclusively on plants in the milkweed family, the only food their larvae will eat.

Monarch butterflies have long coexisted with agriculture, but the proliferation of herbicide-resistant GE crops is threatening that balance. Monsanto’s glyphosate-resistant Roundup Ready corn and soybeans have radically altered farming practices, sharply increasing the extent, frequency and intensity of glyphosate use on farm land. Glyphosate—one of the very few herbicides that kills common milkweed—was little used two decades ago, but has become by far the most heavily used herbicide in America thanks to GE Roundup Ready crops. As a result, corn and soybean fields in the Corn Belt have lost 99๏ฟฝpercent๏ฟฝof their milkweed since just 1999.

September 16, 2020 Morning

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Good morning! What day is it? Hump Day, of course. Six weeks to Average High is 55 ๐Ÿ‚. Partly sunny, hazy from the wildfires ๐Ÿ”ฅ and 45 degrees in Delmar, NY. ๐ŸŒ… There is a south breeze at 7 mph. ๐Ÿƒ

This morning I was running low on milk ๐Ÿฅ› but I made due with what I had with some cold coffee โ˜• from yesterday. I like cold coffee, it’s nice and strong ๐Ÿ’ช๐Ÿป. Morning ain’t morning without milk. ๐Ÿฎ

Out for my morning walk ๐Ÿšถ๐Ÿปand it’s kind of odd with the haze with the haze from the wildfires out west. ๐Ÿ”ฅ It’s sunny but the skies are quite gray. Not the deep blue you would think of during late September on a low humidity day. Smell some wood smoke but I think it’s just from someone with a wood stove.

For some reason one of these my eyes ๐Ÿ‘€ was irritated and I lost one of my contacts out walking but I’ll put in a fresh one when I get home ๐Ÿก. Not a big deal but it limits my vision while walking.

Today will be sunny ๐ŸŒž with haze ๐ŸŒซ๏ธ, with a high of 73 degrees at 3pm. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical day around September 15th. Maximum dew point of 49 at 5pm. South wind 7 to 16 mph.๐ŸŒฌ๏ธ A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 73 degrees. The record high of 92 was set in 1939.

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 12:51 pm with sun having an altitude of 49.8ยฐ from the due south horizon (-21ยฐ vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 5.1 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour ๐Ÿ… starts at 6:27 pm with the sun in the west (268ยฐ). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west (274ยฐ) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:04 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 54 seconds with dusk around 7:31 pm, which is one minute and 48 seconds earlier than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ The best time to look at the stars is after 8:06 pm. At sunset, look for mostly clear skies ๐ŸŒ„ and temperatures around 67 degrees. The dew point will be 50 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 14 mph. Today will have 12 hours and 25 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 52 seconds over yesterday.

I was looking at that picture ๐Ÿ–ผ I posted of Dick Patrick from 1975, and I am thinking the long side burns need to return ๐Ÿ’ˆ now that autumn is returning. So I’m to grow them back but maybe not as wild as Mr. Patrick. When I had sideburns in the spring, it was a lot less shaving.

Tonight will be mostly clear ๐ŸŒƒ, with a low of 54 degrees at 4am. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around September 11th. Maximum dew point of 53 at 2am. South wind 8 to 13 mph. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 47 degrees. The record low of 32 occurred back in 1959.

Cool this weekend with temperatures running 10 degrees below normal but otherwise sunny. ๐Ÿ˜ƒ Saturday, sunny, with a high near 60. Sunday, sunny, with a high near 62. Maximum dew point of 36 at 6pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 71 degrees.

Going to be a nice weekend. ๐Ÿ‘๐Ÿป Cool but sunny. I’m hoping to get up to the Adirondacks next weekend but this weekend I have a meeting in town ๐ŸŒผso I’ll try to go hiking locally. I’m hoping next weekend though the leaves will be really good in the Adirondacks. ๐Ÿ‚

Looking ahead, there are 6 weeks until Average High is 55 ๐Ÿ‚ when the sun will be setting at 5:53 pm with dusk at 6:22 pm. On that day in 2019, we had mostly cloudy smjsziand temperatures between 60 and 45 degrees. We hit a record high of 78 back in 1971.

Corners and Cables