Upcoming Holidays – January 13, 21

|
  • Next Wednesday is Inauguration Day ✅ – Jan 20
  • Four Wednesdays until Clean Your Computer Day 🧹 – Feb 10
  • Five Wednesdays until 5:30 PM Sunset 🌇 – Feb 17
  • Nine Wednesdays until St. Patrick’s Day 🍀 – Mar 17
  • 12 Wednesdays until 7:30 PM Sunset 🌇 – Apr 7
  • 16 Wednesdays until Cinco de Mayo 🤠 – May 5
  • 19 Wednesdays until Flower Moon 🌕 – May 26
  • Five months – Fathers Day 👨 – Sunday Jun 13
  • Six months – Hottest Time of the Year 😅 – Tuesday Jul 13
  • 26 Wednesdays until National Nude Day 👱 – Jul 14
  • 33 Wednesdays until September 🍎 – Sep 1
  • 36 Wednesdays until Corn Moon 🌕 – Sep 22
  • 36 Wednesdays until Autumn 🍂 – Sep 22
  • 43 Wednesdays until Day After Election Day 🛀 – Nov 10
  • 43 Wednesdays until Average High is 50 🍂 – Nov 10
  • Ten months – Average Night Below Freezing 🌌 – Saturday Nov 13
  • 46 Wednesdays until December 🎄 – Dec 1
  • 48 Wednesdays until Bill of Rights Day 📜 – Dec 15
  • 49 Wednesdays until Days are Getting Longer ☀️ – Dec 22

Williamstown with Another Squall Coming In

NPR

|

Should The Government Pay People To Get Vaccinated? Some Economists Think So : NPR

r. Anthony auci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, says the country will likely need a vaccination level of between 70% and 90% to reach herd immunity.

Right now, that math doesn't quite add up. That's because more than 30% of people say they either won't, or probably won't, get the vaccine. Skeptics run the gamut — from dedicated anti-vaxxers to people with religious objections to some health care workers who have balked at getting shots.

With such wariness about COVI-19 vaccines, should the government then pay people to get vaccinated? The idea of a cash-for-shots program is being promoted by some economists and politicians in case the country struggles to get to herd immunity this year.

I’ve started this week taking daily showers again

|

I’ve started this week taking daily showers again … 🚿

During the summer working from home, it had become far lower priority because nobody really cares how clean you are working from home. Instead, I would just shave and put on a clean shirt for work meetings, as nobody can smell you over the Zoom.  I would only take showers when I’d be out and about, away from away. But after a while I’ve noticed it gets kind of nasty, and I really like being a bit cleaner. So now I’m back to taking daily showers, at least this week.

January 13, 2021 Morning

|

Good morning! Happy Make Your Dream Come True Day 🏡 ! Camel dairyman everywhere will note the fast let down on this Hump Day. Five weeks to 5:30 PM Sunset 🌇 . Red skies in the morning, with a few breaks of sun in the south, around 26 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ Calm wind.There is a dusting of snow on the ground. ☃ Things will start to thaw out at around 11 am. 🌡️

Today will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a high of 37 degrees at 1pm. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around February 23rd. Calm wind becoming south around 6 mph in the afternoon. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 40 degrees. The record high of 71 was set in 1932. 13.1 inches of snow fell back in 1964.❄

I was certainly hoping for much nicer weather today, 🌥 but those red skies while pretty this morning are not optimistic. It’s cool but not so cold at least this morning. 🥞 Pancakes this morning for breakfast, then I want to take a quick shower 🚿, go for my morning walk, 🚶 and then get ready for the morning meeting in a bit. 💼

Yesterday, I missed my morning walk, 🚶 and I was cranky all day because of that fact. The weather was pretty miserable all day yesterday, and by afternoon I got chilled through, mainly because I ended up laying in bed 🛏 watching session and answering emails from my cellphone. I probably should have been at my desk. I ended up turning on the little electric heat and falling asleep for a half hour when it was quite toasty. I’ll have to check the Kill-a-Watt meter I have it plugged in to see how much energy I’ve used, but electricity is cheap and probably much cheaper then heating the whole apartment up to a reasonable temperature. Coal and gas fired grid power is remarkably cheap. 🏭

Out walking this morning is actually remarkably nice 🌥 but oddly damp and maybe a little bit foggy 🌁 in the sense that the air is quite damp. I think the dampness is the most noticeable reason why it has felt cold lately. Maybe I’m just happy 😊 to be do my morning walk 🚶🏻 today.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:05 pm with sun having an altitude of 26° from the due south horizon (-44.9° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:01 pm with the sun in the southwest (234°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (241°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:45 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 19 seconds with dusk around 5:16 pm, which is one minute and 8 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the west-southwest (238°) at an altitude of 1° from the horizon, 236,779 miles away. 🚀 Assuming you are at a high enough elevation to see it at all. The best time to look at the stars is after 5:52 pm. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies ☁ and temperatures around 34 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 6 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 22 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 31 seconds over yesterday.

At some point I need to get to the grocery store 🛒 but I don’t know when I will do that as I usually like to combine that trip with going to the library to get videos, podcasts, large GIS files 📂 and updates for the computer 🖥. I should also reserve some library books 📚 too. I also need to figure out a day to head into the office 🏢 to do paperwork. 🚍 I’m a bit hesitant to take the bus with the Corona but I don’t want to deal with parking 🅿 especially with street closures and protests especially if I go in on a Saturday.

Tonight will have a slight chance of snow after 4am. Mostly cloudy 🌨, with a low of 29 degrees at 2am. 15 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 24th. South wind around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2020, we had partly cloudy skies. It got down to 36 degrees. The record low of -24 occurred back in 1957.

Right now, a split verdict on the weekend. 😕 Saturday, rain and snow likely. Cloudy, with a high near 39. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 37. Typical average high for the weekend is 30 degrees.

I was hoping to get up to the Adirondacks this long weekend ⛺ but I don’t think that’s likely with the current forecast of snow 🌨 on Saturday and clouds on Sunday up north. I had my hopes but winter can be tough. But at this point it’s less than two months until spring.

🌹🌻🌼Only 66 days remain until the first day of calendar spring!🌹🌻🌼

As previously noted, next Wednesday is Inauguration Day ✅ when the sun will be setting at 4:53 pm with dusk at 5:24 pm. On that day in 2020, we had sunny and temperatures between 22 and 9 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 30 degrees. We hit a record high of 53 back in 2006.

Trees Along Trail