That’s one way to look at the weekend. I can’t believe we are going to have yet another cloudy, rainy weekend. I’m not spending the money to drive out to Schoharie in crap weather, especially as I don’t have Blackie, my bicycle yet.

Good morning! Happy Thursday. Foggy 🌁 and 67 degrees in Delmar, NY. Calm wind. The dew point is 66 degrees. The skies will clear around 11 am. Or so I hope. Might rain or thunder some more, but hopefully not during my lunch-time walk, evening commute or evening walk. I’m noticing a theme here.

Out walking this morning. ☔ What a surprise, between the fog and the weather pattern were stuck in, it’s raining out. And it going to be cloudy and hot Saturday with rain come Sunday. Hey at least not camping saves money! Or so I tell myself. 10 ¾ miles walked yesterday, 42 flights of stairs up and down. I had time, I could have walked 🚶 more last night but I was achy and tired, 🛏 so I got to bed on time but woke up much too early, around 5 AM. But I got in close to 8 hours of sleep last night.

This morning is an oatmeal day. I almost would like oatmeal-banana pancakes, but I want to save the last two bananas I have to bring into my office at work to make it through Friday. Oatmeal with blueberries is a quick breakfast, I might throw in some walnuts, as I’ve had them for a few weeks now and don’t want to risk them going bad. I like walnuts, their healthy but a little high in fat My pantry at home is a bit picked over, but I think I still have healthy options left, especially after getting sweet corn and tomatoes yesterday at the farmers market. I was hoping I would have had an excuse to go to the store when I picked up Blackie, but not so far this week. I have more rice and lentils I can cook up tomorrow, and I took the black beans out of the freezer. I’ll probably have that with sweet corn and tomatoes tonight. And red onions of course.

Today will have a chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 3pm. Some of the storms could produce heavy rain. Patchy fog before 7am. Otherwise, partly sunny 🌤️ 🌧, with a high of 89 degrees at 2pm. Five degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 71 at 11am. Light southeast wind becoming south 12 to 17 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with a few breaks of sun the afternoon. The high last year was 87 degrees. The record high of 96 was set in 1894.

I’m still waiting for the call about Blackie from the bike shop. 🚲 I might not have been clear what I was asking when I called yesterday but it’s kind of weird to explain – they’re building the bike for me but I haven’t paid for it or even taken the proper size bike for a test ride. So I probably wasn’t clear what I meant about test riding the XXL bike on the phone, that it’s the one they are putting together for me to purchase. 📞 It was a different salesperson I got yesterday then who I talked to on Friday but I thought when they said it said it would be ready in a few days I would have it by Wednesday. I’m not going to take off time until I know it’s ready, though I will stop by Saturday to follow up. I really want to ask about the rack too fitting the bike. I am pretty sure that’s the bike I want, but I would want to make sure it fits before I lay down the big bucks. Plus Saturday, then is a good time to get groceries, even if it’s a bit crowded. 🍏 🥦

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:02 pm with sun having an altitude of 69.2° from the due south horizon (-1.6° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 2.3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:52 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (294°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (301°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:34 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 23 seconds with dusk around 9:06 pm, which is 33 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:51 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and thunderstorms 🌩 and temperatures around 77 degrees. The dew point will be 68 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 10 mph. Today will have 15 hours and 6 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 21 seconds over yesterday.

Finally the farmers market 🌽 🍅 had tomatoes and sweet corn that made me happy. 😊 The fresh sweet corn was amazing especially with some MSG – I skipped the butter due to the saturated fats. Tomatoes were good though not as exceptionally good as I had hoped. If I don’t get to Schoharie this weekend it’s not the end of the world. There is farm stands going out on vacation, Sandell’s Farm going up to Piseco-Powley Road, and the best farm stands really are in August and September in the Schoharie Valley, and probably is the best riding of the Catskill Scenic Trail. 🚲

Tonight will have showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly before 11pm. Some storms could be severe, with damaging winds and heavy rain. Mostly cloudy 🌩, with a low of 65 degrees at 5am. Two degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 69 at 6pm. Another night in the swamp. South wind 5 to 10 mph becoming light and variable after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible. That sounds wet. In 2022, we had light rain in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It was somewhat humid. It got down to 65 degrees. The record low of 49 occurred back in 1940.

On this day in 1977, the Great 1977 New York City Blackout begins, 🌃 plunging New York into 24 hours of darkness, chaos, and crime. It really was a dark time in the city. This black out mostly effected the city, not upstate so much. Albany has gotten shifty after the pandemic but it’s nothing like New York City, especially in the olden days of the 1970s.

Not a particularly nice weekend on tap. 😞 Saturday, a slight chance of showers before 8am, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 88. South wind 5 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. Maximum dew point of 71 at 10am. I’ll watch the radar, maybe I’ll do the town pool in the afternoon. Sunday, a chance of showers, then showers and possibly a thunderstorm after 2pm. High near 82. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Maximum dew point of 74 at 12pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 84 degrees.

If it only was slightly nicer out 🌤️and I had the bicycle 🚲 I would reconsider my plans to go to Schoharie. If the shop calls today or tomorrow and I can sneak out of work early and get the bike and groceries, I’ll reconsider my plans. It might be more haze then clouds and maybe it won’t be until late when the showers and Thunderstorms come rolling through. It would be fun to swim 🏊‍♂️ and see the auto show 🚘 and it’s going to be a hot one. Otherwise, there is always next weekend – the last one before Summer Vacation. 🏖

I am still hopeful that the through we are stuck in breaks up by August 🌧️ and we can finally have some nice hot and sunny weather ☀ with calm weather. I don’t mind some heat and humidity on vacation or for that matter when I’m at the Potholers in Adirondacks. 🏊‍♂️ Often the weekend before Summer Vacation 📦 I like to stay home and pack but I’m not necessarily convinced that is necessary as I pretty much know what I need and will pack only food for the first few days and get fresh food out in the Finger Lakes. 🍇 Next weekend if it’s decent I could do Schoharie or the Potholers, maybe extending the weekend by a day on either side of the weekend.

Looking ahead, next Thursday is Ugly Truck Day 🚚 when the sun will be setting at 8:29 pm with dusk at 9:01 pm. On that day in 2022, we had hot, humid, mostly sunny, thunderstorm and temperatures between 97 and 72 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 84 degrees. We hit a record high of 97 back in 1991.