I didn’t think it would be nice enough to go out walking last night but then I stepped outside it seemed okay, the wind blowing the opposite direction of the clouds to the west. It risk of thunder seemed pretty low, and I wanted to get at least 8 miles in for the day. But the time I was farthest from home the lightening was too close for comfort and five minutes from home the sky opened up. Ultimately I did get in 8 miles for the day, not the ten I normally walk and didn’t make it to the park, but that’s fine.

Good morning! With a few loud cracks of rain and thunder it’s morning. The sun is is rising, the skies are clearing somewhat and let’s call it 66 ⅔ degrees at the 6:30 for the morning walk in the land of the Delmartian. ⛅ Calm wind. The dew point is 64 degrees.

Last night I got home 🏡 from work glad that I didn’t get soaked and figured that the evening walk 🚶 was off the agenda. Then at 6:30 I stepped outside and looked at the radar and decided it would be okay. And it was for a while until the wind shifted and thunder ⚡ pushed closer. In the end it was fine, though I got a bit wet and went to bed early. 🛏 Walked 8 miles for the day plus 39 flights of stairs up and down. I was asleep by around 8 pm and up around 5 am.

As it was still raining out when I awoke 🍳 I decided to have breakfast before walking which was cold black coffee ☕ with cold eggs and spinach from the other day. I also had a half of banana 🍌 from last night. At lunch time yesterday I walked up to Market 32 in Albany and got a bunch of bananas to hold my pantry over until Saturday when I can do a bigger shop 🏪. Cold lunch today with black beans, mushrooms, chopped farmers market tomatoes, peppers. Avoids the line for the microwave at work, though I’ve figured out the technique is to cook lunch at 12:50 PM before the 1 PM rush.

Today will have a chance of showers and thunderstorms, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 5pm. Some of the storms could produce heavy rain. Patchy fog before 7am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy 🌧, with a high of 83 degrees at 2pm. One degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around July 4th. Independence Day! Maximum dew point of 71 at 2pm. Calm wind becoming south around 6 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies. It was somewhat humid. The high last year was 85 degrees. The record high of 99 was set in 1995.

I’ll have to keep that Market 32 in Albany in mind 🛒 for when I need stocking up of a few ingredients downtown. Much better than the old Ghetto Chopper and really only a few blocks away from work if I take South Swan to Elm Street. They don’t have much in household supplies – I was hoping to get super glue to fix my boots 👢 – but the fresh fruits and vegetables looked good. It’s small so a fast shop. Probably can’t get frozen things there and I decided to skip getting plain non fat Greek yogurt just because of the hot day walking back to the office and the bus ride home but in the winter I think that’s an option.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:02 pm with sun having an altitude of 69.1° from the due south horizon (-1.7° 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 7:51 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 8:33 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 22 seconds with dusk around 9:06 pm, which is 36 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:50 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and thunderstorms 🌩 and temperatures around 74 degrees. The dew point will be 70 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 6 mph. Today will have 15 hours and 5 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 25 seconds over yesterday.

Six months into healthy eating 🍎I am finally starting to notice how much thinner I am. I have a feeling that my BMI is now below 25 though I don’t have a scale so I don’t know but I know I have lost weight since the last time I visited the doctor at the end of May when I was 209 lb and needed to get to 194 lb to be a healthy weight at 6′ 2.5″ though most others say I’m 6′ 4″ or 6′ 5″ with the boots on. My love handles have virtually disappeared and my stomach is much smaller, and I’m pretty sure that size 36 pants 👖 are now the proper size, the smallest since probably I’ve been since elementary school. The problem is finding clothes in my closet that don’t make me look like a clown. Still have a little more belly fat I’d look to loose, not just because of the look but because outer fat is associated with inner muscle fat, especially in the heart which is rather bad. But I feel like I am starting to get in great shape, mostly from eating a nutritious diet but also because I’ve kept up with the walking and stairs. And hopefully cycling too. Steiner, you are biting me with this bicycle thing. 😠

Tonight will have showers and thunderstorms likely, mainly before midnight. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 66 degrees at 5am. Three degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 70 at 6pm. Southeast wind around 6 mph becoming calm in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies. It got down to 57 degrees. The record low of 44 occurred back in 1950.

I need to think about getting new boots before vacation. 👟 Or at least rugged sneakers, something I can use for mountain biking and maybe jogging which I tell myself that I’m thinking 💭 about taking up 🏃 maybe half seriously since becoming thinner. Around camp and certainly st the swimming pools and holes the knock off crocks are fun but they’re not appropriate for much else. They have no ankle support, get my feet muddy, and worse of all let in any stones and sticks into my foot 👣 where I can step on them.

On this day in 1969, the $500, $1,000, $5,000 and $10,000 bills are officially withdrawn from circulation. 💵 After this date, if you wanted to buy a large purchase in cash, you needed a lot of hundred dollars in bills. 💰They had last been printed in 1945, and were finally dropped from circulation in 1969, in part as an effort to reduce corruption and money scams. Nowadays a hundred 💯 dollars seems almost a paltry amount with inflation not that I ever carry anything bigger than $5 bills because it’s just easier to use the credit card 💳 for anything bigger.

Tomorrow will have a chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 3pm. Partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 87 degrees at 3pm. Three degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 72 at 11am. Muggy, swamp weather. South wind 3 to 7 mph. 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 partly cloudy skies. It was somewhat humid. The high last year was 86 degrees. The record high of 96 was set in 1997.

Tomorrow I will walk 🚶 early to best the heat. 😰 Then it’s those oatmeal banana pancakes 🍌 🥞 love with blueberries and maybe some sugar free maple syrup and cold black coffee. So good! Then it’s off to Steiners to check on the status of the bicycle 🚲 they promise to be assembling for me. They don’t have it, I’ll test ride the XXL of the Marlin 5 and order and pay for the Marlin 6 as long as they can give me a set date for delivery. 🚚 Otherwise I will order online with another shop. This purchase needs to be closed down this weekend.

Then the next thing to do is get grocery shopping 🛒. I want to get more red kidney beans for maple syrup 🍘 next week and get them soaking to be cooked come Sunday morning. Plus all the usual, more Greek yogurt, 🐮 frozen fruit 🍓, peppers 🫑🌶️, mushrooms 🍄 and the usuals. I also need shampoo and extra deodorant the later this keep in the office 🏢 after climbing the stairs. Then I’m not totally sure. If it’s hot and looks like thunderstorms will stay away, maybe go to the town pool. I would have to register though to get a pool fob, maybe I should do that and it’s $5.25 to enter. And you have to do that in advance. Seems like a pain. If I get the bike, ride out to Voorheesville and probably the Black Creek Marsh. If it’s hot and I don’t want to spend money, go to the library for a while with my computer, then come home, sit by the fan and get through some more of the stack of library books I have at home.

Looking ahead to Sunday, showers and possibly a thunderstorm. Some of the storms could produce heavy rain. High near 83. ⛈️ South wind around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible. Not just a few passing showers. Maximum dew point of 74 at 12pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 84 degrees.

And so is the weekend forecast. 😖 But if I can get this damn bicycle 🚲 thing closed down, I’ll be happy. I am thinking about taking off at least one day next week, where and what to do is to be decided but I need to get a few things ready for my vacation, I’ve taken fewer days off this summer than expected. Maybe it will be to get the rack on the bicycle, break it in or pick it up. Maybe the Potholers or Schoharie the second half of the week.

Two weeks from now, God willing, 🏖 I will be well on my way to the Finger Lakes. I really want to leave by eight AM on that Friday to get the campsite I want in the National Forest ⛺ and then have the afternoon to set up and relax. 🎣 Do some fishing, a nice bicycle 🚲 ride and maybe watch a Finger Lakes sunset 🌇 across a cow pasture in the National Forest.

After vacation, August 11th I have a dentist appointment at 10:15 AM which I will follow up probably with a long weekend. Maybe Schoharie or the Adirondacks. Have to be strategic at this point as there are only three weeks left in August at that point before Labor Day Weekend, and I want to have at least a few more long weekends before summer is done. That said, except for the Mine Kill Pool there is no reason I can’t take lots of long weekends come September and October. I am not doing a West Virginia trip — or even a week-long trip at this point this autumn, so that leaves other days to allocate. I would like to do some kayaking, fishing, hunting, and bike riding this autumn. Charles Baker State Forest roads probably would be wonderful for autumn bike riding, as would the Chenango Canal Trail and others.

Looking ahead, there are 7 weeks until September 1st when the sun will be setting at 7:31 pm with dusk at 7:59 pm. That’s the start of Labor Day Weekend. On that day in 2022, we had mostly sunny skies with rain showers and temperatures between 73 and 55 degrees. Cool day. The average high is 79 degrees. We hit a record high of 96 back in 1953. I might do Spectulator that weekend, especially if they have fire tower lighting that I could observe from I don’t know, Watch Hill (?). Some of those truck trails through the Conservation Easement might be nice on the mountain bike, as would be camping up on Hardwood Hill, looking at the stars, lighting off ground fireworks and sparklers.