And now I’m so tall and lanky compared to that picture on summer vacation three years ago with me wearing that second amendment t-shirt. The thing is the change was worth it, I’ve learned a lot about food and nutrition and I’m so much healthier these days, and my meals are so much filling without the hunger or extreme fullness I used to have.

Good morning! Happy Tuesday. Clouds, wildfire smoke and 69 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁️ There is a south-southeast breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 66 degrees. The air quality index is 131, unhealthy for sensitive groups.

Today is the 200th Day of Year. ⏳Only 165 days remain. It will be 2024 before you know it, a fact that a lot of people are already a lot more focused on then I am. Maybe because lately the markets have been on such an upswing. 📈 I’m glad because the end of the year last year was so depressing. While there is storm clouds in the distance sometimes the storm breaks up and doesn’t hit and I’m young and I fundamentally believe that the US economy will continue to grow and if it slows too much the politicians will goose it and at least boost the markets. 🦆

Another hot and humid summer morning with the wildfire smoke 🌫 making everything look quite dull. At least there isn’t that acrid smell from the smoke currently like there was around dusk last night when I was riding back from Five Rivers Environmental Education Center. When you smell wildfire smoke it’s really not pleasant, more like smoldering PVC plastic then wood smoke. 🤮 And it kind of burns your lungs. Fortunately that’s not all the time, usually just around dusk when the air settles down.

Moving a bit slowly this morning 🛌 though I slept surprisingly soundly. I didn’t get out walking until nearly 6:40 AM as I hit the snooze button a few times ⏰ and then by the time I got downstairs, did the bathroom thing 🚽 and had some cold coffee ☕,  along with a hard-boiled egg I pulled out of the fridge, and a few carrots. 🏃 Did my walk, then came home and had some cream of wheat, fresh blueberries and Greek yogurt for breakfast with a side of some red kidney beans with a bit of sugar-free maple syrup. Black beans, farmer market tomato, mushrooms and another hard-boiled egg for lunch. Not sure yet what is for dinner, maybe brown rice and shrimp, though the shrimp is still frozen. Haven’t had that in a while.

Today will have isolated showers before noon, then scattered showers and thunderstorms between noon and 3pm, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 3pm. Some of the storms could produce heavy rain. Widespread haze. Partly sunny 🌦, with a high of 84 degrees at 2pm. Typical for today. Maximum dew point of 72 at 4pm. South wind 3 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible. A year ago, we had light rain in the morning, which became rain by afternoon. It was very sticky. The high last year was 81 degrees. The record high of 100 was set in 1953.

Payday today. 💵 Money hasn’t hit my checking account quite yet but I’m sure it will shortly. It better hit relatively soon as I will need it to pay the rent because I don’t have a lot of excess funds due to double paying my credit card 💳 and the bicycle 🚲 purchase. At least my bicycle license wasn’t expensive, only a single quarter or 25¢. It looks like they haven’t changed that fee since 1958. Next payday is during summer vacation 🏖 and it’s a three paycheck month. Good I’ll need it, lol. 😂 Today I made sure to bring deodorant into my office for after climbing the stairs. 👃

Electric bus 🚍 ⚡ downtown is well air conditioned though the way the driver is heading downtown with hard braking and acceleration it can’t be real fuel efficient. He’s pretty much on time but driving very aggressively this morning. 🔋

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:02 pm with sun having an altitude of 68.4° from the due south horizon (-2.4° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 2.4 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:49 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (293°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (300°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:30 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 20 seconds with dusk around 9:02 pm, which is 44 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the west-northwest (296°) at an altitude of 6° from the horizon, 251,986 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:46 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and thunderstorms 🌩 and temperatures around 73 degrees. The dew point will be 69 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 14 hours and 58 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 37 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have showers and thunderstorms likely before midnight, then isolated showers between midnight and 1am. Patchy fog after 2am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 62 degrees at 6am. One degree below normal, which is similar to a typical night around July 31st. Maximum dew point of 70 at 7pm. Another muggy evening tonight. Light and variable wind. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. In 2022, we had light rain in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It was humid. It got down to 71 degrees. The record low of 47 occurred back in 1875.

After riding out to Five Rivers Environmental Education Center 🐸 and walking 🚶 around the preserve I spent some time reading 📖 then rode home around 8:30. Even with the new batteries 🔋 I was surprised how dim the lights were on my bike. Maybe I need to think about upgrading them eventually along with adding a better more comfortable seat. But I’m going to wait a while on that I’ve spent enough money and time on the bike for now. If the weather is decent tonight I might pick a different local preserve to visit like Norman’s Kill West or Bender Mellon Preserve. Or maybe I’ll just go for an ordinary walk down to the Elm Ave Park 🏞.

On this day in 1969, Senator Ted Kennedy from Massachusetts drives his car off a bridge and his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, dies. 🚘 And in 1984, there were McDonald’s massacre in San Ysidro, California: In a fast-food restaurant, James Oliver Huberty opens fire, killing 21 people and injuring 19 others before being shot dead by police. 🙏 After that, California implemented strict new gun control in that state, and there have been no more mass shootings. 🔫 Aren’t you glad, the liberal agenda has saved the world.

A picture perfect summer weekend on tap. 😎 Saturday, a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 81. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Maximum dew point of 65 at 10am. Summer humidity but not oppressively hot and humid, especially out in the mountains. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 82. Maximum dew point of 63 at 7pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 84 degrees.

I am pretty sure I’m going to take off Monday and do a three day weekend to swim 🏊‍♂️ at Mine Kill Pool and ride the Catskill Scenic Trail. 🚲 Do some camping 🏕 and get veggies at Shauls. I don’t really need that much time to pack for summer vacation in the Finger Lakes National Forest the following Friday. It’s my best chance to get away in a long time. Who knows what the rest of summer will look like. ☀ That said, I do see the weather pattern improving in the coming weeks. Or so I hope.

Looking ahead, there are 2 weeks until August 🌻 when the sun will be setting at 8:17 pm with dusk at 8:48 pm. On that day in 2022, we had hot, partly sunny and temperatures between 89 and 69 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 84 degrees. We hit a record high of 101 back in 1933.