Finally a decent weekend to get out of town it would seem this weekend for a long weekend and then the start of vacation also looks pretty good too.

Good morning! What day is it? Hump Day, of course. Mostly cloudy ⛅ and 64 degrees in Delmar, NY. Calm wind. The dew point is 63 degrees. The air quality has improved as the smoke has drifted east, we are at a moderate 79. The air tastes of barnyard. I might ride to work today to save the bus fare. 🚲

Out walking 🚶 right at 6 o’clock this morning 🕒 as I rose fairly early this morning and it’s a pretty nice morning with the sun shing to the east through the air pollution a bright red color and fog around to the west. Walked 7.9 miles yesterday, did the stairs twice at work, Blackie stayed parked all day due to thunderstorms and rain in the evening. Shrimp and brown rice with edamame for dinner last night followed by carrots and fresh cherries 🍒 for dessert. I still have that sugary taste on my mouth this morning, so I’m thinking scrambled eggs with spinach, olives and anything else I decide to include. ☕ After a quick cup of coffee it seems like I will need a fresh pot to get the morning started when I get back home.

Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 83 degrees at 3pm. One degree below normal, which is similar to a typical day around August 3rd. Maximum dew point of 64 at 8am. Northwest wind 3 to 7 mph. Typical July day, maybe slightly cooler though really normal before the warming shown in the recent climate normals. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. It was humid. The high last year was 92 degrees. The record high of 97 was set in 1904.

Farmer’s Market today 🌽 and I am thinking about getting some more sweet corn as I’m pretty much otherwise good on food through the weekend when I can get more from Shauls.

I was thinking about going down Norman’s Kill Ravine Preserve 🏞 yesterday after work but it stormed a lot and turn poured. 💦 Read more of the Boggleheads investing book 📙 and then the rain stopped and I went for my evening walk 🚶. Maybe I’ll have to think about hiking the Norman’s Kill Ravines Preserve tonight. Might be a good night for it. That said, also on the agenda is figuring how to bolt the MIK adapter to the crate so I can quick remove it for shopping 🛒 and when I’m putting the bike on the bus or in my truck.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:02 pm with sun having an altitude of 68.3° from the due south horizon (-2.6° 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 7:48 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 45 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the west-northwest (286°) at an altitude of 10° from the horizon, 252,270 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:45 pm. At sunset, look for partly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 75 degrees. The dew point will be 60 degrees. There will be a west-northwest breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 14 hours and 57 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 38 seconds over yesterday.

Got paid yesterday 💸 and my finances look a lot better than before, though just wait until my automatic deposits and withdrawals go through with my rent check at the end of the month. But then again I’ll get paid on August 1st again and next month is a three paycheck month.

After a few tries with the payroll office I finally got my increased federal and state deductions enacted properly to cover my interest and dividend payments so I shouldn’t have to worry about quarterly state and federal tax payments unless I end up selling stocks or bonds. 💲It was annoying because increasing my state withholding automatically decreased my federal withholding however with the unearned income I was ending up not paying enough state and federal. Regardless, whole lot more pleasant to give the government an extra $50 a pay period then cut big checks each quarter or on April 15th. Because I’m automatically reinvesting the dividends and not touching the interest income, essentially it’s a backdoor way of saving for my future.

Tonight will be partly clear 🌃 with a low of 60 degrees at 4am. Three degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around August 20th. Maximum dew point of 60 at 6pm. Not so humid. West wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies. It was sticky. It got down to 72 degrees. The record low of 49 occurred back in 1974.

On this day, there was the Great New York City Fire of 1845: The last great fire to affect Manhattan began early in the morning and was subdued that afternoon. 🧑‍🚒The fire killed 4 firefighters, 26 civilians, and destroyed 345 buildings. Always be careful with matches, in densely packed urban areas with lots of wooden buildings.

Weekend forecast continues to look great. 🏊‍♂️⛺ 🚲 🌲Saturday, a chance of showers after 2pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 81. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Maximum dew point of 64 at 9am. Sunday, sunny, with a high near 84. Maximum dew point of 62 at 10am. Typical average high for the weekend is 84 degrees.

Should be a good weekend out of town. 🏖 Got to take advantage of it before summer is done. It won’t last long at this point, soon we will be losing a lot of time in the evening. I took off Monday so I can camp an additional night this weekend and have time to pack and prepare for vacation a week from Friday. Been doing a lot of thought and planning on what I want to eat on summer vacation. Bike and swim Saturday and Monday, Sunday I might stay around camp, bike fish and read, maybe cool down in the creek.

That makes next week a three day work week 🏢 which should go by quickly as the evenings will be packing and planning and getting ready for my trip. 🛶 I am thinking I should get new rope and bungees for carrying my kayak and retire the old worn out rope to camp duty – hanging the flags 🇺🇸 and tarps that are not critical should they fail.

Looking ahead, there are 6 weeks until Average High Falls To 79 ️Degrees ⛱️️️ when the sun will be setting at 7:35 pm with dusk at 8:03 pm. On that day in 2022, we had rain and temperatures between 90 and 66 degrees. We hit a record high of 98 back in 1953.