Where have all the August days gone,
With memories from dawn to dusk?
They slipped through time’s gentle hand,
Leaving memories in the mud and muck.

Good morning! August days fade away as mostly wet memories — though it looks like come September a beautiful stretch of weather is ahead. Did you see that big blue moon last night? Mostly clear and 56 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌅 There is a north-northwest breeze at 9 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 51 degrees.

A nice morning for the walk 🚶. I have chickpeas cooking down on the stove this morning 🍲 in a second attempt to make hummus again this time with fully cooked down chickpeas, sufficient salt and olive oil and fresh lemon 🍋. This time hopefully it will be a nice smooth mixture. 🛻 Tomorrow at this time my hope is to be heading towards Tribes Hill for Samdil’s Farm to stock up 🌽 🍆 🍅 🥩 🥚 prior to the Adirondacks. ⛰️

Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 73 degrees at 4pm. Seven degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around September 19th. Maximum dew point of 50 at 6am. North wind 8 to 10 mph. Very autumn like day ahead. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 79 degrees. The record high of 93 was set in 1953.

Closing out summer what seems like much too soon 🌻 but it always seems to happen this way. I went out to Bender Mellon Preserve 🍈 after finishing off the last cantaloupe last night probably the last time after work until next spring due to the early sunset. Dark and shadowy now for the morning walk too as the sun rises later.

The red lentil wraps I made yesterday worked out good, 🍳 they were tasty with just the right amount of added sea salt. Again the key was soaking the lentils in advance all day so they were big and soft when they hit the food processor to make a good batter. 🥞 Ultimately they were delicious with the red kidney beans and maple syrup 🍁 for dinner though I’m sure if I had kept more water in mix they would have been excellent wraps. Might try again up at camp this weekend.

Glad I rode back and forth to work yesterday 🚲 as there was a car 🚙 🔥 fire on the Thruway and 787 was quite backed up plus I saved $2.70 for the day and got good exercise. Strong west wind coming out of the Norman’s Kill Gorge but I knocked it down and climbed slowly in lower gear ⚙. Going to do the same today.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:57 pm with sun having an altitude of 56.1° from the due south horizon (-14.7° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 4 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:56 pm with the sun in the west (276°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (283°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:34 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 58 seconds with dusk around 8:01 pm, which is one minute and 41 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:38 pm. At sunset, look for clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 69 degrees. The dew point will be 49 degrees. There will be a north breeze at 6 mph. Tomorrow will have 13 hours and 13 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 46 seconds over today.

Tonight will be clear 🌃, with a low of 50 degrees at 6am. Eight degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around September 22nd. North wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. In 2022, we had cloudy skies. It got down to 55 degrees. The record low of 41 occurred back in 1967.

Funny thing about all this warm weather coming up next week 😎 is I am already thinking a lot about the soups I can make up for cheap this winter, and are a bit disappointed that coming week isn’t going to be good soup weather. I was researching the use of canned broth and bouillon mixes and making my own stock for soup in coming months. 🍞 🍲 Bouillon is cheapest and easiest way to add flavor to soup and other meals, and broth is fine though it seems like a lot of packaging, and once you open it up, you kind of have to use it up quickly. Most bouillon is high in salt though, in part due to it’s use as a preservative, but also taste. The flipside is the salt in bouillon means you can leave it out of the rest of the soup, and soup can keep you going most of the day. Stock is a good way to go if I have time — a whole chicken isn’t that expensive and I think I have a big enough pot. I am thinking soup is a great way to make a lot of healthy meals cheaply, and would be so good with the simple, whole wheat bread like I made up earlier in the week.

On this day in 1965, Super Guppy took it’s first flight. The Aero Spacelines Super Guppy is a large, wide-bodied cargo aircraft that is used for hauling outsize cargo components. 🛬 It was the successor to the Pregnant Guppy, the first of the Guppy aircraft produced by Aero Spacelines, which in turn was named for its resemblance to a pregnant guppy. Five were built in two variants, both of which were colloquially referred to as the “Super Guppy”.

A truly beautiful Labor Day Weekend on tap. 😎 Friday, clear and crisp 74. Might want to wear jeans and even a long shirt for heading up north! Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 81. South wind 3 to 8 mph. Maximum dew point of 59 at 4pm. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 85. Maximum dew point of 66 at 4pm. Labor Day, sunny heading up to 90. Typical average high for the weekend is 79 degrees.

I packed clothes and filled the water containers 🎒 in preparation for Labor Day Weekend and will finish packing this evening. I want to be to bed well before 9 PM, maybe 8:30 so I can get a very early start tomorrow, and be on the road before 7 AM if at al possible, so I can hit Spectulator by nine or so. Not because I’m planning on working 💤 but I want to get that Hardwood Hill Campsite if at all possible, and then have the hammock set up and be all set up by mid-day, after which I’ll go for a nice bike ride. 🚲 I was thinking on Saturday or Sunday when it’s warmer, one option would be to ride down to Jessup River to cool off in the creek, although I almost want to drive down just so I can bring the tube for floating and cooling off. 🏊‍♀️ Going to be hot come Labor Day, though not excessively hot up north — but it is September. Still with the sun, it could get pretty warm up on Hardwood Hill, should I get that campsite.

Looking ahead, there are 6 weeks until Columbus Day Weekend starts ⛵ when the sun will be setting at 6:20 pm with dusk at 6:47 pm. Can you believe only six weeks until that one final big blast of autumn color? On that day in 2022, we had partly sunny, shallow fog and temperatures between 71 and 41 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 63 degrees. We hit a record high of 85 back in 1954.