What can I say. Adding that vital wheat gluten to my whole wheat bread added some extra fluff and it really made things less crumbly with much better texature. I’ll see how it holds up over the next few days, as I slowly slice off slices to dip in soup, make french toast and enjoy dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Good morning! Monday’s come back around again. ☔ Hope you know where your umbrella is and your windshield wipers work during this dire emergency winter storm, comma lol. Rain and 36 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌧️ There is a northwest breeze at 11 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 9 pm. ☃️

Taking the express bus 🚍 in on this rainy ☔ morning. Not the early one either, as by the time I was done cooking 🧑🏻‍🍳 and getting ready it was a no go for the earlier express. I’m not super excited about doing a lot of walking 🚶 this morning, though I’ll try to get in my steps 👣 for the day, maybe even if that means bundling up and going for the evening walk. Going to be cold by evening especially with the wind. 🌬️

There is a closure through the Empire State Plaza tunnels due to a water 💦 main ⛑ break which might cause delays but I don’t care I’m not driving 🚘 and it’s not a big deal if I’m a few minutes late. Looks like the driver is taking an alternative route through the city to avoid traffic. It’s not like next year when I’ll be transferring to the shuttle 🚀 bus out to the suburban office. I do miss riding in on my bike but not with the cold and wet rain. 🚲 Tomorrow I’ll be back riding to work. January is going to be tough on the biking, due to the cold and inevitable snow on the trail, not to mention it’s not safe to be riding Water Street after dark in the evening.

Today will rain and snow before 11am, then a slight chance of rain between 11am and noon. 🌞 High of 41 degrees at 12pm. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 8th. Breezy, with a northwest wind 11 to 16 mph increasing to 17 to 22 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 39 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Little or no snow accumulation expected. I’m sure at some point we’ll have snow. 🌨 A year ago, we had light snow throughout the day. The high last year was 30 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 1952. 4.3 inches of snow fell back in 1970.❄

Adding the vital wheat 🌾 gluten to my 100% whole wheat bread added a tad bit more fluff to the bread but it didn’t make it as light as white bread. 🍞 Did make things stick together a lot better though for better slicing and texture. I bet it will hold up better in my bean soup.🍛 I’ll have to experiment with different amounts of yeast again but ultimately whole wheat is going to whole wheat. I wouldn’t say though it’s a flat bread as it was much more fluffy then what I had. White bread might be a lot more fluffy but it’s less healthy. I guess a reasonable compromise might be whole-white wheat, which is whole grain but the white wheat rather then the slightly more protein rich red wheat.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:49 am with sun having an altitude of 24.4° from the due south horizon (-46.4° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.2 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:38 pm with the sun in the southwest (231°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (239°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:23 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 24 seconds with dusk around 4:53 pm, which is 4 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:30 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 37 degrees. The wind chill around sunset will be 26. ☃️ Breezy, 22 mph breeze ⛅ from the west-northwest with gusts up to 38mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 9 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 42 seconds over today.

Looking forward to tonight with the bean soup and bread. 🍞 🍲 It should be a good evening, but cold with the wind. But I want to walk at any rate, I’ll bundle up. 🚶‍♀️ Then settle back down home under the heated blanket. Not super cold tonight, but it will be windy. But it could be a lot colder — look at the record low of negative 12.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 28 degrees at 5am. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 29th. Maximum wind chill around 22 at 5am; Northwest wind 7 to 15 mph becoming south after midnight. In 2022, we had light snow in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 20 degrees. The record low of -12 occurred back in 1988.

I was noticing that Price Chopper has raw walnuts for sale 🌰 🎅 which might be a lot of fun when I go camping next week to roast over an open fire. I am still thinking of heading out to Madison County in the lead-up to the Christmas Holiday but it really depends on how much snow there is. ❄️ Right now there is quite a bit of snow but I think much of it might melt by next weekend. I could do Stoney Pond or the Charles Baker Horse Camp. I know the mountain bike trails are closed but I can hike or ride the roads. 🚴‍♀️

Today in 1997, The Kyoto Protocol opens for signature. 🌎 The US would never ratify the agreement, and while some countries would participate, it was a lot of talk and not a lot of action. Every year the earth gets a little bit warmer and it ain’t because I drive a big jacked up truck 🛻 or burn those Styrofoam egg cartons I stuff in my trash and ultimately the fire. 🔥 Seriously though we are making some technological progress but things are still going in the wrong direction as the population increases and every year we burn more fossil fuel.

A picture perfect weekend on tap. 😎 Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 44. I am thinking Saturday of doing a bicycle ride out to the Albany Pine Bush — and maybe taking the bus back home after dark, after doing some maul walking or similar activities, just to see how crazy it is. I think I can go past the Industrial Depot and the Guilderland National Guard Rifle Range to Willow Street and out from there. Then mountain bike 🚵‍♀️ around the Pine Bush. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 44. 🌞 Sunday, I am going to a family event watching the Nutcracker 👪 and then out to dinner. Not too bad for the weekend before Christmas 🤶. Typical average high for the weekend is 38 degrees.

Looking ahead, next Monday is Bake Cookies Day 🍪 when the sun will be setting at 4:25 pm with dusk at 4:55 pm. I got to bake cookies actually on Wednesday for the Cookie Share Day in the office on Thursday. I am thinking homemade cranberry-sugar cookies, going to try making with whole-wheat flour and stevia along with butter, so they aren’t quite as much junk food. On that day in 2022, we had partly cloudy and temperatures between 35 and 25 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 37 degrees. We hit a record high of 60 back in 1921.