At least I have power this morning and it’s not like I’m showering in the pitch black like yesterday. The windows are open as I like the fresh air, even if it’s cold out. Plus I burnt some crap on the stove this morning and it was a smoking.

Good morning! Happy Tuesday. Sunny and 34 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌞 There is a west breeze at 8 mph. 🍃. There is a dusting of snow on the ground. ☃ Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 5 am. ☃️

Going to be such a nice day I plan to leave early 🚲 and ride in via the longer way using the Menands exit off the Mohawk Hudson Bike Trail. Mornings are dark currently with the time change but we gain back that daylight quickly. 💡 Things are much brighter this morning though with the power back on. 🔌

Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 59 degrees at 4pm. 15 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 14th. Northwest wind 7 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph. Less windy though then yesterday. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 46 degrees. The record high of 69 was set in 2012. 30.4 inches of snow fell back in 1888.❄ That’s a lot of snow. But then again, last week if it had been colder and not an El Nino year, we probably would have gotten a ton of snow.

It was great being able to ride home, with the extra hour of sunlight. 🌆 We’ve gained a lot of time in evening in recent weeks, but the time change ⏲ really was a game changer in the evening when it comes to sunlight. If it wasn’t so dang cold and windy last night, I would have totally enjoyed an evening walk in the daylight, or maybe even going down to the park.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:06 pm with sun having an altitude of 44.3° from the due south horizon (-26.5° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 6.1 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:22 pm with the sun in the west (260°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (267°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 6:59 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 55 seconds with dusk around 7:26 pm, which is one minute and 11 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the west (260°) at an altitude of 28° from the horizon, 228,842 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:00 pm. At sunset, look for clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 50 degrees. There will be a west-northwest breeze at 9 mph. Tomorrow will have 11 hours and 53 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 54 seconds over today.

I am continuing to read, How to plan, contract, and build your own home. 🏠 I am not super interested in the section about what people want in the latest big suburbanite home, but I am quite interested in the permitting and contracting section, along with learning some of the basics of building construction. 👷‍♀️ While there are experts out there you can hire to swing a hammer, I want to make sure I’m getting a fair deal, 🤝 that things will get signed off by town officials ✅ and that I’m able to build and live the way I want. I may have to pass up on a parcel or two that I love because I’m taking my time, ❤️ or pay a few months extra in rent, but I want to do what will work well for the next 20 years of my life through retirement and maybe beyond.

Tonight will have increasing clouds ☁, with a low of 35 degrees at 3am. 10 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 10th. Northwest wind 5 to 7 mph becoming calm in the evening. I can probably leave at least some of the windows open tonight. In 2023, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became light rain by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 33 degrees. The record low of -6 occurred back in 1885.

Today in 1933, was the first of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s fireside chats. 📻 He really mastered the communication methods of the time when he was running for president. A lot of homes had radios by the thirties. It’s funny though I listen to a fair bit of audio and even radio programs these days it’s either streaming or podcasts. Radio is still good when you are in the Adirondacks though without cell phone reception 📶 but there are a fewer and fewer places like that.

Weekend will be mild but it’s sliding in the wrong direction. 😞 Saturday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 51. Sunday, a chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 53. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Typical average high for the weekend is 45 degrees.

Looking ahead, next Tuesday is Last Day of Winter 🏂 when the sun will be setting at 7:08 pm with dusk at 7:35 pm. On that day in 2023, we had partly sunny, snow showers and temperatures between 33 and 22 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 46 degrees. We hit a record high of 78 back in 2012. I’m not sad about that but I bet March is going to end colder then certainly 2012.