Good morning! Happy Spring 🌷! Well in about nine more hours, although today will feel very spring like for sure. Six weeks to May 🕊. Black flies would approve of this message. Partly sunny and 34 degrees in Delmar, NY. ⛅ Calm wind.Temperatures will drop below freezing at Friday around 10 pm. ☃️

Definitely enjoying the sun this morning. ☀ Going to be a modestly mild and sunny last day of winter into spring. 🌷 Colder Friday into Saturday though, I heard lake effect snow ❄ squalls in Central New York then. But even if we get some here I’m not expecting any real accumulation, and even the relative cold isn’t stressing the heating system much or jacking up the bills.

Winter officially bites the dust according to the calendar 📅 two minutes before the Save the Pine Bush Dinner starts at six o’clock in the evening. 🍲 Should be an interesting dinner on the bomb trains 💣 with a leading author coming to speak 🔊 about the horrific train 🚉 explosion in Quebec. 🔥 For once in March I think I will be able to make it to the dinner. Doesn’t happen often. I broke out some of the Pine Bush February dinner lasagna left overs for lunch on Monday and it was so delicious. The whole office was talking about the wonderful smell. 👃

Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 53 degrees at 4pm. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 3rd. Awesome way to kick off spring. Light south wind increasing to 8 to 13 mph in the morning. A year ago, we had cloudy in the morning, which became mostly sunny by afternoon. The high last year was 37 degrees. The record high of 78 was set in 2012. 7.0 inches of snow fell back in 1944.❄

The sun will set at 7:07 pm with dusk around 7:36 pm, which is one minute and 9 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for mostly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 48 degrees. Talk about a nice spring evening. There will be a south breeze at 10 mph. Today will have 12 hours and 10 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 54 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have increasing clouds ☁, with a low of 34 degrees at 4am. Seven degrees above normal, which is similiar to a typical night around April 6th. South wind 8 to 11 mph. In 2018, we had partly cloudy in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 25 degrees. The record low of negative one occurred back in 1956.

Tomorrow will rain likely, mainly after 2pm. Cloudy 🌧, with a high of 47 degrees at 4pm. March showers 🚿 bring mud. One degree above normal, which is similiar to a typical day around March 22nd. South wind 10 to 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. A year ago, we had cloudy in the morning, which became mostly sunny by afternoon. The high last year was 37 degrees. The record high of 78 was set in 1921. 6.0 inches of snow fell back in 1905.❄

Last night 🌃 was pretty with the full moon 🌕 but too cool ❄ to sit out back and enjoy the moonlight. Definitely very bright 🔆 out with the moonlight 🎑 last night. I went for a nice walk around the super block past the high school 🚸 which was nice. Almost never see anybody out walking 🚶around the nine o’clock hour. I did see a bunch of deer. I do think that the winter weather has finally moderated a bit – and certainly tonight will be really nice – although I’ll be done with Pine Bush Dinner too late for my evening walk 🚶.

Queens 👑 night was good but I thought the Fooe 🍲 and drink 🍻 at Brooklyn Night was better. A lot more people there tonight but I was careful to moderate my drinking and drank lots of water 💦 when I home 🏡. It wasn’t too bad of a day at work.

I am enjoying my respite from Facebook. 💻 I think I might use 👤 the site again in the future 🔮 but I think my use will be greatly reduced. 📴 I want to give it a bit of time. I could see using my Facebook page going forward to supplement and promote my blog rather than syndicating everything there. Fewer really good posts might drive more traffic. 🚥

Maybe post occasional articles on social media about my blog, kind of the best of type thing. 📝 I still think though I’m moving away from the proprietary social media platforms to focus more on the blog where I have full control 🎮 over content, layout and formatting. I can even use the blink tag if I want. I’m also experimenting with doing more embedding of social media I like into the blog, as that might avoid the nasty comments that I get from my liberal friends every time I post something in support of the second amendment. 🔫

Finally finished and submitted my taxes. I did okay, I should be able to cover my state taxes with the federal refund in getting 💲 and it looks like when it’s all said and done I won’t have to pay a state fine for underwitholding. I’m considering doing maybe $50 quarterly payments to state tax and finance to avoid problems in 2020 tax filing, although honestly I may be okay 👌 next year as I’m doing an increased deferred comp. I might even have enough money left over this years tax return from the federal refund to pay for a small part of the car insurance 🚙 bill. The Trump tax cuts did save me some money which was nice. Of course I’m not in debt, have a mortgage or pay property tax so I don’t get those big deductions the SALT folks complain about.

Ultimately I think a lot about money and investing these days because I really want to own my own land and live off grid,🏡 hobby farm, get out of the city and to a state where there is a lot more freedom. 🐮 The problem is all those things cost a lot of money and opportunities for good work 👷 in outlying areas is pretty limited. Cheaper land prices and cheaper living though are the upsides. I want to enjoy my life today but minimize waste and excess to the greatest extent possible and devote as much of my effort towards a better tomorrow. While I’m still young and making decent money at work 💰 I should be doing everything I can to make it work for a better tomorrow for me.

I do really like the big jacked up truck my neighbor has. I don’t know if it’s his or a friend but I keep seeing it parked outside. It’s an F-250 on 40 inch wheels and a high lifter kit I believe. 🚚 Gorgeous truck I must say, but not a pretty boy mall toy.😍 Makes Big Red look tiny. I doubt I would lift my truck again because I’m so future oriented again but I could see eventually going for a 3/4 ton truck like that for hauling materials and getting too and from my off grid cabin. 🏡

Lots of sun but cold on Saturday. 😎 Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 38. Breezy. Much better on Sunday. Sunday, sunny, with a high near 56. Typical average high for the weekend is 47 degrees. Saturday doesn’t look all that great, but Sunday looks much more spring like. I am thinking I want to spend most of the day on Sunday in the woods hiking and exploring, maybe after unpacking my camping gear from my truck, and starting to go through that. If not, I guess I could do that later in the week.

Looking ahead, there are 6 weeks until May 🕊 when the sun will be setting at 7:55 pm with dusk at 8:26 pm. On that day in 2018, we had partly cloudy, rain showers and temperatures between 74 and 43 degrees. By May, I definitely plan to be getting out a lot of weekends on road trips and camping more.🏕 Black flies aren’t an issue in the Adirondacks until late May. Usually around then the stock the Sacanadaga River,🎣 which could make some good fishing, especially if I decide to camp up off of that Pumpkin Hollow Road.🎃 Typically, the high temperature is 65 degrees (at least in Albany). We hit a record high of 86 back in 2001.

Looking ahead, May 🕊 is in 6 weeks, 8:30 PM Sunset ️⛱️ is in 11 weeks, Primary Day 🗳️ is in 14 weeks, Altamont Fair Opens 🎡 is in 21 weeks, State Fair Opens 🎡 is in 22 weeks, September 11th 🇸 is in 25 weeks, More Night then Day 🌌 is in 27 weeks and Inauguration Day 2021 👴🏻 is in 22 months.