Good morning! I hardly noticed it was a Friday, but eight weeks until the start of Memorial Day Weekend. Hello black flies! You remember me.🐜 Two weeks to Grilled Cheese Day 🧀. Despite being such a supporter of the dairy industry, it’s been a long time since I’ve had a good grilled cheese. Good meal for camping on a rainy day with some soup. I kind of don’t like soup cans because they can’t be burnt at camp but they certainly burnt clean, then can be taken to the transfer station and recycled ♻.

This morning it was raining but now it’s just cloudy and damp, around 46 degrees at the bus stop near Valero. ☔ I’m prepared, I brought my umbrella. There is a south breeze at 8 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at Sunday around 11 pm. ☃️

I was on the fence about taking the bus to work or driving 🚘 in. But I was afraid of getting caught in the rain walking from my truck parked by Downtown SUNY and the Smith Building. Maybe tonight will be a late night, but if I think we are likely to released between 11:30 and 6:30 AM, I’ll go home and get Big Red during some downtown in the evening. That way I’ll only have to park once. Another option is ride sharing, I guess that would be a heck of a lot safer than driving home sleep deprived. Or sleep under the desk until the 6:30 in the morning. 😴 I have options. Taking a 40 ft bus 🚍 to work today, no articulated bus today on the 18. A bit crowded but it is generally difficult to justify articulated buses on most of CDTA’s routes.

Today will have showers, mainly before 5pm. 🌦 High of 53 degrees at 4pm. Three degrees above normal, which is similiar to a typical day around April 3rd. Maximum dew point of 44 at 1pm. 🏖️ South wind 5 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. A year ago, we had light drizzle in the morning, which became light rain by afternoon. The high last year was 50 degrees. The record high of 85 was set in 1946. 5.6 inches of snow fell back in 1984.❄

The sun will set at 7:18 pm with dusk around 7:46 pm, which is one minute and 8 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 50 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 12 hours and 36 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 53 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have a slight chance of showers before 8pm, then a chance of showers after 10pm. Cloudy 🌧, with a low of 42 degrees at 3am. 11 degrees above normal, which is similiar to a typical night around April 28th. Calm wind becoming southeast around 5 mph after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2018, we had patches of fog in the evening, which became mostly sunny by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 37 degrees. The record low of 7 occurred back in 1970.

Thursday I left work at five and caught the express bus 🚍 home. I was surprised, twice this week. I think I also left at five on Tuesday. I doubt I’ll get the express bus home tonight and for the Saturday night overnight at work I’ll drive in. Still one or two nights a year driving into work isn’t too bad. No fees to park on the street on the weekends either, so hard to complain. That said I’m kind of tired 😴 already in anticipation for how the weekend will be. Maybe a long day today, who knows? I’ll get Big Red later on if I think I’ll be leaving in the middle of the night although they do have buses come Saturday morning.

I went to the laundromat last night to make sure that I had enough clean dress clothes for the long weekend and into next week if necessary. 👚 I figured if I had the time I should do it tonight as who knows how late I’ll be at work tomorrow. That and I wanted to see if the stain would come out of my pair of pants. 👖 It did, I was happy 😊 about that. Plus parking 🅿 is always a challenge at laundromat on Fridays due to people parking illegally there while they are at the bar getting drunk. 🍻

I was went for my evening walk last night. 🚶 Not a bad evening for a walk, certainly nice and mild. 🌃 It was in the fifties so I could wear just a long sleeve shirt and my Carhartt vest that I so love. I really look forward to more mild nights even if it means that it will be a bit sticky out at times. Humidity can be addressed by cold drinks and swimming holes 🏊 the same can’t be said about freezing cold weather. Maybe when I have my own land and a woodstove eventually I’ll feel different.

Sat our back for a while with a cold glass 🍸 of water and a hint of apple cider vinegar last night. 🍏 Its gross but in moderation I think I like it better than beer or whiskey. Shit ton cheaper too and no hang over. Maybe I’m growing old. 👴 Not too cold either although there was a bit of a breeze. Clouds kind of blocked the stars. Not sure the next time I’ll get to sit out back, tonight will probably be kind of cold and damp with today’s rain showers. ☔

Tomorrow will have a chance of showers before 1pm, then a slight chance of showers after 5pm. Mostly cloudy 🌦, with a high of 65 degrees at 4pm. 14 degrees above normal, which is similiar to a typical day around May 1st. Maximum dew point of 48 at 12pm. South wind 7 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had light drizzle in the morning, which became light rain by afternoon. The high last year was 50 degrees. The record high of 86 was set in 1986. 4.0 inches of snow fell back in 1911.❄

I expect I will be in the office 🏢 tomorrow when I’m not sleeping. 😴 But I’m fine with that. Making money 💵 is important, especially with $1,100 going out the door today between car insurance 🚙 for Big Red and rent. Just a lot of things hit at once. Next month mid-April, after a paycheck or maybe two I have to pay my state taxes and credit card 💳 bill. But I think I will survive, things aren’t as bleak as a month ago. Still following my savings plan and I think I’ll keep my fund balance relatively close to where it should be.

Looking ahead to Sunday, showers, mainly before 2pm. High near 47. Northwest wind 9 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. Typical average high for the weekend is 51 degrees.

I’m thinking about washing the remaining salt off my truck on Sunday. 🚿 I think we are done with road salt for the year. Monday is going to be cold but I doubt the sanders will be out. I will however have to turn the heat 🔥 back on for at least one more day. I shouldn’t need a lot of groceries, although dish soap is on the top of the list.

I am hoping to visit Mom and Dad’s for Sunday dinner 🍜but I’m not sure what Sunday evening will be like for me. I’m taking it one day at time. But soon it will be less busy for me, and I go out and do some fishing. 🎣 Today I’ll have to renew my fishing license, so I have it ready for when the current one expires in two weeks.

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until Grilled Cheese Day 🧀 when the sun will be setting at 7:34 pm with dusk at 8:03 pm. I usually have cheese at home but I should get some bread 🍞 for that very special occasion. On that day in 2018, we had rain showers, partly cloudy and temperatures between 54 and 29 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 57 degrees. We hit a record high of 84 back in 1977.

In four weeks on April 26 the sun will be setting at 7:50 pm,🌄 which is 31 minutes and 53 seconds later then today. In 2018 on that day, we had partly cloudy and temperatures between 56 and 39 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 63 and 41 degrees. The record high of 90 degrees was set back in 1990.

So they’re banning shopping bags at the state level. 👜Hardly a secret I’m not a fan of it on the local level but I have no opinion on a state level. Not my place to pass judgment. I guess it’s kind of good from a statewide perspective, it will reduce waste at least in theory. I kind of liked the free shopping bags certainly while camping, they were perfect for storing the day’s burnable trash while camping 🔥 , as trash liners in the bathroom 🚮 and of course for wrapping lunch in to prevent leaks. 🍝

I always brought back the bags I didn’t chuck in the fire to the store 🏬. But so be it, I guess many citidiots aren’t that responsible. I’ll just have to go back to using reusable bags – I used to use them a lot but they got dirty and worn out and I liked having the plastic ones for camp which is more than 3/4th the year for me.⛺ I’m sure when I move to another state to buy land for my off grid house, they’ll have the traditional bags and the few that I don’t reuse for various purposes will burn down to nothing quickly in the burn barrel out back. 🛢️

Lastly, I get kind of a laugh 😂 out of when reporters read my tweets and my blog to figure out what is happening in Albany. 📖 Like I know shit, they don’t tell me anything. But they must think I’m such a good ole boy. Something like Possum King Vlog 👑. Maybe I’ll be one some day when I live in a more free state out in the sticks. I’m actually pretty dull even though I have a big jacked up truck and I spend a lot of time in the wilderness. 🌲🌲🌲🌲And I have a thing for Pennsyltucky and fire. 🔥

Looking ahead, Grilled Cheese Day 🧀 is in 2 weeks, Pack Rat Day 🐀 is in 7 weeks, Memorial Day Weekend Starts 🏕️ is in 8 weeks, Dog Days of Summer 🌻 is in 14 weeks and Labor Day Weekend Begins 👨‍🏭 is in 22 weeks.