Good morning, Happy Hump Day. 🐫 People still talk about the farm in Vermont that has the camel in snowy Vermont although it’s not a desert camel. Drizzle and roughly forty degrees this morning, going to warm up a bit with showers on and off this afternoon.🌧 More rain for the overnight.

Today will have a chance of rain. Cloudy 🌧, with a high of 43 degrees at 3pm. That said, as of now, most of the rain is staying north. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 12th. North wind 5 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 24 degrees. The record high of 63 was set in 1976. 8.4 inches of snow fell back in 1972.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:09 pm with sun having an altitude of 38.5° from the due south horizon (-32.3° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 7.5 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. Except it’s going to rain today, so no shadow for you. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 5:02 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (252°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (259°) starting at 5:38 pm and lasts for 2 minutes and 58 seconds with dusk around 6:08 pm, which is one minute and 15 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the west-southwest (245°) at an altitude of 26° from the horizon, 251,967 miles away. 🚀 Blast away, I heard on Skeptics Guide to the Universe, they’re talking about going to the moon again. That would be groovy, the last time we were there, Nixon was just starting his second term after recently defeating George McGovern. The best time to look at the stars is after 6:42 pm. At sunset, look for rain showers 🌧 and temperatures around 42 degrees. There will be a northeast breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 11 hours and 4 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 49 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will rain, mainly after 10pm. 🌧 Low of 40 degrees at 11pm. 20 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 22nd. East wind 6 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New precipitation amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible. In 2019, we had cloudy skies. It got down to 8 degrees. The record low of -13 occurred back in 1940.

Yesterday I finished up my taxes and submitted them to the IRS. 💸At least I don’t owe the feds any but I will be paying the state $217. Which is all the more obnoxious as I’ve been making quarterly payments of $50 to the state to cover the investment income. They want me to do $98 a quarter next year. Living in New York is so expensive. And it’s not just the taxes – all the silly little mandates and state imposed costs on business adds up. Now I’m all for consumer protection and helping the vulnerable individuals but stuff adds up every time you go to store to buy anything from gasoline to cherries.💰

All of which is why I’m looking to move out west or maybe south where life is a lot more affordable. 🏡 But that’s a few years off. In the mean time, I really got to look at moving forward on my IRA account — I’ve been doing a Roth IRA as I’m pretty young now, but with the cost of taxes these days, I got to look at at reducing my tax liability. When I worked for the state I could do Deferred Comp but that’s not an option for me working in the private sector, and the 401k has a silly cap on it. At the same time, I’m trying to save pennies wherever I can so I can afford that off-grid property so I have to be careful to not put too much into retirement. Eventually when I own land, and if the property is off-grid, I can save a lot more money then living  in the city, but I’ll be a lot tougher on the vehicles.🚜

Right now, a split verdict on the weekend. 😕 Saturday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 28. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 30. Typical average high for the weekend is 38 degrees.

🌹🌻🌼Only 22 days remain until the first day of calendar spring!🌹🌻🌼 It will be here before you know it. Seemed like only a few days ago it was weeks away. Before you know it, I’ll be able to do more traveling and exploring.

As previously noted, next Wednesday is Average High is 40 ☀️ when the sun will be setting at 5:48 pm with dusk at 6:16 pm. On that day in 2019, we had snow showers, partly sunny skies and temperatures between 34 and 17 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 40 degrees. We hit a record high of 59 back in 1919.