Good morning! What day is it? A Speculator Hump Day, of course. Cloudy and 72 degrees this morning. ☁ That said, expected though this afternoon. ☔ There is a southeast breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 63 degrees. The skies will clear tomorrow around 5 pm.

Today will have a slight chance of showers before 11am, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms between 11am and 4pm, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 4pm. Some of the storms could be severe. Mostly cloudy 🌩, with a high of 75 degrees at 5pm. Eight degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around September 8th. Maximum dew point of 63 at 11am. South wind 6 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning, which became light rain by afternoon. It was humid. The high last year was 74 degrees. I think we had better weather than when I was in the Finger Lakes. The record high of 102 was set in 1926.

Looking at the radar and not wanting to deal with wet camping gear 💦I took down camp this morning. Right now I’m still at camp watching for emails 📧 and text from work but I can be in Speculator in ten 🔟 minutes should I need full internet access 📶 for work.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:04 pm with sun having an altitude of 66.6° from the due south horizon (-3.3° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 2.6 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. Sun angle is already getting a fair bit weaker but I’m also farther north. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:49 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (292°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (299°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:31 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 21 seconds with dusk around 9:03 pm, which is 54 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the west-northwest (282°) at an altitude of 11° from the horizon, 230,245 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:48 pm. At sunset, look for likely rain 🌧 with thunderstorms 🌩 and temperatures around 71 degrees. The dew point will be 64 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 7 mph. Today will have 14 hours and 52 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 53 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm before 10pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms between 10pm and 2am, then a chance of showers after 2am. Some of the storms could be severe. Patchy fog after 3am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy 🌩, with a low of 64 degrees at 6am. Two degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 66 at 9pm. South wind around 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. In 2019, we had light rain in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It was somewhat humid. It got down to 65 degrees. The record low of 45 occurred back in 1981.

Today in 1991, Jeffrey Dahmer is arrested in Milwaukee after police discover human remains in his apartment.😛 Remember if you eat other humans, to take our the garbage regularly. 🚯 Most ag schools have things posted on their websites about composting animal carcasses in manure, hay and wood chips. Gotta tie down the nitrogen with carbon to reduce the smell. 👃 Good to return organic matter to the soil. Two years later, Great Flood of 1993: Levees near Kaskaskia, Illinois rupture, forcing the entire town to evacuate by barges operated by the Army Corps of Engineers.🚤 I bet some rednecks in hick towns had some wild bonfires after that, getting rid of all their moldy, flooded junk. 🔥 Small town life is fun.

A picture perfect weekend on tap. 😎 Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 83. Maximum dew point of 61 at 8am. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 83. Maximum dew point of 64 at 2pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 83 degrees.

It kind of would be fun to stay through the weekend ☀ and maybe do round two at Piseco Powley but tonight into tomorrow looks rather wet and I don’t have much extra for food 🍲 and clothes. 👚 I guess it depends on the weather later this afternoon. I got to have enough power to work and I don’t want to spent two days cooped 🐔 up in my truck with the windows up working there. If I do go home, I could do something fun around home like fishing at Patridge Run. 🎣 Or even tent or hammock camping at a local state forest.

Of the what the hell things this morning 💵 I got a odd text from my broker about them doing the regular deposit into my IRA. Not sure why they started sending me text alerts ⚠ today, but I signed up for them a while back for security purposes. I’ve been maximizing my IRA for a while now, because I want to avoid paying state taxes and make sure when I have land and off grid property I’ll have the money I need for implements and other consumables. Plus it’s nice knowing that money will be locked 🔒 away until I’m 60, growing quietly and off my books. I don’t have to pay taxes on interest or dividends like I do other regular investments.