Good morning! Happy Sunday. Six weeks to Average High 70 🎑 . Sunny and 71 degrees at the Finger Lakes National Forest. Tree🌲🌞 Calm wind. The dew point is 64 degrees.

Went for a walk 🚶 again this morning on the Interlaken Trail and to Foster Pond. Definitely a nice morning, 🌞 lots of sun and wildflowers. 🌻Had a nice pan of corned beef hash and cheese for breakfast. 🍳 Some eggs 🥚 would be nice but I’ll have to get them today.

Wildflowers are definitely better this time of year 🌻🌼🦋🐝 compared to earlier in the summer when I often take my vacation. It just makes my vacation a little more enjoyable seeing the road sides in bloom, the butterflies and bees. And yes, all that field corn 🌽 is getting tall.

Been quite busy up here 👩‍👩‍👦‍👦👨‍👨‍👧, with so many things closed during the pandemic based on the number of cars 🚘 I’ve seen on the road. Fortunately, my campsite is quite remote and quiet 🤫 so nobody is bothering me. Seen more equestrians 🐴 than normal – in part because the Upper Assembly Area is closed at Sugar Hill. 🔐

Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 82 degrees at 4pm. Typical for today. Maximum dew point of 66 at 6pm. Light and variable wind becoming west 5 to 8 mph in the morning. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 81 degrees. The record high of 96 was set in 2001.

Kind of breezy up here on the backbone 🗻 but I’m hoping the breeze will die down later and I can get out on Seneca Lake and the Montour Canal later. 🛶 I’m excited about all the wildlife I might see there. 🐦🦆🕊️🐸🐢🦎🐟 I just don’t want to go on Seneca Lake if it’s at all breezy 🚣🏻‍♂️ because it’s a big lake and can be very choppy. 🌊

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:13 pm with sun having an altitude of 63.1° from the due south horizon (-7.6° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:38 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (286°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (292°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:17 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 8 seconds with dusk around 8:46 pm, which is one minute and 21 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:26 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 77 degrees. The dew point will be 67 degrees. There will be a west breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 14 hours and 8 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 25 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌤, with a low of 68 degrees at 5am. Seven degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 67 at 7pm. Southwest wind 3 to 5 mph. In 2019, we had light rain in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 57 degrees. The record low of 48 occurred back in 1955.

Been reading 📖 more of the Real Goods Solar Living Handbook. Half marketing catalog, half pseudo green living for rich folk, it sure seems like it’s gotten real dated fast. 🌎 Still an interesting read even if it’s more ideological and about marketing over-priced organic crap and green products for the landfill 🗑 then practical realities of providing for one’s self and obeying the laws of nature.

I was noticing how much of the forest along Potomac Road was ash trees. 🌳It’s only a matter of time before much of the forest is going to be dying than gone. I see they have an Emerald Ash Boerer trap on the road to detect the invaders but I doubt they’ll treat all of the trees. Already as little as 50 miles south of here in Wellsboro you can see the devestation of the forests from EAB. 🐛 Forests are always in a state of decline – thats entropy – but they’re always changing with the land and introduced species.

One week from now I’ll be taking down camp and heading back to Albany. 🏡 Or at least heading closer to that direction. But there is a lot more reading 📖, hiking 🚶 and paddling to do before then. Vacation really is just beginning – today is my first full day in the Finger Lakes.

I am still thinking I want to go the way I came 🤔 although I would want to avoid that rough seasonal use only road. If it’s really nice a week from Sunday I might overnight at Cherry Ridge 🍒 and then head back home through Madison County. I like seeing the rough dairy country. 🐮 The hills, the cows, the rundown shacks and hollows. 🗻

I really like the wild country 🐏 and wish I could live out here full time. Somehow I like it even better than the Adirondacks. Redneck country life is fun, even if at times it’s dirty and smelly. 💩 But alas I’m making good money at my job 💵 and are able to save a lot of it for a better tomorrow. It’s nice having some professional success in life and knowing it will lead to a better tomorrow, especially as I try to live frugally as possible. Some days I’ll live in a small town, have land and be able to listen 👂 to the moos of cattle full time. 🐄

Looking ahead, there are 6 weeks until Average High 70 🎑 when the sun will be setting at 7:06 pm with dusk at 7:34 pm. On that day in 2019, we had partly sunny, patches of fog and temperatures between 79 and 42 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 71 degrees. We hit a record high of 90 back in 1946.