To think all these years I used to eat pancakes made out of white flour, sugar and whatever other chemicals that are in grocery store pancake mix compared to just whole grain oatmeal, a banana and some water run through a food processor and fried with a pan with just a little bit of non stick spray. I just have gotten to hate all prepared mixes and recipes you find on the internet and cook books with 20,000 ingredients and steps which all involve cooking using PFOAs topped pans with lard and substitutes, sugar and substitutes, along with a ton of added salt. But maybe my tastes have changed as I’ve lost weight or you care far more about nutrition then taste. I don’t do portion control but I also don’t eat crap anymore that doesn’t fill my stomach with good nutritious food.

At any rate, Good morning! Happy Saturday. Can you believe it’s already the weekend? 😃Mostly cloudy and 71 degrees at the Elm Ave Town Park . ⛅ Calm wind. The dew point is 67 degrees. Going to hot and humid 😰 out later so I figure walk 🚶 now before it gets too ungodly hot out later.

Woke up around 5:15 as a fire truck 🚒🧑‍🚒came roaring through the neighborhood and I fell asleep pretty early last night, as I cut my evening walk short ⛈ as I was sure it would thunderstorm and pour before I could get home. I also started early after a quick cold dinner of kidney beans with sugar free maple 🍁 syrup. 10 miles on the dot yesterday, I managed to squeeze it out by a quick walk in the Elm Ave Park followed by some laps at Swift Wetland Preserve near where I live then a few laps back inside. Also did 40 flights of stairs up and down at work – two times up and down (morning, lunch, home) to the 18th floor plus four flights in the LOB. Been two weeks of only using the stairs at work. 🧗‍♂️

I was up early but didn’t start walking 🚶 until 6:45 this morning. Had said pancakes 🥞 first topped with the remaining farmers market blueberries. They were good 🫐 but paying $7 for a pint of fresh blueberries even in these inflationary times seems like highway robbery when you can just as healthy frozen 3 lb for a few more bucks. It’s good to treat yourself once and a while. Plus I didn’t want to go to the store until today. 💸 Truth be told what I really want is fresh tomatoes 🍅 and sweet corn 🌽 from the farmers market.

Today will have scattered showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 1pm. Some of the storms could produce heavy rain. Partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 86 degrees at 4pm. Two degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 70 at 10am. Calm wind becoming northwest around 5 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 85 degrees. The record high of 100 was set in 1936.

I would like to get in about four 4⃣ miles of walking 🚶 this morning before heading home 🪰 but the deer fly may change my mind first. Doing the nature trail loop at Elm Ave Park that I do most evenings. Then head home. I want to pull out of the freezer the remaining chicken 🐔 breast I have to thaw in the fridge for cooking in the oven, probably tomorrow morning early and then refreezing cooked portions for future years. I no longer get the precooked strips because they’re loaded with fat and salt to say nothing of preservatives and so much more expensive than what I can prepare myself and freeze. And also cook up the black beans I have as they’re so good cold with red onions, especially in the heat. Also want to try to make hummus out of the chickpeas I soaked earlier in the week and then roast the rest to mix with blueberries, raspberries,, strawberries and walnuts. 🍓🥜🫐

Then I want to go to the library 📚 and briefly study the spec sheets a bit more on the bicycles I’m researching 🔍 before heading over to Steiners Sports in Glenmont to hopefully check out the Trek Marlin 5 or 6 and the Trek Verve 2, and maybe the Dual Sport 2 though I’m leaning towards a mountain bike and the Trek brand due to the local popularity and parts and service availability. Then I’ll head over to Market 32 and Walmart for groceries. 🛒 My current lack of frozen fruit and plain Greek yogurt is kind of a bummer especially knowing how hot it’s expected to be by evening.

If Steiner is a bust for getting a bicycle 🚲, I’ll head to Downtube in the afternoon to look there. Or if I like what Steiner has but they only have my size in Hudson it will be a road trip. They’re Hudson location is also open on Sunday so I could do that tomorrow too. Who knows how this will go. 🤷‍♂️

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:01 pm with sun having an altitude of 69.9° from the due south horizon (-0.9° vs. 6/21). The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:54 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (295°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (302°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:36 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 25 seconds with dusk around 9:09 pm, which is 23 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:55 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 77 degrees. The dew point will be 70 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 15 hours and 12 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 5 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be scattered showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 7pm. Mostly cloudy 🌫️, with a low of 66 degrees at 6am. Four degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 70 at 7pm. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies. It got down to 61 degrees. The record low of 41 occurred back in 1963.

I was so sure I had that dentist appointment next week 🦷but I am wrong it would appear as I haven’t got an appointment reminder. I called and texted the dentist on Friday but it was after they had closed for the day. I do hope to get out of town next weekend, maybe tacking on Friday and or Monday. ⛺ Maybe just Schoharie especially if I have the bicycle for the Catskill Scenic Trail. And practice my swimming 🏊 strokes before vacation, which with my weight loss I should be a much stronger swimmer. If next weekend looks bad there is always the free Nature Bus to Thacher Park. 🚍 I haven’t done the Nature Bus yet this year. 🆓

Looking ahead, next Saturday is Cow Appreciation Day 🐂 when the sun will be setting at 8:33 pm with dusk at 9:05 pm. On that day in 2022, we had mostly sunny and temperatures between 86 and 57 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 84 degrees. Burgers and steak 🍔 are a good treat on occasion and I do like skim milk in coffee ☕ at times, and plain Greek yogurt remains wonderful 🍨 but I admit I’ve cut back a lot due to calories and especially the omega 6 saturated fat in cattle. But they’re such wonderful animals for protecting grass lands while putting the land to use in a sustainable fashion. We hit a record high of 96 back in 1997.