Well we know who is going to be living high on the hog today. Not me, but the government certainly will be as $1,600 is transferred from my bank account to the state and feds. I think I did end up overpaying the state due to a mistake on my tax returns, but alas either state tax and finance will catch my mistake or I’ll file an amended return and get like $400 back. With high interest rates and lots of dividends, it was a good year last one, and I ended up making more then I expected so I didn’t deduct enough from my paycheck.

Good morning on this Tax Day! You know how I feel about that. Cranky, especially as I think each year we get a little less and less out of government while it cost more and more, as it eats up more and more resources and demands more growth. 🐉 Fog and 44 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌫️ Calm wind.The skies will clear around 6 am.

Yeah, I do need to adjust my paycheck deductions upwards further 💸 I think this year and I do need to plan on making an appointment to meet with an CPA to decide better ways to manage my taxes going forward, especially if I’m thinking of potentially buying land 🚜 later this year to build a cabin 🛖, that is if I decide to stay in New York. Last night I was actually watching a movie on Kanopy — the free library app for watching documentaries — on a 30-year old that went and built a Tiny Home on wheels. It was an interesting video 📺️ but really not for me. I like the idea of small but I would want something a little more permanent and long lasting, small but not tiny. Maybe modular or maybe stick built, with an actual foundation and complying with building codes for energy and fire safety. 🧯

Today will have patchy dense fog before 8am. Otherwise, partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 60 degrees at 5pm. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 16th. Light northwest wind becoming west 11 to 16 mph in the afternoon. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 84 degrees. The record high of 86 was set in 2003. 2.4 inches of snow fell back in 2014.❄

Going to be decent enough to ride to work, 🚴‍♂️ get some exercise and save on the bus fare. I know I can ride into today and tomorrow, but the second half of the week looks a bit dicey with the forecast. 🌲There is a Save the Pine Bush meeting tonight at 6 PM via the Zoom, but I should be able to ride and be home before then. Might do the meeting while I’m cooking dinner.

Around 7 AM the fire alarm went off again 🧑‍🚒 — first time that’s happened in a while which is surprising as I have most of my windows open but it’s pretty foggy and humid. I cleaned the smoke detector with canned air the other day which seemed to help somewhat. At least it hasn’t been going off at night. I made sure to open the remainder of the windows in my apartment and it should be good with plenty of fresh air once the fog burns off and things warm up.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:56 pm with sun having an altitude of 57.4° from the due south horizon (-13.5° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 3.8 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:00 pm with the sun in the west (278°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (285°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:38 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 59 seconds with dusk around 8:07 pm, which is one minute and 8 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the First Quarter 🌓 Moon in the south-southwest (211°) at an altitude of 71° from the horizon, 245,994 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:43 pm. At sunset, look for mostly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 54 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 11 mph. Tomorrow will have 13 hours and 30 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 46 seconds over today.

Still having issues with my phone screen acting up. 📲 At some point I really do need to get a new phone and my boots have holes in them 🥾 but with inflation you know you gotta cut corners wherever you can.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 39 degrees at 6am. Two degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 20th. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming light west. In 2023, we had partly cloudy skies. It got down to 57 degrees. The record low of 22 occurred back in 1981.

I’d like to get out of town this weekend 🏕️ but it all comes down to the weather and whether or not not the state budget is done. Looks cool and maybe cloudy to start the way. Maybe take a three-day weekend if the state budget is done. Saturday, a chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 55. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 52. Monday, mostly sunny, with a high near 59. That’s actually kind of cold for the second half of April, at least by historic standards. Typical average high for the weekend is 62 degrees.

As previously noted, next Monday is Earth Day 🌎 when the sun will be setting at 7:47 pm with dusk at 8:15 pm. On that day in 2023, we had rain showers and temperatures between 68 and 53 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 63 degrees. We hit a record high of 86 back in 1985.