Good evening! Partly clear and 74 degrees in City of Albany. There is a west-northwest breeze at 13 mph. The dew point is 52 degrees. Such a nice evening, but I’m stuck at work. I went for a walk in the Empire State Plaza for a while — and took some pictures. Hopefully tonight will be the last for the late nights at work for a while. But only god and may four other men in a room know. 

Today was the first day I drove in the morning (yesterday I drove in the evening). And now I’m parked in a metered spot so hopefully I will be done by 8 AM or I will need to stick some quarters in the meter. I was going to park in the loading spot, but I would have to move my truck at 7 AM should I be here that late. I also like being able to keep an eye on my truck after dark. Been in the office until 10:30-10:45 each night — Monday I took the bus home, and Tuesday I got my truck at 8:15 PM, and then drove home at 10:45 that night. Neither night did I get to bed before 11 PM, and its tough getting to sleep as soon as you get home. Hopefully, soon it will be over. I’m just so tired and ready for summer to arrive.

Tonight will be mostly clear, with a low of 58 degrees at 4am. One degrees below normal. Maximum dew point of 56 at 11pm. West wind 8 to 13 mph becoming light and variable after midnight. In 2016, it got down to 52 degrees with rain and partly cloudy skies. The record low of 37 occurred back in 1940.

Waning Crescent Moon tonight with 14% illuminated. The moon will rise around 3:19 am. The New Moon is on Saturday night with partly cloudy expected. The Full “Buck” Moon is on Sunday, July 9th. The sun will rise at 5:17 am with the first light at 4:42 am, which is 15 seconds later than yesterday. Tonight will have 8 hours and 41 minutes of darkness, an increase of 5 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be mostly sunny, with a high of 81 degrees at 4pm. One degree above normal. Maximum dew point of 56 at 8am. Another wonderful day! Calm wind becoming west 5 to 7 mph in the morning. A year ago, we had rain, partly cloudy skies and a high of 77 degrees. The record high of 95 was set in 1954.

Right now, a split verdict on the weekend. Saturday, a chance of showers, mainly before 8am. Partly sunny, with a high near 81. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Maximum dew point of 62 at 6am. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 78. Maximum dew point of 56 at 6pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 80 degrees.

The weekend forecast keeps improving, although early Saturday may be a bit cloudy. I’m definitely going out to Schoharie this weekend, although after the long and crazy work week, it won’t happen until early Saturday. That’s fine, that way I won’t have to deal with the traffic on Friday. I think I will need a good couple days to recover from this week, including a good nights sleep hopefully on Friday. I want spend lots of time swimming at Mine Kill Pool, then a nice campfire, then hike Vormans Nose or Cliffs of Middleburgh and hit up the farm stands and some fishing. Summer is such a wonderful time of the year, especially because I hope this is a quiet summer.

In four weeks on July 19 the sun will be setting at 8:27 pm, which is 9 minutes and one second earlier then today. In 2016 on that day, we had mostly cloudy skies and temperatures between 79 and 58 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 83 and 62 degrees. The record high of 97 degrees was set back in 1904.

A week from Friday is my planned start to the Independence Day Weekend trip to Moose River Plains. I am hoping for a really nice trip. A lot will depend on the weather, but having a camping permit, I will be able to make a single campsite home for five days, so I will have plenty of time to string up tarps to make a shelter, and put up a tent to store clothes and other gear. Just need to get lots of fireworks now to shoot off, and stock up on ammo too, especially if I choose a nice remote campsite.

Still trying to figure out the charger mystery for my laptop.  I think the particular model of laptop was specifically branded for Staples, and it’s the same as other models, but my Internet searches are still not getting my answers that I need. I put in an email to one of the manufacturers — so I’m hoping soon I will get an answer on which charger I need — and I’ll be able to get one inexpensively. And I’ll keep researching the Internet.

Also thinking of getting another set of color adjustable lights for my truck. I want to have some lights under the rear seat of my truck so I can find stuff at night while camping. It also would be pretty to make the inside of my truck glow at times. This way I’ll have a second remote in case a misplace one of them. I bought a switch last week, and I was going to use tailgate bulbs, but I think the color changing string might offer more possibilities.

Looking ahead, Last Day with Average High of 80 is in 9 weeks, Harvest Moon is in 11 weeks, Average High is 70 is in 3 months, 6:30 PM Sunset is in 15 weeks, Coldest Day of Year (Avg. 14-30 degrees) is in 29 weeks and Inauguration Day 2021 is in 187 weeks.