October 6, 2018 7:18 pm Update

Observation: Driving at night with headlights pointed at the road rather then towards the sky makes it much easier to drive at night.

The road isn’t nearly as dark, it’s actually quite brightly lit. And other drivers don’t blink their headlights all of the time because you are blinding them. All by turning an allen wrench a few turns. Who would have ever thought such a thing?

Don’t Despair about the Supreme Court

Howard Zinn: Don’t Despair about the Supreme Court

"No Supreme Court, liberal or conservative, will stop the war in Iraq, or redistribute the wealth of this country, or establish free medical care for every human being. Such fundamental change will depend, the experience of the past suggests, on the actions of an aroused citizenry, demanding that the promise of the Declaration of Independence--an equal right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness--be fulfilled."

October 6, 2018 Morning

Good morning! Happy Saturday. Next Saturday the Average High is 60 πŸ‚. Heavy rain and 61 degrees here in beautiful Downtown North Syracuse. 🌧 There is a south breeze at 10 mph. πŸƒ. The dew point is 59 degrees. It’s going to be a wet one. I’m glad I took yesterday afternoon off — today’s weather is pretty awful. But not every day can be rainbows 🌈 and unicorns. πŸ¦„ It was so muddy out hiking yesterday from all the rain we’ve had lately, but at least the waterfall looked nice.🌊 My truck got so muddy just driving past that one farm where there was a lot of mud kicked up on the road from hauling manure, tractors, and probably moving cows across the road. It’s been so wet lately here in the Central New Yak.

Today will have showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm before 1pm, then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 1pm. Cloudy β›ˆ, with a high of 69 degrees at 4pm. Five degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 63 at 4pm. South wind 10 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. A year ago, we had light rain in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 66 degrees. The record high of 90 was set in 1900. There was a dusting of snow in 1954.❄ That was a few years ago.

The sun will set at 6:36 pm with dusk around 7:04 pm, which is one minute and 44 seconds earlier than yesterday. πŸŒ‡ At sunset, look for rain ☁ and thunderstorms ☁ and 69 degrees. The dew point will be 63 degrees. There will be a south-southwest breeze at 13 mph. Today will have 11 hours and 28 minutes of daytime, an decrease of 2 minutes and 52 seconds over yesterday.

Cloudy
The sky is grey and white and cloudy
Sometimes I think it’s hanging down on me
And it’s hitchhike a hundred miles
I’m a ragamuffin child
Pointed finger-painted smile
I left my shadow waiting down the road for me a while

– Simon and Garefunkel, Cloudy

Tonight will have a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Cloudy ☁, with a low of 64 degrees at 6am. 18 degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 64 at 1am. South wind 10 to 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. In 2017, we had mostly cloudy skies. It got down to 59 degrees. The record low of 27 occurred back in 1986.

This morning I dropped the headlights down 1 1/2 revolutions. Hopefully more light will now hit the road, and less in other drivers eyes and I won’t get blinked by other drivers as much. I think the new bulbs are a lot brighter, and the rear springs have sagged further on the truck. It was certainly easy enough to do. Plus I discovered that the same 6 mm allen wrench I used to take off the hub caps also will adjust the headlights. πŸ’‘At dusk tonight, when I can better see the headlight position on the wall I might tweak the adjustments further. I don’t want to drop them down too low, but I also don’t like how little light is getting to the road, and how I’m blinding other drivers. I think part of the problem is the new headlight bulbs are brighter then the old, and maybe things got knocked off a bit when I put in the new bulbs over the summer.πŸ”©

Yesterday, was nice hiking down at Labrador Hollow Unique Area 🚢– the afternoon started out beautiful but got cloudy by afternoon, despite the nice forecast.☁ Not a lot of color though, as it seems like autumn is bit later this year then some years past. πŸ‚ Sillage corn and hay has been chopped 🌽 at the neighboring farms, 🚜 so they were definitely spreading manure, so you could definitely taste it in the air, a sure sign of autumn coming. That and wood smoke. The light was poor when I got to Spruce Pond, and the trail was very muddy but it was nice to get away. I’m glad I brought the hammock hiking, it made for a nice break mid-afternoon while hiking. If the skies had been clearer in the evening, i would have definitely stayed up there well past sunset, watching the stars rise. I will have to post some more pictures later on in the day.

As previously noted, next Saturday the is Average High is 60 πŸ‚ when the sun will be setting at 6:24 pm with dusk at 6:52 pm. On that day in 2017, we had patches of fog, mostly cloudy skies and temperatures between 66 and 38 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 61 degrees. We hit a record high of 81 back in 1930.