April 5, 2021 Morning

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Good morning! Monday’s come back around again. Six weeks to Average High is 70 🐮. Sunny and 40 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌞 There is a northwest breeze at 10 mph. 🍃. Definitely kind of a breezy morning, sunny but dry. I can totally understand why they have red flag warnings out 🚩 as it’s kind of dry all over — Bennett Hill was quite dry for spring — and even in the valleys just the slightest hint of green on the grass. It looks like most of the week will be quite dry. 🔥 So don’t be burning shit unattended.

Went out for my morning walk, 😎 and it’s sunny and warming up quick. My eyes are a bit irritated 👀 but I’m doing okay. I stayed up too late last night, but i actually slept quite well last night for a change. I am looking forward to having my windows open at night, but things need to warm up a bit for that to happen.

Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 60 degrees at 4pm. Six degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 18th. Northwest wind 10 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 62 degrees. The record high of 82 was set in 1928. 2.1 inches of snow fell back in 2019.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:59 pm with sun having an altitude of 53.6° from the due south horizon (-17.2° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 4.4 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:49 pm with the sun in the west (273°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (279°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:26 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 56 seconds with dusk around 7:54 pm, which is one minute and 8 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:29 pm.

At sunset, look for clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 55 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 14 mph. Today will have 12 hours and 56 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 51 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 35 degrees at 6am. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 8th. Northwest wind 7 to 13 mph. In 2020, we had partly cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 39 degrees. The record low of 14 occurred back in 1943.

Not a particularly nice weekend on tap. 😞 Saturday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 57. Sunday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 59. Typical average high for the weekend is 56 degrees. I am interviewing John Wolcott and

One month 📅 from now will be Cinco de Mayo 🤠 when the sun will be setting at 8:00 pm with dusk at 8:31 pm. The average high temperature is 32 degrees, with a record high of 61 in 1895.

Houses and Farms

Would I Want to Have a Road When I Own Land.

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When I eventually own land and a home, one question I wonder is if I really want road access from my house.

Boreas Road Campsite Driveway

Most people’s houses are on the road, or connected to the road via gravel or in the city, blacktop driveway. Due the cost of maintaining a road, most driveways are relatively short, with houses being within sight of the road. There are good reasons for having a road, namely it makes it easier to get to and from home, and in case of a fire, makes it much easier for a fire to put out by the fire department.

The flip side, is having a road means your closer to the road, with more noise, less privacy. But it also makes it a lot easier for random people to stop by and visit. Few people are going to venture up a heavily posted four-wheeler trail, certainly not strangers. You are more restricted what you can do on your land, if you have nosey neighbors peering in all of the time.

Roads are expensive to maintain in the back country. Mother nature abhors roads, it is always trying to wash out culverts and gravel, erode driveways up the mountainsides. Trees come down blocking access, and mud season is particularly problematic, as big heavy 4×4 pickup trucks really can tear up roads especially on soft ground with regular use. Plus driving a rough road can make a mess out of the suspension, wearing out all kinds of components prematurely.

But if you don’t have a road, walking out to your vehicle can quickly get old, especially if you are a few miles back from the road. Riding a quad or snowmobile is a lot of fun, but for most jobs they probably don’t appreciate you showing up to work smelling like gasoline and covered with mud. I guess the alternative would be to have a trail that wide enough for an enclosed UTV, which could make it through the mud and muck, without having a full-blown road to use.

Then there is the problem with leaving a vehicle un-monitored at the start of the trail back to your home. A car or truck left on the road without anybody supervising it could lead to vandalism, especially if your back in the woods for an extended time period. While a solar panel and charge controller could keep the battery topped off, and you could use a game camera to monitor the vehicle, you have to wonder the wisdom of leaving something sitting for days without you monitoring it.