Good morning! Happy Tuesday. ☔

Dark start to the morning as the sun rises later and it’s starting to rain. Got to get out before it picks up later.

Light drizzle and 37 degrees in Delmar, NY. 💧There is a south-southeast breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at Friday around 1 am. ☃️

Back on plan with the steps. 👣 Yesterday did 16,400 steps and this morning I’m out walking 🚶 in the drizzle well before dawn so I hit my goal 🥅 and then some to make up

Walked past a Dead Skunk 🦨 in the road. 👃 Amazing how sensitive human noses are to sulfur. Apparently somebody must have reported it as animal control was picking it up when I was heading down to the express bus 🚍.

Continuing to study responsive web design. 🕸 There is a lot I didn’t know about the CSS Flex model. I am finding it a bit of a challenge to learn but it’s so much cleaner and better than the old CSS box model I’ve used in the past for responsive design. I’ll finally master it and pass the test. The thing is it’s a free class and a computer 🖥 is grading it so no pressure. I knew some in the beginning and probably my eyes 👀 glazed over on the class while I was learning new stuff. Next is the CSS Grid model which also seems useful to master than on to Javascript and eventually D3js. The more advanced classes seem really interesting in part because they are things I know absolutely nothing about but could make great visualizations and be major time savers.

Maybe thinking about refreshing the blog theme. 📝 I hate working with the old box model for multiple columns which is why my current blog is mostly one 1⃣ columns. The box model sucks for responsive design which is why I’ve avoided more complicated designs. But with the things I’m learning I can do something much lighter and nicer using flex. I like full screen pictures – they seemed to open a window on the world 🗺 during the pandemic but like everything time marches on.

Happy Pay Day. 💸 I haven’t gotten the text message that the pay check has hit the bank account yet but last week was rent week and my insurance bill also was the same week and I need to pay my credit card 💳 which has extra on it because I needed to replace worn out clothes. I am trying to build up checking, as I want to do one more extra stock market buy before the year is over — to expand my investment portfolios so I can get closer to buying land. But I need to make sure I have funds cleared before I can do that, though I’m a bit concerned that I’m not going to get the deal I want because the market lately has been on the upswing. 📈

On again off again I look at property and land on Internet. 🚜 It’s kind of a fun activity to do when I have some downtime to see what’s out there on Landwatch and Zillow. Mostly undeveloped acerage, but also smaller sized-homes and farms. Things that are small, easy to clean and maintain, and can be heated with wood — and possibly fully off-grid, up in mountain somewhere. With at least 20 acres, preferably more — and enough distance from neighbors so I can do lots of shooting 🔫 and burn things 🔥 without pissing them off. It’s just interesting to see what’s out there.  Much more affordable the more rural you get for more acerage. But truth be told, I’m not really wanting to buy a property in New York State but it’s interesting to watch. Time buys more time to save and investments to grow, which has kind of been on a downswing lately.

Need to think about getting boots. 👢 It’s getting to that point with all the walking that my boots are really worn out again. Happens every 6 months or so. I wish I could get boots that hold up better but I’ve spent more for fancier brands and they don’t seem to hold up much better. At least lately I’ve been doing more to keep them waterproofed and dry which helps both with the foot stink 🦶 and keeping the leather from ripping.

Not sure about the weekend. ⛺ I am thinking about going up north but only if it’s decent. 🛻 Big game season is done up north, and there isn’t that much snow, but I don’t want to freeze. But I also need to figure out about how I’m going to find out on Friday if I have jury duty the following week, 👩‍⚖️ so I can let my employer know and plan appropriately. I feel like I am more likely to get called next week, as I’m juror number 189 in the system, and I figure they probably call in like 100 or so a week. But that’s just a wild guess.

Joined this funny welding group on Facebook. 🥽 Some people do some real crap welds, but it’s apparently also a skill. It’s tough to be steady and land the dimes perfectly on the metal, getting a good solid bond. But it’s a good skill to have, as it means you can fix a lot of things you might otherwise just throw away as garbage. Essential skill certainly on the farm 🐮 and in more remote county. I’ve always thought it was a good skill to learn, maybe some point I’ll take class at a local community college. It would be cool if I could built a really awesome incinerator with metal that burns hot and completely, without much smoke, stink or pollution. 🔥