Good morning! The average high for today is 50 degrees but that’s just a cruel joke ❄

It seems like the mercury will struggle to reach 25 degrees with a stiff breeze. The lion 🦁 doesn’t seem to want to bite the bucket. I guess that’s what we get for the warm weather last week.

Cold and sunny 🌞 and 18 degrees in Delmar, NY. Breezy, ️16 mph breeze from the west-northwest 🌬 with gusts up to 28 mph 💨💨💨. The current wind chill is 3. Things will start to thaw out at tomorrow around 1 pm. 🌡️

A cold morning walk 🚶 though the wind 🍃 is giving me a bit of a break for now. That said, there were certainly colder days walking in February. The sun is still in my eyes 👀 this morning but I am running a bit later than usual. 🎶 Listening to Arlo Guthrie sing about the City of New Orleans. But all the towns and people seem to fall into a bad dream, and the steel rail hasn’t heard the news 📰.

Well the heat is back on. ♨️ I waited as long as I could but with the mercury dropping I switched it back on. It’s gas heat and the worse I’ve seen a a $110 bill for gas and electric but I don’t like paying more than I have to. Last month was only $95 as I kept thermostat down and didn’t use the space heater much. I think the heat will be off again come Wednesday once it’s back but above freezing and getting up to the fifties in the day time. Friday I might have the windows open 🔳 again. Average high is sixty in less than three 3⃣ weeks now.

Session day today, 👨🏻‍💼I’m going to try out that dress shirt that I patched the tare in the shoulder. This way I should have gone enough shirts for a five day session week. Some point I’ll get to JC Penny. Worse comes to worst, I’ll run to the laundromat mid week. I really need to research alternative places to get dress shirts, as some points the ones I have will wear out.

Went to Walmart and got $90 in groceries and supplies. 🛒 My pantry should be well stocked for the week. I did forget cooking oil and pan spray but I’ll just use butter I guess. I can’t complain that’s not bad for what is likely enough food 🍲 and supplies for the week. Maybe I worry too much about little things like that but over time things add up. Kind of mad I forgot oil, pancakes 🥞 are so much crisper and better with a little oil.

Car insurance, electricity bill and rent is due this week 💵 so even more bills but at least it’s a pay week. Having stayed home the past few weeks things aren’t so bad. I might head out to hit up a trout stream this weekend 🎣 and maybe an overnight, time and the forecast will tell. Hopefully, assuming I did my tax rebate in a week or two I’ll be getting my tax refund back, which will be good to buy gas and beer for my next trip up to the wilderness. 🌲 🏕 🏞

The markets are back up, 📈 so I guess I don’t have much to fret as investments continue to grow, though probably not the rate of inflation. But every day I get one closer to owning my own land. 🐷 I think my parents were impressed how much I know about pig farming, probably because I’ve read a few books about it. That said, pigs are great organic recyclers and reclaimers of land, especially after you’ve run a few ton of grain through them. Don’t recommend them too close, or upwind of your house though. But they can turn rock and sand into some good dirt for farming. 🚜 Looking at Zillow is fun, although there is nothing on that site that I am that interested into locally, but I want to wait a few more years before jumping in, and probably not in New York because you know gun restrictions and burn bans, taxes etc. Better to save and invest today for a better tomorrow. 💰

While I didn’t get my 10,000 steps in yesterday 👣 I did go for my evening walk. It was brisk, but lacking the cold of true winter. On my way to Walmart from my parents house I thought about doing a quick jog up Blodgett Hill but decided against it as it was a cold evening and I didn’t want to get to Walmart too late. Maybe I’ll hike Blodgett Hill after I go to the transfer station in a few weeks. ♻ It would be interesting to check up on the Pitch Pine up there. 🌲

I am thinking in a few weeks about what my next road trip will be. 🏕 With fuel prices maybe not so far away, although I’m leaning towards the Adirondacks. The fishing opportunities probably though would be better in Central NY. 🎣 But it’s been a long time since I’ve been up to the Adirondacks, so that would be fun too. I want to take off a few days from work, so I can camp at least 3 nights — maybe over the Easter Weekend or maybe the weekend before. I am not really sure at this point. It would be nice to sit in the hammock with a book, 📖 assuming that it’s not too cold out for that.