Good morning! Happy December 🎄! I do find it hard to accept its already December. Seems like I was just on summer vacation at the Finger Lakes National Forest six months ago. It won’t be long before the snow starts. ⛄ I guess you can’t complain too much, after all we only had a dusting of a inch or two in the Albany area and until last week there wasn’t much salt on the roads.

Cloudy and 23 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ There is a north-northeast breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. Things will start to thaw out at tomorrow around 1 pm. 🌡️ But soon it will start to snow and white will replace the clouds and gray. I’m not a big fan of the snow because of it blocking off the back roads for camping but so be it.

I got an early start and got to the car wash and store 🏬 before the snow started. Skipped breakfast so I could be out before the storm and the crowds at Wally World. Picked up some supplies including a big bottle of drain cleaner should I continue to have problems. I also bought waterproofer for my boots 👢 and a second set of Bluetooth headphones 🎧 because I’m tired of how fast these cheap ones go dead, especially when I’m using them a lot watching videos or listening to music 🎶 on the exercise bike. Took the paper trash to the recycling dumpster at the park and ride. Put a small shopping bag of trash and recyclables ♻ outside, so they don’t start to stink midweek 👃. It will freeze and eventually I’ll take it to the transfer station. Now I’m parked for the week 🅿 in my snow location. The doors are probably frozen shut at this point from the car wash.

Today will snow, mainly after 11am. 🌨 High of 29 degrees at 4pm. ❄ 12 degrees below normal. North wind around 5 mph becoming calm. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 45 degrees. The record high of 67 was set in 1934. 3.7 inches of snow fell back in 1969.❄ We might break the 1969 record.

Today I’m thinking about going for a walk 🚶 along the rail trail 🚈 and then maybe to the library to play in the internet. Not planning on doing a lot today but between the walk and riding the exercise bike but at least I’ll burn some calories. 🚲 It would be pretty hiking in the snow. ❄ I waterproofed my boots 👢 and boy do they now stink. 👃

I plan to read more of that fascinating book about butchering livestock 🐮 🔪. They’re not super different than small game but in learning a lot more about meat. 🍖 Even if it’s a while before I have my own land and livestock 🐷 its good for hunting and learning about getting a good cut of meat.

The sun will set at 4:23 pm with dusk around 4:54 pm, which is 21 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for snow 🌨 and temperatures around 29 degrees. There will be a east-northeast breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 17 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 26 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will snow before 9pm, then snow and sleet between 9pm and 1am, then snow after 1am. 🌨 Low of 29 degrees at 6pm. Two degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 26th. North wind 6 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow and sleet accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible. In 2018, we had cloudy skies. It got down to 26 degrees. The record low of -2 occurred back in 1875.

More snow expected for all day on Monday ❄, although maybe not as a big snow event that was once predicted. I washed my truck this morning and turned it into a giant ice block, but at least I got the worse of the road salt off it and it’s parked in its winter spot. I brought in the snow shovel and brush I use to clean off the snow. I’ll probably try to brush the snow off it a few times today and tomorrow with the hope that the rest of the snow blows off it by next Saturday. 🍃 I have plenty of supplies so I shouldn’t need to go to the store before next week and will be able to take the bus back and forth to work. 🚍 Might have to get a slightly earlier start then normal as I’ll be taking the local in most likely.

Yesterday it was nice waking out at Five Rivers but kind of cold. 🐸 Winter has definitely started to set in although maybe it will warm up by mid month. Mom made up a nice dinner last night 🍲 of sausage and peppers. Did my wash, came home, rode the exercise bike for an hour. I still wish I went up north but it would be cold as heck.

Continuing to research LED lanterns. 🏮 The LE lantern that is USB rechargeable looks nice but I wonder the cold weather performance. I could charge it all day in the truck then use it at night, 🔌 including in the hot tent. Not breakable it would be good for backpacking in the summer too. ⛺ I also brought the propane lantern 🏮 inside so I can pull the generator tube and use some carburetors cleaner on it.

Two weeks to Bill of Rights Day 📜. Bill of Rights is so old fashioned in the era of terror and color television. Gotta stop evil 😈 we are told, no time for rights, folks might get offended or shot or blown up by the terrorists. Of so television tells us. Glad I can’t afford a television. I’ve even given up on listening to most of the radio news 📰. Ignorance these days is bliss. Plus all the news I need is that the snow is coming. ❄

On the Bill of Rights Day 📜 the sun will be setting at 4:22 pm with dusk at 4:54 pm. On that day in 2018, we had cold, partly cloudy, snow showers and temperatures between 22 and 7 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 36 degrees. We hit a record high of 61 back in 2015.