Good morning! Happy Saint Nicholas Day 🎅! That’s a holiday that involves wooden shoes that are compostable I believe. A refreshing change from all that plastic and styrofoam. Four weeks to Latest Sunrise of the Winter 🌄. Even while the evenings get longer the mornings will be darker. Snow flurries, gray and 24 degrees in Delmar.❄ There is a south-southwest breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. Things will start to thaw out at around 10 am. 🌡️

Today will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 38 degrees at 4pm. More sun later, or so I hope. Still haven’t fixed the lights in my office, so dark days are so dark. One degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 8th. Southwest wind 6 to 9 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies. The high last year was 53 degrees. The record high of 68 was set in 2001. 12.5 inches of snow fell back in 2003.❄

The sun will set at 4:21 pm with dusk around 4:53 pm, which is 6 seconds earlier than yesterday. Big whoop. 🌇 At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies ☁ and temperatures around 36 degrees. There will be a southwest breeze at 8 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 10 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 3 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have a slight chance of snow showers after 8pm. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 23 degrees at 6am. Two degrees below normal, which is similiar to a typical night around December 10th. Southwest wind 8 to 10 mph becoming west after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2017, we had mostly clear skies with more clouds in the early hours of the next day. It got down to 26 degrees. The record low of -7 occurred back in 1901.

Tonight I’m going to go to Tractor Supply in Glenmont get my propane tank topped off and look at buying a good quality axe. 💨 My propane tank is more than half full but I want make sure I have a full tank that way I won’t have a cold night later next week. Running out of propane is no fun, especially winter camping.

Last night I loaded a bunch of my camping gear into the truck. As I noted yesterday, I tested out the heater and confirmed that id working well.♨ Heater smelled a little like pine sap when I first turned it on, must have gotten some sap on it last year.🌲 But it works well. I didn’t try out each hose, but I feel confident that both are working fine and are dirt-free. I am thinking about ordering another lantern globe from Walmart and picking it up either on Friday or Saturday, just to be safe and m

I am thinking about getting some warm white Christmas lights to decorate the campsite, and I found some non lighted decorations around the apartment. 🎄Long nights this time of year but I figure I can fill them with color. 🎁 Assuming we have as much sun as they are promising, I’m should have plenty of power for the long nights. In the winter, with out shading from the trees, the solar panel really does an awesome job.

Still chewing over what campsite is want to get, a year around plowed road is my strong preference, as is sheltered from the wind. That will keep me safe from an unexpected heavy snow fall, which seems unlikely based on next week’s forecast. Cell service also is nice to pass the time on the long nights. 🌃 I’d also like a good view of the stars from the site and lots of sun for the solar panel. I’m not sure if I can have all those things, and it’s possible certain campsites will be taken by hunters or inaccessible due to snow banks, although I could always shovel them out. But I have some good ones on mind.

One problem I may is getting water during this time of year, as many lakes may be frozen. I am sure there are some springs and ponds I can break to get water though. 🌊 I’ll bring six gallons of water, and then if I can need to get more water, I’ll break the ice or find some open water. I bet Seneca Lake still has open water that I could get from the shoreline, I don’t think that’s frozen yet. This time of year, I will make sure my water bottles are connected to a long rope in case I drop them, and they start to float away in the frigid water, as happened camping in November a few years back, and I almost permanently lost it in the drink.🚰

Looking ahead, there are 4 weeks until Latest Sunrise of the Winter 🌄 when the sun will be setting at 4:34 pm with dusk at 5:06 pm. On that day in 2018, we had rain, drizzle, freezing drizzle, mist, cloudy skies and temperatures between 37 and 31 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 31 degrees. We hit a record high of 61 back in 1913.