January 11, 2020 Night

Good evening! Cloudy and 60 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ Slight breeze to the south. 🍃 The dew point is 53 degrees. Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 9 pm. β˜ƒοΈ

One of those unusual but warm January days that it gets up to the sixties. ♨ Days like that seem happen darn near every year now during the winter as the climate in Albany has warmed so much in recent years that occasionally early summer weather now happens from time to time every winter. While by no means constant it seems like every winter there is at least one night 🌃 nice enough to sit out back for a few hours.

Maybe we just lucked 🍀 out as they got rain β˜” and cold conditions in Syracuse and Western NY. But I took full advantage of the nice weather to read 📖 out back under a lamp plugged into the truck and the inverter. I doubt it would have been as nice out in Brookfield, they got freezing rain last night. Plus I had a lot to do today with the documentary filming 📹 which came out fine, plus buying groceries and toping off the fuel β›½ in Big Red. I don’t want to let the fuel not stay close to full in case Trump 🎺 does something crazy with Iran and blow up the global oil markets.

I brought my reusable bag to Walmart 🛄 but apparently they still had plastic bags. I guess it’s good to get back in the habit. I am still thinking about getting plastic milk crates 💭 to bring my groceries home as they’re easier to hose off and handle. I checked to see if they had anything similar in store but I couldn’t find any. It looks like I could order them online though. I have an old milk crate around for my paper 📄 trash for recycling β™» but I want something cleaner for bringing food home.

Only spent $42 on groceries this week, although after getting home I wish I had gotten more pasta sauce 🍝 and pan spray. Also butter. I probably should have made a list 📃. I don’t normally go shopping on the weekdays but this week I might have to run to the store or maybe I can stop on the bus ride home.

Tonight will have showers likely, then showers and possibly a thunderstorm after 3am. Some of the storms could produce gusty winds and heavy rain. 🌧 Low of 59 degrees at 10pm. 44 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around June 19th. Maximum dew point of 57 at 3am. 🏖️ South wind around 17 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. In 2019, we had clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 12 degrees. The record low of -26 occurred back in 1968.

Tonight will have a Waning Gibbous 🌖 Moon with 98% illuminated. The darkest hour is at 12:04 am, followed by dawn at 6:54 am, and sun starting to rise at 7:25 am in the east-southeast (120Β°) and last for 3 minutes and 20 seconds. Sunrise is 17 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 8:10 am with sun in the southeast (127Β°) at an altitude of 6Β°. Tonight will have 14 hours and 41 minutes of darkness, a decrease of one minute and 25 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have showers likely, mainly before 10am. Mostly sunny, with a temperature rising to near 62 by 8am, then falling to around 39 during the remainder of the day. Breezy, with a south wind 14 to 21 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 31 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 26 degrees. The record high of 63 was set in 2018. 12.8 inches of snow fell back in 2011.❄

I’d like to go out for a walk in the morning walk 🚶 before it gets cold out later in the day but it all depends on how long the rain β˜” sticks around. I plan on getting up at 6:30 am tomorrow to maintain healthy sleep habits and maximize my day. If it’s decent out at dawn I’ll go for a walk right away or otherwise I’ll make a queche. 🍳 Even if it is nice enough to walk I’ll probably make the queche when I get home.

Reality hits in the morning, and I’ll have to close my windows. ⬜ Always werid to hear the road noise and people talking out on the street with the windows open. But I’m definitely enjoying the fresh air. Earlier I didn’t have the windows open but after I heard some one on Facebook talking about their windows open and the fact it was so mild earlier I decided my windows must be open tonight. I didn’t open the storm windows in my bedroom, just the other ones.

In four weeks on February 8 the sun will be setting in the west-southwest (250Β°) at 5:17 pm,🌄 which is 35 minutes and 14 seconds later then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had rain showers, cloudy and temperatures between 45 and 25 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 33 and 16 degrees. The record high of 52 degrees was set back in 1925.

I was kind of hoping to get camping next weekend β›Ί but it looks like the mild weather won’t last and next Saturday might actually be a big snow storm. ❄ It’s a long ways off but it looks like some cold weather is pushing in after tomorrow morning and it will be cold and probably much more snowy the second half of the month. I’ll forget about sleeping 😴 with the windows open until late March or early April during the next big heat bubble.

Looking ahead, Winnie the Pooh Day 🍯 is in 1 weeks, 5 PM Sunset 🌆 is in 2 weeks, February 🌧 is in 3 weeks, Don’t Cry over Spilled Milk Day 🥛 is a month away, Average High is 50 🌸 is in 11 weeks, Average High is 60 🌼 is in 14 weeks, Average High is 70 🐮 is in 18 weeks, Memorial Day Weekend Starts 🏕️ is in 19 weeks, Last Day of Session 🏛 is in 23 weeks and Summer ️⛱️ is in 23 weeks.

I better think about sleeping 😴. I’m tired and I plan once again to be awake by 6:30 am tomorrow. I might even start getting up at six come the summer and doing a morning walk 🚶 before the heat of the day. But for now I want to maintain a constant sleep schedule for good health. It’s going to be so nice sleeping with the windows open!

Bridge Evening

Yes, I should report some of the high number of street lights out in my neighborhood

Yes, I should report some of the high number of street lights out in my neighborhood… πŸ’‘

I’ve noticed lately that there are many street lights out in my neighborhood when I go for my evening walk. In some cases there are whole blocks of sidewalk with the lights out. Reporting street lights out is easy online. I am sure dozens of neighbors have also walked by them and not reported them either.

But National Grid is legally required to send out a crew and repair them, and not only does working street lights improve safety, it also means that town street lighting district tax payers are getting what they pay for – they pay a flat rate for each street light whether or not it is actually on and burning electricity or is burned out and dark.

Burn Day! and moose meat on the grill.

There's some wet snow coming down and there's no wind. The wimpy winter continues and the temperature is at 32F. (0C). This is a great day to take care of trash at the off-grid cabin. I always try to re-use or recycle but some stuff must be burned. I send very little to the landfill. When we're done I have some moose meat on the grill and I try one of the worst beers I've had in a long time.

Fire and freedom are a great reason to live off grid and not consumes oodles of energy or be into all that consumerism crap.

Cuomo wants NY employers to provide paid sick leave to workers

Cuomo wants NY employers to provide paid sick leave to workers

If Gov. Andrew Cuomo gets his way, New York will join 10 other states and the District of Columbia in requiring paid sick leave for workers.

Cuomo included the paid sick leave mandate in his State of the State agenda. Under the proposal, which must be approved by the state Legislature, companies with five to 99 employees must provide workers with at least five days of job-protected paid sick leave annually. Workers at businesses with at least 100 employees would receive at least seven days of paid sick leave a year.

I like the idea of dedicated paid sick leave. I don't have it at my current job, which is something I miss from working for the state. While I have plenty of general "paid time off", having dedicated sick time, would be a way to encourage people to stay home when they are sick, keeping the office off.