December 19, 2019 | Andy Arthur.org

Good evening! Mostly clear and 14 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a west-northwest breeze at 7 mph. . There are 3 inches of snow on the ground. ️Things will start to thaw out at Sunday around 11 am.

Cold evening so I decided to stay home and ride the excerise bike and catch up on the world of farmers, hunters, trappers and off griders I follow on the YouTube. Dairy farming at negative 30 Celsius or -22F in Saskatchewan doesn’t look like much fun. Muskrat trapping seemed more fun as did rebuilding an old multimeter from the 1950s. I got in an hour and a half on the exercise bike. I also walked down to the park and ride this morning, a half mile during lunch and down to Peter Kiernan building in the evening so I got my steps in despite the cold. I’ve noticed though that too much time on the exercise bike can make my knees stiff. Dinner tonight was pasta with tuna fish, corn and mayo. I like it, it’s affordable and tasty even if it’s not high class to have tuna salad for dinner. Need to buy more mayonnaise this week though.

Tonight will be mostly clear and cold , with a low of 6 degrees at 5am. 14 degrees below normal. Maximum wind chill around -4 at 5am; Northwest wind around 7 mph. In 2018, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 19 degrees. The record low of -19 occurred back in 1951.

Tonight will have a Waning Crescent Moon with 28% illuminated. The moon will rise at 12:52 am. The New Moon is on Wednesday night with mostly cloudy skies. The is on Wednesday night. The sun will rise at 7:20 am with the first light at 6:48 am, which is 36 seconds later than yesterday. Tonight will have 14 hours and 57 minutes of darkness, an increase of 11 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be sunny and cold , with a high of 24 degrees at 1pm. 10 degrees below normal. Another cold day. Northwest wind 6 to 9 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with a few breaks of sun the afternoon. The high last year was 43 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 1957. 8.4 inches of snow fell back in 1975.

I did some more research and thinking about the voltage switch for the truck. I think I’ll only need the one diode on the input from the engine to keep the CB radio from accidentally being turned on by the solar panel. I have all the components I’ll need, just have to cut the wire, solder the diode in the line and then run the wire in the truck and crimp the connectors. Shouldn’t take much time and Sunday will be quite warm for working outside. Then lots of sun to test it out this week and adjust the voltage thresholds appropriately. I have Tuesday and Wednesday off next week for Christmas .

In four weeks on January 16 the sun will be setting at 4:47 pm, which is 23 minutes and 52 seconds later then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had partly cloudy, snow showers and temperatures between 39 and 23 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 30 and 14 degrees. The record high of 62 degrees was set back in 1995.

Looking ahead, Boxing Day is in 1 weeks, Static Electric Shock Day is in 3 weeks, National Cheese Lovers Day is in 5 weeks, 5:30 PM Sunset is in 9 weeks and Flower Moon is in 20 weeks.