Delmar, NY

Happy World Population Day, at least if you are a mosquito or a tick 🪰

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We got a brief respite from the muggers after the rain and it cleared out. But the mosquitoes are celebrating their new found pools of water and the ticks have been so bad, I found one crawling up my leg in the office downtown yesterday.

Good morning! Clouds and 62 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁️ Calm wind. The dew point is 61 degrees. Not quite as muggy as before the rain though it will be muggier come midday 🕛.

Out walking 🚶 this morning, did 10.8 miles and 40 flights of stairs up and down yesterday, as the rain stopped early yesterday and it was nice for both for a lunch time walk and especially in the evening. So buggy down at the park but since they’ve improved the trails they’ve been pretty dry. I liked that cream of wheat with the frozen blueberries and Greek yogurt yesterday that I’m thinking that will be breakfast again with a fresh pot of coffee ☕. Quick breakfast too.

Black beans are cooking on the stove 🍲 which I will use for a cold lunch with red onions 🧅 and sliced peppers 🫑. Last night was kale – spinach blend as I ran out of the prior with some pasta and mackerel. 🐠 I was looking at the label 🔎 trying to figure if mackerel or tuna fish is a healthier option but I guess it matters if you prioritize vitamins and minerals, along with total omega 3 over slightly more calories and saturated fat. Most of the calories comes from the pasta at any rate, which I used the last half box of white pasta I had left in my kitchen with 1 1/4 lb of frozen spinach and a half lb of frozen kale. Tuna fish salad thet won’t kill you! All that fiber with the delious omega 3 fat fills you up quickly so it’s not so bad but I’m only buying whole wheat or chickpea pasta going forward.

Yesterday the 40″ waist seam jeans and XXL shirt 👖 I wore to work looked cartoonishly big on me, as I’ve lost so much weight. I’ve recently bought 38″ shorts thinking they’ll be good as I like my shorts loose and they also are running kind of big one. Even some of the XL shirts, especially undershirts now seem to big for me. I guess I never thought I would loose so much weight so quickly, though I’m still very hesitant to buy more clothes as I don’t know what size will fit well. Maybe come August I’ll have to shop the thrift stores to see what I can get, although it’s still tough as I’m so tall. I just worry about weight gain though I think I’ve really changed what I eat.

Speaking of which I was really happy to hear that Stanton now has both sweet corn 🌽 and tomatoes 🍅. I am not really sure which I’m most excited about, probably my favorite nightshade as tomatoes are so good in many foods and fresh tomatoes are the best! If I go to Schoharie this weekend I’m hoping to get somewhere I can stock up. I’ll eat them quickly so they don’t ret a chance to go bad, lol 😂.

Today will start out cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny ☁️🤜🌞, with a high of 88 degrees at 5pm. Kind of a game of weather punch buggy, as the sun and hot weather push out the cooler rainer weather of yesterday. Four degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 65 at 11am. Light and variable wind becoming west 5 to 10 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with a few breaks of sun the afternoon. The high last year was 91 degrees. The record high of 98 was set in 1936.

At this point I’m getting a bit impatient about getting Blackie 🚵 as last night I figured out what heavy gauge u-bolt lock to get to secure my bicycle, a USB rechargeable long lasting rear light for the rear and a waterproof carrying mount for my phone. 📱 I tested out my phone to see if it would work okay as a GPS bicycle speedometer / trip odometer, turned out that 45 minutes on and off the bus with the GPS location and screen on only used 3% of the battery life, so should be good. 🔋

Mostly want it to keep track of distance out on the trip so I know how long the return will be though watching my speed on the down hills would be fun and I want to track my distance. It’s good that I can avoid adding any more expenses to this ever growing bicycle project. 💸But I figure now is the time to equip the bicycle as I want it, so it will be ready for adventures as close to day one as possible and I can work out kinks before vacation. 🏖

One issue I might run into is I don’t know if the Trek MIK rack will fit on the XXL model of the Marlin 6. 🚲 I’m going to ask and buy at the shop when I pick up the bicycle for just that reason. If not there are many after market bike rack systems you can get and either use a MIK adapter or maybe a different rack system. I just want something I can bolt 🔩 to a milk crate storage containers and do the quick release for packing inside or at camp, and load the bike in the truck or on the bus 🚍. I really want to have the storage before vacation especially for longer rides so I can bring lunch and supplies without having them in a backpack 🎒 on my back in the heat. I might even do some hammock camping on vacation depending on where I’m riding.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:01 pm with sun having an altitude of 69.5° from the due south horizon (-1.3° vs. 6/21). The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:52 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (295°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (302°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:35 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 23 seconds with dusk around 9:07 pm, which is 29 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:53 pm. At sunset, look for mostly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 82 degrees. The dew point will be 65 degrees. There will be a west breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 15 hours and 9 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 14 seconds over yesterday.

The Verizon salesman 📴 stalked me out at home last evening, seeing if I would be interested in signing up for internet today. 🖥 I was like not really bro, I don’t have a TV or internet at home and I’m not really interested in all that technology stuff. He wasn’t that persistent when he learned I didn’t own a television or had a computer at home (I store my laptop at work). Truth is during the pandemic that was the closest I ever got to getting home internet as it was cold especially in the winter working out of my truck 🛻 down at the library but now with unlimited phone data and 5 GB Hotspot, I’d much rather just use my phone 📱. Phones are so powerful these days, yet they are so portable, can he used virtually anywhere and use very little electricity to charge. 🔋 Heck, I’ll probably leave my laptop locked in my office 🏢 rather than bring it on vacation this year.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 64 degrees at 6am. One degree above normal. Maximum dew point of 65 at 8pm. West wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies. It was humid. It got down to 70 degrees. The record low of 44 occurred back in 1978.

After reading 📖 more of the Boggleheads Guide to Investing, I just ordered up my yearly free credit report 📜 and no surprises there, it was super boring 💤 and accurate. I did find one issue – my Experian report wasn’t properly locked 🔒 so I did that to protect against identity theft. The other two were good. Updated my assets spreadsheet, 🧮 that’s looking far better now than six months ago. I was pleasantly surprised that my ratio of bonds to stocks has increased but then again I’ve been buying more bonds lately as I’m getting older 🧓. The higher fed rate is helping with the cash side of things too. Far better than wasted year in the market in 2022. The out year projections look good, based on the past decade but I’m sure we are going to have a recession but I figure that’s just a loss on paper and in the long run, it’s a potential for gain.

On this day in 1962, live television was transmitted for the first time across the Atlantic Ocean. On Telstar! 📺 Seems odd nowadays, when so much commerence is global and we can access a server next door as quickly as in France. 🇫🇷 Of course ultimately Telstar 📡 would be destroyed by above ground nuclear ⚛ testing. 💣Which was pure foolishness of a deadly kind of way that was making the sweet corn 🌽 radio and putting strontium 90 in children’s ice cream cones. 🍦Now we just have PFAS and dioxin in our ice cream and everything else.

A nice summer weekend ahead. 🏊‍♂️ ⛺ Saturday, scattered showers and thunderstorms after 2pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 86. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Maximum dew point of 70 at 11am. Sunday, scattered showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 86. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Maximum dew point of 71 at 11am. Monday, scattered showers and thunderstorms. Mostly sunny, with a high near 88. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Typical average high for the weekend is 84 degrees.

Still thinking this is the weekend to go out to Schoharie 🏕 🏊 though a lot depends on timing of getting Blackie, my new bike. 🚴 I keep waiting for that call from the shop, though I realize it’s only been two days, or maybe three. Maybe I’ll get the call this afternoon, though I’m not sure if I can leave work early today, but maybe tomorrow. I guess I don’t need to have the rack on my bicycle, I can use a backpack 🎒 for this weekend for supplies along the rail trail but I do want to get things tested out. I haven’t decided about Monday yet, but it looks like a much better day to take off then Friday.

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until August 🌻 when the sun will be setting at 8:17 pm with dusk at 8:48 pm. On that day in 2022, we had hot, partly sunny and temperatures between 89 and 69 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 84 degrees. We hit a record high of 101 back in 1933.

Beautiful Day Despite the Heat

The rain let up for the morning walk ☔

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I really didn’t think I would get out walking today outside but it turned out to just be a drizzle if that. Not sure if it will be this light all day but probably because when they warn of heavy rain it always gets scared off and leaves two drops of rain.

Good morning! Monday’s come back around again. Rain drops 💧 and cloudy and 67 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ Calm wind. The dew point is 66 degrees. The rain will stop tonight and skies will clear tomorrow around 5 am. Might be a good day to take delivery of Blackie, the name I gave my new mountain bike if it’s ready.

This morning out walking 🚶. I’m happy about that. The black coffee ☕ – already had a half cup and breakfast will be original cream of wheat with frozen blueberries and a good glop of plain non fat Greek yogurt mixed in for protein and taste. 🥣 At first I struggled to adopt the Greek yogurt craze 🤪, as it’s rather tart and when I started eating healthy I zeroed in on the calories and saturated fats in dairy but I came around getting to like the somewhat bitter taste, noting the excellent ratio of protein to calories and how it’s a way to support dairy 🐮 without as much of the unhealthy crap as cheese 🧀 and ice cream 🍦.

Today will rain and possibly a thunderstorm. Some of the storms could produce heavy rain. 🌧 High of 75 degrees at 5pm. Eight degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around June 4th. Maximum dew point of 69 at 10am. 🏖️ Light north wind becoming northwest 5 to 10 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 81 degrees. The record high of 100 was set in 1936.

I am hoping it stays dry enough to walk this evening 👣 but realistically I see the forecast. I will do the best I can do at lunch time, walking in the Concourse or maybe in the walkway. But it might be a good evening to continue reading either the Boggleheads Guide to Investing or Beginner’s Guide to D3.js. I am trying to learn more about D3.js. 📚 I took a FreeCodeCamp class on D3.js last fall but I’ve never used it but it’s a powerful tool for creating visualizations in Javascript. I also need to retire the debt on my credit card today, 💳 as I need more room under my credit limit so I can actually purchase the bike this week. 🚵‍♀️ Also want to get my FreeCreditReport and make sure all my credit accounts are still locked and clear, like they should be — and super boring.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:01 pm with sun having an altitude of 69.6° from the due south horizon (-1.2° vs. 6/21). The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:53 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (295°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (302°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:35 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 24 seconds with dusk around 9:08 pm, which is 27 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:53 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and thunderstorms 🌩 and temperatures around 71 degrees. The dew point will be 65 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 9 mph. Today will have 15 hours and 10 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 11 seconds over yesterday.

Last night I got reading 📖 the Boggleheads Guide to Investing. Truth be told not much I didn’t already know but it’s good to expand your knowledge. I’ve done a lot of things right though I fully admit in some cases I leave money 💵 on the table. Automatic investing with low cost index funds remains key to sustainable wealth growth. I probably could live without my big jacked up truck 🛻 or my new mountain bike 🚵 or my guns I don’t use enough 🔫 but I also don’t take flamboyant vacations in fancy hotels, I don’t have internet, cable or air conditioning at my run down apartment in the city and I use public transport to get work. I’m really putting away a good chunk of money for retirement – federal maximums for my Roth IRA, Deferred Comp and plus I got my pension and also buy $415 weekly of a variety of index and bond funds. The hell of it is my credit score is complete crap, below 800, because I have never borrowed money outside of my credit card — no student or auto loans ever, and I refused to allow the bank to set a credit limit above $5,000 — which means my credit utilization is relatively high at 10-15% each month. 💳 But hopefully if I ever need to use credit to buy land or something else, I can put the majority down in cash, so I don’t get bit through the nose 🐽 for refusing to use credit through the years.

And reading this book, truth is though that I feel more then a little guilty spending so much money on a fancy new bike, though my old clunker would still be that even if I did finish the rebuild project. 🚲 I’m hoping to get a lot of use out of the bicycle to sure — already been thinking about some remote-country hammock camping, only reachable by bicycle trail come August. 🤯 Spent some time pondering what to do with my old bicycle — I’ll possibly continue the rebuild as I now have the back wheel back together, but I honestly don’t want to spend much more time or money on parts that now that I will soon have the Blackie. 👩‍🔧 I think it’s in too rough of shape to be traded in with the fork a little rough and still some of the parts not reinstalled, but I’m kind of hoping that Albany Bicycle Rescue will take it as a donation. I have too much clutter, but I’d rather it get more use then take it to a scrap yard. 🍇 I probably eat some grapes and chickpeas for stress eating last night, but I did follow it by a walk, 👣 as the rain let up last night. Overall, despite eating a large dinner — I mostly eat too much fruit and vegetables, and some rather unhealthy small portion of chicken and rice, I did still walk 9 1/2 miles yesterday and plan to do hopefully 10 miles today, and 40 flights of stairs. I do worry about getting obese 🤰 though in the future should I fall off my rocker.

Tonight will rain likely and possibly a thunderstorm before 8pm, then a chance of rain and thunderstorm then a chance of of the storms could produce heavy rain. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 62 degrees at 6am. One degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around July 9th. Maximum dew point of 67 at 6pm. Northwest wind 6 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies. It got down to 55 degrees. The record low of 48 occurred back in 1986.

On this day in 1890, Wyoming is admitted to the United States as the 44th US State. 🤠Many liberals regard that as a mistake, although it has some beautiful country out in Yellowstone and lots of oil and coal. 🛢️And in 1962, Telstar, the world’s first communication satellite is launched.📡 It would be destroyed within a year or so due to above ground nuclear testing. People think it was radiation and human sickness 🤮 that lead to the above ground test ban 💣 when it was really concerns about damage to military satellites. 🛰

A very typical summer weekend ahead. Hot and humid, thunderstorm ⛈ threat all weekend. Saturday, a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 84. Chance of precipitation is 50%. ☀ Maximum dew point of 70 at 11am. Sunday, a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 85. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Maximum dew point of 70 at 11am. Typical average high for the weekend is 84 degrees.

Looks like a decent weekend. ⛺ I’m still thinking about heading out to Schoharie this weekend for riding the Catskill Scenic Trail, swimming 🏊, the auto show at NY Power Authority. 🚙 I might take off Monday if it’s nice. I kind of don’t like driving back to Betty Brook due to the tight campsite and rough roads with my big jacked up truck but I’m thinking Sunday night there is a good chance I could get the campsite either on West Kill Road or Cole Hollow. The prior would mean you could get an early start, head down to Stamford and Monday morning and do the leg of the trail from Stamford down to Bloomville. 🚲 Monday’s are usually easier to get off plus then it’s a four day week the next two weeks as I’m leaving for vacation on a Friday. Then the week after vacation is my dentist appointment 🦷 not this week as I originally thought.

A lot of my weekend plans depends on when I take delivery of Blackie, 🚲 and when I get the kick stand, rack and crate on it. I decided I’ll add yellow reflective DOT tape to the rear and sides of the black crate and the rack to improve visibility when riding on the road. I found my old front and back lights, though I’m missing the mount for the rear one or more like I think it broke when I took it off the old bike a few weeks back when I was restoring it. Supposedly from the online inventory the bike store has the kick stand, the MIK rack and MIK connector plate as I’d like to have that all installed before I head out for the weekend, along with the bicycle registered and licensed with the town, photos and other information sent to my insurer.

Looking ahead, there are 6 weeks until World Mosquito Day 🐞 when the sun will be setting at 7:50 pm with dusk at 8:18 pm. My gawd have they been bad at times lately in the woods, especially for the evening walk at Elm Ave Town Park. On that day in 2022, we had hot and muggy weather 😰 , partly sunny and temperatures between 88 and 70 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 82 degrees. The mosquitoes loved that. We hit a record high of 98 back in 1916.

AES Cayuga Coal Power Plant in Distance

Enigma when it comes to bicycles 🚲

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A person or thing that is mysterious, puzzling, or difficult to understand.

It was so simple. I decided after comparing the Trek Dual Sport 2 to the FX 2 I was so going to go with the more mild mannered FX 2. It certainly would be more efficient for urban commuting and long distance bicycles.

Then I remembered that other bicycle the shop had me look at a Trek Verve. It turns out that’s the next level up towards a mountain bike, which inevitably lead me to researching a Trek Marlin 5. The more I think about it, the more I might want a decent quality beginner mountain bike rather than a commuter bicycle.

The thing is what I really want a bicycle most for is using up at camp, mostly on dirt roads but also the occasional trail. And then just around town, out to Five Rivers or on the Albany County Rail Trail to visit the Black River Swamp. I am worried that FX 2 really wouldn’t handle well with stones and rocks, especially now knowing it runs tubeless.

Now I’m looking at the Trek Marlin 5 or 6. The base Trek mountain bike. This has tougher 60 TPI tires with inner tubes, a front suspension that is upgradable and wider tires for better grip and stability I the mud and rougher terrain. I think this might be much better suited for State Forest roads and the occasional trail ride but still be decent for around town or an occasional commute to work. And it still fits in my price range. It will be slow and heavy, kind of like Big Red.

I’m really moving away commuting to work daily on a bicycle as while I did that when I was in my twenties, the traffic and the hills worry me more Delaware Ave after learning how Lynne Jackson got struck on her bicycle a few years back. To say nothing of the pollution from autos or riding through seedy neighborhoods, swerving around needles left behind by the heroin addicts. The Albany County Rail Trail is great but problematic to get from the Corning Preserve back up the hill to the Alfred E Smith building. Plus while there is a bike rack behind the office where I work, the more I learn about bike theft and how fast bolt cutters are I really think twice about locking my bike up there without a very good quality lock. I keep seeing how all the homeless people at Capitol Park have wonderful new bicycles. Must be nice to be homeless.

When 18-flights of stairs becomes automatic 🧗‍♂️

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After doing the stairs for seven days at work, hiking up and down the 18 flights of the stairs has become nearly automatic, hardly work to do twice a day up and down. I don’t even think of going to the elevator anymore, and I find if I have my phone out or have something to distract me, I can do the stairs with barely even noticing I’m climbing.

Each time up the stairs it works out to be 50 calories burned over roughly 4 minutes, a brief but moderately intense cardiovascular activity for good health. No waiting for elevators and while I miss the banter with colleagues in the lobby, I don’t miss the crowds or wondering when and elevator will arrive and whether or not I will get trapped in the elevator.