Trek Dual Sport Review – Great at Nothing, Good at Everything
Delmar, NY
Corporate Landscaping Opts for Native Plants Over Manicured Lawns – The New York Times
At its former headquarters in eastern Pennsylvania, Air Products had a neatly manicured lawn and boxwood hedges. But when the industrial gases company moved to nearby Allentown recently and erected a new office building, it tried something different.
Rather than plant grass that would need constant watering, mowing and fertilizing, it turned to native plants that pretty much took care of themselves. Today, shoulder-high grasses wave in the wind and attract wildlife.
A three day work week after the four day weekend π
Most of the booms last night weren’t fireworks but the thunderstorms that came rolling through that got me a bit wet heading down Bennett Hill but wasn’t the terribly violent storms they predicted from the radar. Odd how they pushed south from the north.
Good morning! Mostly foggy π and 63 degrees in Delmar for the morning walk πΆ. Calm wind. It’s foggy a with a dew point of 63 degrees. The air quality is a moderate 55.
Normally we’d call today Hump Day π« but it’s more of psudeo Monday as the work week is ahead. Should be a quiet three 3β£ day week, the other director is on vacation but so is a lot of staff and the work load light. The past few days have been very hot and lazy at home, π‘ it’s tough to get up and going. 18 flights of stairs await me to climb at my office π’. While I do worry having eggs this morning after a hamburger π on the forth means I’ll be over on the saturated fats, eggs π³ have loads of protein and it’s good as I will include about two cups of ground spinach, plus tomatoes π , peppers and onions plus maybe mix in some cottage cheese for even more protein. Walked πΆ 7.8 miles yesterday.
Today will have fog before 7am. Otherwise, sunny and hot π, with a high of 90 degrees at 3pm. Six degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 70 at 10am. Calm wind becoming north 5 to 7 mph in the morning. A year ago, we had rain in the morning, which became rain by afternoon. It became sticky as the day progressed. The high last year was 74 degrees. The record high of 99 was set in 1919.
Yesterday was fun, spent some time with the folks before climbing Bennett Hill and getting chased down it β when a sort of freak thunderstorm pushed down from the north, lighting the radar up with a dense red cell heading right towards me. I was hoping to watch the canceled Albany State Plaza fireworks π from the hill and all the unofficial ones people were lighting off in their backyards but not during a severe electrical storm with hail, torrential downpours, strong winds. π I stayed up top for a while but hearing thunder β‘ and seeing lightening I rushed down the hill only getting a little wet π§ by the time I reached my truck. It rained somewhat hard on my drive home and the underpass on 443 was fairly flooded but no hail and I made it home safely, spending the last 15 minutes of the storm watching it from my truck. π»
Solar noon π is at 1:01 pm with sun having an altitude of 70.2° from the due south horizon (-0.6° vs. 6/21). The golden hour π starts at 7:54 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (296°). πΈ The sunset is in the west-northwest (303°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:37 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 26 seconds with dusk around 9:10 pm, which is 16 seconds earlier than yesterday. π The best time to look at the stars is after 9:56 pm. At sunset, look for mostly clear skies π and temperatures around 83 degrees. The dew point will be 68 degrees. There will be a west-northwest breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 15 hours and 15 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 53 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will be mostly clear π, with a low of 68 degrees at 4am. Six degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 69 at 9pm. Last night was pretty sticky, so will tonight be. Northwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. In 2022, we had light rain in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It was somewhat humid. It got down to 63 degrees. The record low of 47 occurred back in 1962.
On this day in 1999, U.S. President Bill Clinton imposes trade and economic sanctions against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. β 25 years later and a few trillion spent not sure we have a lot to show for it besides bass boats for military contractors, a bunch of dead and injured Americans and Muslims rounded up in racist prosecution. It was pretty bad but then the American government doesn’t have that good reputation of treating Americans fairly, remember COINTELPRO and before that the Red Scare. Old J. Edgar Hoover might be long gone, but his agency sticks around.
Hot and summer like for the weekend. π More clouds for Sunday then Saturday but that’s getting ahead of myself. Saturday, a chance of showers and thunderstorms after 2pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 87. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Maximum dew point of 67 at 8pm. Sunday, a chance of showers, with thunderstorms also possible after 2pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 85. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Maximum dew point of 68 at 1pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 84 degrees.
It truthfully would be a great weekend to spend out in Schoharie π at the Mine Kill Pool but I really want to figure out the bicycle thing this weekend. π² I think I am really zeroing in the bicycle I want, a place where I can pay and take delivery potentially as soon as Saturday, so I could be back out on the road as soon as Saturday afternoon or maybe Sunday. I may end up having to drive down Hudson to take delivery of the bicycle but I could combine that with some beach time at Lake Taghkanic or ride some of the Albany Hudson Electric Trail. Or maybe some of both?
One month π from now will be Work Like a Dog Day π© when the sun will be setting at 8:12 pm with dusk at 8:42 pm. I bet, in August. Maybe more like nap like a dog day. πΆ
Wye yes
Fun fact: In some large apartment buildings in America, kitchen stoves cook 14% percent slower than single family homes.
These buildings use 208 volt wye, which provide on each leg 120 volts to ground. Which is economical for wiring purposes but leaves 240 volt electric stoves with only 208 volts or 14% less heating ability. Not a big deal but slower boiling of a pot of water or more time bringing the oven up to temperature.
At first the loss of light in the evening is gradual…
8:30 pm sunset – Wednesday, July 19
8:15 pm sunset – Thursday, August 3
8:00 pm sunset – Monday, August 14
7:45 pm sunset – Thursday, August 24
7:30 pm sunset – Saturday, September 2
7:15 pm sunset – Sunday, September 10
7:00 pm sunset – Tuesday, September 19
6:45 pm sunset – Wednesday, September 27
6:30 pm sunset – Friday, October 6
6:15 pm sunset – Sunday, October 15
6:00 pm sunset – Tuesday, October 24
4:45 pm sunset – Sunday, November 5
Standard Time Begins – Sunset on Sunday, November 5 is at 4:45 pm
NPR
The best show in the night sky this week may not be fireworks.
Monday's night sky will be lit by the first supermoon of the year — so-called because it will be both full and located close to Earth on its elliptical orbit around our planet.
Waterfall Above Paint Mine Falls
Just a short video I made while I was up at Thacher Park.