Five Rivers Environmental Education Center is a living museum comprising over 450 acres of broad fields, towering forests, and tranquil wetlands. Five Rivers offers people of all ages a rich variety of guided and self-guided opportunities to encounter nature directly. Stimulating interpretive programs and guided school lessons promote awareness, knowledge and appreciation of New York State’s environment year ’round. With over 10 miles of trails for self-guided exploration, Five Rivers fosters discovery, spiritual refreshment and physical fitness through wholesome outdoor recreation.
Good morning! Happy Worm Moon 🌕! With the frost coming out of the ground, I bet earth worms are out and about. Mostly sunny and very spring like at 42 degrees at the Elm Ave Park & Ride – CDTA. There is a south breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at Thursday around 4 am. ☃️ But a few days with the heat off and at least during the day time with the windows open. It was a bit cold when I opened the windows this morning 🔳but it was sure refreshing.
Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 71 degrees at 4pm. 30 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around May 20th. Southwest wind 5 to 10 mph. A year ago, we had sunny skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 42 degrees. The record high of 81 was set in 2016. 6.9 inches of snow fell back in 1961.❄
Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:07 pm with sun having an altitude of 43.1° from the due south horizon (-27.7° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 6.4 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. Before you know it, your shadow will be as short as Mini Mike. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:18 pm with the sun in the west (259°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (265°) starting at 6:53 pm and lasts for 2 minutes and 55 seconds with dusk around 7:23 pm, which is one minute and 11 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Full 🌝 Moon in the east (84°) at an altitude of 4° from the horizon, 226,510 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 7:56 pm. At sunset, look for partly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 69 degrees. There will be a south-southwest breeze at 8 mph. Today will have 11 hours and 38 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 53 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 44 degrees at 4am. 21 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 4th. South wind around 7 mph. In 2019, we had partly cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 28 degrees. The record low of 0 occurred back in 1996.
Today in 1959, Barbie doll makes its debut at the American International Toy Fair in New York. 🎎 Ever since then barbie dolls have had their heads eaten off by family dogs 🐶 and boys have had fun burning their heads off with lighters.
A picture perfect weekend on tap. 😎 Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 47. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 44. Typical average high for the weekend is 43 degrees. Kind of last weekend but only a few degrees cooler. I might do an overnight in Schoharie to check out that tiny home expo at NYPA Gilboa plant but it depends on what I’m doing with Save the Pine Bush.
🌹🌻🌼Only 10 days remain until the first day of calendar spring!🌹🌻🌼
Looking ahead, there are 7 weeks until Arbor Day 🌳 when the sun will be setting at 7:51 pm with dusk at 8:21 pm. On that day in 2019, we had rain showers, partly cloudy and temperatures between 50 and 40 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 63 degrees. We hit a record high of 91 back in 1962.
Good morning! Happy Daylight Savings Time 🌆! I hope you remembered to set your clock ahead one hour last night but not on Microsoft Windows which reminds you with a big note. 📝 Linux does it too but doesn’t make a big deal about it. Next Sunday is Ides of March ✝. We will already be halfway through March at that point. Partly cloudy and 24 degrees in Delmar, NY. ⛅ Calm wind. Cold start to the morning but it’s expected to warm up quickly.
Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 57 degrees at 4pm. 16 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 12th. I like it when April weather comes a month early. Light and variable wind becoming west 5 to 9 mph in the morning. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 34 degrees. The record high of 68 was set in 2012. 6.5 inches of snow fell back in 2013.❄
This morning I am meeting some people and going for a walk at the Albany Pine Bush Preserve. 🌲🌲🌲It should be a really nice day. Later on I’ll probably go for a hike somewhere to be decided then out to the folks house for Sunday dinner. 🍲 Maybe Thacher Park?💭 I haven’t been up way that in a while but some of trails might be really muddy. Tomorrow is going to be even nicer but alas me gotta work 👷 and make money 💵 so I can enjoy the real nice weather when it happens. ☀
Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:07 pm with sun having an altitude of 42.7° from the due south horizon (-28.1° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 6.5 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:17 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (258°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (265°) starting at 6:51 pm and lasts for 2 minutes and 55 seconds with dusk around 7:22 pm, which is one minute and 12 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Worm Full 🌝 Moon in the east (88°) at an altitude of 17° from the horizon, 227,384 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 7:55 pm. At sunset, look for mostly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 52 degrees. There will be a west-southwest breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 11 hours and 36 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 54 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌤, with a low of 34 degrees at 6am. 11 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 6th. South wind 3 to 7 mph. In 2019, we had clear skies in the evening, which became clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 12 degrees. The record low of -14 occurred back in 1943.
In 1965, Thirty-five hundred United States Marines are the first American land combat forces committed during the Vietnam War. 💣 The escalation of the war was well underway at that point. It would last for another decade and was pretty tragic for all parties involved.
🌹🌻🌼Only 11 days remain until the first day of calendar spring!🌹🌻🌼
As previously noted, next Sunday is Ides of March ✝ when the sun will be setting at 7:02 pm with dusk at 7:30 pm. On that day in 2019, we had partly sunny, but quite warm with rain showers and temperatures between 72 and 44 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 44 degrees. We hit a record high of 72 back in 2019.
The other day I was recording for the Reszin Adam and what frequently comes up is her old mineograph machine that was left on the curb and likely crushed in an garbage truck and hauled to the landfill for “disposal.” The question always come up whether or not the broken down mineograph should have been saved for history purposes.
The mineograph printed most of the flyers and newsletters for the social justice causes in Albany from the mid 1960s through the 1990s. The mineograph of hers cranked them out one by one with its stinky blue ink from the basement of Reszin house on Chestnut Street for decades. By the time it was retired from service it was no longer usable as the belts and rubber throughout the machine worn and destroyed by the ozone in the air. Parts if they could have been obtained, wouldn’t have made much sense to replace them as computers and laser printers have long replaced such technology as superior.
And it’s not like the mineograph was anything special. It was cranked out by thousands from factories. You can probably find dozens if not hundreds of similar machines on Ebay, some certainly in much better working order. Because of industrial production they are all pretty much the same. Any meaning given to the machine was mostly emotional – it’s not like it would be studied by future generations. Even if it was a museum piece better working examples could be found. And they’re are no museum’s of the people’s history of Albany. People are mostly interested in elected officials like Mayor Erastus Corning, even though the people’s voice still matters on the direction of our country.
Some of the early documents of Save the Pine Bush and the work of Reszin Adam’s have been saved. Others inevitably went to the landfill or maybe the scrap markets for making new paper. Some history was lost but some saved. But it’s hard to say if anyone will ever open the archives or lost to time.
Myself, I don’t save a lot on paper. Most of it ends up in the recycling dumpster or burned up in the woods. I find it just accumulates and it’s a lot easier to save electronically using computers. I figure I some of my blog will be forever saved in places like archive.org. But realistically some of my experiences and thoughts will be lost with the passing of time. But I guess that’s fine, I’m not a public actor, I’m a private citizen. I don’t get that involved with public policy, I am no Reszin Adam’s whose advocacy lead to countless changes in the Albany area.
I am glad some of Reszin Adam’s papers made it to SUNY archives. I’ve spent over a year with John Wolcott papers but I’m not sure how much valuable I’ve found. But maybe it will get achieved. But for me personally I don’t have all that much worth saving and whatever tidbits to get vacuumed up into the Internet Archives it will be a reminder of the lives we once lead to.
Decided to walk out to Five Rivers Environmental Education Center 🐸 …
Not a real nice day but I wanted to get my steps in. I can ride the bike at home but I think walking is a lot more healthy and from my apartment it’s a good 2 1/2 mile walk each way plus any additional distance I put waking around the preserve. Bring such a cold and gray afternoon my expectations for wildlife were low but there is a lot of birds – blue jays and chickadees around. Plus there is a bathroom which is good because I often find myself needing to take a pee. I am not a big fan of the glossy nature center but I’ll occasionally stop in for a look around at the exhibits to refresh my memory of the local bird species.
