John Boyd Thacher State Park, is situated along the Helderberg Escarpment, one of the richest fossil-bearing formations in the world. Even as it safeguards six miles of limestone cliff-face, rock-strewn slopes, woodland and open fields, the park provides a marvelous panorama of the Hudson-Mohawk Valleys and the Adirondack and Green Mountains. The park has volleyball courts, playgrounds, ball fields and numerous picnic areas with nine reservable shelters. Interpretive programs are offered year-round, including guided tours of the famous Indian Ladder Trail. There are over 25 additional miles of trails for summer hiking and mountain biking, and winter cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, and snowmobiling.
I think I already know the answer to that question, as much as I might not love the idea of riding South Pearl Street with the rough pavement, as I am sure there is still too much snow on the rail trail. Got to watch out for the black ice but I assume the bike trail and alike will be plowed in the city, just not down through the gorge. At any rate, Corning Hill is kind of a blast on the bike.
Good morning! Monday’s come back around again. Sunny and 29 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌞 Calm wind. There are 4 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️ Alas that’s the only thing giving me pause, as I doubt I can do the rail trail. But by evening the rail trail might be passable, or certainly by tomorrow. Wednesday might rain, and Thursday I might drive in if I plan to head to the Adirondacks after work, assuming I get Good Friday off. ✝️
So it’s the week leading up to Easter Weekend. 🐇 I am still hoping to have Good Friday off. That said, Thursday looks a bit wet 🌦️ so maybe I won’t head north until early on Good Friday. I am determined to get bacon 🥓 at For the Love of Bacon, as while it’s not something I’d eat regularly it’s such a wonderful treat. 🐖 And your supporting local agriculture while getting a product made out of simple ingredients. I’m not a bacon and eggs each morning kind of person — but a little bit of bacon and bacon grease as a treat spread over a few weeks or months is wonderful. Lard is kind of a wonderful thing. 🫃 I should bring a snow shovel and salt though if heading up north, as there is a chance I’ll need it. But at least fire danger should be relatively low 🔥 for my mostly DEC compliant 3-foot campfire. I should bring a ruler 📏 to measure it, and not burn it, lol. 😸 I just don’t like when people burn pallets and leave nails out for people to run over with their 35-inch tires. 🛞 Plastic, I don’t care as long as I don’t have to smell it and it fully burns up or is packed out. 👃
Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 46 degrees at 4pm. Three degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 19th. Light and variable wind becoming east around 5 mph in the afternoon. A year ago, we had light snow in the morning, which became light drizzle by afternoon. The high last year was 41 degrees. The record high of 74 was set in 1910. 1.9 inches of snow fell back in 1960.❄
Yesterday I hiked Bennett Hill 🚶♂️after the ice storm. 🔌 The power was back on by the time I got back from my folks house, I’m glad about that as otherwise it would have been a very cold and dark night. Didn’t help that I had left the heat at 48 degrees the night before, so things really dropped after the heat quit working at 1 AM the previous night. I was a bit worried about pipes freezing, though that has yet to happen even in the coldest weather, though I do remember them being a bit frozen after the 2009 Ice Storm when I lost power for three days. 🌞 And despite all the sunshine, it still was dark in my bathroom without windows, though what I ended up doing was drawing the blinds and leaving the bathroom door. Still I was super cranky about losing power, again for the second time in like two weeks.
Then I went out to my parents house for Sunday dinner of riggies 🍝, which is far more white pasta then I normally eat but it’s nice to have them as a treat while my family is still around. 👪️ I talk about how close I am to early retirement in 13 years, 10 months and 4 days, and for people who are older that seems like a lifetime — at least a remaining lifetime. But I do agree I really should be spending a least some of that time exploring America. If I want to move out (mid) west, I should explore it first. 🛻 If it means boarding a plane ✈️ and renting a car 🤑 and spending some money, then so be it. Then later in the evening, I went for an evening walk. 🚲️ Never got test my adjustments to the bicycle gears ⚙️ over the weekend, but I’m sure it will be good enough and I can tweak tonight. Probably won’t be riding home but will catch the bus home due to snow/ice remaining on the bike trail.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:02 pm with sun having an altitude of 49.4° from the due south horizon (-21.4° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 5.1 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:37 pm with the sun in the west (267°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (274°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:14 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 54 seconds with dusk around 7:42 pm, which is one minute and 9 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:16 pm. At sunset, look for clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 41 degrees. There will be a east breeze at 6 mph. Today will have 12 hours and 28 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 55 seconds over yesterday.
This evening after I get home I’ll probably have a quick dinner of sweet potato 🥔 and some fried veggies, 🧅 and then go for evening walk before doing some reading 📚️ using that Libby app on my phone. I like E-Books whenever they’re available as it avoids a trip to the library, plus I don’t have to worry about getting the books wet and dirty, and I can bring them under the covers in my bed, which is good with the heated blanket, as especially once we get past today. I plan to read e-books exclusively when I head out of town this weekend — I’ll have to make sure the ones I have are downloaded to my phone.📱 Unfortunately my phone is starting to fall apart, so I may have to think about replacing it soon.
Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 26 degrees at 4am. Three degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 17th. East wind around 6 mph becoming light and variable after midnight. In 2023, we had light drizzle in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 31 degrees. The record low of 0 occurred back in 1885.
Spoke to my neighbor about the garbage pile 🗑️ last week and he still hasn’t done anything to address it. He said he was holding it to take to his parent’s dumpster but had forgotten about it. I just don’t like how animals have gotten into it and I’m finding litter now. I wouldn’t care if he had secure garbage cans.
A picture perfect weekend on tap. 😎 The only real question in my mind will I get off Good Friday. And can I leave early on Thursday? For Good Friday Eve, a chance of showers before 2am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 34. Chance of precipitation is 40%. For Good Friday, partly sunny, with a high near 48. Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 49. Easter, partly sunny, with a high near 47. Typical average high for the weekend is 51 degrees. That sounds like a winner, though it only can slide downhill from here. Not as warm in Adirondacks, but I’ll take that weather for late March.
As previously noted, next Monday is April Fools Day 🤡 when the sun will be setting at 7:23 pm with dusk at 7:50 pm. On that day in 2023, we had rain and temperatures between 74 and 41 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 52 degrees. We hit a record high of 77 back in 1986.
I went to bed early last night noting the ice we were getting and not wanting to deal with the risk of losing power. The power did go out and is still out so I’m shaving and showering in the dark this morning. Fortunately it’s going to warm up by midday though most of the coming week will be a bit below average.
Good morning! Happy Palm Sunday. Sunny and 19 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌞 🌴 I bet a lot of church halls are cold and not very well lit this morning ⛪ though the sunlight through the stain glass must be beautiful. There is a north breeze at 10 mph. 🍃. The current wind chill is 5. There are 5 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Things will start to thaw out at around noontime. 🌡️
I am a bit surprised how much snow 🌨 and ice I we got as I was thinking this would be just a wet rainy ☔ Saturday.Actually thebulk of the daywas just heavy rain but then around 4 pm the ground temperature dropped and it turned to ice then snow. For a while the tree branches were quite ice covered and things were quite pretty.
Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 39 degrees at 4pm. Nine degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around February 27th. North wind 6 to 10 mph. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 51 degrees. The record high of 69 was set in 1976. 5.5 inches of snow fell back in 1956.❄
Laying in bed 🛏 not rushing this morning, because I don’t have coffee ☕ because my stove isn’t working nor do I have any way to cook breakfast 🍳 without power. I figure the more light ☀ with the sun in the sky the better for showering and shaving. 🚿🪒 I am not sure if they even have power 🔌 at the grocery store 🏬 so I’m thinking they may be closed though these days they probably have emergency generators. 🛻 Plus I got to scrape all that ice and snow off my truck.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:02 pm with sun having an altitude of 49° from the due south horizon (-21.8° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 5.2 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:36 pm with the sun in the west (267°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (273°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:13 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 54 seconds with dusk around 7:40 pm, which is one minute and 9 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Full 🌝 Moon in the east (98°) at an altitude of 10° from the horizon, 251,916 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:14 pm. At sunset, look for mostly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 33 degrees. There will be a north breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 12 hours and 25 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 54 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 16 degrees at 6am. 13 degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around February 10th. Northwest wind around 6 mph. In 2023, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became light snow by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 29 degrees. The record low of 0 occurred back in 1875.
Looking ahead, there are 2 weeks until 7:30 PM Sunset 🌇 with dusk at 7:57 pm. On that day in 2023, we had mostly sunny skies and temperatures between 48 and 34 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 55 degrees. We hit a record high of 87 back in 2010.
One of the things that ended my house and land search was the lack of a hybrid-work schedule were I worked. Many of the places I considered living would have been doable had I only had to commute to work 2-3 times a week, but a five day week commute would have been difficult at or above the 30 mile range from my office, which is where most of the properties I found that even somewhat sparked my interest — at the edge of “deep rural”.
With my job, there really is no reason why I couldn’t work remote at least a few days a week, and indeed I may seek out some opportunities come the fall, especially when I need to be switching between my state job and data work I do on the side for the campaign committee. Indeed, plenty of other state agencies are now offering hybrid-arrangements, but not my employer. Instead, we are only remote-work with a granted exception to the full-time in-person schedule.
The thing is this may have to change. When I was recruiting and hiring people, several people turned down the position due to the mandatory in-person schedule. Some may have sought work at lower-pay with our competitors — other state agencies — because they offered greater flexibility with their work-from-home policies. Full-time in office for positions that can be done remotely is not only an enormous waste of time and fuel for employees when commuting, it also is very anti-family. Especially for as an employer, where we always try to put people’s families first, with allowing people to take-off when they need, or when they have a reason to work from home. But still, it would be nice if we could guarantee everybody could work remote at least a few days a week. It’s getting hard to competitive without a hybrid-option on the table.
I get the benefits of being in-person, at least a few days a week. You build connection in-person, especially during meetings and when talking to one and another. You develop close bonds and friendship. Much is lost over cold-written email and phone calls. It’s hard to learn or understand office-culture without being in-person. Zoom meetings aren’t a good substitute for real meetings, as they drag on too long and it’s too much about image, not interpersonal conversation. But in-person meetings don’t have to happen every day.
Alas, if I was permanently hybrid, I would have to get at home internet. But let’s face the truth, it would still be cheaper then commuting each day, save a ton of time, and it would open up so many more possibilities for living arrangements then the mandatory in-office 5-days a week.
The world continues to change, not always towards the better, but at least the John Denver music continues to play on my phone. Even if I can’t make the world a better place, I can work for a better tomorrow for myself.
A good day for staying home, doing some reading and some cleaning. Maybe some thinking and writing about where I am currently, now that’s I’ve put my house and land search on ice, I’d say suspended it but I’m still going to keep learning, will keep my eye on Landwatch and Zillow and keep my options but I think my preferred option is now focused on early retirement.
Good afternoon! Started out as snow, turned to rain, and now looks like it’s more freezing rain and 32 degrees here in Delmar. 🌧️There is a north breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. There are 2 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️The skies will clear tomorrow around noontime.
I honestly thought it was just going to be a rain event locally. 🌨️ I was wrong. It’s really much more of a mixed bag, a lot of slop locally but now I’m watching the trees ice up. They’re getting a fair bit of snow up north, but I think with the warmer temperatures next week, maybe some will be left up north prior to camping but it won’t be a major hindrance as most should melt this weekend. 🏕️ I confirmed that For the Love of Bacon is going to be open on Good Friday, so I can get bacon 🥓 prior to camping. Yum. 🐖 I won’t buy store bought bacon but as an occasional treat, farm bacon is great.
This afternoon will rain or freezing rain before 3pm, then rain and sleet between 3pm and 4pm, then rain, snow, and sleet after 4pm. High of 35 degrees at 2pm. 13 degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around February 13th. North wind 5 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Total daytime ice accumulation of 0.3 to 0.5 of an inch possible. Total daytime snow and sleet accumulation of less than one inch possible. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 56 degrees. The record high of 80 was set in 1938. 6.1 inches of snow fell back in 2020.❄
Thursday knocked my derailleur badly out of alignment fighting the wind heading home, didn’t discover until Friday commute. 🚲 Couldn’t even get it into high. Ended up driving in on Friday but it’s fine as I brought in a better desk lamp and one of my re-potted plants. Had a root rot issue or maybe over fertilization. 🥀 Wasn’t a difficult adjustment, took five minutes with a hex key but I didn’t have time on Friday to adjust. When the rain stops I’ll take for a test ride to verify. I ended up getting an inexpensive stick lamp for my desk at work 🛋️ because the lamp shade on the old lamp I found in the closet was falling apart. Lamp shades were close to same price, plus that old lamp I found in closet kind of was on it’s last legs. This new lamp is super bright with the 200-watt LED bulb, and the not aged-plastic on the lamp shade.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:03 pm with sun having an altitude of 48.6° from the due south horizon (-22.2° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 5.3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:35 pm with the sun in the west (266°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (273°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:12 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 54 seconds with dusk around 7:39 pm, which is one minute and 9 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Full 🌝 Moon in the east (100°) at an altitude of 20° from the horizon, 252,272 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:13 pm. At sunset, look for snow and freezing rain 🌨 and temperatures around 35 degrees. There will be a north-northwest breeze at 14 mph. Today will have 12 hours and 22 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 54 seconds over yesterday.
At one point I had more ambitious plans for today, 🧹 but I really should spend time cleaning in my apartment, especially the bathroom. And I want to do some reading, this time not about real estate, building a house or land. 🏠️ It was fine when I was doing it, but it became a bit overwhelming to say the least. I’m not going to stop learning, but it’s not going to be primary focus now that I’ve moved that goal into my retirement years when I can have lots of land and in live in a state that shares my values. 🧭 I wanted to make New York work, but I just don’t see the state’s values as being consistent with my own.
This afternoon I am thinking if the library opens I’ll go down there for a while to get on the internet, 🖥️ and maybe drop off my Early Voting Ballot to the Early Voting site. Totally voted for Dean Phillips, as I think we need new blood in government, 🫀 even if the 79-year old Joe Biden has nomination locked up. If I don’t get it done today, 🗳️ I can do that tomorrow when I run to the grocery store for my weekly shop already — can you believe tomorrow is already Sunday? 🛒I am thinking Thursday I may take half a day off from work and head up to Adirondacks before rush hour 🚗 , although if the weather is bad, I think I’d be better off to go up early on Good Friday, maybe doing a hike in the morning. 🏕️
Tonight will snow, mainly before 8pm. 🌨 Low of 21 degrees at 6am. Eight degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around February 29th. Northwest wind around 17 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. In 2023, we had light rain in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 34 degrees. The record low of 0 occurred back in 1875.
Looking ahead, there are 5 weeks until Arbor Day 🌳 when the sun will be setting at 7:52 pm with dusk at 8:21 pm. On that day in 2023, we had partly cloudy, patches of fog and temperatures between 62 and 40 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 65 degrees. We hit a record high of 91 back in 1962.
People keep warning if I put off what I want to do until tomorrow, it will never happen. And I will regret it. I push back, noting:
You have no regrets once your dead.
Regret is something you have in the twilight hours of one’s life. Something you have when you realize there is little time left, not enough to do all the things you want to do in your final hours of living. Still I get that someday never comes. If you put off something for tomorrow, you should have a solid plan for doing it tomorrow and be making steps toward tomorrow, or it will never come.
It would be a struggle to walk away from one’s highest earning years of their lifetime, in a job I truly enjoy. At the same time, alternative half measures, like the ones I’ve been contemplating seem to be at best half measures and in many ways inferior to way things are currently. All the best evidence suggests I should wait, take my time, use caution, but not procrastinate. Build things in my mind, continue my research, save and invest. Work to grow my skills and my ability, excel at my job, be the leader I am destine to be.
Maybe I’ll end up running out the clock. That’s a risk. But also there is a lot of reward towards waiting, and not giving up all I’ve built as I move into my prime earning years.
Second rent check is on the way to the new landlord via auto pay. It’s working out fine, this is the least expensive, most flexible living arrangement.
Good morning! Yeah, it’s Friday! Mostly sunny ☀ and 21 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a northwest breeze at 11 mph. 🍃. The current wind chill is 9. There is a dusting of snow on the ground. ☃ Starting out real cold for late March, the heat is back on. Things will start to thaw out at around noontime. 🌡️
Slept until almost six o’clock this morning, 🛏 at which point I got up and made up coffee ☕ and some good hardy pancakes 🥞 with blueberries and pineapple 🍍. Kind of a cold morning, I turned the heat on for a bit and enjoyed my time under the heated blanket. Should be a better day for riding to work but still cold but somewhat less windy. 🚲
Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 37 degrees at 3pm. 11 degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around February 20th. Northwest wind 5 to 11 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 63 degrees. The record high of 81 was set in 2012. 7.0 inches of snow fell back in 1887.❄
Yesterday was super windy 🌬️ riding back home, but it was excellent cardio. ♥ Sweet potatoes 🍠 and a fried onions with corn with turmeric was dinner last night. 🍽 Then I went upstairs, read 📖 and wrote 📝 a bit for the blog. There’s been a lot to think about these days. At one level I feel like a failure walking away 👣 from building a house 🏗️ but it wasn’t going to end well building I’m New York. If leaving immediately was a good choice, I would take it but it’s not. So I’m just going to stay the course for now. I’m not giving up on the dream, I’m delaying it until I have the necessary resources.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:03 pm with sun having an altitude of 48.2° from the due south horizon (-22.6° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 5.4 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:33 pm with the sun in the west (266°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (272°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:11 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 54 seconds with dusk around 7:38 pm, which is one minute and 10 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Full 🌝 Moon in the east-southeast (103°) at an altitude of 30° from the horizon, 251,954 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:12 pm. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies ☁ and temperatures around 34 degrees. There will be a north-northeast breeze at 5 mph. Tomorrow will have 12 hours and 22 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 54 seconds over today.
There is some profound happiness in finding closure ☺ and reverting back to my original plan of moving out of state at retirement or possibly sooner. Age 55 at this point isn’t that far away and it’s a destination I can get to. 🏡 The whole house search thing was kind of silly, I told myself that I could live with being in New York State but I knew that was a profound lie 🤥 I told myself. I want to keep on my savings path 🏦, continue my education 🎓, work hard and produce results in the meantime. The whole house search things really got started when I was super jealous that the head of programming I work with has a house in Westerlo. Stupid reason and it’s not me.
I do need to be more open about who I am but I face profound rejection for being who I am in the community I currently live in. 🤷♂️ I get what people mean by coming out of the closet when many don’t fearing both the personal and legal ⚖ ramifications of being true to oneself. Some of the ways I want to live in activities I want to participate are serious criminal offenses in New York State even if they are perfectly legal and commonplace other places. 🔥 🔫 🚙
Tonight will snow and sleet likely before 3am, then sleet likely between 3am and 5am, then freezing rain, possibly mixed with sleet after 5am. 🌨 Low of 30 degrees at 1am. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 24th. Northeast wind 5 to 9 mph becoming southeast after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Little or no ice accumulation expected. New snow and sleet accumulation of less than one inch possible. In 2023, we had cloudy skies. It got down to 39 degrees. The record low of -04 occurred back in 1875.
This weekend is certainly starting out wintery. ☃️ I think it’s the final last blast of winter at this point. Hoping for better weather for the Easter holiday weekend next weekend 🐰 and actually a little snow on the ground in the Adirondacks is not a bad thing come next weekend as it reduces the fire 🔥 risk. I’m so looking for a few nice nights in the wilderness. ⛺
Tomorrow will rain or freezing rain, becoming all rain after 7am. 🌧 High of 38 degrees at 11am. Eight degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 2nd. South wind 6 to 10 mph becoming north in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 22 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. Little or no ice accumulation expected. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 56 degrees. The record high of 80 was set in 1938. 6.1 inches of snow fell back in 2020.❄
Looking ahead to Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 40. ☀ North wind 13 to 15 mph. Definitely a pretty bitterly cold day. Typical average high for the weekend is 48 degrees. I’m hoping for better warmer weather next weekend to spend in the Adirondacks.
One month 📅 from now will be Earth Day 🌎 when the sun will be setting at 7:47 pm with dusk at 8:15 pm.
