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.
Figured if it’s a dress-up day for work, I won’t be able to ride to work or want to take the stairs up to my office. So it best to get out riding early. It looks like the main roads will just be wet, not super icy though I might run into some snow on side-streets, like Meads Road and Orchard Street. I don’t expect it will be that bad of a ride this morning, and it’s not super cold. But first the sun needs to rise a bit more. I have lights on my bike but I don’t want to ride in the pitch black, especially past the street lights on NY 32 and Meads Road.
Good morning! Happy Monday on this Bubble Bath Day. 🛀 Back to work today, no time for bubble baths. 🧼Partly cloudy and 23 degrees in Delmar. ⛅ There is a northwest breeze at 14 mph. 🍃. The current wind chill is 11. There are 7 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Things will start to thaw out at around 10 am. 🌡️ Probably want a bubble bath by the time I get home from the ride this morning. And more oil on the bike chain.
This morning I made cornmeal paddies with an egg, milk, red onions, garlic, spinach, red pepper and salt. 🍔 I think with the garlic, salt and red pepper I might next time dial back it back a bit, as they were a bit more punchy then I’d like in the morning, but they were good. The spinach helped boost the fiber content plus topping them with greek yogurt and the egg in them really boost the protein content. I was pretty happy with how they came out, and will make them again though I still think I’d want to tone them back a bit. Just too spicy for morning food. Is corn as healthy as oats or whole-wheat? Probably not, but it has the different sweeter and oiler taste. Don’t need to add any oil to the paddies for sure, and they were good.
Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 37 degrees at 1pm. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around February 18th. Northwest wind 7 to 14 mph. Between the warm weather, breeze and sun I don’t expect the snow to stick around. But we can really stick a fork in it come Wednesday with the rain expected. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 35 degrees. The record high of 60 was set in 2008. 8.3 inches of snow fell back in 1923.❄
Yesterday, I decided to make up some chicken soup 🍲 for dinner, which was followed by pea soup and a small bowl of cornmeal porridge. Interested in finding new ways to use cornmeal. Shredded a full orange in the food processor, to get all the flavor, taste and fiber of both the inside and outside of an orange. Didn’t make up any bread last night, I was kind of tired, but I probably will tonight when I get home.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:02 pm with sun having an altitude of 25.1° from the due south horizon (-45.7° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.8 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:54 pm with the sun in the southwest (232°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (240°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:39 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 21 seconds with dusk around 5:10 pm, which is one minute and 2 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:46 pm. At sunset, look for partly clear skies 🌃 and temperatures around 34 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 7 mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 18 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 14 seconds over today.
I’ll be the first to admit yesterday wasn’t the most productive day ever. Just a lot of reading, and watching Youtube and Udemy videos to learn more about machine learning and other topics. I probably should have gone out for a walk yesterday, but it was cold out and I wasn’t super interested in heading out. I kind of want to just get through winter at this point.
Tonight will be partly cloudy 🏙, with a low of 22 degrees at 6am. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 1st. Light and variable wind. Should be a nice night for the evening. In 2023, we had clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 18 degrees. The record low of -20 occurred back in 1968.
Right now, a split verdict on the weekend. 😕 Saturday, rain. High near 45. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 32. Breezy. Typical average high for the weekend is 33 degrees. Things could evolve but Saturday isn’t looking great for heading out of town but Sunday into King’s Day might be good. I kind of would like to get at least one night in the woods, preferrably two if I decide to head up to the Adirondacks or Central NY. Rensselearville isn’t so bad for just one night, but it still requires quite a bit of packing.
Next Monday is Martin Luther King Day 🖤 when the sun will be setting at 4:48 pm with dusk at 5:17 pm. We are picking up quite a bit of time in the evening now, even if when I move to the Enterprise Drive office in the suburbs, there will be enough light in evening to ride back and catch the express bus home. The question now is just cold and snow. On that day in 2023, we had partly cloudy and temperatures between 33 and 19 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 32 degrees. We hit a record high of 65 back in 1995.
There is a lot of talk about infrastructure. Usually it involves building big highway bridges, wider roads, new electrical lines, or when they want to throw a bone to the greenies, maybe a stark-itect project like five miles of high speed rail or battery electric buses. Stuff that is great for ribbon cutting by the politicians but not really needed.
That’s all fine and dandy but I think the evidence is American infrastructure as it is pretty good today, we don’t need dramatic upgrades. Maybe some hardening to address climate change or integrate more renewable energy into the grid but there is already existing funding mechanisms to address that. Let individual agencies that have their own revenue sources and know best address these concerns – power companies, Department of Transportation and water authorities – not Washington politicians.
What I do think needs more investing in is the truly public infrastructure – things that can be utilized and enjoyed by all in a largely non consumptive fashion – for no charge or fee.
For example:
Supporting free, open source development projects. People should have access to quality, professional and free software that allows them to do advanced data processing and all other tasks to expand knowledge, grow their business and improve their quality of life.
Online learning – public colleges should put their lectures and teaching materials completely online. Video steaming, web storage are inexpensive these days and while there are costs associated with both generating and hosting such material – the public benefits of greater knowledge and credentialing exceed any taxpayer costs.
Public wilderness and forest areas that are largely primative except maybe for necessary roads, parking and primative campsites. Many of these improvements could be funded via timber and mineral extraction fees
Public libraries and free Wi-Fi so anybody can access the internet when they are in the public commons.
Public data repositories where government data collected in ordinary duties should be easy to obtain, download and process for all purposes public and private without copyright limitations or fees. If the government can help businesses grow by providing free data to them then they should be providing that data rather than collecting licensing fees.
I don’t believe government should be funding for profit or fee based institutions. Roads have the gas tax, power and water utilities have ratepayers fees. Many developed parks have user fees – if you pay to get in then the government shouldn’t be in the business of subsidizing them.
Let fee institutions decide what they should invest in not Washington Bureaucrats. Keep public funds for public purposes.
Winter has arrived though it’s not the dire emergency the weather pundets made it sound yesterday. A few inches of fresh snow, landlord hasn’t plowed the driveway yet but it’s not deep. Even the library is expected to open later on, though with an hour delay due to the snow.
Good morning! Happy Snowy Sunday. Snow is falling and 30 degrees at the in Delmar, NY. ❄ There is a north breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. There are 4 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Things will start to thaw out at tomorrow around 10 am. 🌡️
While I was up I stayed in bed 🛏 until nearly seven this morning 🍳 when I started my day frying an onion and ultimately spinach and eggs. I’m planning a quiet day at home to do some reading 📖 and studying.
Today will snow, mainly before 5pm. 🌨 High of 30 degrees at 9am. Three degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical North wind around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 2 to 4 inches possible. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with a few breaks of sun the afternoon. The high last year was 42 degrees. The record high of 56 was set in 1915. 7.2 inches of snow fell back in 1994.❄
Went to the laundromat 👕 and the grocery store yesterday 🛒 after the snow started 🌨 but the laundromat was still surprisingly crowded and Hannaford was so picked over and no bananas. 🍌 It’s kind of frustrating 😤 as I really like bananas. Also no whole wheat flour 🌾 and the coffee ☕ they had was really pricey.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:02 pm with sun having an altitude of 25° from the due south horizon (-45.9° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.9 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:53 pm with the sun in the southwest (232°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (240°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:38 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 22 seconds with dusk around 5:09 pm, which is one minute later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:45 pm. At sunset, look for snow 🌨 and temperatures around 29 degrees. There will be a north breeze at 6 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 15 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 8 seconds over yesterday.
Thinking it’s a cold day and would be good for soup. 🥘 It would be good to use up the rest fresh spinach I have in the soup before it wilts and it’s a great way to warm myself up. Also thinking about using some of the corn meal I bought to make corn porridge for lunch. I still have some bread 🍞 but I should think about kneading some dough up for baking tomorrow morning. We’ll see.
I think there is too much snow for biking 🚳 and my skis ⛷️ are broke but I might go for a walk later 🚶 and maybe go down to the library. 📚 Also want to clean the bathroom 🚽 and kitchen. 🧼 And just have a quiet day, maybe work on the blog code.
Tonight will have isolated snow showers before 10pm. Cloudy, then gradually becoming partly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 24 degrees at 5am. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 8th. Maximum wind chill around 14 at 4am; Northwest wind 5 to 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2023, we had clear 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 -18 occurred back in 1878.
Looking ahead, there are next week is the Coldest Week of the Year 🌬 when the sun will be setting at 4:55 pm with dusk at 5:24 pm. On that day in 2023, we had snow showers, cloudy and temperatures between 33 and 30 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 32 degrees. We hit a record high of 61 back in 2006.
Hoping to get out of town for Martin Luther King Day Weekend ⛺ but I’m not how good the weather will be. ☔ It’s actually looking like rain for next Saturday then seasonably cold.
Democracy is messy. A little civil disobedience is part of protest, it helps raise awareness. Managing protests can be hard especially when emotions are high. Police have a tough job figuring out how much disorder to allow but protests are much better managed today then 50 years ago – fewer people are injured, less property damaged, less people arrested.
I would rather see some windows broken, some traffic stopped on highways or train tracks and some disorder in general if that’s what it takes to increase awareness of community problems. We can’t back away from our constitution or the first amendment just because we don’t like the message of the protestors. Glass can be replaced but our constitution can’t be.
Shredded a full orange in the food processor, to get all the flavor, taste and fiber of both the inside and outside of an orange. 
Didn’t make up any bread last night, I was kind of tired, but I probably will tonight when I get home.
Just a lot of reading, and watching Youtube and Udemy videos to learn more about machine learning and other topics. I probably should have gone out for a walk yesterday, 
but it was cold out 
and I wasn’t super interested in heading out. I kind of want to just get through winter at this point. 
