The Rattlesnake Hill Wildlife Management Area is a 5,100 acre upland tract, situated approximately eight miles west of Dansville, New York. Roughly two-thirds of the area lies in southern Livingston County, while the remaining third lies in northern Allegany County. The tract was purchased in the 1930’s under the Federal Resettlement Administration and is one of several such areas turned over to DEC for development as a wildlife management area.
The area is appropriately named after the Timber Rattlesnake, which may be occasionally found in the more remote sections of the “Hill”.
The area offers an interesting blend of upland habitats such as mature woodland, overgrown fields, conifer plantations, old growth apple orchards and open meadows.
The area is inhabited by a variety of game species and is open to public hunting. The white-tailed deer, wild turkey, ruffed grouse, grey squirrel, cottontail rabbit and woodcock are found on the area. An occasional snowshoe hare may be observed adjacent to thick creek bottom brush or conifer plantation habitats.
A number of small marsh units have been developed and provide limited hunting for waterfowl. Some of the area’s furbearing species such as mink, beaver and raccoon may be occasionally viewed at these marsh units.
Smoking cigarettes these days is pretty much considered to be an socially unacceptable behavior. Cigarette smokers are considered to be addicts, people with a bad habit, that at best need a medical intervention to quit their nasty habit. Strangely enough, such beliefs do not extend to those who eat a lot of processed foods that are high in sugars, salts and unhealthy fats.
Diabetes, especially the most common form of the disease, Type 2 Diabetes is largely caused by the over-consumption of sugars and unhealthy fats that destroys the pancreas due to the constant overproduction of insulin. Much like a light bulb or a motor driven with too much voltage, the pancreas cranking out all that insulin to burn off all that excess sugar in blood ultimately starts to burn out and body stops producing sufficient insulin which causes blood sugar to rise, which causes various organs and parts of the human body to break down, much like an automobile lacking engine oil or coolant.
It’s something one should want to avoid if all possible. Yet it’s hard, when so much of our culture is about promoting unhealthy, often processed foods. Processed foods aren’t inherently bad, but they are often bland and unpalatable without the addition of saturated fats, salt and sugars. Even when food is lightly processed, there is a trend to cook with saturated fats, salts and sugars for taste, even when there might be healthier options to cook with spices, fruits and vegetables.
Any popular dessert promoted widely in the culture is likely loaded with saturated fats, salt and sugars. But you don’t have to listen to the advice, you can go for natural flavors of fruit and vegetables, enhanced with spices. Cookies aren’t just bad for you because they have loads of sugar, and therefor calories, but also are bad for you because they use butter or palm oil shortenings to give them that soft texture. But there are other ways to get enjoyment in eating from natural foods.
For a while I was a bit obsessed with sugar and salt substitutes. I liked the idea of minimizing my sugar and therefore calorie intake by using things like Splenda or in case of salt, Accent MSG. But I am coming to realize such things are really false options. Many of the artificial sugars may have just as bad of impact as the real thing on one’s pancreas, and aren’t really about making the behavioral choice of eating food that isn’t so sweet or salty.
It’s not as hard for me as I live alone and have full control of the food I purchase at the store. If something is not in my pantry, then I can’t eat it. Yet, there are constant temptations — lunches out with the team, cookies and candy brought in the office, mom’s home cooking. To be rejecting it all seems to being a picky eater. Sometimes I don’t — I’ve learned to make peace with mom’s home cooking, as she’s not going to be around all that much longer and a meal I don’t have of hers, there is a good chance it won’t be available in the future. And it’s about averages, not the exceptional meal. But I do walk past those free cookies and cakes in the office.
Going to get cooler as the day goes on, but not too bad this morning. Gotta save the $1.30 bus fare and get my exercise in. Going to be a decent morning for the bike ride in and combines both the commute with at least some exercise. Then it’s up the 18 stairs in Alfred E Smith Building. Won’t be much longer that I am doing this commute, due to snow and new office location in the suburbs, though I plan to ride in to the new office when the weather is decent.
Good morning! Happy Thursday. Mostly cloudy and 32 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ Calm wind. The skies will clear around 1 pm. I’ll take a morning like this for December. Good enough for me to ride in certainly. Especially as I think snow is coming next week, which will make the ride in at least along the rail trail impossible, to say nothing of session or moving to the new office, assuming that happens next week.
I made some pretty good pancakes this morning 🥞, skipping the bananas as I’m running low, using an egg as the binder, along with a mixture that was 2/3rd ground oatmeal and 1/3rd whole-wheat flower, along with some water, olive oil and baking powder. I’ve been more careful about much baking powder I use for these kinds of things — the alum can quickly make things bitter. 😒 Gave it a bit of time to rise, then made delicious fluffy pancakes. Topped with shredded in the food-processor frozen strawberries and 100% pure-maple syrup. 🍓 I’ve decided it’s not worth it to use sugar-free syrup. There are health benefits to using pure-maple syrup like antioxidants, and the calorie difference might not really be that much different as there is some evidence that sugar-free syrups still spike insulin and can encourage you to eat in excess. 🍁 Pure maple syrup is expensive, as it requires so much raw sap, so it’s something to use sparingly.
Today will have a chance of snow showers between 8am and 1pm. Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny 🌦, with a high of 38 degrees at 11am. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around February 21st. Light and variable wind becoming northwest 13 to 18 mph in the morning. Winds could gust as high as 29 mph. We could use some sun, it’s been kind of a dreary winter, being so mild but not so sunny. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Little or no snow accumulation expected. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 43 degrees. The record high of 64 was set in 1950. 8.8 inches of snow fell back in 2003.❄
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:01 pm with sun having an altitude of 24.6° from the due south horizon (-46.2° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.1 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:50 pm with the sun in the southwest (231°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (239°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:35 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 23 seconds with dusk around 5:06 pm, which is 55 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:42 pm. At sunset, look for partly clear skies 🌃 and temperatures around 32 degrees. The wind chill around sunset will be 20. ☃️ Breezy, 18 mph breeze ⛅ from the northwest with gusts up to 29mph. Brr. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 13 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute over today.
This evening I thinking of running into the office 🏢 after hours when parking is free 🅿️ to load my boxes of stuff 📦 and plants and bring them home in part of the moving process. I am going to be working out of a temporary office the next few months, so I’ll probably just leave the plants at home 🌿 by the window until I have my permanent office. I worry about them being too cold at home or even the shock of bringing them home on such a cold night, but I think I need to get them cleared out. 🍏 Plus I’m getting low on food again, especially so I can cook 👩🍳 for the family party that I am going to on Saturday, assuming it’s not canceled due to the impending snow storm. ❄️
Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 17 degrees at 5am. One degree below normal, which is similar to a typical Maximum wind chill around 13 at 1am; Northwest wind 7 to 14 mph. Going to need that heat on tonight. Almost wish I head some bread to bake in the morning. In 2023, we had light rain in the evening, which became patches of fog by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 38 degrees. The record low of -24 occurred back in 1904.
The chances of snow are increasing come the weekend. ⛄ Saturday, a slight chance of snow after 4pm. Cloudy, with a high near 34. Calm wind becoming southeast around 6 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 20%. Sunday, snow. High near 32. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Typical average high for the weekend is 33 degrees. Well, it is January. You expect the snow to come at some point. But looking at the real long range, I have questions on how long the snow will last. It might rain on Tuesday into Wednesday, but then again, things could change.
Honey, you should knote, there are 2 weeks until Winnie the Pooh Day 🍯 when the sun will be setting at 4:51 pm with dusk at 5:21 pm. On that day in 2023, we had cloudy weather that was generally mild except for the freezing rain showers early in the morning and temperatures between 44 and 32 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 32 degrees. We hit a record high of 59 back in 1973.
As it’s a session day and I have to dress up for work, I couldn’t ride into work and decided rather than go for a walk I’d go for a ride before showering. But it was still quite dark and I needed the lights on my bike when I started out.
Good morning! First session day of the year. All my dress shirts and pants are much too big. With the sun now up, it’s cloudy and 33 degrees in Delmar. ☁️ Calm wind. Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 1 am. ☃️
Figured get an early start on the bike 🚴♀️ as I wasn’t going to bike into work or take the stairs up to my office. Decided to do a seven mile bike ride out to Meads Lane, but even at quarter to seven, with the late winter sunrise and clouds, it was dark, especially once I got beyond the streetlights. That said, the lights on my bike work pretty good, and I should be quite visible to drivers especially with my blaze-orange vest on. 🦺 I am hoping soon there is more daylight though, as I would prefer to ride to walk in the morning, just because you burn calories quicker, plus I find walking rather then biking after breakfast can give me the urge to go 💩 and that rush back home to the toilet 🚽 is never fun, especially if you risk saturating your pants.
I guess my dress clothes don’t fit all that great 👔 but the way I look at it I’ll keep an eye out for sales on dress shirts and pants, replace one or two pairs of the most worn out clothes, and as time goes on replace others. Like I’ve done with the rest of my non-dress clothes. I finally put the 40 inch jeans away, as they are much too loose, 📏 as I generally wear 34 inches, though I have some 36s I also wear though they’re a bit too big. Likewise, most of the clothes I wear most frequently now are large-tall or extra-large, though I do have some old 2x shirts I’ll wear casually, but they’re quite baggy. I should head back to Salvation Army and see what I can get, especially for more business casual clothes — some of the best stuff I have has come from there, often much higher quality then what I could get at the stores. 👨💼
Today will have a chance of flurries before 11am. Mostly cloudy ⛅ , with a high of 41 degrees at 2pm. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 3rd. Calm wind becoming west 5 to 7 mph. A year ago, we had mist in the morning, which became light rain by afternoon. The high last year was 37 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 1913. 12.0 inches of snow fell back in 2003.❄ I remember that snow storm when I was a student as Hudson Valley Community College.
This morning I got baking with two loaves of bread in the oven 🥖 🍞 — one rye and onion bread, the other whole-wheat oatmeal bread. I had some of the whole-wheat oatmeal bread with my eggs and veggies for breakfast 🍳 and also cooked up some black beans and spaghetti squash. Not making black beans soup this time, 🍲 instead going to have the black beans with lunch and other meals. I thought about making rice and lentils but maybe later in the week. Also pulled out some stew that mom made a few weeks back from the freezer to heat up for dinner tonight. 🚶♀️ This evening I do want to do a walk.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:00 pm with sun having an altitude of 24.5° from the due south horizon (-46.3° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.2 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:49 pm with the sun in the southwest (231°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (239°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:34 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 23 seconds with dusk around 5:05 pm, which is 54 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:42 pm. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies ☁ and temperatures around 39 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 9 hours and 11 minutes of daytime, an increase of 52 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will have isolated snow showers after 1am. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 29 degrees at 6am. 11 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 24th. Light southwest wind. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2023, we had light rain in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 37 degrees. The record low of -15 occurred back in 1904.
Cloudy with a growing chance of snow come Sunday. 🌨 I’m not ready to call a blizzard though for Sunday, I think they’re a bit dramatic on the tele. Saturday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 33. Sunday, snow likely before 1pm, then a chance of rain and snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 34. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Typical average high for the weekend is 33 degrees.
Looking ahead, there are 6 weeks until Valentines Day ❤️ when the sun will be setting at 5:26 pm with dusk at 5:54 pm. On that day in 2023, we had partly sunny, mild and temperatures between 50 and 30 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 36 degrees. We hit a record high of 63 back in 1946.
I was thinking this morning that it’s been 17 years now since I was a bushy-eyed intern for now-Congressman Joe Morelle back at the Assembly.Many years have come and gone since then, lots of hard work, fun and some tears. Soon I’ll be moving to the suburban office to take over as Director of Data Services for Assembly, though this week I’ll be training the person who is taking over my position in Research Services. Lots of Lists of Lists (LOL), as they called it back when I was working in college at Higher Education Services Corporation. But first a nice bike ride to work, probably for the only time this week.
Good morning! Happy Tuesday. Mostly cloudy and 26 degrees at the in Delmar, NY. ☁ Calm wind. Things will start to thaw out at around 11 am. 🌡️ Not a terrible morning for the bike ride in but I was hoping for more sun earlier on. That said with session tomorrow and rain on Thursday and Friday, it will likely be the last bike ride in of the week.
A new year, the same ol’ deja moo. 🐮 Except it’s framed in a new way. As the more things change, the more things stay the same. Gotta dig out my politician suit for tomorrow, which doesn’t fit the way it once did now that I’ve lost so much weight. 🕴 But first today it’s riding the bike to work, 🚲 listening to some Oliver Anthony. 🎤 🎻 And then time to chase the money, 💸 because your dollar ain’t shit and it ain’t tied to no hen, as he would sing. I have a bit of an obsession with Oliver Anthony, mainly because his life is my life goal. 🥅 You know that $750 trailer on the 96-acres in West Virginia, though I heard he actually lives in Farmville, Virginia, down the way from Cam Edwards. But first I need to make some money, because I have to pay those bills, especially all that food 🍏 and gasoline ⛽ I’ve been buying. At least calling off the camping trip this weekend, my propane tank is full 🏮 so I won’t need more propane before the next time camp.
Today will be cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny ☁, with a high of 36 degrees at 2pm. Kind of like yesterday. Two degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around February 14th. Northwest wind 5 to 7 mph becoming calm in the afternoon. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 51 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 1890. 7.1 inches of snow fell back in 2014.❄
While I will say I’m blessed to ride in today, I do wish there had been more sun. That said it is supposed to get sunnier as the day progresses but then more clouds tonight and over the next few days. Often winter days are kind of cloudy and depressing, especially in years as mild as it’s been. As much as I like the reduced heating bills, I do not love how cloudy the days have been as of recent.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:00 pm with sun having an altitude of 24.4° from the due south horizon (-46.4° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.2 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:48 pm with the sun in the southwest (231°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (239°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:33 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 24 seconds with dusk around 5:05 pm, which is 52 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:41 pm. At sunset, look for partly sunny skies 🌃 and temperatures around 35 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 11 minutes of daytime, an increase of 52 seconds over today.
Yesterday was New Years Eve Fondue with the family. 🫕 It was delicious, a nice treat. I figure enjoy these special moments with the family as it’s been three weeks since I last visited my parents before the holidays when we went and saw the Nutcracker as both of my parents the past few weeks have been really sick with a bad cold, which is particularly serious with them getting up there in the years. It’s been over a decade now since Mom retired, dad turns 77 years old. They also gave me some Christmas presents, which I always think is silly as an adult, but I think I’ll find uses for the immersion blender, and not just for smoothies, which I tend to think are kind of silly and unhealthy. 🥤
To make up for all that unhealthy saturated fat, I decided to start my New Years Day out with a 5-mile bike ride to Five Rivers, then another 15-miles riding out to Voorheesville, then down to Elsemere and along some of the side streets in Delmar. Then I hiked up Bennett Hill and then did an evening walk, for a total of 7 1/2 miles walked. I made sure to have a healthy lunch with lots of peas, corn, spinach, and tofu with spices and skipped desert at the end of the day for a glass with apple cider vinegar. I figure if you’re going to eat crap you should make sure your at least including a fat-soluble vitamins from natural sources to mop up all that fat. Breakfast yesterday was apple-oatmeal-cake baked in the oven. No sugar, but some whole-wheat flour, an egg, bananas and several chopped up apples with cinnamon.
Tonight will have increasing clouds ☁, with a low of 26 degrees at 5am. Eight degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 15th. Calm wind. In 2023, we had clear skies in the evening, which became mist by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 27 degrees. The record low of -14 occurred back in 1970.
The thing we’re watching is the snow storm possible on Saturday or Sunday. 🌨 No guarantees at this point though. NOAA is leaning heavily on GFS model, which is showing the storm hitting the west coast hitting West Virginia and pushing out to see and we just having cold and cloudy weather. Seems like Appalachians have been hogging all of the snow this year. 🐷 ❄️ Saturday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 33. Sunday, snow likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 32. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Typical average high for the weekend is 33 degrees. Maybe not that cold, as next weekend is one of the coldest on average in Albany, though it seems like lately winter has been coming later and later. I expect the really frigid weather to come February, about the time the record man says it should be warming up.
Looking ahead, next Tuesday is Static Electric Shock Day 🧼 when the sun will be setting at 4:41 pm with dusk at 5:11 pm. But to more static electricity, we need it to be colder and drier. This year hasn’t been that shocking by any measure of that. On that day in 2023, we had cloudy, snow showers and temperatures between 36 and 18 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 33 degrees. We hit a record high of 62 back in 2008.
Two weeks until Martin Luther King Day. 🖤 I am hoping things will be cooler and drier by then for good camping. That’s my next adventure on the agenda.
Happy 2024! Going to be a hot one as they say about the coming year. Maybe not in Albany, it’s one city in the world, though it certainly looks like it might be fairly mild January to kick off the year, though not as mild as last year.
Good morning! Mostly cloudy and 32 degrees at the Delmar, NY. ☁ There is a north breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. Things will start to thaw out at around 1 pm. 🌡️
Up at 5 AM this morning ⏰ like usual to get a jump on the morning and cook breakfast. 🥮 Decided to kick off the year with an oatmeal-apple cake that I baked in the oven with lots of cinanmon and coffee. ☕ Nice start to the morning. Planning to head out shortly to Five Rivers 🐦 to watch the sun rise and look at the birdies. 🚴♀️ Not quite sunrise yet, but I have lights on my bike. Kind of a cool morning, but so be it, that’s to be expected for January. Not going to break any temperature records this morning.
New Year’s Day will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a high of 33 degrees at 2pm. One degree below normal, which is similar to January 12th. North wind 3 to 6 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 57 was set in 1966. 9.2 inches of snow fell back in 1961.❄
Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:59 am with sun having an altitude of 24.4° from the due south horizon (-46.5° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:47 pm with the sun in the southwest (231°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (239°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:33 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 24 seconds with dusk around 5:04 pm, which is 50 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:40 pm. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies ☁ and temperatures around 33 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 10 minutes of daytime, an increase of 48 seconds over today.
Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌤, with a low of 22 degrees at 5am. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 1st. Calm wind becoming northwest around 5 mph. In 2023, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 29 degrees. The record low of -20 occurred back in 1970.
Not a particularly nice weekend on tap. 😞 Saturday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 37. Sunday, a chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 32. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Typical average high for the weekend is 33 degrees.
As previously noted, next Monday is Bubble Bath Day 🧼 when the sun will be setting at 4:40 pm with dusk at 5:10 pm. On that day in 2023, we had mostly sunny and temperatures between 35 and 19 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 33 degrees. We hit a record high of 60 back in 2008.
Made it to the end of year. Kind of a cloudy, gray, cool day to end out the year — certainly not the best day to be out doing outdoor activities, especially with the breeze and gray skies. Maybe it’s best that my planed camping trip didn’t work out after all.
I was originally planning to be out camping today, but when I got up to camp 🏕 the campsite was taken and everything up at Rensselaerville State Forest was a complete mosh pit, after all the rain we’ve had and above normal temperatures. I poked around the state forest for a while, thought about pitching a tent, but I would be setting up in the mud, and the other campsite — Campsite 3 was a mess because they’ve been logging off CCC Road. I think that red clay is as slick and muddy as I can remember due to it being such a mild, ice free winter. Maybe that black powder guy parked in the campsite did me a favor. I don’t think he was camping, though it seemed like he swapped off that site with another person, which makes me think maybe he had his stand up there and wanted to reserve the site. I’m not that heart broken 💔 about not camping this weekend. I might be back for Martin Luther King Day Weekend, ❄️ which believe it or not is only two weekend away this point. I’m hoping it will be cold enough at that point that I won’t be dealing with all that mud and slop. Some snow would be nice, and most of the big hunting seasons are done 🔫 though trapping is open and as small game.
Back to the table format on the weather, as my blog’s weather template always seems to break for the last day of the year. 🌆 There is a one-day-a-year bug which I should fix but it happens only once in 365 days. I didn’t blog yesterday, at least with a status update as I got a bit of a late start, and was planning to do it up by camp which didn’t happen. Instead, I came home, unpacked my gear 🎒 which didn’t take long as nothing was disorganized or dirty, made some lunch and spent the balance of the day reading and studying my machine learning course. 🤖 This morning I finished up the Udemy Neural Nwtworks for R course and started one on Support Vector Classification for R. 💭 I’ve been thinking I should also do some machine learning courses on Python so I get a full knowledge and various platforms. 👩💻 I’m not opposed to Python though I tend to use R more then Python.
Today for exercise 🚲 I think I’m going to ride out to Voorheesville 🚂 and maybe stop at Hannaford out there to get some baker’s vanilla which I like in my coffee and warm milk at the end of day, plus also some more apple cider vinger which I like in my glass of warm milk at the end of day.. That said, I’m still cringing after spending $200 at the grocery store on Friday, though fortunately I got paid early — I couldn’t believe I got my first 2024 pay check on Friday, when the official pay day is next Wednesday, January 3rd. Paychecks have been coming earlier and earlier, often on Monday mornings, and I know New Years Day or Monday is a holiday, but I just assumed the money would come in on Tuesday. 💵 It’s good though as I paid rent on Friday, 🏘 and I’ve been concerned about having the minimum in bank account.
I guess this sort of makes December, rather then January a three paycheck month, but as long as I keep things coming in and out consistently, I’m good. I just ended up buying a lot groceries, in part for camping but also there was a lot of things I wanted to keep my pantry stocked. That said, it should cut back on what I need in future weeks, as most of the more expensive things I stocked up are the kind of things that should last for a while. I don’t waste food, if things start to go bad, I cut off the bad parts and eat that first. 🍎 But I generally prefer frozen and vegatables, and aren’t afraid to use my freezer.
My parents have continued to be sick on and off 😣 so I’ve not been able to visit them in the few weeks 👪 and I’m not totally sure if we are going to do a get together for New Years Day, 🎆 though we’ve been talking about doing a holiday celebration 🎄 getting together next week for Mom’s birthday with my sister, niece and in-laws, assuming everybody is feeling better by then and the weather is good.
As you will note below, going to be a mild week to start out January, and we are definitely starting to pick up more daylight at end of each day.
This Afternoon. Feels like … December 18th.
Mostly cloudy. Northwest wind around 8 mph. and
37 degrees
,
4:33 sunset.
Tonight. Feels like … December 3rd.
A slight chance of snow showers between 10pm and 4am. Mostly cloudy. Northwest wind 3 to 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. and
26 degrees
,
7:23 sunrise.
New Year’s Day. Feels like … December 22nd.
Mostly cloudy. North wind 3 to 6 mph. and
36 degrees
,
4:33 sunset.
Monday Night. Feels like … December 10th.
Mostly clear. Northwest wind 6 to 8 mph. and
24 degrees
,
7:23 sunrise.
Tuesday. Feels like … December 9th.
Sunny. West wind 5 to 9 mph. and
40 degrees
,
4:34 sunset.
Tuesday Night. Feels like … November 30th.
Partly cloudy.
and
27 degrees
,
7:23 sunrise.
Wednesday. Feels like … December 6th.
Mostly cloudy.
and
41 degrees
,
4:35 sunset.
Wednesday Night. Feels like … November 23rd.
Mostly cloudy.
and
29 degrees
,
7:23 sunrise.
Thursday. Feels like … December 18th.
A chance of snow before 10am, then a chance of rain and snow between 10am and 4pm, then a chance of snow after 4pm. Mostly cloudy. Chance of precipitation is 30%. and
That said with session tomorrow and rain on Thursday and Friday, it will likely be the last bike ride in of the week.
but then more clouds tonight and over the next few days. Often winter days are kind of cloudy and depressing, especially in years as mild as it’s been. As much as I like the reduced heating bills, I do not love how cloudy the days have been as of recent.
as it’s been three weeks since I last visited my parents before the holidays when we went and saw the Nutcracker 
as both of my parents the past few weeks have been really sick with a bad cold, which is particularly serious with them getting up there in the years. 
It’s been over a decade now since Mom retired, dad turns 77 years old. 
They also gave me some Christmas presents, which I always think is silly as an adult, but I think I’ll find uses for the immersion blender, and not just for smoothies, which I tend to think are kind of silly and unhealthy. 🥤
I decided to start my New Years Day out with a 5-mile bike ride to Five Rivers, then another 15-miles riding out to Voorheesville, then down to Elsemere and along some of the side streets in Delmar. 
Then I hiked up Bennett Hill 
and then did an evening walk, for a total of 7 1/2 miles walked. I made sure to have a healthy lunch with lots of peas, corn, spinach, and tofu with spices and skipped desert at the end of the day for a glass with apple cider vinegar. 
I figure if you’re going to eat crap 
you should make sure your at least including a fat-soluble vitamins from natural sources to mop up all that fat. Breakfast yesterday was apple-oatmeal-cake baked in the oven. No sugar, but some whole-wheat flour, an egg, bananas and several chopped up apples with cinnamon. 
This year hasn’t been that shocking by any measure of that. On that day in 2023, we had cloudy, snow showers and temperatures between 36 and 18 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 33 degrees. We hit a record high of 62 back in 2008.
That’s my next adventure on the agenda.
