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.
It could be snow but not with El Niño and the jet stream in its current position. At least we’re not expecting to get as socked by rain as the southern states in the coming weeks.
Good morning! Happy Wet Sunday. Yes, clouds ☁️and 40 degrees in Delmar. Rain coming soon. ☔ There is a north-northeast breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at Tuesday around 9 pm. ☃️ Still another pretty mild day, saving on the heat being off. I don’t know why I worry so much about heating bills, as they only work out in the coldest months to be like $30 over the normal non-heating bills, but I do. ♨️ It’s not like I don’t make good money, though I’m always broke as I’m stashing so much in the market and for retirement. But I just don’t like seeing my money go up into smoke, 💨 says the boy who drives a big jacked up truck that has a drinking problem. ⛽
Yesterday wasn’t a real productive day, 📚 the biggest thing I did was go down to the library for a while to work on my laptop 💻 and then reheat some chilli and cook some kidney beans. Like yesterday, this morning I baked a breakfast cake with oatmeal, whole-wheat flour, an egg, stevia, two bananas and cranberries. Good breakfast, super moist, really like a cake. 🍰 Been doing a lot more cooking with cranberries as they’re dirt cheap this time of year — $1.50 for a large bag, and quite delicious. Been continuing on that machine learning course, 🤖 now that I’m in the deep dive into principal component analysis, really starting to learn a lot more. The course I’m learning is primarily about using R packages for machine learning, but most of the techniques could be used with Python. I probably would learn Python and scikitlearn for machine learning, but I feel like I know R better these days as that’s what I constantly use, as like the maggitr pipes and ggplot graphics output.
Today will have showers likely before 8am, then rain, mainly after 8am. 🌧 High of 44 degrees at 2pm. Two degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 29th. Northeast wind around 6 mph becoming east in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. A year ago, we had rain in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 53 degrees. The record high of 63 was set in 2009. 5.2 inches of snow fell back in 1893.❄
After showering this morning, 🛀 heading to Walmart to get groceries for the week, probably around 9 AM before the crowds get there. The big thing is spices, but also frozen fruits and vegetables, plus the usual like another container of oatmeal as I used that up making breakfasts, pancakes and bread. 🛒 Making a list this time in hope that I won’t forget things, though chances are good at least some of things on my list won’t be in stock, as it always happens. Then I want to wash the kitchen floor, do some cleaning and straightening up.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:46 am with sun having an altitude of 25.3° from the due south horizon (-45.5° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.7 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:39 pm with the sun in the southwest (233°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (240°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:24 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 21 seconds with dusk around 4:54 pm, which is 16 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:30 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 43 degrees. There will be a east breeze at 6 mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 16 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 14 seconds over today.
This afternoon heading out to the folks house 🍲 for some turkey soup and the Sunday dinner. Just going to be kind of a rainy day, but I figure get home early then I’ll have time to make up bread 🍞 and soak beans or maybe peas in preparation for making soup come the morning. Then that will be Monday’s dinner. Been working on slowly but surely eating up some of the food I previously frozen but also making sure to maintain balanced meals each day. And maybe some time to read 📖 before heading to bed pretty early. No need to stay up late on such a dreary day.
Tonight will rain, mainly before midnight. 🌧 Low of 39 degrees at 6am. 13 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 23rd. South wind 6 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 25 degrees. The record low of -9 occurred back in 1940.
Yesterday I was thumbing through some properties and land on Zillow. 🏘 So much is that suburban crap with marble countertops and neighbors. It’s hard to find nice pieces of land with acreage. Not that I’m seriously thinking of buying at this point but it can be fun during downtime. That said, moving to the suburban office with free parking, makes it more tempting to think about moving back out to country. Plus I’ll be making more money at my new job, but I think that’s putting the cart before the wagon, because who knows how it will work out or how I’ll like it. It’s a big step forward though. But for now, I’ll probably stay in my apartment. It’s inexpensive, even if it is run down. I have my fun getting away and camping in the wilderness. 🏕 Looking forward to getting away again in two and a half weeks on the run up to the Christmas holiday.
As previously noted, next Sunday is 7:15 AM Sunrise ⌛️ when the sun will be setting at 4:23 pm with dusk at 4:53 pm. On that day in 2022, we had mostly sunny and temperatures between 31 and 20 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 40 degrees. We hit a record high of 64 back in 1966.
It’s something I discovered in my late 30s but is really true as I head into my forty first year come the end of January. There is just so much benefit to getting up early and a jump on the day, and then retiring to bed early once you get home, especially with so many dark and bleak winter evenings ahead.
Don’t get me wrong, Idaho seems like a fun state to dream about but it seems like everybody these days is moving there and it’s going to get wrecked by suburban spawl and the wrong type of people who drove out North Country Off-Grid and his farm.
Depending on how you count it, basically four weekends left if even that before we start the 2024 year. Going to be a busy year, but I am looking forward to the next chapter of my life working out in the suburbs, really putting my data science knowledge and experience to work in my new job. But first a rainy but mild weekend to get through and the holidays.
Good morning! Happy Saturday. Finally the weekend! Not such a drag as I had Monday off and the rest of week was pretty busy, although Friday morning dragged a bit waiting for the next project to come in. Mostly cloudy and 37 degrees at the Delmar, NY. ☁ Calm wind.Temperatures will drop below freezing at Tuesday around 4 am. ☃️
Started out my morning a little after 5 o’clock as I always do. ⏰ I’m not one to set an alarm but I wake up at that hour as I’m usually asleep before 9 PM and around then I have to get up and do the bathroom thing, 💩 so it’s best to get up and going and get a bright and early start on the morning. Decided to bake a breakfast cake this morning 🍰 — this time I started with food-processor milled oatmeal, whole wheat flour, stevia, two bananas, baking powder, canned pumpkin an egg, and some water and baking it. Topped it with lots of pumpkin pie spice. 🎃 It was pretty darn good, the egg and gluten from the whole-wheat flour made it very cake like and not so dry as often comes out when cooking with milled oatmeal. Plus some stomach-filling protein from the egg, and two types of fiber — insoluble fiber from the whole-wheat flour and pumpkin plus soluble fiber from oatmeal. ☕ I had to go to Stewart’s to get milk for the coffee but now this morning is a go.
Today will have a slight chance of showers between 10am and 1pm. Mostly cloudy 🌦, with a high of 47 degrees at 1pm. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 22nd. South wind 3 to 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 41 degrees. The record high of 66 was set in 1998. 6.8 inches of snow fell back in 2019.❄
I am going to take a wait and see approach to today 🌧 but if it looks like it’s going to remain just cloudy I might head up to the Albany Pine Bush for a bike / hike on some of the trails, 🚲 🚶♀️ and then head up to the Salvation Army to look at clothes, especially dressier things for work. 👔 I am though most likely going to have to just buy some dress shirts and pants for work 👨💼 as nothing I have really fits well anymore after loosing so much weight. Then I need to get spices and probably some other groceries at Walmart, though truth be told my pantry isn’t bad currently but I need more frozen fruit and vegetables, 🍓 🥦 along with the spices. Turmeric and ginger in particular but also some cinnamon and Chipotle would be good as I’m low on all those things. I don’t really have to go shopping, but at some point I do want to replenish my pantry and I hate to stay home all day. 🛒
Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:46 am with sun having an altitude of 25.5° from the due south horizon (-45.4° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.6 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:39 pm with the sun in the southwest (233°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (241°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:24 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 21 seconds with dusk around 4:54 pm, which is 18 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:31 pm. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies ☁ and temperatures around 46 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 18 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 18 seconds over today.
I haven’t decided to make bread or pea soup today. 🍞 That was originally the plan but I kind of forgot or was tired and cold after last night so after my salmon 🐟 for dinner, I had some Greek yogurt and pumpkin, 🎃 then settled down to bed 🛌 doing some more of the Udemy course 🎓 on machine learning and went to sleep. I might wait until Sunday evening to kneed and make more bread, and enjoy it fresh come Monday. Maybe the same thing with the pea soup. I do have kidney beans cooking down on the stove, so I could do beans and rice later, and I took both some previously cooked and frozen chickpeas and butternut squash out of the freezer. Also still have spaghetti squash in the fridge from earlier in the week I should eat before it goes bad. Maybe it’s best to save the bread until Monday. Pea soup is good but it can make me gassy, 😤 which is why I was thinking maybe better to have it during the weekend. Helps though if I make sure to drink plenty of water with it and avoid the shredded carrots 🥕 in the bread I’m serving with it.
Tonight will have a chance of showers, mainly after 5am. Cloudy 🌧, with a low of 39 degrees at 5am. 13 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 23rd. Light north wind. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2022, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became rain by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 38 degrees. The record low of -1 occurred back in 1976.
The blog advertising pulled in $165 since September 23, 🤑 which isn’t too bad and will help me recoup at least some of the costs of the web hosting come a few weeks when finally the money is deposited in my bank. It looks like I will be earning roughly $75 a month going forward, getting paid every other month. By April, I should have recouped the hosting and domain costs from advertising, though some depends on ad rates which decline after the Christmas season and web traffic, 🕸 which always picks up during the summer months when people are looking for trails and places for camping. 🏕 I probably wouldn’t have done the advertising thing but I didn’t like the sting of the rising hosting bills a few months back, of which my bank account still hasn’t fully recovered.
I put in a FOIL request for the Recreation Unit Management Plan Shapefile with the DEC. 🏕 This would be nice for making maps, somebody asked for it a while back and I never was able to get them the file. Basically this shapefile includes the area covered unit plans, and I can’t find it online on an ArcGIS REST/Service or the DEC website. I don’t like doing too many FOIL requests 🏣 these days, as I don’t like my name all over government documents, but this would be useful to have, and could create many good maps and analysis for the blog 🗺 which could further drive traffic here. Come February 2024, I am also going to get the update voter file for the full state rather than just the county that I have now, 🗳 so I can use it for analysis, especially machine learning purposes to see if I can figure out new ways of targeting 🎯 voters.
As previously noted, next Saturday is Average High is 40 🌨 when the sun will be setting at 4:23 pm with dusk at 4:53 pm. On that day in 2022, we had sunny and temperatures between 39 and 25 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 40 degrees. We hit a record high of 62 back in 1966.
Every time I pass by a vending machine or restaurant, I often think what a waste of money and resources. I really hate wasting money and I hate relying on others for services I can provide for myself. A hot meal or a snack might be good, but I’d rather buy food in bulk and cook it myself, for less waste and less money.
Restaurant food is often wasteful, but so is so much of the take-out you get that comes in a styrofoam or paper box. When you shop at the store, you can buy things in large packages, make several meals out of the food. You can compost your food scraps, burn or recycling the much more minimal packaging. You don’t have to live the high-waste life.
It’s not rocket science to pack your own lunch in a reusable plastic container like I have done for over an decade for work. A home-packed lunch with a microwave at work is often good, and there are many things you can put in lunch box. I generally prefer a hot lunch nowadays that I make from things previously prepared at home, but for many years I packed sandwiches. Likewise, if you pack food for a road trips, you can skip the vending machines for healthier options that involve less waste.
Maybe it’s too soon to declare it time to stick a fork in it, but the writing is on the wall about the year. Looking at the rising sun taking the express bus downtown as it’s going to turn to rain by rush hour this evening. Listening to that Smash Mouth song, Waiting on the Sun — that I remember fondly hearing on the radio rolling down Interstate 99 at 73 mph heading past Tyrone Penna on the way to West Virginia.Thinking as the year comes to a close, won’t be that much longer that I’ll be working downtown, a big change after the two decades that was.
Good morning! December starts out sunny and mild but quickly fades to rain by evening. Mostly sunny ☀ and 36 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a south-southeast breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at Tuesday around 2 am. ☃️
Doesn’t look like I’ll need much of the central heat this weekend 🌧️ though maybe I’ll want the space heater and electric blanket as it’s going to be cool and damp. 🍞 Planning on making more bread and pea soup tomorrow morning bright and early.
Today started out a little bit later then normal 🛏 sleeping into around five thirty, which is late by my standards. Ran some onions, spinach, broccoli and eggs 🥚 through the food processor, tossed oil into a frying 🍳 pan and that was breakfast. Not a half bad breakfast. Kind of a sleepy this morning 😴, kind of had a rough night sleeping, which is unusual lately since I switched to rising early.
Maybe I could have biked to work today, 🚲 but they’re expecting fairly heavy rain by evening. 🌧 I didn’t really feel like grabbing my bike at end of day, unlocking it and loading it on the bus in the pouring rain. Didn’t seem like a fun way to enjoy my day. The thing is not much longer to ride the bike to work, as when I move to the new office in the suburbs, I’ll be taking the shuttle from downtown, and they don’t have a bike rack on that.
Today will rain, mainly after 3pm. 🌧️ High of 47 degrees at 12pm. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 22nd. South wind around 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 40 degrees. The record high of 67 was set in 1934. 13.3 inches of snow fell back in 2019.❄
Morning started out nice, but I am not expecting it to last. 🌦 Still a bit cool for walking on the plaza, so I’ve been doing laps inside, and now are heading up the stairs to my office. Figured I got to do the stairs as much as I can before I move on to my new office in suburbs with only a single flight of stairs. As I noted, until we get more sunlight in the evening, I don’t think I’ll be able to ride to work, though January would otherwise be tough with the snow and ice and bike trail. Not to mention the cold.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:45 am with sun having an altitude of 25.6° from the due south horizon (-45.2° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.5 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:40 pm with the sun in the southwest (233°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (241°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:24 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 20 seconds with dusk around 4:54 pm, which is 20 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:31 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 44 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 7 mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 19 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 21 seconds over today.
Yesterday, I went out to lunch with the colleagues 🍔 🍣 at the fancy swanky War Room restaurant across from the Albany Capitol Center. I’m just glad I wasn’t paying for lunch and it was on the company credit card. Being the hillbilly of the group, 👩🌾 I always order the worse thing on menu — I got the Buffalo Burger, which despite the delicious sounding description menu, came out looking like a sad McDonald’s hamburger with a not-so-good sauce. I should have ordered the sushi lunch — the sushi appetizers I had were delicious. Would have been more healthy omega-3 fats too compared to that rather nasty $26 burger. I thought for that price, it would be a big-beefy burger with a good bun and excellent fries, none of which was true. So if you’re a big shot politico and lobbyist, and you go to the War Room, only order the sushi. Consider this to be your warning, especially if you’re a hillbilly like me.
That said, I’m kind of glad to be moving to the new office in North Albany 🏢 away from the craziness of Downtown Albany and all the political things. I have a feeling once I’m up in North Albany working I won’t get invited to all these lunches and political events downtown, and can just focus on the data science work for work, running lists and calculations 📄, and not all these real political social things. 👪 I often prefer to work in solitude, get things done, produce results and avoid the politicing and social stuff. I’m kind of an introvert.
Tonight will rain likely, mainly before 10pm. Cloudy 🌧, with a low of 36 degrees at 4am. Nine degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 2nd. South wind around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 31 degrees. The record low of -2 occurred back in 1875.
Dreary evening ahead, 📖 but I’ll get home and cook up some salmon in the oven 🐠 and then get a book out to read and do some of the Udemny course on machine learning 🤖 and head to bed early 🛌 seeking the warm of my heated blanket. My heat is off for now, I don’t need it if going to be above freezing, I’d rather just have a warm bed and warm food. I like living on the cooler side of things, it makes winter camping all them more delightful. ❄️
Tomorrow will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a high of 49 degrees at 12pm. Six degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 17th. South wind around 6 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 41 degrees. The record high of 66 was set in 1998. 6.8 inches of snow fell back in 2019.❄
Staying in town this weekend. 🏘 Probably stay home on Saturday, go down to the library for a while. 💻 And then maybe to Walmart to get some groceries, particularly spices.
Looking ahead to Sunday, rain likely, mainly after 1pm. 🌧️ Mostly cloudy, with a high near 46. North wind around 6 mph becoming east in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. Typical average high for the weekend is 43 degrees.
Sunday I’ll be going out to see the folks 👪 and have Sunday dinner. Turkey soup for dinner. Should be delicious. It’s always great to visit them, even if otherwise it will be a quite wet and dreary day. But not all days can be sunny, and at least it’s not snow or road salt season yet.
Looking ahead, there are 2 weeks until Bill of Rights Day 📜 when the sun will be setting at 4:24 pm with dusk at 4:54 pm. On that day in 2022, we had partly cloudy, sleet and temperatures between 33 and 16 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 38 degrees. We hit a record high of 61 back in 2015.
Up early, started my day with cranberry and banana oatmeal pancakes topped with a blend of frozen antioxidant fruits. Lots of coffee. Riding the bike to work one more day this week and I need to get in early as I have a project to do. Tomorrow starts December and it’s going to be a rainy one so no riding to work tomorrow.
Good morning! Where did November go? December is around the corner as is the 2024 year. Partly cloudy and 26 degrees at the Delmar, NY. ⛅ There is a south-southeast breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. Things will start to thaw out at around 9 am. 🌡️I’ll need my gloves 🧤 on the ride in.
It’s off to work to get that project done. 🚲 Pleasant morning for the bike ride but a bit gray. Figure I best enjoy it now before work moves to the suburbs, where I won’t be able to ride into, at least until there is light in the evening, as I can’t take the bike on the free shuttle bus. 🤷♂️
Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 43 degrees at 1pm. Typical for today. South wind 6 to 10 mph. A year ago, we had light drizzle in the morning, which became light rain by afternoon. Kind of like tomorrow’s forecast though yesteryear was warmer. The high last year was 52 degrees. The record high of 67 was set in 1933. 7.1 inches of snow fell back in 1972.❄
Watched more Udemy videos last night 📺 learning more about machine learning 🤖 and coding, went for an evening walk. 🏃♀️ That bean soup and bread was good, as was the spaghetti squash. 🍲 I have more to enjoy tonight, or I can finish off the rice tonight, as we’re going out to lunch today at work.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:45 am with sun having an altitude of 25.8° from the due south horizon (-45.1° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.4 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:40 pm with the sun in the southwest (233°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (241°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:25 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 19 seconds with dusk around 4:54 pm, which is 23 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:31 pm. At sunset, look for mostly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 41 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 10 mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 20 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 25 seconds over today.
Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 32 degrees at 5am. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 16th. South wind 6 to 8 mph. I’ll take it, saves on the heat. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 32 degrees. The record low of -5 occurred back in 1875.
Clouds andrain this weekend. 🌧️ Hey, it could be snow. Saturday, a slight chance of rain. Cloudy, with a high near 48. South wind around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. Sunday, a chance of showers after 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 44. Chance of precipitation is 30%. No ambitious plans for the weekend. Typical average high for the weekend is 43 degrees.
Looking ahead, there are 3 weeks until First Day of Winter ☃️ when the sun will be setting at 4:26 pm with dusk at 4:56 pm. On that day in 2022, we had mostly sunny and temperatures between 34 and 16 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 37 degrees. We hit a record high of 62 back in 2018.
