Recent Timber Harvest
My electric use is up nearly 33% since last October ⚡
Shocking I know. It’s all the baking and cooking I’ve done lately, that extra kilowatt or two adds up each day. Fortunately the difference is maybe $8-10 at the most, as I was using under 100 kWh a month before I got into cooking and now it’s closer to 150 kWh.
As I don’t have a lot of electronics at home, and go to bed early not using a lot of lights, most of the energy I use is the hot water heater, the refrigerator and the stove/oven. And doing cooking uses all three of those appliances a lot more.
But it’s worth it for the fresh bread, healthy delicious meals, and the good life. Who knows, with inflation these days, I’m probably coming out ahead with less money spent at the grocery store on processed foods, though my grocery bills are way up too. I’m not complaining, eating healthy is an important part of being an adult and living the good life.
Wow that was a long intro to my Wednesday blog post!
Good morning! What day is it? A day and cloudy hump Day, of course. Mostly cloudy and 50 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ Calm wind. Charging the light on my bike now, showering shortly and then off to work. Not a lot sun expected tonight, but will clear out late tonight around 8 pm. Might be good for an evening walk, though I haven’t been doing a lot of walking lately, as I’ve been riding to work, intentionally taking the long way in and home to get in more miles on the bike. 🚴♀️
This morning I burned up more kilowatt hours 👨🍳 making more homemade bread and butternut squash in the oven, with eggs and coffee up top. ☕ I had a lot of coffee this morning, and the eggs 🥚 🍳 were cooked with onions, kidney beans, cilantro, and some frozen veggies. It was a good morning but I had too many cups of coffee to walk though I was fine riding in as I stopped drinking early enough to piss off some of the excess coffee. The doctor says only one cup of coffee in the morning, which some days I ignore as I like more then one while I’m cooking and having breakfast. If I’m not walking, it’s not like I need a pee break.
Today will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a high of 61 degrees at 2pm. Typical for today. Maximum dew point of 47 at 12pm. Light and variable wind. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with a few breaks of sun the afternoon. The high last year was 58 degrees. The record high of 84 was set in 2016. There was a dusting of snow in 2015.❄
I will need my bike headlights both directions on for safety. 🔦 Not because it’s super dark out but the skies are gray, and it’s so important to be seen by other motorists on the road. I left my taillights charging over night, so they should be plenty bright for the night to come. 🚲 ⚠️ The past few nights I’ve been riding out to Slingerlands at the end of the day, to get in a few more miles of exercise as I haven’t been doing my morning walk as it’s so dark, and I don’t love walking in the dark any more, preferring to retire to bed earlier. 🛌
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:41 pm with sun having an altitude of 37.8° from the due south horizon (-33° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 7.7 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 5:32 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (251°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (258°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 6:10 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 58 seconds with dusk around 6:37 pm, which is one minute and 34 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the southwest (216°) at an altitude of 11° from the horizon, 235,132 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 7:12 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 58 degrees. The dew point will be 47 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Tomorrow will have 10 hours and 57 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 45 seconds over today.
Tonight will have patchy fog after 3am. Otherwise, partly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 43 degrees at 6am. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 11th. Light south wind. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 33 degrees. The record low of 20 occurred back in 1974.
Yesterday, I had a project that I worked on down at the library for a while 👨💻 then I went home and kneaded bread. Dinner was just a quick finishing off of the pea soup, covered with curry and dipping the remaining bread I had a home. 🍲 It was a good dinner, after I had a good bike ride home. Tonight I need to think about starting to pack and what food and supplies I’ll need for camping. I told myself today I would run to the store, but I may wait until Friday. Figure I could do the shopping and laundromat at same time, though I kind of want to get more sticky traps for mice 🐭 and maybe replace that increasingly problematic smoke detector with a modern ten-year one that detects flash over rather then just smoke from cooking.
Weekend still looks wet. Saturday, rain. High near 60. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Sunday, a chance of rain before 8am, then a chance of showers after 8am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 52. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Typical average high for the weekend is 60 degrees.
Not as wet though heading south it seems like it will be a wet day 🌧 as will be the first day camping and by mid-day Sunday in Cumberland Maryland, it might actually have some nice sun for riding the Chesapeake and Ohio Rail Trail before heading down to West Virginia to set up camp for the night. 🚲 I want to spend a fair amount of time poking around Cumberland, but I also realize that night will sneak up before you know it this time of year. 🏕 🌆
Looking ahead, there are 2 weeks until Average High is 55 🍂 when the sun will be setting at 5:50 pm with dusk at 6:18 pm. On that day in 2022, we had partly sunny, warm, mist and temperatures between 69 and 54 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 55 degrees. We hit a record high of 78 back in 1950.
Things are coming together for my October vacation … 🎃
While I do need to take off next week from work, it looks like as of now the calendar looks good for me getting next week off from work. Saturday into Sunday looks somewhat rainy, or at least showery, but I can survive a night in the rain, especially if a lot of the days will be spend driving if I ultimately decide to go down to West Virginia. That’s what I want to do, but it’s such a long trip, and that gives me pause with my old truck, plus all that time driving and the necessary piss breaks.
I am doing fine as long as I restrict my coffee consumption to less then a cup in the morning, and be careful how much other “wet” things I have for breakfast, no oatmeal overnight, no matter how convenient that might be. Especially for that second day, there isn’t a lot of places outside of gas stations to stop for pee breaks between Tioga, Penna. and Cumberland, Maryland. When I’m down in West Virginia or whatever I decide to spend the balance of the week, I can be free to consume as much excess coffee with cinnamon and ginger as I want. I am thinking I’ll start out the road trip with hard boiled eggs, homemade bread, a banana and maybe some five hour energy shots.
Weather looks good for most of next week, especially for the portion of the trip that I would spend down in West Virginia. Might even be good enough on Sunday to spend a few hours poking around Cumberland Maryland on the Chesapeake – Ohio Canal Trail, though I want to reserve enough time to stop in Keyser to go to Walmart to get any necessary additional supplies for the balance of the week, as the only shopping options in Davis and Thomas WV are Stop and Shop Express and Dollar General, both of which aren’t much bigger then a modern gas station. I plan to go shopping tomorrow at Walmart for more mouse traps, hopefully a better smoke detector that doesn’t constantly keep going off when cooking, windshield wipers, and a lot of food and supplies I need for the week, though I’ll probably have time to stop in Oneonta too on the way down Saturday, just because I’ll most certainly forget things, need to pee and it’s going to be a rainy day.
Of course I could still reconsider going to West Virigina. I saw the hot cider-apple doughnut sundae with local doughnuts made at Tobey’s Doughnut Shop that the Glen Dairy Bar is selling this month. Yum, yum, yum. That gives me pause. How can I work in Watkins Glen to my trip? Lol! I do at any rate want to find an orchard with hot apple cider and doughnuts on the way down, plus an ice cream parlor along the way with pumpkin ice cream, even if I don’t ultimately end up going through the Finger Lakes.
At any rate, I look forward to getting down to wherever I decide to camp for the balance of the week, and get things set up. Being able to relax, get some good meals cooking on the campstove. Enjoy some soups and stews, maybe bake some bread or biscuits either in the dutch oven over a fire or the camp oven over the stove. It should be a lot of fun. Warm up by the heater and the fire, then get up early before dawn, make coffee up, have breakfast, and watch the sun rise. Ride bike through out the day, explore scenic canyons and trails, hike through the mountain laurel.
Two weeks until November! 🦃
Don’t be a turkey as they say. I’ll probably see a bunch of them on my trip down to West Virginia next week though maybe not it really depends if I head down to the Swedlin Valley or not. Which I’m not necessarily planning on doing this year.
That said I’m already thinking what comes next after my October trip. I’d like to get out to Madison County before the snow and rifle season, probably Stoney Pond and Charles Baker State Forest. I would either do a long weekend for Election Day taking that Monday off or tack a day on either side of the Veterans Day Weekend which the holiday is a Friday this year.
A fairly decent autumn day ahead 🍁
Next week looks good for West Virginia based on the latest forecast and that’s the direction I’m leaning but I won’t finalize my decision until I take the time off tomorrow. In the meantime I plan to enjoy a pleasant bike ride to work and make the most of the day.
Good morning! Happy Tuesday. Mostly cloudy and 48 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ Calm wind.The skies will clear around 1 pm. I’m hopeful. I thought there would be more sun today, but at least it’s going to be mild. It should get better as the day goes on.
Oatmeal apple carrot pancakes 🥞 this morning. I thought you needed banana in the mixture but you don’t, the gluten in the oatmeal does the trick. Added some baking soda and apple cider vinegar for additional rise, browning and tanginess, plus boiled apple cider to make it sweet with lots of ginger and cinnamon. It was good, came out crisp without any oils in the mixture. Shredded carrots really add a surprising amount of crisp to any baked good with whole wheat flour. 🥕 Plus an excellent, healthy source of fiber. I am going to include carrots in a lot more of my baking going forward.
Today will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 62 degrees at 3pm. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 16th. Maximum dew point of 46 at 9am. Northwest wind 3 to 6 mph. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 54 degrees. The record high of 85 was set in 1947. There was a dusting of snow in 1970.❄
Going to be an excellent autumn day 🍏🍁 and even nicer next week it seems. I sure hope things will work out well next week. It’s such a long trip down to West Virginia but it definitely has the possibility of being a real special one. But first to enjoy my morning bike 🚲 ride in. Too dark now to walk in the morning but I’ll shower 🚿 and head in early, maybe taking a less direct route to work or stopping in the gorge. I thought even about a quick ride out to Five Rivers or Voorheesville but with the traffic at this hour, I decided that would not be advisable. Better off to head down and then ride or walk around the Empire Plaza or Corning Preserve.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:41 pm with sun having an altitude of 38.2° from the due south horizon (-32.6° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 7.6 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 5:33 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (252°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (258°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 6:12 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 58 seconds with dusk around 6:39 pm, which is one minute and 36 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the southwest (228°) at an altitude of 7° from the horizon, 238,019 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 7:13 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 56 degrees. The dew point will be 46 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 6 mph. Tomorrow will have 10 hours and 59 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 45 seconds over today.
Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌃 , with a low of 44 degrees at 4am. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 8th. Light and variable wind. In 2022, we had light rain in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 39 degrees. The record low of 22 occurred back in 1978.
Weekend is going to start out rainy again. 🌧 Saturday, rain likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 61. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Maximum dew point of 55 at 10am. Sunday, a chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 53. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Typical average high for the weekend is 60 degrees. If I decide to go down to West Virginia, it might be a rainy drive down there, but the thing is most of the day is driving, so it’s not the end of the world. Saturday night might be a wet one, but if I go to bed real early then I can get an early start and hopefully by mid-day it will clear out and I can enjoy part of the day exploring in Cumberland, Maryland and doing some of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Trail before heading down to West Virigina, after topping off the propane tank in Keyser and getting necessary supplies for the balance of the week at Walmart there. 🚲 🛒 🍇
Looking ahead, there are 2 weeks until Halloween 🎃 when the sun will be setting at 5:51 pm with dusk at 6:19 pm. On that day in 2022, we had partly cloudy, rain showers and temperatures between 64 and 37 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 56 degrees. We hit a record high of 75 back in 2019.
The best autumn days
The best autumn days are often cool and crisp with lots of blue skies. It may be cool, especially when the sun first rises but soon there after you can start to feel the warmth of the sun and the beauty of day as it gets underway.
Monday here in the land of the Delmaritian 🏡
You can guess what I’m doing this morning with every burner on my stove top occupied. Occupy breakfast, lunch and dinner as they say on the stove. God willing a week from now I’ll be waking up in the Mountain State in the Mountain Laurel at 4,100 feet.
Good morning! Monday’s back and I’m not in West Virginia. Maybe next week at this time. Partly cloudy and 48 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ There is a northwest breeze at 8 mph. 🍃. The skies will clear tomorrow around 1 pm.
Heading in early today on the bike 🚲, I might do some walking 🚶 at the Plaza before work but it’s really too dark and damp to walk around the high school 🚸 plus I had a second cup of coffee with ginger and cinnamon ☕ this morning so it’s not advisable, lol. Big pan 🍳 of eggs with onions, mushrooms, lots of spices this morning, also rice and lentils with chipotle spice and a big pot of kidney beans cooked up. I have quite a bit of food 🍲 in my fridge at this point but variety is good plus what I don’t eat immediately I can freeze and have as quick meals if I decide to head down to Pennsylvania and ultimately West Virginia this weekend. 🗻 Figure hard boiled eggs and maybe a banana 🍌 with a five hour energy shot 🤯 for those days I’m on the road so I don’t over consume coffee or spicy eggs and need a million piss breaks.
Today will have scattered showers, mainly between 1pm and 5pm. Mostly cloudy 🌦, with a high of 58 degrees at 4pm. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 24th. Maximum dew point of 47 at 10am. North wind 8 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. I’m going to ride in today but if necessary I’ll toss my bike on the bus for the evening commute. 🚍 A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 61 degrees. The record high of 88 was set in 1947. There was a dusting of snow in 2009.❄
I would like to get some carrots today 🥕, I could stop either on the bike ride home or ride up to Price Chopper at lunch time 🚲. I guess it depends on how busy I am. Carrots are good, I not only like them for a snack in the office I found they add a nice little bit of crunch to pancakes 🥞 and bread — and aren’t too overpowering in their taste to boot, especially with all the spices and seasoning that I end up using. I find since I have been eating healthier and a lot more carrots, my eye sight at night is far better, I don’t have problems with glare from other car headlights. 😋 It is amazing how a good diet improves all things in life.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:42 pm with sun having an altitude of 38.6° from the due south horizon (-32.3° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 7.5 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 5:35 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (252°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (259°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 6:13 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 58 seconds with dusk around 6:40 pm, which is one minute and 37 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the west-southwest (240°) at an altitude of 3° from the horizon, 240,972 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 7:15 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 56 degrees. The dew point will be 47 degrees. There will be a north breeze at 8 mph. Tomorrow will have 11 hours and 2 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 47 seconds over today.
Tonight will have isolated showers before 9pm. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 46 degrees at 4am. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 3rd. North wind around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2022, we had cloudy skies. It got down to 37 degrees. The record low of 21 occurred back in 1940.
Yesterday, I went out to Five Rivers for a bit, 🐸 and it was cold with the wind blowing against my face, especially the ride along Meads Road. Then I went out to the folks house for Sunday dinner. 🥘 The beef stew my made was pretty good — she kept emphasizing how much vegetables it had in it, though I probably will add more when I cook up the left overs in the future. First meat I’ve had in like in two weeks — I’m not against meat 🥩 but it’s kind of expensive, has a lot of saturated fats in it. 👕 I did laundry at their house, and like usual the drier didn’t do much at drying out my jeans so I ended up hanging them up when I got home. Still it was nice time to spend some time with my parents. Time is so precious these days.
Another rainy weekend on tap but hopefully improving by next week. 😞 Saturday, showers likely. Cloudy, with a high near 60. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Sunday, a chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 55. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 50%. I was thinking I need to replace that wiper blade before heading to Best Virginia. Typical average high for the weekend is 60 degrees.
I am going to make a decision about next week on Tuesday 🏕 and then commit to it by taking off next week on Wednesday. We might be a bit short staffed in the office if the other director leaves early a few days next week, but I think we can make it work. And if the longer range forecast doesn’t change, next week could be an exceptionally nice week in West Virginia. 🌲🌲🌲🌲
Looking ahead but maybe not forward, there are 4 weeks until Average Night Below Freezing 🌌 when the sun will be setting at 4:36 pm with dusk at 5:05 pm (Standard Time). On that day in 2022, we had partly cloudy and temperatures between 49 and 36 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 50 degrees. We hit a record high of 69 back in 1964. Before my time for sure.
