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.
I guess enjoy it while you still can. It will be a nice morning for driving to the Glenmont to get groceries and supplies, maybe fill the propane tank in preparation of traveling next weekend should the weather be decent. I adjusted my bike derailleur and aired up the tires but who knows if I’ll get a chance to ride before the rain returns. I should also replace at least one of the bad windshield wipers too.
Good morning! Happy Sunday. Partly sunny and 44 degrees in Delmar. 🌤️ There is a west breeze at 6 mph. 🍃.
Out to Walmart this morning 🛒 to by food and the plastic packaging it comes in for fire starters 🔥 then over to Tractor Supply 🏮 to get propane so I’m ready to get out camping. 🌧️ As rain is coming later on today, I should also look at getting a windshield wiper blade for my truck. ⛽️ Then gas things up as I want to keep my truck full because with the Middle East going to all shit and summer coming, prices are only going to go up. Hello, inflation my old friend, how are you doing? Unfortunately I am concerned the Middle East situation causing inflation is going to mean elderly Joe Biden is going to get his clocked cleaned this November by the soon-to-be-convicted felon, Donald John Trump. But maybe it’s good, as government really needs to get knocked down a peg or two.
Today will have a chance of showers, then showers and possibly a thunderstorm after 2pm. 🌦 High of 55 degrees at 4pm. Two degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 11th. Maximum dew point of 46 at 6pm. 🏖️ West wind 6 to 9 mph becoming south in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 89 degrees. The record high of 83 was set in 1968. 1.4 inches of snow fell back in 1950.❄
While this morning is real nice, 🌞👉️🌧️ it’s going to turn to rain much too early this afternoon it seems. Getting shopping though before the rain will be nice, and I might try to squeeze in a bike ride later on now that I’ve adjusted the derailleur on my bike and aired up the tires. 🚴♂️ It should be a good for riding in at least the first half of the work week. Heading out to the parents house this evening, 👨👩👦 It’s good to visit the family, as you never know how many times you’ll get another chance to do it. If the rain holds off, I’d like a chance to get some exercise — be it a bike ride or an evening walk 🚶 but based on the latest forecast I’m not that hopeful.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:56 pm with sun having an altitude of 57° from the due south horizon (-13.8° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 3.9 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:59 pm with the sun in the west (278°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (284°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:37 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 59 seconds with dusk around 8:05 pm, which is one minute and 9 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the First Quarter 🌓 Moon in the west-southwest (239°) at an altitude of 66° from the horizon, 243,304 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:41 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and thunderstorms 🌩 and temperatures around 54 degrees. The dew point will be 47 degrees. There will be a southwest breeze at 6 mph. Today will have 13 hours and 25 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 47 seconds over yesterday.
Yesterday ended up staying home 🏠️spending a lot of the day reading and thinking 💭 or maybe better said dreaming. I finished up a book on permaculture 🧑🌾 and one on beef farming 🐂 and was doing another book on Java programming 🖥️ and ended up digging into writing C code and working with CSV and Excel files 🤓, as I want to improve my C programming skills as a lot of the code we work with at work is written in C.
Tonight will have showers and thunderstorms before 10pm, then a chance of showers between 10pm and 11pm. 🌧 Low of 47 degrees at 4am. Eight degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 5th. Northwest wind around 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. In 2023, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 52 degrees. The record low of 21 occurred back in 1940.
Been watching as the landlord works on the unit next door. 👷♂️ Been doing quite the gutting of the next door apartment, but I realize it’s been a least a decade since that unit was overhauled and I think it needed a lot of work as does my unit. 🧹 I don’t feel nearly as guilty for all the wear and tear in my apartment, things wear out and building materials — especially cheap ones like my apartment is made up — have a fairly limited lifespan. The refigerator in my apartment is more then 30 years old, and I am sure the carpets and floor are probably at least that old if not older. The mold issues aren’t my problem, or the water that is everywhere due to issues with the foundation not being properly insulated and the building not properly vented. 🏚️ It’s a cheap, dumpy apartment but despite all my complaints I kind of love it and hope to stay here until I find a permanent home.
Looking ahead to May, which isn’t that far away, there are 3 weeks until Cinco de Mayo 🤠 when the sun will be setting at 8:01 pm with dusk at 8:31 pm. On that day in 2023, we had partly sunny, rain showers and temperatures between 64 and 40 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 68 degrees. We hit a record high of 91 back in 1944.
That is if the Secretary of State or the legislature in those states doesn’t decide to issue an order or amend election law extending the date for Presidential nominees to be selected and appear on the ballot. In these increasingly partisan times, I have my doubts that the Republican elected officials in these states will lift a finger to help Joe Biden get ballot access when he’s not ordinary legally entitled to have ballot access.
I have my doubts the courts will be much help here for Democrats either. The law is the law, and it’s not like the state laws have changed or it was a secret. Instead, it was the Democratic National Committee’s fault for not moving forward the nominating convention before the required state deadlines. Nobody right to choose their presidential candidate of choice was denied, except by the party itself, who chose to ignore the law. Courts don’t like it when organizations know the law and choose to ignore it, and then beg for mercy.
Ultimately, I’m not sure it matters much. Alabama is solidly red and is almost certain to go for Trump. Ohio has drifted so far to the right in recent years, the same could be said about this former swing-state. Democrats just don’t play well in a manufacturing, blue collar state like Ohio anymore. But I’m sure that the state party will launch a vigorous write-in campaign for Joe Biden, and if the election is close come November, it could be a pretty big clusterfuck, should it come down to Ohio and counting potentially millions of write-ins for Joe Biden. That said, I doubt he’ll win Ohio at this point.
Democrats will inevitably blame Alabama and Ohio election laws and the unmoved Republican majorities in those states for not giving them ballot access for Joe Biden. But ultimately it’s not state’s fault that the Democratic National Committee has been emboldened to bully states around, with them not counting New Hampshire’s primary or holding their convention too late to get ballot access in Alabama and Ohio.
Started out my day bright and early around 5 AM cooking up a big pan of veggies, eggs and some cornmeal with lots of turmeric and red chili peppers to ensure my nose still ran well. Did some reading, finishing up the e-book on green building I had form the library, continuing that e-book on sustainable farming and java programming.
Good morning! Happy Saturday. Another shit weather weekend. 💩 That’s how I feel about this weekend’s forecast, now that the windows are closed in my apartment. 🪟 I like the fresh air, the lack of it makes me a bit cranky. Mostly cloudy with a few hints of sun, 🌥️ and 48 degrees in Delmar. Much colder then yesterday, and certainly quite a bit below normal. There is a south-southwest breeze at 13 mph. 🍃. The skies will clear around 10 pm.
One of the first things on my agenda 🔧 is to perform the usual adjustments on my bike 🚲️ to keep the gears working well. I also want to do scrub down some of the walls in my apartment and floor as the floors were soaked yesterday after all the rain and wet weather we’ve been having lately. 🌧️ I could smell the mold starting to grow once again. This place is such a run down dump, 🏚️ but let’s be honest, I kind of like it as it is. That said, I do like having the windows open. Fresh air is good.
Today will have a chance of showers. Cloudy 🌦, with a high of 49 degrees at 6am. Nine degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 26th. Breezy, with a southwest wind 13 to 20 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 38 mph. S Chance of precipitation is 50%. Going to be a fairly cool day by mid-April standards. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had sunny skies. The high last year was 89 degrees, breaking the previously set record. But not today. 5.5 inches of snow fell back in 1950.❄
Thinking of heading out early for a ride out to Voorheesville 🚴♂️ before the wind picks up an things cloud up. I am actually happy to see a bit of blue sky 🌬️ but I know it’s not going to last with rain more likely later. I might then go down to the library. 📚️ They are renovating the unit next door now that my neighbor with the big garbage pile moved out. A bit noisy with all the construction going on. 👷♀️ New landlord seems to be pretty good at maintaining the yard so far and has been friendly. Rent is going up in June, but it’s not that much — $800 a month in these inflationary times isn’t bad. 🏘️ I’m kind of hoping for a new lease, so I can stay another year while I continue to evaluate my options.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:56 pm with sun having an altitude of 56.6° from the due south horizon (-14.2° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 4 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:58 pm with the sun in the west (277°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (284°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:36 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 58 seconds with dusk around 8:04 pm, which is one minute and 8 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the First Quarter 🌓 Moon in the west-southwest (256°) at an altitude of 57° from the horizon, 240,404 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:40 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 46 degrees. Breezy, 22 mph breeze ⛅ from the west-northwest with gusts up to 46mph. Today will have 13 hours and 22 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 47 seconds over yesterday.
Yesterday evening, did a nice bike ride out to Five Rivers. 🚴♂️ It was a nice evening, with the spring peepers 🐸 singing their songs and red-winged black birds chirping along. 🐦️ One of the cows was out loose on Meads Lane 🐮 . It was a pleasant evening, came home and read for a while, 📖 the headed off to bed.
Tonight will be cloudy, then gradually becoming partly cloudy 🌃, with a low of 39 degrees at 6am. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 20th. Breezy, with a west wind 13 to 22 mph, with gusts as high as 44 mph. In 2023, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 58 degrees. The record low of 19 occurred back in 1973. More rain come Sunday.
I’m hoping next week to get out camping. 🏕️ It all depends on how things go weather wise, but it’s been a few weeks since I last spent a night in the wilderness. Thinking about the Green Mountains, maybe taking a three day weekend, but it depends on what roads are open. I could also do Rensslearville State Forest or maybe Madison County. Not sure, I need to think about it a bit more.
As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until Arbor Day 🌳 when the sun will be setting at 7:52 pm with dusk at 8:21 pm. On that day in 2023, we had partly cloudy, patches of fog and temperatures between 62 and 40 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 65 degrees. We hit a record high of 91 back in 1962.
The fresh air is nice as is hearing the birds in the morning. While I think the heating season is done I’ll probably have to close the windows tomorrow with cooler rainy weather coming in but I expect it won’t be long before I can keep the windows open all of the time.
God needs to fill the mud wallows up. But I think all this rain will lead to things rapidly greening up over the next week or so which is actually about normal for the Albany area.
Good morning! Yeah, it’s Friday! Rain and 60 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ Breezy, ️20 mph breeze from the south-southeast 🌬 with gusts up to 38 mph 💨💨💨. The dew point is 58 degrees. 0.2 inches of rain is expected before it ends around noontime.
I guess it’s busing it in this morning 🚍 as it’s too wet to ride in. I do plan to catch the 7:15 downtown so I can walk 🚶 the Concourse an hour before work. Didn’t get a lot of steps in yesterday. 👣 I guess I sort of made up by reading 📖 more though that exercises a different type of muscle 🧠 💪🏻. Maybe if the rain tapers off I’ll walk from Downtown to Menands, tha’s always a good walk.
Today will have showers and thunderstorms likely, then showers and possibly a thunderstorm after 1pm. 🌦 High of 64 degrees at 12pm. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 27th. Maximum dew point of 58 at 6am. 🏖️ Breezy, with a south wind 17 to 21 mph, with gusts as high as 45 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 78 degrees. The record high of 84 was set in 1977. 3.3 inches of snow fell back in 1962.❄
Johnny cakes this morning 🥞 with lots of onion and tomato 🍅. And too much red chilli 🌶 pepper which had my nose 👃 running like I had a cold. Topped with cottage cheese and I was even green 💚and washed out the container for recycling ♻. At least my stomach is feeling better than yesterday. 🫃🏻 Been going a bit over board with the cranberry beans, 🫘 and the carrots 🥕 lately, though it also seems like in recent months my stomach has been a bit rough. Dinner last night was more of that chicken soup 🐔 and bread 🍞 that I made up yesterday.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:57 pm with sun having an altitude of 56.3° from the due south horizon (-14.5° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 4 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:57 pm with the sun in the west (277°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (283°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:34 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 58 seconds with dusk around 8:03 pm, which is one minute and 9 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the First Quarter 🌓 Moon in the west (266°) at an altitude of 47° from the horizon, 237,447 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:38 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 57 degrees. The dew point will be 46 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 13 mph. Today will have 13 hours and 19 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 48 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will have a chance of showers, mainly after midnight. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 44 degrees at 5am. Eight degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 3rd. South wind 11 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2023, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 51 degrees. The record low of 19 occurred back in 1874.
Tomorrow will have showers likely, mainly before 2pm. Cloudy 🌦, with a high of 48 degrees at 2pm. 10 degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 24th. Southwest wind 11 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 89 degrees. The record high of 87 was set in 1977. 5.5 inches of snow fell back in 1950.❄
That sounds kind of like a shit day, 💩 but it’s good for reading 📖 and maybe an early morning bike ride to Five Rivers Environmental Education Center 🚲 or Voorheesville. Everything though will be mud. 🐽 But so be it. 🌸 It might be fun to walk around Five Rivers and see the blooming plants, especially if I stay on the main roadways.
Looking ahead to Sunday, showers likely, mainly after 2pm. 🌦️ Partly sunny, with a high near 59. Southwest wind around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. Going to want those farm boots 👢 when hiking Bennett Hill this weekend. I also kind of want to get out to Partridge Run to do a hike, but only if it’s not a mosh pit. I think the snow is gone. Typical average high for the weekend is 58 degrees.
In two weekends, 🏕️ if the weather is decent I’d like to take off a Friday or Monday, or maybe both and plan out a 3 to 4 night camping trip somewhere. Maybe back to NY 8 East Branch, or maybe to Schoharie or Madison County. 🐮 Not sure if the roads in the Green Mountain National Forest would be open, but that’s an option too.
Looking ahead, there are 4 weeks until Average High is 70 🐮 when the sun will be setting at 8:07 pm with dusk at 8:37 pm. On that day in 2023, we had sunny and temperatures between 77 and 39 degrees. We hit a record high of 92 back in 1970. Before my time, despite what the internet advertisers think.
Just imagine getting up every morning an hour or maybe two before sunrise, and being off to work in the dark. On the other hand, it might be good from an energy conservation perspective.
Week
Sunrise
Sunset
Week
Sunrise
Sunset
January 1
8:25 am
5:32 pm
July 2
5:21 am
8:36 pm
January 8
8:24 am
5:39 pm
July 9
5:26 am
8:34 pm
January 15
8:22 am
5:47 pm
July 16
5:32 am
8:30 pm
January 22
8:17 am
5:55 pm
July 23
5:38 am
8:24 pm
January 29
8:11 am
6:04 pm
July 30
5:45 am
8:17 pm
February 5
8:04 am
6:14 pm
August 6
5:52 am
8:09 pm
February 12
7:55 am
6:23 pm
August 13
6:00 am
7:59 pm
February 19
7:45 am
6:32 pm
August 20
6:07 am
7:49 pm
February 26
7:34 am
6:41 pm
August 27
6:15 am
7:37 pm
March 5
7:23 am
6:49 pm
September 3
6:22 am
7:26 pm
March 12
7:11 am
6:58 pm
September 10
6:30 am
7:13 pm
March 19
6:59 am
7:06 pm
September 17
6:37 am
7:01 pm
March 26
6:46 am
7:14 pm
September 24
6:45 am
6:48 pm
April 2
6:34 am
7:22 pm
October 1
6:52 am
6:36 pm
April 9
6:22 am
7:30 pm
October 8
7:00 am
6:24 pm
April 16
6:11 am
7:38 pm
October 15
7:08 am
6:12 pm
April 23
6:00 am
7:46 pm
October 22
7:17 am
6:01 pm
April 30
5:50 am
7:54 pm
October 29
7:25 am
5:51 pm
May 7
5:41 am
8:02 pm
November 5
7:34 am
5:42 pm
May 14
5:33 am
8:09 pm
November 12
7:43 am
5:35 pm
May 21
5:26 am
8:16 pm
November 19
7:52 am
5:29 pm
May 28
5:21 am
8:23 pm
November 26
8:00 am
5:24 pm
June 4
5:18 am
8:28 pm
December 3
8:08 am
5:22 pm
June 11
5:16 am
8:33 pm
December 10
8:14 am
5:21 pm
June 18
5:16 am
8:35 pm
December 17
8:19 am
5:23 pm
June 25
5:18 am
8:37 pm
December 24
8:23 am
5:26 pm
December 31
8:25 am
5:31 pm
Winter mornings would be even darker if you get farther north and west in every Time Zone, such as Grand Rapids Michigan, which also is in the Eastern Time zone. 🌆
As they say, good information is expensive even though today with the internet it’s incredibly inexpensive to distribute. Creating information either through research or experience and writing it down is what is expensive. When you can get information for free you should readily embrace it. Even though most free information is paid through either it being propaganda or advertising, it’s still worthwhile to consider. Just because information is trying to sell you something doesn’t mean you should resist learning more about it.
But I often find myself turning away from information that I find uncomfortable and either challenges my values or beliefs. Somehow I’m afraid to confront truth or that I will be forever changed after listening to new information. Yet, I’m aware that simply listening to information won’t automatically change your outlook on the world. But it sometimes seems very painful to have my views challenged.
