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 do maintain that as I eat my ever so delicious pancakes. Just like with bread and cakes nothing beats the sweetness and softness that carrots bring to cooking. And that sugar high is great for the ride to work this morning.
Good morning! Tuesday, Tuesday. Second gear of the week. Mostly sunny and 37 degrees in Delmar, NY. Calm wind. ☀ When there is no hope, there is spring. 🌸
Carrot pancakes again for breakfast. 🥞 Johnnycakes last night for dinner. You know, loaded with onions, spinach and spices. They’re easy and taste so good. 🚲 Riding in early this morning so I can take the long way in on this beautiful spring morning. Feeling good after a good night’s sleep. No smoke alarm ⏰ issues this night plus I sleep so much better with the windows open. 🛏 Smelled smoke when I awoke but it was wood smoke and not the least bit acrid so I figured it didn’t matter just a fire place somewhere.
Today will have increasing clouds ☀ 👉 ☁, with a high of 72 degrees at 4pm. 16 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around May 17th. Calm wind becoming north around 6 mph in the morning. I’d say this is yesterday’s forecast for the eclipse but it’s slightly warmer. A year ago, we had sunny skies. The high last year was 55 degrees. The record high of 77 was set in 1991. 13.3 inches of snow fell back in 2000.❄
New landlord emailed me said he was having somebody come by to inspect and measure the windows. 🪟 Seems a little sketchy but I’ll make sure to have my curtains drawn when I’m walking around nakid, lol! 👁️ I’m glad at least it seems like they’re renovating the unit next door, but I do wonder what they’re doing measuring and checking the windows. Well, if I have to move I’ll have to move.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:57 pm with sun having an altitude of 55.2° from the due south horizon (-15.6° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 4.2 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:53 pm with the sun in the west (275°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (282°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:31 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 57 seconds with dusk around 7:59 pm, which is one minute and 8 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the west-northwest (281°) at an altitude of 11° from the horizon, 229,725 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:35 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 65 degrees. There will be a southeast breeze at 6 mph. Tomorrow will have 13 hours and 14 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 49 seconds over today.
It was nice enough last night to go down to the park 🏞 after dinner and riding home 🚲 the long way. Finished through Chapter 36 of the Robert Caro’s Power Broker audio book – 45 hours but played at 2x speed so more like 22 ½ hours listened to so far. Only maybe 15 hours left, as the 1940s fade into the fifties, and Moses’ final big works with the Power Authority and the Cross Bronx Expressway and ultimately his downfall under Governor Rockefeller.
Tonight will have a slight chance of showers after 11pm. Increasing clouds 🌧, with a low of 47 degrees at 5am. 12 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 11th. South wind 6 to 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2023, we had clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 30 degrees. The record low of 21 occurred back in 1974.
Might do the park again 🏞 though I need to find some more e-books to read next. 📚 That Libby app is so great. The rest of the week with rain coming looks like crap unfortunately for going to the park but I have conventional books I can read then. 🍞 Going to bake bread and spaghetti squash tomorrow and soak beans for cooking in the morning. Thinking about making chicken noodle soup 🍜 for Wednesday, likely a cold and wet day. Though not too cold.
Weekendlooks kind of cool and shitty like usual. 💩 And I’m not talking about the cow crap they spread before the rain to soak it good into the ground. Saturday, a chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 52. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 59. Typical average high for the weekend is 58 degrees. Maybe the following weekend I’ll take a long weekend to head out of town, depends on the weather.
But wait there’s more with, next Tuesday having an Average High is 60 🌷 when the sun will be setting at 7:40 pm with dusk at 8:08 pm. On that day in 2023, we had partly cloudy, warm weather and temperatures between 78 and 57 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 60 degrees. We hit a record high of 91 back in 2012.
I don’t get why people hate the COBOL programming language so much. It might be old but so is the C language and SQL queries but neither of them is called obsolete. COBOL has some advantages in the office environment – it’s very easy to read and understand and all of data storage routines are up front. Plus usually each part of a COBOL program is quite simple – far less complicated than the casts, pointers and direct memory access functions in C – and much less prone to programming mistakes.
In many ways, I wish I could have gone to see the total eclipse today, but it wasn’t going to happen. I thought about it for a long time as April 2024 approached to head to the area of total eclipse, but I knew it wouldn’t happen. It was originally scheduled to be a session day, and while many of the divisions are working from home, mine is more difficult as most of Data Services requires access to various internal-intranet services, the server, and specialized software. While some people have access to the VPN including myself, it’s not really fair to those who do not. I also haven’t been in the Menands office in a while, except for a brief period early Friday morning, so it’s important to be back and catching up on ordinary office business.
Plus, the eclipse unfortunately falls in early April which means there is still a lot of snow around in the higher elevation locations like the Adirondacks and even Central New York. Places like Charles Baker State Forest or the East Branch of the Scanadaga River while usually great places to camp, aren’t actually in the path of the total eclipse. I did originally consider them as options, but it would have still required me to drive either farther north — to a minimum of Indian Lake village in Adirondacks or Cortland County to the east. And I would have hit traffic.
It would have been great if the eclipse was just a bit farther east, the weather a bit nicer, especially if it had occurred during the summer month when there was no session and I could have spent the whole weekend away from town. But that wasn’t to be.
So instead, I’m going to watch the partial eclipse — 97 percent eclipse — from the office parking lot or second floor lobby, looking out at the eclipse over Interstate 90 through my eclipse glasses. Not that it makes that much of a difference where you are when looking through eclipse glasses, as everything but the sun will look completely black. But so it is.
It still is a much bigger eclipse then I’ve seen before — the one I saw in Erie Penna at the beaches of Lake Erie at Presque Isle in 2017 was only about 78 percent. The other one one I witnessed at 5:30 in the morning after working until 3 AM on a late-night legislative session in June 2021 at Five Rivers Environmental Education Center was only like 30 or 40 percent. So this will still be a far larger eclipse then some of the other ones I’ve seen.
I got to work today and it’s only a partial eclipse in Albany, but I have several pairs of eclipse glasses that I’ll be giving out to staff and will make sure to get a good view of it from work — be it the second story windows overlooking Interstate 90 or the the acres of parking lot. Going to be a great day to be outside, that is once it warms up a bit.
Good morning! The eclipse has come back around again. Sunny and 30 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌞 Calm wind. Things will start to thaw out at around 7 am. 🌡️ Totally inappropriate to have all my windows open in my apartment, but I slept like a baby 👶 with my windows open. I think it was cold enough that the heat actually kicked in. I knew it would be a cold morning, but that’s okay, it’s going to warm up quickly and all that fresh air is good. Not so cold that I have to worry about anything freezing this morning besides my fingers and my ass.
Breakfast was a big pan of eggs and veggies 🍳 and fairly tasty good start to the morning. Drunk much too much coffee this morning, as I was cold ☕️ with the windows open. Still I enjoyed the fresh air this morning.
Today will have increasing clouds 🌞 👉️☁, with a high of 64 degrees at 5pm. Eight degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 25th. Calm wind becoming northwest around 6 mph in the morning. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with a few breaks of sun the afternoon. The high last year was 52 degrees. The record high of 88 was set in 1929. 4.5 inches of snow fell back in 1907.❄
Should be a great day to ride to work 🚴♂️ enjoying the fresh air as it warms up quickly under bright sunshine. 🌞 Unfortunately it looks like things might cloud up mid to later in the day which might hurt viewing of the eclipse, but I guess there will still be enough sunlight available to enjoy it through the glasses 🕶️. Sucks that I have to work, 🏢 but I gotta make the money. 💸 After all the tax men need to get paid on Monday, and do I have a big tax bill to send them. I’m heading in a bit early as I don’t feel like rushing, plus I want to get set up fairly early in the office as I’ve been out so much lately.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:58 pm with sun having an altitude of 54.8° from the due south horizon (-16° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 4.2 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:52 pm with the sun in the west (275°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (281°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:30 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 57 seconds with dusk around 7:58 pm, which is one minute and 9 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:33 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 58 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Tomorrow will have 13 hours and 11 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 49 seconds over today.
Yesterday I went out to see the folks, 👨👩👦 and most of the afternoon I was terribly tired. Not sure why, maybe it just because I had the windows closed most of the day. Then did an evening hike up Bennett Hill and came home, got unpacked and went to bed. 🛏️ Damn smoke alarm randomly went off shortly after I went to bed, 🚬 not sure why as I had the windows open and there was no smoke or even moisture in the air. It’s not done that in a while. 🔕
Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 44 degrees at 5am. 10 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 3rd. Light and variable wind becoming west around 5 mph. In 2023, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 29 degrees. The record low of 16 occurred back in 1977.
Been doing a ton of reading this past weekend. 🏗️ Lots of learning about buying and building a house, plus some more of the Power Broker and the story of Robert Moses. Trying to finish up the e-books 📚️ in particular as they have to be returned shortly.
The weekend looks like shit again. 💩 Saturday, a chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 52. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 62. Maximum dew point of 44 at 7pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 58 degrees. I was sort of hoping to get out of town this weekend, though I’d rather save more and wait another weekend and maybe take Earth Day Weekend to get out of town.
Looking ahead and thinking of my poverty once I pay the various tax departments, next Monday is Tax Day 💰 when the sun will be setting at 7:39 pm with dusk at 8:07 pm. On that day in 2023, we had partly sunny, warm, thunderstorm and temperatures between 84 and 52 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 59 degrees. We hit a record high of 86 back in 2003.
The post office isn’t going anywhere. The constitution guarantees the post office and federal law requires them to set postal rates equal to their cost. The agency is off budget and doesn’t receive taxpayer money nor should it. If the post office needs money, then it should raise rates. Mail is a lot more expensive than years ago but people are still mailing letters and advertisers are still stuffing my mailbox full constantly.
Honestly, with the amount of mail I send these days, I wouldn’t mind spending a buck or two to mail a letter.Usually letters are at least that valuable to me to mail. Charge advertisers a buck or two too, they clearly can afford it. I rarely send mail, maybe one or two letters a year. But I sure get a lot of junk mail that I’m not interested in reading and it goes straight to the recycling bin. Based on the amount of junk mail I get, I feel like advertisers could pay a heck of a lot more for the amount of trash that is delivered to my mail box daily. I think many weeks the mail delivery is one of my biggest sources of trash.
Still a cold morning, but that sun puts you in a good mood. Off to get groceries and get going on my day. Still a fair amount of snow in the hilltowns, so I’ll have to consider that if I want to go out hiking later on.
Good morning! Today 7:30 PM Sunset 🌇 . Partly cloudy and 35 degrees in Delmar, NY. ⛅ There is a north breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 3 am. ☃️
Started the morning with pancakes 🥞, you know the usual conventional type I make with oatmeal, carrots and bananas pulverized for sweetness, some milk and egg and a bit of whole-wheat flower for binder. Good stuff in my perspective, especially once topped with lots of cherries and blueberries and real maple syrup. 🍁 Probably good for a sugar high too, but I figure the carrots and oatmeal will provide some fiber and the egg some fats to slow down the absorption and hopefully not damage my pancreas too much. 🥕 Remember while all the kids were eating candy 🍬 over the holiday weekend, I was staying away from all that crap.
Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 52 degrees at 5pm. Three degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 1st. North wind 7 to 11 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 48 degrees. The record high of 87 was set in 2010. 3.2 inches of snow fell back in 1896.❄ Should be warm enough to at least have the windows open, air things out a bit and get the humidity down. I re-installed the smoke detector as I think it will work better now that my apartment isn’t so humid and smokey from cooking.
Shopping is the top of the agenda this morning. 🐔 Truth is my pantry isn’t in terrible shape, but I want to shop today so I can avoid going later in the week. The grocery store is usually best for stock early on a Sunday morning, and then I’m done and can leave Big Red parked all morning. I should also re-fill my propane tank 🏮 lest I decide to head out of town for the weekend. Asparagus 🌵 is on my list now that we are in spring, plus I’m thinking maybe make red lentil soup for lunch today with a bunch more of those carrots, maybe mixed with some cottage cheese and topped with nutritional yeast. Sounds yummie. 😋
Then maybe I’ll head out for a bike ride for a while. 🚲️ Nothing too major, maybe just a quick ride out to Five Rivers or Voorheesville. Honestly, it’s kind of a chilly not very nice day. That wind makes it cold, and there just isn’t a lot of warmth in the sun this morning. I was thinking about going to Partridge Run and crusing the backroads, looking for land, but I don’t want to hike in the snow. Next weekend I might camp out that way though. That said despite the cold wind, 🌬️ it does make things a lot more cheery having some sun. 😀 Tomorrow looks much nicer for going back to work, on my bicycle, and then watching the eclipse in the afternoon.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:58 pm with sun having an altitude of 54.4° from the due south horizon (-16.4° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 4.3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:51 pm with the sun in the west (274°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (281°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:29 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 57 seconds with dusk around 7:57 pm, which is one minute and 8 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:32 pm. At sunset, look for mostly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 49 degrees. There will be a north-northeast breeze at 9 mph. Today will have 13 hours and 5 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 49 seconds over yesterday.
Yesterday the bike ride didn’t happen, 📚️ but I did get through reading an e-book and a physical book, one about the contracting process of building a house and the other about Tiny Houses. I am not that interest in a tiny house, but I want to learn as much as possible about the process of building a house and working with construction materials, plus I’m still thinking small but not tiny cabin style of house 🛖 on lots of land. But will it happen this year? Maybe not. Okay, probably not. But I am learning a lot, and maybe if I do find a property that catches my eye and heart 🥰 and I find a way to make peace ✌️ with the way things are in New York, I’ll be good.
Landlord was working on the unit next to mine, 🏘️ which I’m glad to see he’s improving before he re-rents it as it means I should be good in my current unit for another year, a bit at a somewhat higher rent. My apartment is still a dump, though I don’t blame myself that much for it at this point, but it’s not in anyone’s interest to improve my unit while I’m still here. I stay here because it’s cheap, not because it’s my only option. Been learning what it would take to improve my apartment, and while I won’t be doing it, I don’t feel guilty for things wearing out and being of need of repair over the past 15 years. I could have been more insistent on immediate repairs, 👨🔧 but honestly I don’t care that much about a building that ain’t mind and is mostly a bed between days at work and trips. At least I don’t think I’m in immediate risk of eviction. Worse comes to worse, I move 🚚 and end up paying more in rent. 💸
Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 30 degrees at 5am. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 29th. Northwest wind 5 to 8 mph. In 2023, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 28 degrees. The record low of 19 occurred back in 2018.
I am watching the forecast for tomorrow 🌘 and it doesn’t look that bad for the eclipse. Sucks that I have to work, but I got eclipse glasses 🕶️ for the whole team to enjoy watching the eclipse from the work parking lot most likely. Or maybe I’ll ride down to the Corning Preserve, though honestly I think the best view of the eclipse will be from the second floor of my building with the south side windows overlooking the Interstate 90 where the elevator is located.
Looking ahead, there are 4 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. I’m looking forward to do days like that. We hit a record high of 91 back in 1944.
It’s not all his fault for sure. President Biden can’t be blamed for the COVID-19 pandemic winding down. He can’t be blamed for people across the world getting sick, dying and missing work due to the pandemic, reducing the labor force and leading to global supply chain issues. He can’t be blamed for the quick economic recovery or Russia invading Ukraine.
But I do think that he isn’t completely blameless. You can be dealt a bad hand but also act in ways that make things worse.
The massive infrastructure and stimulus bills made people’s bank accounts flush and also filled – in some cases overflowed the coffers of state and local government. I’m not convinced that infrastructure money was really needed, as while some infrastructure is old and creaky it was getting patched and maintained enough to be functional. I fear a lot of that money will be wasted on patronage jobs and unneeded, oversized infrastructure that subsidizes sprawl. Bridges that could be repaired and maintained, thrown away and replaced.
People suffered during the pandemic and while those checks were nice, it’s not clear how necessary they were, especially in the later stages of the pandemic, especially as people stayed home and saved money they’d otherwise have spent. Again, I fear a lot of that money is being squandered on junk people buy online and then a few months later pay to cart off to the landfill.
At the same time it’s hard to approve of the US’ half hearted involvement in the Ukraine. Sanctioning Russia has only jacked up prices, while handing over the weapons to the Ukrainians has only made the conflict longer and bloodier. Maybe oil prices have come back down a bit but remain pretty high. To say nothing about the high prices at the grocery store. Should the world looked the other way when a murderous dictator invaded a bordering country and given him a free pass to invade other nations? I don’t know but I sure wish the US government could have been less involved and taken actions less harmful to Americans like avoiding sanctions that involve global markets for energy, natural resources and food.
Plus it seems like lately there has been a trend to creating new laws and regulations that raise the cost of doing business. None of the single regulations alone are that expensive but like most things with inflation, costs add up. People often under estimate how much inflation was driven by regulatory costs in the 1970s but a lot was. Clean air, safe and fair working conditions and better human health are laudable goals but they are not free and collectively add real costs. Some of these costs are addressed through innovation and process redesign but those things often take time to bring up to speed and can be very inflationary in the short term.
