Balsam Swamp is a sprawling state forest that stretches almost 5.5 miles east-west across 4 towns. The area is very rural, and the landscape surrounding the State Forest is predominantly forested. Balsam Swamp State Forest is comprised of a mix of native hardwood forests, hemlock swamps, and conifer plantations. There are no designated recreational trails on the forest, but there is ample opportunity for self-guided day hikes to explore the diversity of habitats represented on this State Forest. Additionally, the western section of Balsam Swamp State Forest is adjacent to Five Streams State Forest to the south.
The main attraction of this forest is Balsam Pond. The impoundment is approximately 152 acres and is a popular destination for fishing and paddle boat sports. Balsam Pond is a warm water fishery that contains a mix of largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, chain pickerel, yellow perch, brown bullhead and sunfish. Tiger muskellunge have been stocked in the past with the last stocking occurring in 1995. However, there have been very few reports of anglers catching any of the adult tiger muskies. A shallow gravel boat launch is suitable for launching small fishing boats.
A small rustic camp ground is also located at Balsam Pond. Camping spaces are available at no cost on a first-come, first-serve basis and there is no running water or electricity. A fire ring, outhouse, and picnic table are provided for each camping space. A sign on Balsam-Tyler Road in Pharsalia designates the entrance to the boat launch and camping facility. This is a carry-in carry-out facility. Please do not litter.
Winter’s going to kick like a mule come next week but we’re only like 68 days away from spring and being an El Niño year it’s not going to remain cold for all that long.
Good morning! Happy Thursday. Mostly cloudy at the freezing point in Delmar. ☁ There is a west-southwest breeze at 9 mph. 🍃. There are some remaining snow banks on the ground. ☃ But not for long. ️Things will start to thaw out at around 7 am. 🌡️
Cornbread this morning with onions, garlic, spinach and lots of spices.🥧 Came out such a deep rich color and fluffy thanks to the baking soda. Do wish I had added some salt. 🍊 Then I ran a full orange, peel and all through the food processor for a fiber rich treat. 🧡 Fiber fills you up and blunts the impact of all those sugars and the inevitable insulin spike. I do poop 💩 a lot on the morning especially after all that coffee ☕ rich with cinnamon and ginger.
Today will have a slight chance of rain and snow showers after 1pm. Cloudy 🌧, with a high of 38 degrees at 2pm. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around February 21st. West wind 6 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 33 degrees. The record high of 67 was set in 2020. 8.0 inches of snow fell back in 1922.❄
Riding to work again today, 🚲 this time taking my preferred route through the Norman’s Kill Gorge as the snow and ice should be mostly gone. ☺ I really don’t love riding Delaware, I’d much rather do the rail trail. That said not sure how much I’ll be riding next week, going to be cold plus Tuesday and Wednesday are session days. Do think it’s likely I’ll be finally moving out to the burbs for work but I have a schedule ready for the shuttle 🚀. Okay, maybe not that kind of shuttle. I don’t think the cold will be that prolonged being an El Niño year, or so I tell myself.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:04 pm with sun having an altitude of 25.5° from the due south horizon (-45.3° 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 3:58 pm with the sun in the southwest (233°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (241°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:42 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 21 seconds with dusk around 5:13 pm, which is one minute and 5 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:49 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and snow 🌨 and temperatures around 38 degrees. There will be a south-southwest breeze at 6 mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 22 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 27 seconds over today.
Yesterday on my way out ran into the landlord and we got chatting 🗣️ and guess what I forgot to lock 🔒 my door 🚪 or even shut it tightly. It was a mild day and the heat probably didn’t kick on, and it’s not like I have much worth stealing. 👮 Today I’ll be more careful. Going to try to leave a bit earlier today so I’m not as rushed plus I have a morning meeting to get down to. 👥
Tonight will have a slight chance of snow showers before 10pm. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 27 degrees at 4am. 11 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 18th. South wind around 6 mph becoming west after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2023, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became light snow by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 32 degrees. The record low of -26 occurred back in 1968.
15 bean soup 🍲 last night was delicious 😋 though it made the last of my carrots 🥕 dissappear and a lot of spinach and celery. I should have bought the five pound bag of carrots last week. Rye bread with lots of red onions in it for a rich flavor. Then a shredded apple run through the food processor with lots of cinnamon and ginger with a touch of peanut 🥜 butter powder after my evening walk. Not quite a slurry, I mean smoothie but good. Not so cold for the evening walk. 🌧️ Rained on the bus 🚍 ride home but stopped by the time I was filled up with that delicious soup and bread. I was in bed 🛏 by eight and up by five this morning.
Weekendcontinues to look rainy after first then get cold. 🌦️🤜🌬️🤜🧊Saturday, rain before noon, then showers likely, mainly between noon and 1pm. High near 48. Southeast wind 14 to 17 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. Sunday, a chance of snow showers after 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 32. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Typical average high for the weekend is 33 degrees. I’m still thinking about at least one night up in the woods but I concede with the wind, going to be a cold weekend.
Looking ahead, next Thursday is Winnie the Pooh Day 🍯 when the sun will be setting at 4:51 pm with dusk at 5:21 pm. On that day in 2023, we had cloudy, mild, freezing rain showers and temperatures between 44 and 32 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 32 degrees. We hit a record high of 59 back in 1973. Last week I bought honey 🛒 but I haven’t opened it yet. I’ve decided to include more natural sugars sparingly in my diet for flavor but only occasionally as a treat. That and real maple 🍁 syrup. Yum. But it’s not going to be an everyday thing and will always be paired with fiber rich foods and whole grains be it milled corn, milled oats or whole wheat foot.
Every morning I get the Morning Ag Clips newsletter delivered to my email box a little after 3 am. Who is up at that hour? Dairymen, nearly two hours before I wake up and get cooking and a jump on my day. After all, you gotta strip the teats before you milk the laddies so I can have cottage cheese with my eggs and milk in my coffee.
Good morning! What day is it? Hump Day, of course. Rain and 43 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ There is a west-southwest breeze at 8 mph. 🍃. There are 3 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Still too much snow to ride the bike into work on the rail trail, but regardless it’s still raining. Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 2 am. ☃️
I slept in late until 5:10 AM this morning, which really is about ten minutes later but I don’t set an alarm clock ⏰ so I get up when I wake naturally. I was in bed by 9 PM last night 🛌 so eight hours later is about 5 AM though I woke briefly at 3 AM when I heard the Morning Ag Clips come in but I didn’t read until I was up and out of bed, loading the oven with bread and taking the seeds out of the spaghetti squash, getting it ready to cook. A good nights sleep, despite the warnings of high wind and severe weather, all I heard was a bit of rain on the roof.
Woke up feeling a bit achy this morning from the rain, 😫 but I got some onions, spinach, corn, peppers eggs frying 🍳 with a bunch of turmeric, red chili pepper, and salt. Then coffee with lots of ginger and cinnamon. ☕ Feeling good now. Baked up some rye bread, with lots of dill weed and chopped red onions. I find for a good crispy crust, adding some baking soda helps. The red onions give it a dark, rich texture, almost like pumpernickel. Also cooked up a big pot of 15-bean Cajun soup, but then I added a bunch of corn, celery, carrots and spinach to beef up the soup. Will be good with the rye bread later. To keep the oven full, also made spaghetti squash. Using up a lot of stuff in my pantry but I’ll go shopping either Thursday or Friday night, or maybe early Saturday morning.
Today will have a chance of showers, mainly between 11am and 3pm. Mostly cloudy 🌦, with a high of 44 degrees at 12pm. 11 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 12th. I like mid March weather in January. Breezy, with a southwest wind 7 to 12 mph increasing to 16 to 21 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 41 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 38 degrees. The record high of 55 was set in 2016. 7.3 inches of snow fell back in 1984.❄
I wasn’t going to ride my bike to work, 🚲 until I decided to do just that. I will take Delaware Avenue in I guess, because I think there is still snow and ice on the rail trail ❄️ though I’d much rather take the rail trail and avoid traffic. 🚂 When I switch to the office in North Albany — maybe next week — if the rail trail is closed, I will take Second Avenue. I think there is less traffic there, and less risk of getting doored, 💥which scares me as much if not more then getting rear-ended on the bicycle. Riding on Delaware Avenue, it’s constant looking ahead and looking backwards, compared to the relatively easy to ride down the rail trail. 🚵♀️ Once I’m fully moved the suburban office, I will be able to take Albany County Rail Trail to Corning Preserve, almost entirely off the road, then it will be an easy ride up Erie Bouelvard, through the old Lumber District.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:03 pm with sun having an altitude of 25.4° 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 3:57 pm with the sun in the southwest (233°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (240°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:41 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 21 seconds with dusk around 5:12 pm, which is one minute and 4 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:48 pm. At sunset, look for rain showers around 🌧 and temperatures around 40 degrees. Breezy, 21 mph breeze ⛅ from the west-southwest with gusts up to 41mph. Today will have 9 hours and 19 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 19 seconds over yesterday.
I was pleasantly surprised that the blueberry pancakes I made yesterday 🥞 didn’t cause me to have a blood sugar spike that I was afraid it would. Maybe it was because the pancakes were whole-wheat flour and some milled oats and made myself without added sugar or even bananas. Maybe using pure maple syrup 🍁 in moderation helped. I do love the sweetness of blueberries 💙 but it can come with an hour or two down the clock feeling really hungry and even a bit dizzy. But I was reading that such blood sugar troughs aren’t that uncommon for many people, and isn’t a sign of anything more serious besides bad dietary choices. I was looking at my online health record, and two times I got my blood and urine tested, my blood sugar levels were in normal levels and I didn’t have any glucose in my urine. 🥤 I did have slightly elevated bile in my urine, a sign of some kidney damage probably back when I was more overweight, but I was barely outside of normal level, 👩⚕️ nothing my doctor said I should be concerned about. I am super paranoid about diabetes these days, as I watch and it slowly saps the life away from my parents who are growing older. And I don’t like needles. 💉
Tonight will be mostly cloudy ☁️, with a low of 29 degrees at 4am. 13 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 24th. Breezy, with a southwest wind 14 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 38 mph. With that wind, I’ll probably need the heat again. ♨️ 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 19 degrees. The record low of -25 occurred back in 1968.
Last night was cold with the wind so I turned on both the gas heat down stairs and the space heater on as I was chilled through. 🌧 🌬 It was absolutely pouring when I was waiting out for the bus, and when I got home things were cold and damp. Cooking in the oven the salmon 🐟 things warmed up, and then I kneaded up the bread 🍞. Also made some corn mush mixed with peanut butter powder which was pretty good. And then shredded and orange and had that with a warm glass of milk with cinnamon and ginger before bed. Eating good. Wish I had gotten more steps in yesterday, but I did do that seven mile ride in during the morning.
Still looks like the weekend starts out rainy, but then gets cold for the balance of the M.L. King weekend. 🌦 Saturday, rain, mainly before 1pm. High near 48. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 31. Breezy. M.L.King Day will be mostly cloudy, with a high near 31. Typical average high for the weekend is 33 degrees. I am not sure if it looks good for getting out of town, thinking it will be a swamp on Saturday and then frigid come Sunday. Maybe just one night. Things could change though.
One month 📅 from now will be Clean Your Computer Day 🧹 when the sun will be setting at 5:21 pm with dusk at 5:49 pm. The average high temperature is 33 degrees, with a record high of 55 in 2016. Now that’s depressing on the mercury front, but let’s be honest, not much beyond there, things start to warm up once again as we head into the second half of February. 🌺 Spring will come eventually.
While I still read and share some news and analysis, I’ve cut back enormously on my consumption of the news and I don’t follow any politicians or news stories any more on Facebook. As soon as Facebook tried to suggest that I follow a politician, I clicked block.
Maybe in a few weeks I’ll turn on the NPR for the news when things get a bit more sane but at this point I don’t care that much. I’ve come to the conclusion that the best way to live life is to live on a need to know basis and be ignorant of all other things. If I don’t have any control over the world and it doesn’t effect me then why should I pay attention?
I wonder if this means any new swimming pools will open up at State Parks near where I like to explore. More like shoutingprotestors and State Troopers swarming the Capitol complex. I kind of wish at this point I was moved to the new office to avoid all the craziness. But summer time at State Parks is on my mind, not the ice fog of today.
Good morning! Happy State of the State Day. 🏫 For me that just means avoid the Concourse and Capitol like the plague or risk crowds of people yelling you, probably about the Isreal and Palestine conflict which is on the other side of the world and I have nothing to do about. Ice fog from the snow and 20 degrees in Delmar. 🌫 Calm wind. There are 5 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Things will start to thaw out at around noontime. 🌡️Then rain tonight.
Ironing my shirt and pants 🕴🏻getting ready for another session day. Drinking coffee ☕ and enjoying the very good pancakes 🥞 I made topped with frozen wild Maine blueberries 🫐, Greek yogurt and pure maple 🍁 syrup. Very tasty, I used more whole wheat flour 🌾 then oats in the mix with an egg, some milk, water and baking powder for fluffiness. I’m just now waiting for the inevitable blood sugar crash😔. Been a bit heavy on the carbs lately so I skipped making bread for now. 🍞 Maybe knead more tonight. I took salmon 🐟 out of the freezer for cooking tonight after work.
Today will have a chance of snow between noon and 3pm, then rain and snow. 🌧 High of 35 degrees at 3pm. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around February 14th. Light southeast wind increasing to 11 to 16 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with a few breaks of sun the afternoon. The high last year was 36 degrees. The record high of 62 was set in 2008. 9.9 inches of snow fell back in 1953.❄
I like my early morning bike ride 🚲 and will head out at 6:45 again after it’s no longer pitch black. 🐮 I like seeing the cows and the mountains along Meads Road. It’s a good ride with the hills on Orchard Street, and while they were a bit icy yesterday, there was enough sand on them that I could maintain traction with my bike. 🌨 Not sure if tomorrow I’ll be able to ride to work, it’s not a session day but it depends on when the rain ☔ stops and how much snow is left on the rail trail. I guess I could take in city streets. 🚘 Going to certainly be mild by tomorrow morning but windy.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:03 pm with sun having an altitude of 25.2° from the due south horizon (-45.6° 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 3:55 pm with the sun in the southwest (232°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (240°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:40 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 21 seconds with dusk around 5:11 pm, which is one minute and 2 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:47 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and snow 🌨 and temperatures around 35 degrees. Breezy, 16 mph breeze ⛅ from the southeast. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 19 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 19 seconds over today.
Tonight will rain, possibly mixed with snow, becoming all rain after 7pm. ☔ Temperature rising to around 49 by 4am. Windy, with a southeast wind 23 to 28 mph decreasing to 15 to 20 mph after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 46 mph. 🌬️ Chance of precipitation is 100%. Little or no snow accumulation expected. In 2023, we had light snow in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 22 degrees. The record low of -13 occurred back in 1968.
I have my doubts about the evening walk. 🌧 That said, I didn’t bother bringing an umbrella to work this afternoon, as there is no reason to have an umbrella with that kind of wind. Just going to get wet waiting for the express bus. 🚌 It’s fine, I’ll head home, change into dry clothes, cook my salmon and brocolli 🐟 🥦 and whatever else I want for dinner, then knead the bread 🍞 and put it in the oven to rise.
Saturday looks to be quite wet.🌧️ Saturday, rain, mainly before 1pm. High near 48. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Then it turns cold for Sunday into MLK Day. ❄ Sunday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 31. Breezy. MLK Day, mostly cloudy, with a high of 33. Typical average high for the weekend is 33 degrees. Deep and dark of winter.
As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until National Cheese Lovers Day 🧀 when the sun will be setting at 4:58 pm with dusk at 5:27 pm. I like cheese but I enjoy it in moderation these days. But the good news is we are almost to the 5 pm sunset then. On that day in 2023, we had snow and temperatures between 34 and 30 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 32 degrees. We hit a record high of 64 back in 1906.
Figured if it’s a dress-up day for work, I won’t be able to ride to work or want to take the stairs up to my office. So it best to get out riding early. It looks like the main roads will just be wet, not super icy though I might run into some snow on side-streets, like Meads Road and Orchard Street. I don’t expect it will be that bad of a ride this morning, and it’s not super cold. But first the sun needs to rise a bit more. I have lights on my bike but I don’t want to ride in the pitch black, especially past the street lights on NY 32 and Meads Road.
Good morning! Happy Monday on this Bubble Bath Day. 🛀 Back to work today, no time for bubble baths. 🧼Partly cloudy and 23 degrees in Delmar. ⛅ There is a northwest breeze at 14 mph. 🍃. The current wind chill is 11. There are 7 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Things will start to thaw out at around 10 am. 🌡️ Probably want a bubble bath by the time I get home from the ride this morning. And more oil on the bike chain.
This morning I made cornmeal paddies with an egg, milk, red onions, garlic, spinach, red pepper and salt. 🍔 I think with the garlic, salt and red pepper I might next time dial back it back a bit, as they were a bit more punchy then I’d like in the morning, but they were good. The spinach helped boost the fiber content plus topping them with greek yogurt and the egg in them really boost the protein content. I was pretty happy with how they came out, and will make them again though I still think I’d want to tone them back a bit. Just too spicy for morning food. Is corn as healthy as oats or whole-wheat? Probably not, but it has the different sweeter and oiler taste. Don’t need to add any oil to the paddies for sure, and they were good.
Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 37 degrees at 1pm. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around February 18th. Northwest wind 7 to 14 mph. Between the warm weather, breeze and sun I don’t expect the snow to stick around. But we can really stick a fork in it come Wednesday with the rain expected. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 35 degrees. The record high of 60 was set in 2008. 8.3 inches of snow fell back in 1923.❄
Yesterday, I decided to make up some chicken soup 🍲 for dinner, which was followed by pea soup and a small bowl of cornmeal porridge. Interested in finding new ways to use cornmeal. Shredded a full orange in the food processor, to get all the flavor, taste and fiber of both the inside and outside of an orange. Didn’t make up any bread last night, I was kind of tired, but I probably will tonight when I get home.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:02 pm with sun having an altitude of 25.1° from the due south horizon (-45.7° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.8 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:54 pm with the sun in the southwest (232°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (240°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:39 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 21 seconds with dusk around 5:10 pm, which is one minute and 2 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:46 pm. At sunset, look for partly clear skies 🌃 and temperatures around 34 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 7 mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 18 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 14 seconds over today.
I’ll be the first to admit yesterday wasn’t the most productive day ever. Just a lot of reading, and watching Youtube and Udemy videos to learn more about machine learning and other topics. I probably should have gone out for a walk yesterday, but it was cold out and I wasn’t super interested in heading out. I kind of want to just get through winter at this point.
Tonight will be partly cloudy 🏙, with a low of 22 degrees at 6am. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 1st. Light and variable wind. Should be a nice night for the evening. In 2023, we had clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 18 degrees. The record low of -20 occurred back in 1968.
Right now, a split verdict on the weekend. 😕 Saturday, rain. High near 45. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 32. Breezy. Typical average high for the weekend is 33 degrees. Things could evolve but Saturday isn’t looking great for heading out of town but Sunday into King’s Day might be good. I kind of would like to get at least one night in the woods, preferrably two if I decide to head up to the Adirondacks or Central NY. Rensselearville isn’t so bad for just one night, but it still requires quite a bit of packing.
Next Monday is Martin Luther King Day 🖤 when the sun will be setting at 4:48 pm with dusk at 5:17 pm. We are picking up quite a bit of time in the evening now, even if when I move to the Enterprise Drive office in the suburbs, there will be enough light in evening to ride back and catch the express bus home. The question now is just cold and snow. On that day in 2023, we had partly cloudy and temperatures between 33 and 19 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 32 degrees. We hit a record high of 65 back in 1995.
Shredded a full orange in the food processor, to get all the flavor, taste and fiber of both the inside and outside of an orange. 
Didn’t make up any bread last night, I was kind of tired, but I probably will tonight when I get home.
Just a lot of reading, and watching Youtube and Udemy videos to learn more about machine learning and other topics. I probably should have gone out for a walk yesterday, 
but it was cold out 
and I wasn’t super interested in heading out. I kind of want to just get through winter at this point. 
