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.
Feeling kind of sick this morning, but I’m doing okay, dragging myself to work. I figure after a good pan of eggs and maybe some grapes, I should be good to go. I think I’m just a bit sleepless looking forward to my vacation, or maybe I’m coming down with a minor cold. But I’m hoping to power through it and leave in about 24 hours to start heading south to Pennsylvania.
Good morning! Happy Friday Before October Vacation! Clouds, fog and 54 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ There is a south-southeast breeze at 9 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 51 degrees. The skies will clear Monday around 4 am.
Not sure why suddenly this morning I felt so sick 🤢 though I wasn’t feeling great yesterday afternoon either. Started out like a cold with some congestion, achiness, exhaustion and now it’s progressed to more of a stomach bug. A few frequent visits to the toilet it would seem. 🚽 I really shouldn’t be in the office this morning, but it’s hard to call in sick the day before your vacation. I’ll wash my hands well, wear a muzzle and suck it up. Maybe it’s because I was up too late last night kneading bread and up to early to start cooking down the 15-bean soup 🍵, butternut squash 🍆 and two loaves of bread. 🍞 Need to have a lot of bread ready to go as it’s not going to be easy to cook quality bread when I go down to West Virigina.
I got to the store last night an bought another pair of 34″ inch jeans. 👖 I am amazed that I regularly fit into 34×32 inch jeans comfortably when at the beginning of the year I was regularly wearing 40×32 jeans and even they were tight. I don’t feel like I’ve lost a lot of weight but looking at photos I realize I have lost quite a bit of wait. Kind of weird how that sneaks up with you after healthy eating. I also got a bunch of supplies for camping and around the apartment, including flour to make up the bread last night. 🍞
Today will have showers likely, then showers and possibly a thunderstorm after 2pm. 🌦 High of 61 degrees at 2pm. Two degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 16th. Maximum dew point of 57 at 2pm. 🏖️ Southeast wind 9 to 11 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 57 degrees. The record high of 80 was set in 1965. There was a dusting of snow in 1952.❄
This evening I need to run to the laundromat 👕 to ensure I have sufficient clothing plus a pair of clothes to wear the following Monday to work when I come back from vacation. Then just a lot of packing. I just wasn’t feeling up to that last night, plus I needed to get some groceries, and needed a lot of the spices and supplies for cooking. I’ll do the best I can do tonight, but it might be raining out hard, so I might end up getting everything ready to pack come the morning. I do want to leave around 9 AM tomorrow, which I will go to the bank first, then maybe down to For the Love of Bacon, then Oneonta for Annutto’s Farm Stand then down to PA. Not a rush though as it’s going to be a rainy day.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:41 pm with sun having an altitude of 37.1° from the due south horizon (-33.7° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 7.9 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 5:28 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (250°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (257°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 6:07 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 59 seconds with dusk around 6:34 pm, which is one minute and 33 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the First Quarter 🌓 Moon in the south (189°) at an altitude of 19° from the horizon, 230,138 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 7:09 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and thunderstorms 🌩 and temperatures around 60 degrees. The dew point will be 57 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 9 mph. Today will have 10 hours and 54 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 45 seconds over yesterday.
I forgot to get Five Hour Energy Shots yesterday ☕ so I figure I’ll just put a single cup of coffee in my refigerator overnight, and leave it at that. I don’t need that much caffeine, if I’m truly desperate I’ll stop somewhere and get coffee. 🥚 Then hard boiled and bananas to snack on my trip down to Pennsylvania tomorrow. I might get energy shots though for Sunday’s trip to West Virigina, as there is even fewer places to pee on that leg of the trip and I don’t want to do much cooking but instead break camp early so I can go riding as time allows at
Tonight will rain and possibly a thunderstorm. 🌧 Low of 55 degrees at 5am. 15 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around September 13th. Maximum dew point of 57 at 6pm. 🏖️ Southeast wind 5 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 31 degrees. The record low of 17 occurred back in 1972.
I am looking forward to participating in some of those Udemy Courses now that the local library is offering them for free. 📚
Tomorrow will rain. 🌧 High of 58 degrees at 12pm. One degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 22nd. Maximum dew point of 55 at 6am. 🏖️ Northwest wind 6 to 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 61 degrees. The record high of 81 was set in 1979. 0.2 inches of snow fell back in 1926.❄
Looking ahead to Sunday, showers likely, mainly after 2pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 51. ⛅ West wind 15 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 33 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Going to also be windy in West Virginia but more sun. Kind of a cold night to start out my first night at West Virigina but I’ll have my propane tank topped off in Keyser and I might hot tent if necessary. ♨️ Figure going to be down there for nights, so I should pitch a tent, if onylt to store gear. ⛺ Typical average high for the weekend is 60 degrees.
Looking ahead, there are 5 weeks until Buy Nothing Day 🛍️ when the sun will be setting at 4:27 pm with dusk at 4:57 pm (Standard Time). On that day in 2022, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 49 and 24 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 46 degrees. We hit a record high of 70 back in 2014.
Today the average high falls to 60 degrees though once we get beyond this weekend it might be a fair bit above average with a lot of sun. Less than two weeks until November, Thanksgiving is in five weeks. But the coming sunshine and warmer weather equals good news for the October road trip! Plus ample sunshine today.
Good morning! Fog 🌫 and 45 degrees in Delmar, NY. Calm wind.The skies will clear around 8 am.
Oatmeal banana 🍌 pancakes this morning 🥞 though I ran low on oatmeal so I ended up adding whole wheat flour to the mix and it was excellent. 😋 I’ve been also adding baking soda and apple cider vinegar for extra browning and fluff (think elementary school volcanoes) and it works great along with shredded carrots for more crunch and fiber. 🥕 Lately I’ve been going through so many carrots, I’m virtually a rabbit 🐰 farmer. Some day maybe, I’ve heard rabbit meat 🥩 is an excellent source of lean protein on the homestead.
Today will have patchy fog before 8am. Otherwise, partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 65 degrees at 3pm. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 8th. Maximum dew point of 48 at 10am. Light south wind increasing to 5 to 10 mph in the morning. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 53 degrees. The record high of 79 was set in 1963. There was a dusting of snow in 1992.❄
Should be a good day to ride to work. 🚲 Tomorrow though with the rain coming I’ll be busing 🚍 it seems, first time since that one evening before Columbus Day Weekend. In two and a half weeks after the vacation I’ll be busing it every night due to the time change. 🕒 Sucks but it will make the mornings brighter 🔆. Maybe then I’ll get off my ass and do my morning walk 🚶 again especially as I won’t be doing the evening bike ride. I’ve been enjoying my bicycle commutes, disappointed about tomorrow’s forecast but I’ll trade it for awesome weather on vacation.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:41 pm with sun having an altitude of 37.5° from the due south horizon (-33.3° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 7.8 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 5:30 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (251°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (257°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 6:09 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 58 seconds with dusk around 6:36 pm, which is one minute and 34 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the First Quarter 🌓 Moon in the south-southwest (203°) at an altitude of 15° from the horizon, 232,459 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 7:10 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 61 degrees. The dew point will be 48 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 10 mph. Today will have 10 hours and 57 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 45 seconds over yesterday.
Next week I’m going to be in West Virginia 🗻 at least that’s the plan. It should be a great week in the mountain state. Tonight I’m going to Walmart to get supplies for the trip, Maybe get another 34 inch pair of jeans. 👖 I have 15 bean soup mix soaking in my refrigerator today and will enjoy it for lunch 🍲 tomorrow and then dinner at camp ⛺ on Saturday night in the rain. I think I’ll bake up two loaves of bread 🍞 and more Butternut squash 🍆 tonight to bring down to start off my vacation. Friday night I’ll finish up packing and do the laundromat thing.
Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 52 degrees at 1am. 12 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around September 18th. Maximum dew point of 49 at 2am. South wind 8 to 10 mph. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 36 degrees. The record low of 18 occurred back in 1972.
Rainy weekendahead, especially on Saturday. ☔ Saturday, rain. High near 60. Northwest wind 5 to 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. Sunday, a chance of rain before 11am, then a chance of showers after 11am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 51. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Typical average high for the weekend is 60 degrees.
Looking at the driving 🚘 weather forecast it looks like the morning weather will start out wet on my drive to Pennsylvania ☔ but will stop as I head south or at least moderate. Sunday is looking decent for riding the Chesapeake and Ohio trail in Cumberland then setting up camp before dark. Might not even need a tarp on Sunday.
Looking ahead, there are 5 weeks until Thanksgiving 🦃 when the sun will be setting at 4:28 pm with dusk at 4:57 pm (Standard Time). On that day in 2022, we had partly cloudy and temperatures between 49 and 24 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 46 degrees. We hit a record high of 72 back in 1931. As I was noting last night, I’m already thinking about a November trip around Election Day or Veteran’s Day out to Madison County, 🐮 but after that I’ll probably stick closer to home through the end of hunting season, maybe doing some day trips or bike rides along rail trails. 🚂
Kind of a running list of where things stand and what I need to do to make vacation happen.
It looks like it will be a great week down in West Virginia with lots of sun and temperatures warming up to the upper 60s by the end of the week. Maybe some rain for the drive down on Saturday but even that evening doesn’t look like a wash out. Checked the oil over the weekend, and that was good, I could pick up some pre-mix coolant and top that off just to be safe.
Tonight I’m going to run to Walmart to get some initial supplies and things I need around the apartment. Start packing and getting ready. Been thinking a lot about what I want to cook down there, as food shopping options really are limited in Davis and Thomas high country area and I don’t plan to drive to either Oakland or Elkins mid week if I can avoid it. I was hoping to get ice cream in Davis/Thomas but the one ice cream parlor in the region closed before Columbus Day Weekend. Kind of a bummer as it’s going to be warm by the end of the week. Maybe I can get my fix of pumpkin ice cream on the way back home. Doesn’t have to be fancy — I’m all for vanilla soft-ice cream with a pumpkin dip. I’ll bring some cans of pumpkin puree to have pumpkin with non-fat greek yogurt at camp, plus pumpkin-oatmeal pancakes and pumpkin-oatmeal biquits for my pumpkin fix.
Got to transfer $300 from my rainy day bank account to my main account to keep the balance up and then withdraw $200 in small bills for miscellaneous expenses like campground fees and farm stands on the way down. I get paid next Tuesday but my bank balance is currently fairly low and with rent due along with automated investment and retirement there still will be insufficient funds despite the money coming in. At the end of November though my deferred compensation will max out so that should mean a good boost in pay that will help me catch up again on my bank balance.
I need to print up some maps for some of the areas I’m exploring plus make sure I have cached the forest service and topographic maps on my phone. While I should have service at camp, not all locations will and it’s better to be safe then not have the maps I need. I really plan to GPS and share as much of my trip as possible, including posting tracks of drives, bike rides and hikes along the way. Plus get podcasts to listen to up at camp, especially for the first rainy night where it’s unlikely I’ll have much service.
I want to soak 15 bean soup tonight, make hard boiled eggs and knead bread to bake on Friday afternoon so I have things to eat on the way down and Saturday night without much cooking especially if it turns out Saturday evening is wetter then it’s trending. I also want to get some cider doughnuts to enjoy on the way down, maybe in Oneonta. Hit the hay early Saturday night at camp in Penna and get on the road early Sunday around day break to Cumberland, Maryland.
Sunday looks like the rain will pull out fairly early which is good if I want to spend a few hours exploring the Chesapeake and Ohio Trail in Cumberland on Blackie my mountain bike before heading down to Keyser to top off my propane and do one more supply shop at Walmart before heading up the Allegheny Front and setting up camp in the high country.
Monday is going to be a bit cool but sunny and the rest of the week could very well be t-shirt weather at least by the end of the day with lots of sun. Planning many bike rides and hikes through the week to scenic locations. Want to have many good, delicious and healthy meals to cook even though I won’t have my full oven but I’ll bring my camp oven and Dutch oven. Undecided about the food processor, I could bring it or I might just mill up oatmeal for pancakes and baking in advance.
Then just kind of relax. I want to have fun but not be rushed or trying to see and visit as many places as possible at once. Be able to watch many sun rises and sunsets, have some nice fires, listen to music and podcasts. Take pictures and enjoy the scenery. Eat good healthy meals. Maybe do a bit of bike riding under the moon light, get a craft beer from Mountain State Brewery. Make the most of it before heading back north come the following Saturday.
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 likeit 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.
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.
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.
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.
