Good morning! Happy Tuesday.

A cold November morning, although without the wind doesn’t feel bad. Cold but clear before the snow and ice come tomorrow, though I expect locally it will be a mix of sloppy slush and lots of road salt.

Mostly sunny and 21 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☀ Calm wind. Things will start to thaw out at around 9 am. 🌡️

Out walking and watching the sun rise on this mid November morning. 🌅 It’s a remarkably nice morning prior to the upcoming cold. The gas heat is back on in my apartment, I heard it click on during the night. Only set to 50 but thermostat is downstairs so it’s warmer upstairs. Plus in bed 🛏 I have my heated blanket.

I checked the insulation around the door, tightened it up a bit 🚪 and turned on the heat last night. It’s that season again. I might turn it back off should it warm up, though it’s not that much of an expense in the grand scheme of things. I am sure if I owned my own house, it would be even more expensive to heat it unless I heated with wood that I cut myself, and even that takes fuel to do that.

I got to the grocery store 🏬 yesterday and my pantry is now well stocked so I won’t have to deal with driving 🚘 on the salt encrusted roads for a while. Maybe it will warm up and turn to rain and wash away the salt. But regardless, winter is coming. ❄️

I don’t care that much about the snow and ice. 🌨 I might take the local to work if it’s too icy in the morning or it’s raining. The local will run. 👨‍💻 I also will bring my laptop home so in case the office is closed and it’s a remote work day. Since the pandemic, it doesn’t take much snow or ice for work to be remote. I guess that’s a good thing for commuters, and might matter to me some day in the future when I move out of the city. 

Good morning! Happy Monday.

It’s cold. I fully expect tonight I’m going to have to turn on the central heat and run to the grocery store before the salt spreaders are out on Tuesday.

Mostly sunny and 31 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☀ There is a northwest breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. Things will start to thaw out at around 7 am. 🌡️

Out walking at 6:30 this morning. 🌅 Cold start to the morning, my hands 👐 feel the sting of the cold but at warming up. I still wanted to get out early, as I’d much rather walk in Delmar then Albany, and plus I get more steps in early, then if I don’t get out for the evening walk because it’s cold or I’m busy, I still have my steps in for the day.

I would like to get to the store 🏬 tonight before the ice ❄ and road salt tomorrow. I don’t need groceries yet but the things I will buy should last a few weeks especially if unopened. I buy a lot of frozen things as it minimizes the amount of waste 🗑 I produce especially with rates going up at the transfer station ♻ and not having as many fires 🔥 in the winter time for burnables. Past few milk and juice bottles, I’ve been washing them out for recycling. Tomorrow is after all, National Recycling Day. But also, I need to pack a lunch every day for work, as the days of free lunches at work during the fall have come and gone.

I finally got to turn on the heat tonight I’m afraid. 🌡 It looks like it will be in the lower 20s by morning, and that’s both too cold for both the pipes and my comfort. While I’m happy if my apartment is above 50 degrees, with the cold I’m sure it won’t last too long, though at this point I’ll probably keep my heat at the lowest setting until the real cold comes. If I’m cold I have my heated blanket out and that little space heater, which I run only about 20 hours a winter, mostly to warm up my hands.

I am thinking probably this weekend I will stay in town, 🏘 but maybe after Thanksgiving on Black Friday through early the next week head out of town. Maybe out to the Adirondacks. ⛰ A lot depends on the weather, how much snow is up north, and how cold and cloudy ☁️ it may be. Winter can pose a problem for heading up north, and while it’s been late, they may get several inches of snow, depending on where you are in the Adirondacks. Plus many of the campsites may already be taken by hunters.

Once winter comes and rifle season is done, I’ll probably do skiing at Rensselaerville State Forest. 🎿 It’s close to home, and that road is open year around, so if I bring a shovel I can certainly camp there and ski on winter weekends when it’s not too cold out.