Seneca Lake

Good afternoon! Sunny and 79 degrees at the Finger Lakes National Forest. There is a north-northwest breeze at 5 mph. . The dew point is 55 degrees.

This morning was a bit more breezy than expected but that’s kind of the norm on the Hector Backbone. Kind of a quiet and lazy morning today, I’m in no rush to get going. I kind of wanted to catch up on sleep and avoid a crazy morning rushing to get to the park before the parking lot fills and closes. That said, it seems like my fears are rather misplaced – there has been no evidence of that happening this week. Much less hot and humid.

Enjoyed a nice quiet morning in the hammock looking at the trees swaying above and just relaxing. Monday and Tuesday were too much of a rush. Vacation should be about relaxing. I really am enjoying camping where I have no cellphone reception as it keeps me from constantly checking social media. Facebook is nice but it sure is addictive.

I am thinking today of exploring the Caywood Point historic site and if there is a place to fish down there tossing in a line. I wanted to get night crawlers but I can get them today when I shop . I am going to leave the kayak on the truck and I might put in at the Hector Town Park where there is supposedly a boat launch and paddle around mid lake. In the evening I’ll probably go down to Watkins Glen for ice and groceries and maybe a brief swim to close out the day.

This afternoon will be sunny , with a high of 82 degrees at 3pm. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical day around August 9th. Maximum dew point of 57 at 6pm. North wind around 5 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became cloudy by afternoon. It was somewhat humid. The high last year was 86 degrees. The record high of 99 was set in 1944.

Solar noon is at 1:13 pm with sun having an altitude of 62.2° from the due south horizon (-8.5° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 3.2 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour starts at 7:35 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (285°). The sunset is in the west-northwest (291°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:14 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 5 seconds with dusk around 8:43 pm, which is one minute and 25 seconds earlier than yesterday. The best time to look at the stars is after 9:23 pm. At sunset, look for mostly clear skies and temperatures around 75 degrees. The dew point will be 59 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 14 hours and one minute of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 29 seconds over yesterday.

It looks like the party broke up this morning based on the number of cars going by so tonight I might hike down to Foster Pond and see if I can see more of the percid metroid showers . I am thinking it might be a nice clear night for that with less humidity for better visibility. Sitting along the pond provides a good view of the stars . Hopefully the kids didn’t trash the area too much.

Tonight will be mostly clear , with a low of 62 degrees at 5am. One degree above normal. Maximum dew point of 59 at 8pm. Calm wind. In 2019, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became light rain by the early hours of the morning. It was sticky. It got down to 67 degrees. The record low of 43 occurred back in 1957.

Shopping at Wally World the other day I couldn’t get any more paper bowls so I ended up getting Styrofoam. I always used to use Styrofoam while camping as I figured it burned better, was cheaper and didn’t involve cutting down trees but lately I’ve been using paper products when camping because I was reading how noxious the blowing agents are for expanded polystyrene and it stinks and burns burn if you don’t have a hot fire. Paper ain’t great either – it’s plastic coated – but in some ways it’s a better. I don’t know, I use regular reusable stuff at home but camping it’s just easier and cleaner to let the fire do the dishes. Often my water supply of potable water is limited. When I have my off-grid homestead with the burn barrels for unlimited trash disposal I’ll have to decide what is the right option for me – water might be precious .

I’ve continued reading Gebe Brown’s book on Regenerative Agriculture. It one part ideological but also kind of a rethinking about orthodoxy when it comes to agriculture. When he gets off his high horse he actually has some interesting ideas. It really makes me think when I own my off-grid property I’ll put a premium on diversity of plants and wildlife and work hard to remove and burn up invasive species on my land. I have no moral quams about using glyphosate or other pesticides responsibility to manage land and I do see a lot of benefits to planting milkweed and other native species to bring in wildlife for hunting and observation . It’s really beautiful what things were like at that farm I visited the other week for the party where they had irradicated nearly all invasives in favor of natives.

Right now, a split verdict on the weekend. Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 80. Maximum dew point of 64 at 9am. Sunday, a chance of showers after 2pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 77. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Maximum dew point of 60 at 6am. Typical average high for the weekend is 81 degrees.

Honestly, if the weather is going to be bad I’d rather it happen on the day vacation ends. It seems like a busy week at work and I’m sure things will be crazy next week once I clock in. But so it goes, I have to make money to have money to spend on vacation.

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until National Dog Day when the sun will be setting at 7:51 pm with dusk at 8:20 pm. On that day in 2019, we had sunny and temperatures between 78 and 52 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 79 degrees. We hit a record high of 98 back in 1948.