Good afternoon! Cloudy, ☁️ a few rain drops 💧 and 84 degrees at Rock Cut Road in Watkins Glen. There is a southeast breeze at 9 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 63 degrees. The skies will clear around 4 pm.

Final full day in the Finger Lakes. 😔 I know I shouldn’t be labor that point as it is only going to make the time go by faster. ⏳But truth be told this has been the most odd trip, trying to keep a lower profile and avoid crowded spots with the pandemic smoldering all around. I tried to maintain social distancing and wear a mask 😷 – well a hillbilly mask that is so popular in these small towns of a banada tied around the face. If it works for dusty hay barns and ATV riders it should work for ol Corona. 🤠

Started out the day laying in the hammock, finally enjoying my coffee ☕ and muffins. I have to say I’m very glad I had coffee this morning. ☕ And I bought more blueberry muffins from Wally World to go with it. I’ll go back to healthier eating when I get home, as calories don’t count on vacation.🥞🍎🍒🍓🥕🍆🌽

Truth be told 💤 the reason why the days go by so quickly is I’ve hardly been very motivated to get an early start. I stay up late and then sleep in and then spend a good portion of the morning laying back in hammock most day relaxing before I get out and doing things, returning only around dusk. 📖 But I like lazy mornings on vacation, I enjoy a good book. ☕

Started reading 📖 that book on hog farming 🐖 continuing to further my education on livestock raising for my future homestead. 🚜 It was totally Cam Edwards podcast that got me into pigs, than furthered by the North Country Off Grid YouTube channel. It poured after lunch so I ended up cutting back my ambitious plans for the day and reading 📖 from the truck cap.

Now I’m out exploring Catherine Marsh trails and Rock Cut Road I missed previously when I was in Watkins Glen. 🐦🦅🦆🐢🦎🐡🦗 The Marsh looks so inviting when your heading down to Watkins Glen on NY 79. I just wish they had better maps of the area. I could probably make my own 🗺️ and post them to the blog.

This afternoon will have isolated showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny , with a high of 85 degrees at 3pm. Four degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 63 at 3pm. Southeast wind around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became rain by afternoon. It became humid as the day progressed. The high last year was 83 degrees. The record high of 96 was set in 1959.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:13 pm with sun having an altitude of 61.5° from the due south horizon (-9.4° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 3.3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:31 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (283°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (290°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:10 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 3 seconds with dusk around 8:38 pm, which is one minute and 27 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:17 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and thunderstorms 🌩 and temperatures around 74 degrees. The dew point will be 62 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 7 mph. Today will have 13 hours and 52 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 31 seconds over yesterday.

I am thinking maybe a final swim 🏊🏻‍♂️ at the Watkins Glen pool this afternoon late after the crowds filter out. Always very quiet at the pool after 5 pm when most folks are eating dinner. 🍲 It all depends on how long my hike goes. I might instead try to do some paddling on the marsh 🛶 especially if thunderstorms close the pool ⛈ but aren’t nearby.

Tonight will have a chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 9pm. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 65 degrees at 6am. Five degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 64 at 10pm. South wind 5 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It was humid. It got down to 63 degrees. The record low of 41 occurred back in 1972.

How safe has the trip been? 👾 Gawd, I don’t know. I did wash my hands the best I could 👐🏻. Certainly Watkins Glen brings people from throughout the world and you certainly did see license plates from Texas and Ohio but probably less than you would have seen on an ordinary year. But I needed a vacation 🏖, a chance to truly get away from it all for a week. Hopefully it won’t end up on a respirator or dead. ☠️ I still have a lot of life to live, a lot of guns to buy, a lot of land, livestock and toys to own – so yeah I don’t want to die for many more years. 👴🏻 So I’m doing everything I can to stay safe while enjoying life.

Maybe someday when I own my off-grid homestead 🐖 I’ll have much less desire to travel but with my moldy apartment in city 🏙 and all the problems of urban living it’s good to get away. Plus it’s going to be a busy next three 3⃣ months at work, 💼 even if it is remote work, I’m supervising and moving forward a lot of different campaigns.

In 1969, the Woodstock Music Festival Opens on Max Yasgur’s dairy farm in Bethel, 🎸 much to the distaste of his neighbors and fellow community members. 🎶 Yasgur operated the largest dairy farm in Sullivan County 🐮, he was forced out of the business a few years later in part because of people refusing to buy his milk 🥛 but also because he suffered enormous crop losses 🌽 during 1969 and 1970 when the droughts of earlier years turned into enormous flooding and soggy farm fields. Plus he had the mess to clean up from Woodstock that was left over.

On this day in 1970, President Richard Nixon completes the break from the gold standard by ending convertibility of the United States dollar into gold 🥇 by foreign investors. People said that laid to inflation 💲💲💲and a growing gap between the rich and the poor but I think all the evidence suggests the Gold Bugs are wrong. The end of the pegging was a result of existing inflationary pressures and a rapidly growing economy.

There are 2 months until Average High is 60 🍂 when the sun will be setting at 6:24 pm with dusk at 6:53 pm. The average high temperature is 32 degrees, with a record high of 61 in 1895.

Good evening! Mostly clear and 76 degrees at the Finger Lakes National Forest. 🌌There is a north breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 60 degrees.

It was a nice day hiking the Catherine Valley Rail Trail 🚂. Not the most exciting trail ever but a nice walk through some well managed and scenic woods. A lot of it was timber country that is leased to a local hunting club. 🦌🦃🦆 Some road noise from NY 14 but it ran pretty high above the valley on dirt viaducts cut into the mountainside.

In the afternoon I went for a swim at Watkins Glen State Park. 🏊🏻‍♂️ I thought the pool was too crowded for social distancing at four o’clock so I hopped out and by five it had thinned out so then I hopped in the pool. One thing nice about the Finger Lakes is the swimming areas are all open until 7 pm. ☺

I thought about swimming at Enfield Gorge or at the Cayuga Lake beach 🏖 at Taughannock State Park but I feel like those bathrooms 🚿 are more cramped and less clean, and the natural water is not chlorinated so I’m hesitant. Plus the beach areas are smaller and cramped making social distancing more difficult.

I got ice cream one more time at Glen Dairy Bar 🍧this time an apple sundae. 🍏I think this will be the last one for this trip, I’m kind of tired 😴 of eating so much ice cream. It’s been fun while it lasted during this trip. I told myself ice cream 🍦nearly there would be my special little treat.

Watched the sunset 🌇 from off Ball Diamond Road in the National Forest pasture again tonight. Another nice sunset, always pretty watching the sun set over the hills of the Finger Lakes and Seneca Lake.

Walked down to Foster Pond and watched the stars ✨ for a while. Saw four shooting stars 🌠including one that was really bright and lit up the sky. Ended up falling asleep and was awoken by a bunch of drunk kids rafting in plastic blow up rafts on Foster Pond. 🛥️ One of them offered me a partially drink can of white claw, during the pandemic. 🍻 I declined and walked back to camp.

Running low on drinking water 💦 and wanting something sweet I packed apple 🍏 juice for hiking today. That was fine until I cross threaded the canteen and it leaked over my backpack. Fortunately I decided to leave the binoculars and camera 📸 in the truck. A bee was attracted to the backpack got stung in the arm. 🐝 That hurt. The backpack was washed in the shower 🚿 and is drying now. Drank too much apple juice today and now I have the runs a bit. 💩 Hello bucket shitter! Getting full, going to emptied and buried ⚰ tomorrow when I break camp.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 63 degrees at 5am. Three degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 62 at 9pm. North wind around 6 mph becoming calm after midnight. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies. It got down to 62 degrees. The record low of 48 occurred back in 1964.

Tonight will have a Waining Crescent 🌘 Moon with 19% illuminated. The darkest hour is at 1:13 am, followed by dawn at 5:44 am, and sun starting to rise at 6:14 am in the east-northeast (70°) and last for 3 minutes and 4 seconds. Sunrise is one minute and 4 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 6:53 am with sun in the east-northeast (76°). Tonight will have 10 hours and 5 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 31 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 81 degrees at 2pm. Typical for Tomorrow. Maximum dew point of 63 at 7am. South wind 3 to 7 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies. The high last year was 83 degrees. The record high of 96 was set in 1959. One thing to watch is clouds may push in fairly early tomorrow afternoon. ☁️

I am going to take a wait and see approach tomorrow. ⛅ I am afraid it might be quite choppy on Seneca Lake by afternoon to paddle. 🛶 If it’s kind of gray and dark out I might stay at camp. Although there are some additional marsh trails in Watkins Glen that I was reading 📖 about I’m thinking 💭 about exploring.

In four weeks on September 11 the sun will be setting in the west (276°) at 7:23 pm,🌄 which is 46 minutes and 6 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had hot and humid weather that was partly sunny and temperatures between 87 and 66 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 74 and 54 degrees. The record high of 98 degrees was set back in 1931.

Looking ahead, Labor Day Weekend Begins 👨‍🏭 in 3 weeks, September 11th 🇸 is in 4 weeks, 7 PM Sunset 🌆 is in 5 weeks, Average High is 65 🍂 is in 7 weeks, Average Night Below Freezing 🌌 is in 13 weeks, Buy Nothing Day 🛍️ is in 15 weeks, Average High is 40 🌨 is in 16 weeks, Bake Cookies Day 🍪 is in 18 weeks, Christmas 🎅 is in 19 weeks, New Years Day 2020 🎉 is in 20 weeks, Bubble Bath Day 🧼 is in 21 weeks, Coldest Week of the Year 🌬 is in 5 months, my 38th Birthday 🎉 is in 24 weeks and Valentines Day ❤️ is in 6 months.