Get your motor running, head out on the highway, looking for adventure and whatever comes my way.

Good morning! Happy Saturday. Going to be a beautiful start to the weekend for doing some driving around. Partly cloudy and 39 degrees in Delmar, NY. ⛅ There is a west-northwest breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at Monday around 2 am. ☃️ I do wish I could go out camping, but things are going to be muddy after the rain, plus I’m thinking a week from next Thursday of heading up to the Adirondacks for a three-day weekend, assuming they don’t get a shit ton of snow up north in the meantime or it’s pouring rain all Easter weekend. 🐇

Things are going better since I’ve been doing more research 🛖 on housing options, and realizing I have to be more flexible on my thinking — even if it means a longer commute then is ideal to live rural. 👨‍🌾Spending a lot of money on gas ⛽️ and burning through cars 🚗 every 8-10 years ain’t fun, but I may have to push closer to 35 mile commute rather then the less 30 mile commute I was going for. The thing is in 8 years from my next car purchase in 2025, I’ll have built up my solar system and there will be far more options for electric vehicles. 🔌 I really like some of the options for modular cabins, especially the smaller ones built to code for residential use at a factory and delivered to the site with full interior built. Right now I’m quite enthralled by the Zook Settler and similar style small-one floor code-compliant pre-built residential cabins. I am thinking one floor, no basement, smallest size for a smallest possible electrical and heating demand. I like the wood-walls, that won’t sure the dirt like drywall, and the metal roof for fire safety and insurance savings, lest an ember fall on the roof.

Then get an EPA-certified, efficient wood stove and a small heat pump and use one of the bedrooms as a mechanical room — for batteries, split-phase inverter, well pressure tank, and maybe eventually a washing machine and computer equipment. 🔋 If I get serious about the map making business, I might eventually get an used plotter. I am thinking the heat pump can be used when I’m not there to keep things from freezing in winter. ♨️ Wouldn’t run much though, as I’d keep the temperature low on the heat pump in the winter, 🌨️ and the thing is a cabin built to 2018 federal energy standards, as required by NY State, passing blower efficiency tests, 🌬️is going to have minimal heat loss. I am going to need a quality gasoline generator like a Honda, which will have remote start, which can be triggered off inverter on low battery, which can keep things from freezing up in winter if I’m away for an extended time. Plus as much as I personally loathe air conditioning, the climate is warming 🌎️ and it sure would be nice to come home to on that sultry summer nights, especially when the batteries are full and it makes sense to be keeping the cabin cold rather then wasting the solar energy. 🧊 Use a standard electric refrigerator and probably a gas stove converted to use propane — and in winter, sometimes use the wood stove to atop. If I’m only using propane for the stove, I can get away with 30 lb propane tanks, that I can throw in the pickup and get filled at any propane retailer rather then paying a big truck to come out there and be dependent on one supplier. That said, it’s going to be a lot of money, but I’ve saved for a long time, done well in the markets. What I’m building is far smaller then your typical suburban home and will consume far less energy, especially fossil energy.

Today will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 54 degrees at 5pm. Nine degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 5th. West wind 5 to 8 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 51 degrees. The record high of 82 was set in 1990. 13.4 inches of snow fell back in 1956.❄

At any rate, that’s all fun and games, 🕹️ though first I have to find land that I love ❤️‍🔥and is a good fit for me. The commute thing sucks, but I want to find a place that feels like and will be my home for the rest of my life.  🚗 I am exploring Rensselaer County today, not because that’s necessarily where I will move, as I’m biased towards the Hilltowns of Albany County, but as far as birds eye distance goes  🦜 there’s more remote country, closer to work then in the Hilltowns, being that work in Menands. 🐐 The roads kind of suck and traffic in Rensselaer County, (Hoosick Street and NY 7) but as a property owner, the conservative politics of land of Joe Bruno would suit me well. 😃 What’s good for my business, as I like to say, might not necessarily always be good for myself. Not only do I want to look at a list of parcels I’ve seen listed in Hoosick Falls, Petersburg and Grafton, I also want to explore some of Petersburg State Forest for mountain biking, hiking and camping 🏕️ 🥾 in the future. It’s fun to drive the back roads.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:05 pm with sun having an altitude of 45.9° from the due south horizon (-25° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 5.8 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:26 pm with the sun in the west (263°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (269°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:04 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 53 seconds with dusk around 7:31 pm, which is one minute and 10 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the First Quarter 🌓 Moon in the southwest (215°) at an altitude of 73° from the horizon, 239,018 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:05 pm. At sunset, look for partly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 50 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Tomorrow will have 12 hours and 4 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 54 seconds over today.

For the Easter weekend, 🐰 as I was noting, I really want to get out of town to go to the Adirondacks. The burn ban doesn’t apply to small campfires, and I don’t think it’s going to be bone dry up north at that point based on the forecast. 🔥 Plus I really want a good fire to help myself sleep better  🛌 and burn up some of the accumulated papers. I have nothing but disdain for the burn ban, but I understand the fire risk this time of year, as I know how easy it can be set your yard on fire, and as a future property owner I don’t want that to happen. 😐️ You can say what you want about New York State, but it pays my bills and it’s my home. Building standards mean I will end up with a quality, energy efficient building even if I have my views on the gun laws and open burning restrictions. Happy March 16th.

Tonight will have showers, mainly after 2am. 🌧 Low of 41 degrees at 6am. 14 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 22nd. Light southeast wind becoming south 6 to 11 mph in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2023, we had partly cloudy skies. It got down to 32 degrees. The record low of -1 occurred back in 1916.

One month 📅 from now will be Average High is 60 🌷 when the sun will be setting at 7:40 pm with dusk at 8:08 pm.