Good morning! Happy Thursday. Mostly cloudy, mild and 40 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a south-southeast breeze at 11 mph. The skies will clear Saturday around 11 pm.

Only 68 days remain until the first day of calendar spring!

Today will be mostly cloudy, with a high of 47 degrees at 2pm. 17 degrees above normal. South wind 11 to 13 mph. A year ago, we had sunny skies with more clouds in the afternoon. The high last year was 52 degrees. Maybe not quite as nice today but close. The record high of 57 was set in 1975. 8 inches of snow fell back in 1922.

The sun will set at 4:43 pm with dusk around 5:14 pm, which is one minute and 7 seconds later than yesterday. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy conditions and 47 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 11 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 19 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 27 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will rain, mainly after 2am. Patchy fog after 11pm. Otherwise, cloudy, with a low of 46 degrees at 6pm. 32 degrees above normal. South wind 9 to 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. In 2017, we had cloudy skies. It got down to 44 degrees. The record low of -26 occurred back in 1968.

I was running late this morning for the bus, but I noticed on my phone that the bus was running a few minutes late, so I hurried and made it out the bus stop in plenty of time. It was good because I don’t like catching the really late bus downtown. One of these mornings I promise myself I will get up early enough to catch the express downtown, but that hasn’t happened in a few weeks, and with having to dress up for work and tomorrow’s rain, it doesn’t look like it will be happening much soon at any rate.

It’s really a shame that the long weekend had slid downhill so quickly. I was really hoping to get out of town but not to camp when it’s close to zero. I’d just love a night in the wilderness with a nice roaring fire. It looks like we will lose a lot of the snow with tomorrow’s heavy rain but Saturday will be icy with freezing rain, Sunday and Martin Luther King Day will be frigid. Maybe next weekend. Eventually spring will come. Maybe in less then 68 degrees.

That said, I am happy with the warmer weather today. I will probably run to the car wash tonight, and pick up some more groceries, as I don’t think I will be driving anywhere on Saturday with the ice and freezing rain expected. I have left the heat at 50 degrees the past few days, because it’s been warm enough that I don’t have to worry about pipes freezing, and I want to save energy while it’s warm enough. I actually like keeping it cooler, as I find the warmer temperatures make it difficult to enjoy a nice sweater. Maybe if I heated with wood or coal and had an energy efficient building, I would be more inclined to use more heat, but for now I’m all about saving energy, especially on a warm day like today. This weekend though, it will be back to keeping the heat at 55 in the day and maybe 60 when I’m home, with the cold blast coming back in.

My neighbor was quiet last night, well because he wasn’t home. But he also didn’t play his game boy or whatever that stupid rumble is. Maybe me being extra quiet has helped him get the idea that the walls are pretty thin and rumbles go between units. I think once summer returns with the windows open and his air conditioning running 24-7, it won’t be an issue because the regular traffic noise from the city will block the noise. Plus once the nights get longer and a fair bit warmer, I expect I will be heading down to the park every night either with a book or my laptop. I do like how they have wireless internet in the park.

I am still hoping I can get that third matrix wired into the set. I did make a mess of the pins with the soldering iron, but it would be neat to make an even longer matrix. If not, I’ll use that piece for parts. Three section does make the display fairly long and non-portable but it displays even longer messages without scrolling. This weekend I will build a case out of the styrofoam sign board I bought and permanently wire up the USB external power cable. I don’t have  the clock module yet but that should be easy to add after the fact. This first project will display messages like “Good morning! Happy Tuesday.” and “Think Spring! Only 68 days until spring!” etc. If not, I can still use that module separately. Once I get this project built, I’m going to order more modules for future products.