December 8, 2015 night

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Good evening. Currently 29 degrees and partly clear. As the evening has progressed, there is more stars you can see. When I went for a walk in the Albany Pine Bush Preserve around 8 PM it was mostly cloudy.

Gradual clearing through the night and slight warm up. Tomorrow will be partly sunny and 49 degrees which is pretty darn nice for December. The low for Wednesday night heading into Thursday is only 41 degrees. Sunrise at 7:21 AM.

Cleaned the mildew off a few more panels in my crappy apartment as part of my effort to slowly but surely make this cheap apartment in the suburbs not so nasty. I bought rubber gloves which means that I can remove the mildew without removing so much skin from my hands using the mildew remover. The gloves are tight on my hands but they keep them from stinking like bleach or mildew remover. I’m making good progress, but it’s a tedious job as I have never done a full scrub of the walls for mildew or even dust and dirt since moving in here eight years ago. The walls come out such a nice white when cleaned.

Besides a short evening hike up Overlook Dune, I did my evening walk. Certainly a pretty pleasant evening outside for mid-December. I’m not complaining about the warm weather although I wish the days were longer.

Tried on the Carhartt jackets at the Carhartt store at the Maul. I discovered that I fit nicely in a 2XLT. I’m a big boy. Still chewing over color but I found a store online with free shipping, good prices, and no sales tax. I still don’t like how they are no longer union made and some of the design changes make it seem lower quality then the previous models.

Dick’s didn’t have the propane adapter I needed for the lantern but I studied what they had at Walmart and figured what I need to order online – basically a high pressure ‘y’  connector. Walmart has the step down adapters. I think I will order it tomorrow.

I don’t envision heading out of town this weekend as the past four weekends I’ve taken trips, and really have stuff I need to do in town. The forecast is warm but cloudy for the weekend. Then again, I might change my mind as I want to do as much roadside camping before the snow ends that. But then again with the heated tent I probably will camp all winter. The following week I have to stay in town to lead the Save the Pine Bush Hike. So we will see.

It’s late. I need to get some sleep!

Minority Rights

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There are people who don’t like how political parties zealously defend their constituencies, regardless of their overall popular status. I am not one of them. It’s good we live in a country where minority rights are protected, where one political party can act as an effective check to the ideas of the other party.

I’m a Democrat. I’ve always been one. But I’m glad that Republicans vigorously defend those who they represent and act to restrain the progressive agenda. Not because progressives have bad ideas – many are quite valid – but because some progressive ideas while good for the constituencies that they represent are bad or even devastating for other constituencies.

In many ways I believe today’s democracy has never been healthier.

December 8, 2015 evening

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Good evening. Currently 33 degrees and partly cloudy as we get one day closer to Christmas. Tonight will be mostly cloudy, with a low around 28. Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph.

Bus driver made a wrong turn so we had to go around the block. But sometimes leaving later means less traffic. Tonight though traffic is slow. Oh, well I get home when I get home.

December 8, 2015 morning

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Good morning, Happy Tuesday. Kind of a gray and cloudy morning out here in Westerlo with a temperature around 27 degrees. I came out to my parents house last night to house-sit the dogs. This morning will be cloudy with some breaks of sun. As the afternoon comes the clouds will break up somewhat. Partly sunny, with a high near 44. Light and variable wind. Sunset will be around 4:22 PM this evening.