Good morning! It is about 61 degrees under cloudy skies with a few sprinkles as I walked down to the Park and Ride this morning. More rain expected later, I don’t expect it to get much about 69 degrees today. I think I just beat the rain walking down to the express bus. I’m sure it will be wetter soon, based on the radar. I did bring my rain coat for later. Much hotter come Saturday, although I’m not expecting much of a washout for the weekend.

The sun will set at 8:35 pm with dusk around 9:10 pm, which is 21 seconds later than yesterday. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy conditions and 65 degrees. The dew point will be 62 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 8 mph. Today will have 15 hours and 18 minutes of daytime, an increase of 17 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have a chance of showers. Patchy fog after 2am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy, with a low of 61 degrees at 4am. Four degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 62 at 6pm. South wind 3 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2016, it got down to 56 degrees with mostly sunny skies. The record low of 44 occurred back in 1954.

Got home and watched the PBS Newshour Live last night. It was actually a much more informative coverage tonight, rather then just gore and sex appeal. Maybe they didn’t obligated to cover flashy stories tonight, and got more into the meat of the serious policy discussions going on, and our president’s continuing ethical problems.

The rain stopped and I walked down to the library. Started making up some maps but didn’t get real far on that. Maybe more tonight. Ended up watching a video on one of the farming channels that I follow on Youtube. It’s just quite interesting all of the things and technologies that farmers nowadays use to produce food and fiber.

Then I got watching videos on off-grid cabins and mini-houses. In part because I’ve gotten into 12 volt wiring, and in part because I hate how overly complicated and energy wasteful modern housing, I’m just fascinated by the technology. I would rather own more land and much less house, and be able to manage my energy generation and consumption myself, along with water and waste disposal. I’m not somebody who loses much sleep about a piece of plastic wrapper tossed into a fire, especially compared to the multi-national owned landfills that are corporate alternative. Fresh eggs are good too.

Sat out back for a while playing on my phone and doing some reading. My truck accessory battery has kept a good charge all week, despite using the fan quite a bit and the truck cap lights. LED lighting technology is quite energy efficient, and the fan doesn’t use that much power. By the low voltage disconnect protecting against battery abuse, I am also allowing the battery to charge quicker and not become damaged. The next time I go driving somewhere, the charge in the accessory battery will be fully restored.

On this day in 1911, IBM founded as the Computing-Tabulating-Recording Company in Endicott, New York. Today it’s continuing to create jobs in the form of environmental remediation for all the hazardous solvents that leaked out of the chip manufacturing plants in Endicott, poisoning many families drinking water in the region. Technology is the gift that keeps giving in the form of toxic byproducts. God only knows how much toxic chemicals are leaking out at the SUNY NanoTech laboratories in the Albany Pine Bush, but we can guess even the smartest scientists only have a hint of what nasties they are releasing into the air and water.

Looking ahead, there are 4 weeks until National Nude Day when the sun will be setting at 8:31 pm with dusk at 9:05 pm. On that day in 2016, we had thunderstorm, rain, partly cloudy skies and temperatures between 87 and 73 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 83 degrees. We hit a record high of 99 back in 1995. Skinny dipping in mid-summer is always fun in the creek. Heck, even this weekend might be warm enough to spend in a creek after dark.

Still studying getting a campstove reflector oven. I have found that Coleman Camp Oven that I was looking at on Amazon for $32 with two day shipping. Ebay has a mix of new and used/old ones — I would consider getting an older model, as the steel probably is a bit higher quality — but it seems like they are actually more expensive when you consider shipping. I might end up buying new. The reviews seem pretty good, although they do suggest putting some kind of pizza stone or thermal mass under what your baking for better heat dispersion, and to use a stand-alone oven thermometer over the built in one. Maybe I can get that at Wally World. As much as I like my Dutch Oven, it’s such a pain to get it the right temperature, especially with a wood fire, and it’s heavy and bulky to carry around to camp. The propane stove in contrast, you just push the pilot light button, set the heat and it works. It won’t be automatic temperature control, like a real oven, but should work decently for corn bread, fresh muffins, and cookies.

Saturday I am going to get my hair cut then go to the Gas Up. My hair is so long and shaggy, it needs to be cut. It’s going to be a hot day, but not too stormy. I could set my tent up in the woods and spend the night out camping Saturday night, but at this point I’m leaning against it, as I don’t want to have to set up a tent and load all the gear. But then again, I won’t be far from Cotton Hill and Dutch Hollow State Forests, so I could change my mind. I still haven’t put my camping gear away from last weekend. I also want to permanently wire the color changing lights in my truck cap to a switch, rather the cigarette lighter port it’s currently in, for ease of switching on and off. Should be a good weekend.

It was a pretty smooth commute in, although it’s starting to rain now. Well, I’m almost to work. Have a great day!