Good morning! Happy Summer, as we shift down into Direct Drive of the Week. 😎 Okay, maybe not for a few more hours but it’s a beautiful day to kick off summer. Blue skies, not a cloud and sunny and 63 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a north breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 54 degrees. Really not a drop of humidity to speak off. If I had today off and I wasn’t as tired, today would be a most excellent day for hiking up a mountain.

Today will be mostly sunny 🌞 , with a high of 81 degrees at 3pm. Two degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 56 at 11am. North wind 7 to 9 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 78 degrees. The record high of 97 was set in 1938.

An awesome weather day for kicking off summer.🏊 Now that session is over I got to make sure I’m getting out and enjoying summer before it’s done for the year. I expect things to pick up st work once fall approaches though. Summer vacation in the Finger Lakes and may be a little bit in Western New York or Pennsylvania should be great. I love swimming at the many Gorge Parks in the Finger Lakes, watching the sunsets, and the cows chew their cud. 🐮 Do some hiking, some fishing, camping, traveling, and kayaking. ⛺ Lots to do now that summer is officially underway.

Still thinking about West Virginia this November, ⛰ although I also want to possibly set up camp in Western NY somewhere and do some hunting too this fall. I’ll have to see about getting a camping permit from the DEC if I do that.🔫 I probably will have the time enough come November to do both. This summer I should spend more time at the range too.

The sun will set at 8:36 pm with dusk around 9:11 pm, which is 12 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for clear skies and 72 degrees. The dew point will be 48 degrees. There will be a north breeze at 8 mph. You don’t get more pleasant weather to kick off summer. Today will have 15 hours and 19 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌞 , with a low of 51 degrees at 5am. With clear skies and low humidity the temperatures will drop by early morning. Eight degrees below normal. Maximum dew point of 51 at 6pm. North wind 5 to 8 mph. In 2017, we had mostly clear skies. It got down to 53 degrees. The record low of 37 occurred back in 1940.

This evening I’m heading over to the Albany Pine Bush Commission’s World Headquarters to video tape and listen to Lynne Jackson speak about saving the Pine Bush. 🌲It’s nice once and while when a state l public authority recognizes the work of non-governmental volunteers. And if not for Lynne’s efforts after the past four decades there would have been a lot less of the ecologically unique Albany Pine Bush left.

I need to drop off my work dry cleaning this weekend to the cleaners. 👔I think I’m only going to bother with my good jacket as the old one has gotten to the point it really should be retired to the clothing donation bin to be donated to a foreign country or shredded into rags. I might steal some of the buttons though off it before I get rid of it in case I lose buttons on my other blazer. I will have to buy a second one maybe later in the autumn when we holiday sale is underway. Earlier in a week I heard a debate about new legislation to help dry cleaners upgrade their equipment — and got reading about the dangers of PERC ☢ — which I was surprised to find out is widely used in 2/3rds of dry cleaning facilities in New York still today.

Apparently, PERC is a wonderful dry cleaning substance, even if it horrible stuff to breathe or be exposed to. New York has some really tough regulations regarding PERC, as it’s pretty nasty stuff even in low levels, 😷requiring strict cleaning of the machines and various measures to keep PERC from leaking out into the ground and air. I know they spend millions to clean up old dry cleaners, trying to remove tiny amounts of PERC that build up in the surrounding soil and building materials.🗑 Probably explains why a simple jacket getting dry cleaned is now $8.

This weekend I’m going to buy new boots 👟 as the ones I’m wearing have worn through the soles and have developed cracks in them two. Strangely enough the leather is actually in good shape. I’ve tried really expensive boots over the Walmart Sweatshop Brand known as Brahman Boots but I rarely get much more life out there, as it’s the soles that tend to wear out as I do a lot of walking. Sometimes the leather fails first but that’s the exception rather then the rule. Maybe some of the more expensive brands are more sustainably sourced but it’s really hard to tell what is better or not thanks to global capitalism. I usually put the used boots in the clothing and boots recycling bin, as they are nasty to burn with all that rubber.

Looking ahead, there are 22 weeks until Thanksgiving 🦃 when the sun will be setting at 4:27 pm with dusk at 4:57 pm (Standard Time). On that day in 2017, we had rain, cloudy skies and temperatures between 46 and 34 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 45 degrees. We hit a record high of 70 back in 1931.