Good afternoon! Happy First Sunday of Summer. Two weeks to the Buck Moon. Partly cloudy with times of sun and 70 degrees on Vromans Nose in Middleburgh. There is a west breeze at 9 mph. Feels nice. The dew point is 56 degrees. Below is a sea of green. 

Today will have isolated showers, then scattered showers and thunderstorms after noon. Some of the storms could produce small hail and gusty winds. Partly sunny, with a high of 76 degrees at 4pm. Four degrees below normal. Maximum dew point of 56 at 11am. West wind 9 to 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. A year ago, we had mostly cloudy skies and a high of 88 degrees. The record high of 95 was set in 1898.

The sun will set at 8:39 pm with dusk around 9:14 pm, which is 3 seconds later than yesterday. At sunset, look for partly cloudy conditions and 69 degrees. The dew point will be 53 degrees. There will be a west breeze at 9 mph. Today will have 15 hours and 17 minutes of daytime, an increase of 19 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have isolated showers and thunderstorms before 9pm, then isolated showers between 9pm and 11pm. Some of the storms could produce small hail and gusty winds. Partly cloudy, with a low of 54 degrees at 5am. Five degrees below normal. Maximum dew point of 53 at 6pm. West wind 7 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2016, it got down to 65 degrees with mostly cloudy skies. The record low of 39 occurred back in 1979.

On this day in 1998, in Clinton v. City of New York, the United States Supreme Court decides that the Line Item Veto Act of 1996 is unconstitutional.

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until Buck Moon when the sun will be setting at 8:36 pm with dusk at 9:10 pm. On that day in 2016, we had thunderstorm, thunderstorm rain, rain, drizzle, mist, cloudy skies and temperatures between 68 and 64 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 82 degrees. We hit a record high of 103 back in 1936.

Despite the minor rain showers for the hour or so after dusk, it was a pretty nice evening last night following a nice day. Ended up driving up the increasingly rough, truly only a 4×4 trail known as Betty Brook. Been a wet spring so quite a bit of mud in spots. 

The upper two Betty Brook campsites are officially know designated with Camp Here logos. The lowest campsite near has been removed – the fire ring is gone and it’s overgrown. I don’t know if the site on West Kill Road is still designated, but I expect it is. The big Betty Brook campsite was taken but the upper one in the pines was available. Having neighbors less than a quarter mile away, I had to keep the music down a bit. But that’s fine, I enjoyed many podcasts. 

Nice swimming and relaxing at the Mine Kill Pool yesterday. I did get a little sunburnt in parts but for the most part I just got a good jump start on my summer tan. I know that I should do more hiking but I sure like spending time at the pool. Didn’t get much of a sun burn which is a good thing. 

Camp oven worked well, especially with a heat sink of some sort. Rocks worked well but they tended to explode when the stove was heated. Without the rocks, the heat was a bit harder to control (seemed to float up and down more) but things cooked well with grands biscuits. I bought a small muffin plan and next weekend that will be breakfast for a few mornings. With the oven on one burner, still had room for the coffee pot or a small pan on the other burner. Definitely glad I bought a second oven thermometer as the built in one on the outside was about 75 degrees lower  than the heat in the inside. Based on my cooking experience this weekend, I think I should cook things fairly well and make brownies or muffins that come out pretty good – much quicker and more reliable than the Dutch Oven I have but rarely use. It such a pain to build a fire and wait for good charcoal and not too hot too burn stuff. The gas stove heats the oven quickly and can be turned down quickly or adjusted as needed. 

It was a beautiful morning driving over to Vromans Nose. I thought about stopping at Looking Glass pond but then decided against it. It’s easy to forget how big the hills or maybe more like mountains are on Schoharie County. The dash cam is working well, no more freezing when I get a weak signal through the mountains. Occasionally some frames are dropped but I can live with that as long as I capture most of the beauty of the land. 

Nice up here in Vromans Nose, although more sun would be nice. Good breeze on the mountain. Still when the sun comes out its very nice. The sun as it sweeps over the land below is making some pretty patterns on the farm fields below. 

In a little bit later I’m going to get down to Borhingers and pick up some strawberries. The pick your own fields are packed. The heck with picking them myself. I guess that fun if you have young children but strawberries aren’t that expensive in the grand scheme of things. 

Then it’s back to Mine Kill State Park. I’m going to toss a line into the reservoir then swim in the pool until 3:30. Then it’s over the mountain to Mt parent’s house for Sunday dinner. Should be a great day!