March 19, 2019 Morning
Good morning! Happy Tuesday on this final day of calendar π winter. Sunny and 29 degrees in here at CDTA Bus Stop #10595. π There is a west-northwest breeze at 5 mph. π. Things will start to thaw out at around 10 am. π‘οΈ
“Cause he gets up in the morning,
And he goes to work at nine,
And he comes back home at five-thirty,
Gets the same train every time.
Cause his world is built round punctuality,
It never fails.”
-The Kinks, A Well Respected Man
Another cold β morning when I first awoke. Frost or a dusting of snow on the ground, the heat was on and it was 54 degrees in my bedroom. That said today is the last full day of winter. Already warming up quickly with the sun. β Before you know it my windows will be open and I’ll be enjoying the fresh air when I awake each morning. Even on a chilly summers morning, the fresh air is delightful. π Plus I hate spending all that money on fossil fuels and warming the climate to avoid freezing the pipes.
It seems like the snow piles are continuing to melt away and all the signs point to spring. π· Tomorrow is the first day of calendar spring π and we now have more daylight then night every night. Still a ton of snow up north but I expect a lot of that to melt over the next month although ice will be in the mountains π» until mid May.
Today will have increasing clouds β, with a high of 44 degrees at 4pm. Two degrees below normal, which is similiar to a typical day around March 16th. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny in the morning, which became sunny by afternoon. The high last year was 35 degrees. The record high of 78 was set in 2012. 9.6 inches of snow fell back in 1971.β
I am quite happy to say to that my shirts weren’t so wrinkled this morning, being hung in the bathroom overnight where there is more humidity. I did spend some time though still ironing, but that’s just the nature of dressing up for work.π I did make sure not to be wear the blazer that I need to bring to the dry cleaner to work today, and I did
The sun will set at 7:06 pm with dusk around 7:34 pm, which is one minute and 10 seconds later than yesterday. π At sunset, look for partly clear skies π and temperatures around 36 degrees. There will be a west-northwest breeze at 6 mph. Today will have 12 hours and 7 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 55 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will be partly cloudy π€, with a low of 22 degrees at 6am. Five degrees below normal, which is similiar to a typical night around March 7th. Light and variable wind. In 2018, we had clear in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 15 degrees. The record low of 2 occurred back in 1967.
Tomorrow will be mostly sunny π, with a high of 53 degrees at 4pm. Seven degrees above normal, which is similiar to a typical day around April 3rd. South wind 5 to 10 mph. That will be a pleasant start to first day of spring. A year ago, we had mostly sunny in the morning, which became sunny by afternoon. The high last year was 37 degrees. The record high of 78 was set in 2012. 7.0 inches of snow fell back in 1944.β
Yesterday wasn’t too bad of a day at work. Left work around 6:45 pm although I didn’t get home until a little before 7:30 pm. I was tired π΄ but I rode the exercise bike for a while, and then I went for a walk around the super block past the high school. I cooked up pasta and with some canned potatoes and sausage. π² Not a half bad evening, almost the full moon. π Hoping by the next full moon it will be warm enough I can sit outside and bathe in the moonlight.
I find quiting social media I save a lot of bandwidth on my phone π± . I will check Facebook occasionally for work but with the new blog code I am planning to roll π₯ out on Wednesday, the first day of spring I will no longer be updating my Facebook page and I’ve decided to no longer post on my personal profile. I also removed the Flickr code which I don’t know if it works any more but kept the Twitter posts but I’ve deleted most of old tweets. π£
Said and done, I’m essentially quitting social media. It’s not worth the psychological games it has become. I’m not going to disable but not delete my Facebook page, making it invisible to the world π for now, so if I want it again I can reactivate it but all the old pictures and posts on Facebook will disappear when I kill off my Facebook app. I’m content with my decision. I’ve always liked my blog better than the angry π‘ nest known as social media.
You can say my quitting of social media is like my quitting of drinking. π» I might go out and have a beer or two occasionally, probably getting a buzz quickly. But it’s not the have 2-3 beers every night or a thirty rack over a long weekend. It’s about moderation. Social media may on paper π be free for the user π€ unlike beer but I think it’s just as costly to one’s health.
Tonight is another Borough Night at the Egg, this time Queens Night. π Should be fun after work, although I plan to a stay away from the shots as I don’t want to have Wednesday morning be too painful. It should be fun sampling all the foods and stuff, having some social time with my colleagues. Plus it will be one less meal π΄ I’ll have to cook out of the remaining foods that I have at home.
Today is pay day for me which sounds good but I’m really cutting it close this month so almost all the money (after savings and retirement) will go to bills. πΈ March into April with taxes and car insurance π is always tough on my budget. But I continue to save for a better tomorrow. π‘ Eventually I’ll have enough money to own land and live in a freer state out in the country.
I’ve been thinking about buying some inexpensive farm muck boots π’ to wear in the woods during the mud season. My regular boots aren’t great in the deep mud that is common in spring and much too warm to boot. Not my expensive insulated hunting boots in case they get too close to the fire and melt a bit. But I want to hold off until closer to camping season in April, after a few more paychecks when money πΈ is less tight. My focus over the two pay periods just has to be remaining financially afloat.
I have a Go Pro knock off waterproof camera that I plan to use to start making videos when I’m out on the lake kayaking. π· Should be some fun videos to post this summer. I started looking on Ali Express at camera clamp mounts for my kayak. I ended up looking at reviews on Amazon and I’ll either order there or on ebay probably in late April when I have a little more money. They’re not that expensive – under $20 and there is little savings by ordering from China compared to the United States.
I fixed several bugs to the VMS display in my bedroom π last night but I plan to continue to work on it come later in the week to rearrange the order of the messages.
A picture perfect weekend on tap. π Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 39. Sunday, sunny, with a high near 55. Typical average high for the weekend is 47 degrees.
Sound like a pretty nice weekend to kick off the spring season. πΈ It looked like from my office window yesterday that there is still quite a bit of snow left in the mountains π» so I could go cross country skiing πΏ although the snow may not be great. Might still be a good day to enjoy some fresh air outside though. Three weeks until trout season π opens.
In four weeks on April 16 the sun will be setting at 7:38 pm,π which is 32 minutes later then today. In 2018 on that day, we had rain and temperatures between 49 and 32 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 59 and 38 degrees. The record high of 91 degrees was set back in 2012.
Looking ahead, Constitution Day π is in 26 weeks, October π₯ is in 28 weeks and Election Day 2020 π³οΈ is in 85 weeks.