Good morning! Cool and clear start to the Tuesday. Partly clear 🌅 and 29 degrees in Delmar, NY. Calm wind. Things will start to thaw out at around 8 am. 🌡️

I’ll be the first to admit that it is a cold start to the morning with the heat off 🌸 but it’s spring and I’m not going to pay for heat if there is no danger of pipes freezing or excessive cold. Indeed this afternoon it should be in the mid 50s. That said, I was pleasantly surprised when I checked my February – March electric and gas bill was only $85. Heating blanket boosted the electric side of things a bit but keeping it at 48 except the coldest days helped a lot. 💵 I was expecting a little bit over $100 for the bill like the January – February bill with the cold we had mid February.

Today will be mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny ☁, with a high of 56 degrees at 3pm. Nine degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 8th. Light and variable wind becoming west 6 to 11 mph in the morning. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 55 degrees. The record high of 78 was set in 1921. 6 inches of snow fell back in 1905.❄

What can I say, it’s going to be a a nice day. 🏢 Too bad I’m going to be in the office all day downtown. Now if we could only have another pandemic and I could be remote working from my truck at Five Rivers Environmental Education Center like I was three years ago. 🐦 Watching the birds while I wrote the memos 📝 and endless Zoom meetings. Those were the days.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:03 pm with sun having an altitude of 47.6° from the due south horizon (-23.3° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 5.5 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:31 pm with the sun in the west (265°). 📸

I cooked up some of the wild salmon I bought on Sunday. 🐠 I have to say it was tasty. And easier to cook than fish sticks or breaded fish filets. Healthier too. I don’t know why I had never done it before, you just take it out of the freezer in the morning, toss it in the refrigerator before work. Then in the oven broccoli 🥦 and also brown rice with lentils and seasonings – chilli 🌶 powder and garlic powder. Being individually vaccum wrapped its more plastic than I would like but I’ve cut plastic out in other ways like not buying apple juice or as much milk and it’s a lightweight plastic bag that should make an excellent fire starter especially with the fish oils. 🔥 Really easy to bale that plastic wrap into a tight ball ⚽. Cost wise, it’s slightly more expensive but the portions are perfect and actually save money by ensuring you only eat the right amount as the rest is frozen and can’t be eaten right away. 💵

The sunset is in the west (271°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:09 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 54 seconds with dusk around 7:36 pm, which is one minute and 9 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:10 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 47 degrees. There will be a north-northwest breeze at 7 mph. Today will have 12 hours and 17 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 54 seconds over yesterday.

Last night I went to the Elm Ave Park 🏞 and walked until dusk 🌆 which was nice for the first time after work this year. 🚶 It helps to get in the extra steps 👣 and it’s fun to walk in the woods around dusk 🦉 and see what wildlife is out there. Still though not a lot of evening after dinner but it’s good to get to bed relatively early.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 31 degrees at 5am. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 30th. North wind around 6 mph becoming calm in the evening. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 29 degrees. The record low of 2 occurred back in 1875.

Finished my taxes last night, 📝 and while checking the paper forms for my state taxes noticed that I hadn’t reported any Capital Gains on my federal taxes, panicked for a minute and double checked my investment statement and confirmed no capital gains received this past year as the market ended down 📉 so much this past year. I didn’t sell anything this year but in better years I do get some capital gains just from the index funds that sell off parts at times to make sure they are still accurately tracking the market. But not in 2022, as most of the leading stocks were down. Got lots of dividends though but I prepaid enough to cover them. I filed 📂 my federal taxes online but did paper state taxes as the state ones are simple as I’m a renter but not super poor so I don’t have any real state tax credits except for my contributions to my neices education account.

Not a particularly nice weekend on tap. 😞 Saturday, rain likely, possibly mixed with snow, becoming all rain after 8am. Cloudy, with a high near 40. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Sunday, a chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 47. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Typical average high for the weekend is 49 degrees.

I was hoping that the upcoming weekend would be warm and sunny ⛺ for camping at Rennselearville State Forest but I don’t think it’s likely. I was figuring the fire risk would be low if there is snow on the ground. The fire ban applies only to brush burning not campfires kept small and in eye sight. 🔥

Looking ahead, next Tuesday is Average High is 50 🌸 when the sun will be setting at 7:17 pm with dusk at 7:44 pm. On that day in 2022, we had cold weather, partly cloudy skies and temperatures between 27 and 18 degrees. Debbie downer. We hit a record high of 85 back in 1945.