Good morning! Happy Thursday. Six weeks to Strawberry Moon 🍓🍓🍓🌕 . Those wild strawberries, the Juneberries are good. As are the ones from the farm markets in the Schoharie Valley. Mostly sunny and 55 degrees in Speculator, NY. There is a north-northwest breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. An early start, although not so early that I did hit some traffic around Schenectady and Amsterdam, but I made it up to Wells by 9 AM to check into work, and then Spectulator by mid-morning to work on the Wi-Fi up here. 📶 I was supposed to leave by 7 AM, but somehow at the end, things got slowed up and I didn’t get on the road until closer to 7:20 which meant more cars and school buses 🎒 to deal with.

This is the last Thursday I’ll be doing remote work, so I figure I should maximize it while I can. 👨‍💻 Next week starts 50% staff plus ramping up close to full-time in office come summer, although people still want some flexibility, and not sure if it always makes sense to do in-person when there isn’t meetings or trainings. Remote work is fun, especially when your out of town, but it’s still work — meaning I’m still fielding calls, writing emails and working on the laptop. But I do look forward to seeing my co-workers more in the office, and the benefits of face-to-face contact 👩‍💼 👨‍💼 that is rather lost off the Internet. 😷 It seems like masks will be the normal for a while on the bus and around the water cooler, but I really do kind of look forward things getting back closer to normal.

I am going to probably stay up north until Monday after work, 😎 but a lot depends on the weather and how I feel. I want to do some hiking and fishing on Saturday and Sunday. 🎣 I am hoping to also participate in the video call 📹 we are doing with John Wolcott and Don Rittner about the Pine Bush 🌲 on Friday night but that depends if I have cell services or not where I am camping. 📱 A lot depends on whrere I ended up.

Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 65 degrees at 4pm. Six degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 28th. North wind around 8 mph. Probably back in Albany, it will be closer to normal. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 59 degrees. The record high of 86 was set in 2004. There was a dusting of snow in 1953.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:55 pm with sun having an altitude of 65° from the due south horizon (-5° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 2.8 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:33 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (290°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (297°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:14 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 17 seconds with dusk around 8:46 pm, which is one minute and 6 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the west-northwest (289°) at an altitude of 15° from the horizon, 250,745 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:28 pm. At sunset, look for clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 57 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 14 hours and 39 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 13 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 39 degrees at 5am. Nine degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 21st. Northwest wind 5 to 7 mph. I brought the heater as I might need it by morning to warm my hands. At least no ice or snow. In 2020, we had mostly clear skies. It got down to 33 degrees. The record low of 30 occurred back in 1996.

A picture perfect weekend on tap. 😎 Saturday, isolated showers after 2pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 67. West wind 3 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. Maximum dew point of 38 at 8am. Sunday, a chance of showers after 2pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 66. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Maximum dew point of 43 at 8pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 71 degrees.

It should be nice up north, about what you would expect for this time of year. 😎 Not too warm, fairly typical. Maybe some thunderstorms, but that’s expected this time of year. I want to do some hiking and laying back in the hammock, although I admit I’ll probably be a prisoner to the screen tent 🎪 more then I want to admit when the black flies are biting around. 🐜 I am thinking hiking back to Bennett Lake or maybe Wilcox Lake or somewhere along the East Branch. Or if Mason Lake is open, maybe up that way.

One month 📅 from now will be Fathers Day 👨 when the sun will be setting at 8:39 pm with dusk at 9:15 pm. The average high temperature is 71 degrees, with a record high of 86 in 2004.