Good evening. The Tuesday work day has come to a close as we inch towards the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday and the full moon tomorrow night. Right now it’s around 39 degrees and clear with occasional clouds. The moon is already pretty bright and big, nearly a full moon. The sunset tonight was at 4:26 PM and tomorrow the sun will rise at 6:27 AM for 14 hours and 30 minutes of darkness. The first day of winter is rapidly approaching on December 22nd — less then a month away. Then the days will start getting longer

Tonight will be partly cloudy, with a low around 22. West wind around 6 mph becoming calm in the evening. In the morning, it will become a pretty pleasant day. Sunny, with a high near 46. Calm wind becoming south around 6 mph in the afternoon. For turkey day, look for some great weather — mostly sunny, with a high near 55. South wind 7 to 10 mph. Almost summer-like.

Started listening to some holiday music for my commute home. While it seems like it just was the holiday season, it’s yet that time once again. At least the snow has held off for a few more days then in recent years. The city has held off on Christmas decorations downtown so far, except for a few wreaths on city hall.

Back to my musings about the past weekend…

Heading up to Malone last Friday it started to snow pretty hard and the wind was blowing ominously. I stopped at Stewarts and got milk and more firewood. They are well priced for kiln-dried wood that is legal to bring across state lines and distances greater than 50 miles in state. I also stopped at Walmart and bought a bunch more bungee cords. I was afraid with the wind I wouldn’t have enough of an ability to tie down the three tarps I had bought to use as a wind and rain shelter with the expected high winds expected on Saturday night.

As I was heading out from Malone to North Lawrence the sun was rapidly setting in the sun. Fortunately I somehow remembered the turn, and when I got to the camping area, it was exactly as I remembered it from six years ago. The CC Dam Camping area is somewhat cramped sites but when I was there I had the place to myself bar some hunters setting up at the other end.

I set the tarps and tent up primarily in the dark but I had lights hooked to my inverter to help. I think I did a good job setting up, while I sipped a cold one or two for a while. Everything was set up by 6 PM and I got a campfire started and the Big Buddy Heater. Had some hot dogs and chips for dinner as it was easy.

Retired to bed around 9 AM as the heated tent was warm and I was tired from the long trip up there. I also knew how short the days were and wanted to go hunting at daybreak and explore the Deer River State Forest. It was a good first day on the trip even if everything didn’t go quite to plan.