Good morning! Monday’s come back around again. Two weeks to Veterans Day Observed (Monday) 🇺🇸. Rain showers and 41 degrees in North Syracuse. ☔ There is a west breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. With the late sunrise, dark clouds, and dreary conditions, not a nice morning.

Still some UV light coming through the skies on to my solar panel on the truck creating some voltage, ⬛ but until I install the amp meter on my truck next week, it’s a little hard to know how much power as voltage is only one half of the equation, and but there is enough clearly to maintain the charge on the batteries at 13.1 volts.🔋 The rain takes an intermission tomorrow, with the skies clearing tomorrow around 7 am.

Today will have showers. High of 45 degrees at 1pm. 10 degrees below normal. West wind 5 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 65 degrees. The record high of 77 was set in 1946. 3.8 inches of snow fell back in 2011.❄ I remember that snow storm, we got closer to a foot at my parents house, it was when I had Big Red and he was brand new. Amazing to think a seven years has passed by since that time. After seven years, the rust is really starting to show up, but I hope to get another 3-5 years out of it, assuming the oil consumption and other minor annoyances don’t get worse.

The sun will set at 5:59 pm with dusk around 6:29 pm, which is one minute and 24 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and 43 degrees. There will be a west breeze at 13 mph. Today will have 10 hours and 23 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 40 seconds over yesterday. Days have really gotten short quickly. They always do this time of year. That said, I kind of like the long nights in the wilderness, especially next to a hot fire and the big buddy heater, having a nice dinner.

Tonight will rain showers likely before 4am, then a chance of rain and snow showers. Cloudy ☔ , with a low of 37 degrees at 4am. One degree above normal. West wind 6 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Little or no snow accumulation expected. In 2017, we had light rain and mist in the evening, remaining overcast into the early morning. It got down to 47 degrees. The record low of 20 occurred back in 1969. Chilly but not as cold as it will be getting in a month ago.

Next Thursday I plan to wire up the shunts and meters to monitoring the voltage and amperage on produced by the solar panel and battery on my truck. 🔋 I don’t expect this to be a big deal, it involves only relocating a handful of ground wires with the shunts, and providing power to the meter itself. For now, I think I may just mount the physical meters in the cab of the truck, although eventually I want to have them back in the cap where I can read them while camping. Probably use like a telephone wire to run power back there. I’ll have to look around to see if I have some telephone wire around, otherwise, I think my best bet may be a dollar store or maybe Wally World.🛍

The plan is on next Thursday, to get packed for the camping trip, check the oil and make other minor adjustments to the truck. 🚛 I will check for loose wires, make sure everything it working, and get all the junk out of my truck after 2 months out here in North Syracuse. Everything is well organized in the attic, so hopefully getting things set up shouldn’t be too hard, although being that it will be mid to late November when I return from my road trip, I should make sure to have plenty of warm stuff, the propane heater ready, etc. I will also want to go shopping, as I probably won’t get by a grocery store for the first few nights camping, although I may visit that new Aldi’s when I’m camping at Stoney Pond in Nelson.

There are 8 days, 12 hours and 52 minutes until the poll close on Election Day in New York. 🗳 It’s creeping closer each day. Tomorrow will be a week out from Election Day. I’ve done my civic duty or whatever you want to call it, filling out the scan-tron slip and mailing it back to Albany, to be counted assuming there is a very close election. 📬 I honestly don’t get all the hubbub about elections, because when it comes down it’s just a slip of paper with a bunch of bubbles filled out on it. I am not convinced that voting makes all that much of a difference in most people’s lives, but it’s a relatively low cost thing for most people — probably around $10-20 when you figure the cost of your time, gas to drive or bus fare to get to the polling place, or postage for the absentee ballot.💰

Probably the only place it really matters is the Town Board, with Maureen Cunningham running for a vacant seat. 🌲I think she will be a good town board person, and I think a Democratic board will be a good thing for the town — somewhat slowing the sprawl, and certainly making Delmar more pedestrian-friendly.🚴 Despite the complaints of rush hour commuters, making Delaware Avenue into a three-lane road with parking and bicycle lanes, will be great for the community, especially if they add more plantings and trees, to absorb some of the noise and pollution. We have to get beyond out dated thinking about urban planning. 🚃

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until Veterans Day Observed (Monday) 🇺🇸 when the sun will be setting at 4:43 pm with dusk at 5:13 pm (Standard Time). On that day in 2017, we had mostly sunny skies and temperatures between 44 and 22 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 49 degrees. We hit a record high of 68 back in 1909.