Good evening! Cloudy and 67 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ There is a east breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 50 degrees. The skies will clear Tuesday around 1 am.

For all the commotion earlier it looks like the fire 🚒 is out or whatever all the emergency vehicles were reporting too. Maybe I’m a bit paranoid about the plastics plant blowing up but I’m well aware of toxic chemicals they use at SABIC plastics and it sure seemed like a lot of emergency response heading that way. 👮 Probably safer at home at any rate and who knows their is rain pushing this way shortly.

It’s not like I sat home and eat twinkies all day. 🍛 I did have a bowl of tuna fish salad for dinner but it probably has a quarter pound of peas and broccoli besides the noodles, mayonnaise and tuna fish. 🐠 I did hold back on the mayonnaise a bit.

Walking out to Five Rivers this afternoon was nice. 🐸 Spent several hours studying nature with the binoculars my parents lent me. It’s really fascinating to watch the birds up close and even just study squirrel and chipmunk behavior. Next up I need to get a better knowledge of bird 🐦 species – I know the common ones but especially the migratory birds are a bit of a mystery to me. I thought about Black Creek Marsh at dusk but I decided to hold off because it was getting late – after seven o’clock when I started walking home from Five Rivers.

To be honest, my plan for visiting Black Creek Marsh at dusk 🌆 wasn’t just for bird watching 🐦 or photos 📷 but in part because I was curious how effective the Permethrin would be in really buggy weather – that is with DEET on the face and arms. People swear by it and while I haven’t found any ticks on me yet and saw a mosquitoes collapse after crawling on my jeans 👖 I’m not totally convinced of the hype. I did spray my hat yesterday too. Unlike DEET I might also be able to safely apply it to the hammock which would help with the bugs when I’m lying there.

Tonight will be scattered sprinkles before 11pm, then showers likely, mainly after 3am. Cloudy 🌧, with a low of 53 degrees at 5am. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around June 2nd. Maximum dew point of 50 at 9pm. East wind around 5 mph becoming calm after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies. It got down to 46 degrees. The record low of 29 occurred back in 1981.

Tonight will have a Waining Crescent 🌘 Moon with 19% illuminated. The darkest hour is at 12:53 am, followed by dawn at 4:59 am, and sun starting to rise at 5:32 am in the east-northeast (62°) and last for 3 minutes and 16 seconds. Sunrise is 57 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 6:13 am with sun in the east-northeast (69°). Tonight will have 9 hours and 16 minutes of darkness, a decrease of one minute and 57 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have showers likely, mainly before 9am. Mostly cloudy 🌦, with a high of 65 degrees at 3pm. Five degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around May 2nd. Maximum dew point of 50 at 10am. Calm wind becoming north around 5 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became light rain by afternoon. The high last year was 73 degrees. The record high of 94 was set in 2017. 2.2 inches of snow fell back in 2002.❄

In four weeks on June 14 the sun will be setting in the west-northwest (303°) at 8:34 pm,🌄 which is 21 minutes and 28 seconds later then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had partly cloudy skies and temperatures between 68 and 53 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 78 and 56 degrees. The record high of 96 degrees was set back in 1892.

So the Gas Up tractor and agricultural festival is canceled for June. 🚜 I think that was kind of expected during the pandemic although they’re considering trying to reschedule for mid August. Could be hot then I’m thinking though. Assuming it’s even an option then – they didn’t seem too hopeful. 😔

Looking ahead, Strawberry Moon 🌕 is in 3 weeks and Fathers Day 👨 is in 4 weeks.

🇺🇸🦅Only 5 days remain until the start of Memorial Day Weekend!🦅🇺🇸

I was doing some reading on the internet and found out that the lower part of Piseco Powley Road is still not fully rebuilt from the October 2019 storm and that the road is closed. ⛺ So I guess that’s out for the weekend. Hopefully soon though they’ll finish the rebuild and open the gates all the way. There are other options but with the nice weather expected and the state campgrounds closed they’ll fill up quickly.

So the original plan of delaying my Memorial Day Weekend for one week is back on the agenda. 🔙 That’s fine, it gives me more time to pack and potentially opens up more options as there will be fewer people camping, especially if I drive up Thursday evening or Friday morning on a non holiday weekend. I never did a spring trip this year with a long weekend so I have the time.

Come June for example, it’s likely Perkins Clearing Road and West River Road and White House in Wells will open. 🚧 But also I expect I could get that campsite up on Pumpkin Hollow Road when on a non holiday weekend. If it’s hot though it would be nice to be able to walk to water. Betty Brook or Duck Pond are good options in Schoharie County. 💭

East Branch Sacandaga River is fine but it’s noisy 🐠 and the river isn’t that great for fishing due to the fluctuating water levels. A drought in summer – as was a case a few years ago can leave the river with only a few inches of water. Right now, Cherry Ridge and Finger Lakes National Forest are closed for camping.

Maybe Moose River will be my summer vacation if Piseco Powley Road ⛺ is not rebuilt. While I assume ny mid summer that the Finger Lakes National Forest will reopen for camping if the pools and beaches aren’t open I’m sure if I’d want to do summer vacation there.

Other options include the Allegheny and Green Mountain National Forest. 🗻 The later is open but who knows if the current limits on out of state visitors will be lifted by summer. That Grout Pond beach is fun and some of sites along Forest Road 73 not only have good sun ☀ for solar but also cell reception.

Good evening! Partly cloudy and 60 degrees in Delmar, NY. ⛅ Calm wind. The dew point is 46 degrees. Remarkably mild for this late in the night for mid May but then again it is mid May. Seems like it was March the last time I worked downtown, well actually it was. I haven’t been downtown since probably April when I picked up the work laptop.

It was a a beautiful spring day and I spent as much time as possible outdoors. 🌸 Things are still fairly gray in the hill towns on the hills but at the same time many other places are quite green. This afternoon I hiked a Thacher Park 🌿and this evening hiked at the Pine Bush well after dark 🌃 – from 10 pm to 11:30 to be exact.

I would have stayed longer but my knee was aching from the Lyme Disease. 🐜 I hadn’t taken the pill before I left for the evening. The doxycycline is controlling the symptoms but I’m not convinced it’s killing the Lyme and it may return when the medication runs out on Monday. If necessary I guess I’ll see my doctor again. 😷 One good thing about working from home is it makes scheduling easier. Plus I didn’t want to stay too late and be fatigued driving home. 🏡

It seemed like the Permethrin worked well on my clothes. 👚 So far no ticks I’ve found and the one black fly that landed on my jeans was crippled before it could bite. Didn’t protect my face from bugs out hiking but my arms were good as I applied Picardin to them. 😵 As much as I have pause about bathing myself in chemicals, ticks are insane this year and I am very worried about getting sick from Lyme and not recovering. Already I’m not doing great. I’m not willing to become a shut in just to avoid ticks.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 49 degrees at 5am. Two degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 21st. Calm wind. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies. It got down to 52 degrees. The record low of 30 occurred back in 1959.

Tonight will have a Waining Crescent 🌘 Moon with 26% illuminated. The darkest hour is at 12:53 am, followed by dawn at 5:00 am, and sun starting to rise at 5:33 am in the east-northeast (63°) and last for 3 minutes and 16 seconds. Sunrise is 59 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 6:13 am with sun in the east-northeast (69°). Tonight will have 9 hours and 18 minutes of darkness, a decrease of one minute and 59 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 71 degrees at 3pm. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical day around May 20th. Maximum dew point of 50 at 10am. Calm wind becoming southeast around 6 mph in the afternoon. Might be a decent day. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 73 degrees. The record high of 92 was set in 2017.

So I’m pretty sure I’m going to delay my Memorial Day Weekend trip for the week after. ⛺ I’ve been on and off but I don’t think the weather will be all that great for Memorial Day Weekend based on the latest forecast and I’m not convinced that the gates north of the potholers will be open this year for Memorial Day Weekend. Been so wet and I know they had to rebuild the road last fall and with the pandemic everything is messed up. I’m thinking I might take Friday and Monday the week after Memorial Day and camp three nights either at the House Pond campsite or maybe up at Powley Place at one of the sandy open sites where I can use the solar to keep my batteries 🔋 charged and hang my hammock and set up my screen tent 🎪 for black fly prevention.

I am running low on socks and a few other supplies 🏪 which I will probably order from Walmart online but I’ve found it hard to come up with a $35 order for free shipping 📦 as the online store actually lacks a lot of the products that the regular stores would have in normal times. Walmart isn’t stocking any non food items in their retail outlets so if they sell out, it’s gone.

In four weeks on June 13 the sun will be setting in the west-northwest (303°) at 8:34 pm,🌄 which is 22 minutes and 2 seconds later then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had partly sunny, rain showers and temperatures between 65 and 57 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 77 and 56 degrees. The record high of 94 degrees was set back in 1892.

Looking ahead, Memorial Day Weekend Starts 🏕️ is in 1 week, and Summer ️⛱️ is in 5 weeks.

🇺🇸🦅Only 6 days remain until the start of Memorial Day Weekend!🦅🇺🇸

Good evening! Partly clear and 64 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a west breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 46 degrees. Nice evening, sat out back for a while. Not feeling terrible but still a little achy from the Lyme. I still need to take the doxycline I got from the doctor Friday. 💊

Sleeping with the windows open tonight ⬛ which is nice until I heard the sirens from the meat wagon 🚑go roaring by. I wonder if it’s somebody dying of Coronavirus? Hopefully nobody I know. It’s a question one always asks these days.

I thought about staying up north one more night and driving home early tomorrow 🚘 but I decided against that as I broke camp midday to go hiking. 🚶 While hiking the remote section of the abandoned Dunning Pond Snowmobile Trail was quiet I eventually lost the trail as it got into dense woods with lots of trees down and few of the old markers. 🔴 Some nice views of the gorge and then a lot of it was an eroded mountain road until the trail left the road and disappeared into the woods. This wouldn’t have been a big problem if I had the GPS tracks from my Google County Maps part of the blog but of course I managed to somehow delete them off my phone. I got to make sure I have them on the phone along with USGS Topo maps saved. I would have also had a better chance of following the herd path up to Eagle Pond that I had lost on Saturday if I had that data saved. 🌐Well there always is future trips up north.

It was a pretty good weekend up north 😎 with lots of sun and actually quite mild and warm most of the weekend except for brief rain shower around 10 pm Saturday night 💦when I ended up retiring to my truck cap earlier than I had planned. Had a nice big fire 🔥 at the same campsite I’ve been at the past few times I’ve been up north on the East Branch Sacandaga River. ⛺ Some traffic 🚥 noise but pretty nice. Spent a lot of time laying back in the hammock, soaking up the sun. ☀ The sun felt good especially when I felt achy from the Lyme. Warm enough a good portion of the weekend I could just lay out with a t shirt 👚 on.

Left my Bluetooth speaker 🔊 home which was annoying when I wanted to listen to podcasts and music 🎶. I’m going to start leaving that in the truck. Better to charge it there too – I don’t pay for the unused solar power the truck produces while parked with the solar controller in float mode. 🔋 Also forgot ketchup for my hotdogs – ended up topping them with baked beans and cheese. 🍣

Explored more of the Fox Lair remains, I want to do one of those historical aerial photo comparisons, especially if I can find the 1942 aerial photo 📷. Not a lot left of the ruins, but I wonder if I can find more old pictures on the internet. 🏰Did some walking 🚶 along NY 8 just for exercise too and to take in the scenery.

Came back relatively early, I was unpacked by about six. 🏡 Laid back on my bed for a while before showering 🚿 and shaving. Got a nice tan. Those side burns I’ve grown are coming in nicely but I do need a hair cut 💇. I’m going to do some trimming myself in the morning as who knows when the barber 💈 is going to be allowed to reopen. My barber is so elderly, I wonder if he will just hang up his hat 🎩 after the pandemic. I decided to avoid the expressway and cities home so I took NY 30 to Duanesburg Churches Road past the Mariaville Farm to US 20. Pretty drive with things greening up outside Amsterdam but I tell you there are some sharp curves on NY 30 south of Amsterdam. 🔶

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌤, with a low of 49 degrees at 6am. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 21st. West wind 6 to 8 mph. In 2019, we had cloudy skies. It got down to 52 degrees. The record low of 28 occurred back in 1985.

Tonight will have a Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon with 85% illuminated. At 10 PM, the moon was in the south (175°) at an altitude of 52° from the horizon, some 226,511 miles away from where you are looking up from the earth. 🚀 At the state speed limit of 55 mph, you’ll make it there by October 22^nd. Buckle up for safety! 💺 The Flower 🌷 Moon is on Thursday, May 7. The darkest hour is at 12:53 am, followed by dawn at 5:16 am, and sun starting to rise at 5:48 am in the east-northeast (68°) and last for 3 minutes and 8 seconds. Sunrise is one minute and 19 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 6:27 am with sun in the east-northeast (74°). Tonight will have 9 hours and 46 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 2 minutes and 24 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have a slight chance of showers between 11am and 1pm. Partly sunny 🌦, with a high of 57 degrees at 11am. Nine degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 13th. Northwest wind 9 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had light rain in the morning, which became light rain by afternoon. The high last year was 67 degrees. The record high of 91 was set in 1944. There was a dusting of snow in 1986.❄

Tomorrow I probably should go to the laundromat 👖👕 👚 and wash some clothes and probably my sheets too. I can probably bring my laptop there and work from there, uploading pictures from the weekend that was. I’m good on food but the two gallons of milk I bought last week is almost all drunk. I do like my cow 🐮 beverages. Other than that I should be good on food until mid week.

As I noted previously, last weekend I got another tick bite. 🐜I was sore found it on Tuesday. Its been weird – sometimes I feel fine other times terribly stiff and sore. No bulls eye though. Went to the doctor on Friday, she kind of thought I didn’t have Lyme but gave me doxycline. 💊 I held off taking it as I went to the Adirondacks for the weekend and knew doxycline and sun don’t mix due to the risk of severe sunburn. I’m also a little mixed on my concern – it stings from time to time around where I was bit, I’ve been super sleepy at times. 😴 I don’t want to take an antibiotic I don’t need. But I guess the doctor while questioning 🙋 me said I should take it. I don’t know what to think.

It was such a werid experience going to the doctors office during the pandemic. 😫The doors had big signs warning people that if they had cold or flu symptoms they aren’t welcome and that they did not offer Coronavirus testing there. The whole experience was kind of odd and frightening. 👾

While I’m always cautious about social distancing and wearing a mask out in public places but between the limited vision under the banada, the empty doctors office, the hand sanitizer everywhere and all these things like a special Coronavirus questionnaire that I had to do on my phone before the doctor would see me. 📱 I was so creeped out by the experience.

In four weeks on May 31 the sun will be setting in the west-northwest (301°) at 8:26 pm,🌄 which is 27 minutes and 53 seconds later then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had partly cloudy, mist and temperatures between 76 and 55 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 74 and 52 degrees. The record high of 92 degrees was set back in 2013.

It looks like for Mothers Day it’s going to be cold and they might get snow in the Adirondacks. ❄ It does not look like a good weekend to get out of town. I’m still thinking about a mid May trip out to Schoharie County – maybe three nights with me working from my truck on a Monday. ⛺ I’m thinking the last week of May – the one after Memorial Day Weekend – to do a three night trip to Piseco Powley Road starting that Thursday night before the weekend if it is nice. I hope to have the screen house by then to avoid the bugs. Peak black fly season isn’t so bad if I have shelter during the day as black flies aren’t out after dark. Memorial Day Weekend proper I’ll stay home 🏡 most likely to avoid the crowds especially if other developed campgrounds are closed forcing people into the back country taking up all the good sites. I’m also seriously thinking about planning my summer vacation up at Piseco Powley Road – and a week at the House Pond Swimming Hole could make up for all the state park pools being closed. 🏊 I’d have to see about getting a camping permit.

Looking ahead, Mothers Day 👩‍ is in 1 week, Pack Rat Day 🐀 is in 2 weeks, Strawberry Moon 🌕 is in 5 weeks, Fathers Day 👨 is in 6 weeks, Election Day 2020 🗳️ is in 6 months and Election Day 2020 🗳️ is in 6 months.

🇺🇸🦅Only 19 days remain until the start of Memorial Day Weekend!🦅🇺🇸