Good morning! Happy Tuesday, Primary Day. At least in the big cities, there are no primaries locally in Bethlehem at least. All of the polling places are closed, confirming what I already knew. Four weeks to Ugly Truck Day 🚚. Rain and 63 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ There is a northwest breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 58 degrees. The skies will clear around 8 pm.

I was thinking it was one year ago today, 🏕 👨‍💻 that I was camping and doing remote work from Horsehoe Lake and Lows Lake in the Adirondacks. What a blast for sure, it was pretty wild. I don’t know why I haven’t done that again, although part of issue is that there is really only one campsite and also down by the lake that has really good internet up there, and it’s a long ways north — plus I kind of got busy doing other things with more in-person sessions in Albany. 🎑 Those photos I took from Lows Ledge though a pretty amazing. Maybe I should do a real vacation up in Horseshoe again this year, and maybe even tent camp on Lows Lake. 😎 A bit of a trip but it’s nice.

I didn’t get a real early start this morning with the clouds, 🌦 which meant by the time I was out walking, the rain was coming down. Really picked up about the time I got home, but that’s fine I got milk 🐮 to and are taking a shower shortly. 🚿 The good news is today is a lot less humid then yesterday – it was really a dog day yesterday. 🐶

I worked from home yesterday, 😅 mainly because I didn’t want to face masking up in the heat and going into the air conditioned office. I put the big box fan right on me ☢ and worked at my computer for a while before laying back in bed with the fan and following email and hopping up to make calls. ☎️ It really wasn’t a pleasant day, and I skipped my evening walk because it was so humid and nasty out. Just moving a lot made you sweat like a pig. 🐷 I kind of wish I found a way to work from the Adirondacks yesterday, although it was pretty wet up there in Speculator yesterday, so I would have been huddled in my truck, trying to stay out of the rain.

Today will have showers likely, mainly before 1pm. Cloudy 🌦, with a high of 67 degrees at 4pm. 14 degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around May 3rd. Maximum dew point of 58 at 8am. Northwest wind 7 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. It was somewhat humid. The high last year was 95 degrees. The record high of 95 was set in 1954.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:58 pm with sun having an altitude of 70.8° from the due south horizon (-0° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 2.1 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:55 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (297°). 📸 The sunset is in the northwest (304°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:38 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 28 seconds with dusk around 9:11 pm, which is 10 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇

At dusk you’ll see the Full 🌝 Moon in the south-southeast (148°) at an altitude of 19° from the horizon, 226,522 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:58 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 60 degrees. The dew point will be 49 degrees. There will be a west-northwest breeze at 9 mph. Today will have 15 hours and 18 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 6 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly clear ☁, with a low of 48 degrees at 4am. 12 degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 16th. Northwest wind 5 to 9 mph becoming light after midnight. In 2020, we had mostly clear skies. It was humid. It got down to 75 degrees. The record low of 44 occurred back in 1940.

I was glad I was able to quickly fix the bum connection 🔋 on the exciter wire to main battery relay. It turned out it was the just the butt connector that I noticed was loose was bad, as soon as I cut it and found voltage, ✂️ I was able to patch the cable together with a new butt connector as I left extra wire slack, and things were working again. ⚡

Hot, humid with showers this weekend. 🌩 Saturday, a chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 85. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Maximum dew point of 67 at 11am. Sunday, a chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 83. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Maximum dew point of 70 at 10am. Typical average high for the weekend is 82 degrees.

I am thinking Saturday, catch the Nature Bus 🚌 to Thacher Park, hike up to Thompson Lake, go for a brief swim, 🏊‍♀️ do some nature observation, 🐦 and then head back to Thacher Park and do some reading. Also, going to bring may back up battery for my phone 🔋, so I don’t have to worry about charge, especially if I end up sitting by the escarpment doing some blogging or even watching a Youtube. 📱 I figure it will be cool by escarpment. The following weekend — Independence Day Weekend — it will either be to the Adirondacks or maybe Schoharie backcountry to camp. But it might rain. Who knows. I do want to do a long weekend at the Potholers once it gets hot out again. 😎

Looking ahead, there are 4 weeks until Ugly Truck Day 🚚 when the sun will be setting at 8:27 pm with dusk at 9:00 pm. On that day in 2020, we had hot, humid, mostly sunny and temperatures between 87 and 69 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 84 degrees. We hit a record high of 97 back in 1991.

Good morning! Happy Summer ️⛱️ ! Well, I guess officially yesterday was the first day of summer, but today will certainly be a hot one. Two weeks to Hottest Time of the Year 😅. That said, today is expected to be a hot one with a shit ton of humidity but chilly and rainy tomorrow. Partly sunny and 73 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a south breeze at 9 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 68 degrees. The muggy weather ends tomorrow around 5 am. 😓

Out for the morning walk, 🚶‍♀️ and it’s a hot one already, especially that last lap around when I’m right in the sun walking past the park and ride. 🚏 Still no idea when service is going to come back, but hopefully before I’m commuting five days a week which will happen eventually. I thought about heading into the office today 🏢 but I think I’ll work from home with the fan and lots of cold drinks. This way during down time at work I can finish putting away my camping gear, ⛺ and getting ready for next trip by cleaning the coolers etc.

Today will have a chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 5pm. Mostly sunny and hot 🌞, with a high of 90 degrees at 3pm. Nine degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 71 at 10am. Welcome to the swamp. South wind 9 to 16 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. It was somewhat humid. The high last year was 92 degrees. The record high of 97 was set in 1938.

I thought seriously about going to work in the office today, with the heat 😅 but I think with that breeze I should be okay working from home. Tomorrow my phone resets for the mobile broadband, so I plenty of bandwidth. If there is a Zoom I might look like a sweaty pig, but so be it. 🐷

It’s tough getting back in the routine, 👨‍💼 but at least I’m home. It was a nice long weekend, a holiday weekend to boot, but I think I’ll try to do several more long weekends to the Adirondacks and elsewhere, especially if it involves days at the potholers. 🏊‍♀️ It was so nice cooling off at the potholers yesterday. If I had known hot today is going to be, I might have planned an extra day up north — maybe driven up early Friday morning, so I could have my three nights in one campsite extend until Saturday.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:58 pm with sun having an altitude of 70.8° from the due south horizon. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:55 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (297°). 📸 The sunset is in the northwest (304°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:37 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 28 seconds with dusk around 9:11 pm, which is 13 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Full 🌝 Moon in the south-southeast (160°) at an altitude of 27° from the horizon, 226,296 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:58 pm. At sunset, look out for thunderstorms 🌩 and temperatures around 82 degrees. The dew point will be 69 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 10 mph. Today will have 15 hours and 19 minutes of daytime, no change from yesterday.

If I have some time during the day, 🔋 I want to trace back the bum connection on the exciter wire and fix it. 🔧 Nothing is obvious, I think its a bad connection on the exciter wire, as testing it last night showed the relay was good. I am thinking one of the butt connectors on the wire is bad, maybe it’s rotted away. That seems to a problem at times, especially if I used copper coated aluminum wire, which I really shouldn’t have done.

Tonight will have showers and thunderstorms likely before 3am, then a chance of showers. Some of the storms could produce small hail, gusty winds, and heavy rain. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 62 degrees at 6am. Three degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 69 at 6pm. South wind 7 to 10 mph becoming west after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. In 2020, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It was humid. It got down to 70 degrees. The record low of 37 occurred back in 1940.

This weekend looks hot and unstable. 🌩 Saturday, a chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 84. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Maximum dew point of 66 at 11am. Sunday, showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm. Mostly cloudy, very humid with a high near 80. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Maximum dew point of 69 at 10am. Typical average high for the weekend is 82 degrees.

As I just got back from the Adirondacks, 🌄 I am thinking this weekend I will stay in town. The weather looks dicey and hot. I might do the Nature Bus up to Thacher Park this weekend with a book I am reading, and just dash under a pavilion should it start to rain. 📚I might walk up to Thompson’s Lake and go for a swim, then read down by the escarpment. The free bus is easy and convenient — if I get on/off at Five Rivers that is an opportunity for some early morning/late afternoon nature study too. 🐸

The following week, which is Independence Weekend 🎆 I am debating about my plans. One thought that comes to mind is to work up in Speculator on Friday and then head from Speculator to Piseco-Powley Road for the long weekend. I like it there, although I worry campsites will fill up quickly for the holiday weekend. 🏕 Another option I’m considering is tent camping at a state forest in Schoharie County and spending a good portion of the weekend at Mine Kill Pool. I haven’t done a lot of tent camping in a long while. I figure the handful of campsites at Burnt-Rossman would likely fill up early during that holiday weekend. Plus I haven’t used the tent in a long time. As I will likely use the big propane tank, I don’t want to haul it back too far in the woods, but maybe that ridge I camped at back in 2018.

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until Hottest Time of the Year 😅 when the sun will be setting at 8:36 pm with dusk at 9:10 pm. On that day in 2020, we had hot, mostly sunny and temperatures between 91 and 62 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 84 degrees. We hit a record high of 99 back in 1919.

Good evening! Partly clear and 82 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a south breeze at 8 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 62 degrees. Back home again, as John Denver once sung. 🎶 Remarkably hot, especially now that I am back home after having a nice Sunday dinner at the folks house. 👕 Slowly unpacking my gear from camping, taking steps to drink and cool down.

Well, happy summer folks. ☺ The next ten weeks through Labor Day Weekend are considered real summer when the state parks pools are open and the days are relatively long. 🏖 Nice hot summer days to spend at the pool or swimming hole. 🏊🏻‍♂️ Do some fishing 🎣 late into the night.

It was a beautiful trip back across the Mohawk Valley and through the Schoharie Valley. Everything was very green and lush.  It was a nice weekend up north, although Friday night was very wet. ☔ It drizzled for a while and then when I went for a good walk up to the Potholers it poured and I got completely soaked. 💦 It was decent all three days up north although I have to say that today was the best of the week. That said, much too short. 🐇 Time flies, especially when it’s rare that I am not out of town for four or more nights, in the era of remote work. But I decided I should come home tonight, because I need to at minimum move to a new campsite.

It was three nights up in the wilderness, 🏕 camping up at House Pond, spending much of Friday during the day drinking, 🍺 reading, 📕 writing, ✍ and hanging down at the Swimming Hole by the House Pond Campsite. 🏊‍♀️ It was nice but the water was a bit cold to say the least. 🛶 Saturday, was kayaking from Stewart Landing up to Lily Lake. I didn’t go much into West Lake because I wanted to be close to back to Stewart Landing by 2 pm as they were threatening severe storms by afternoon, which never materialized. Instead, I spent the evening reading, and then down at the same swimming hole on the East Canada Creek. 🏊‍♀️ Most of Sunday was spent slowly taking down camp after a nice breakfast 🥞 then the majority of the day the Potholers. I forgot how much nicer the Potholers are with the flowing water and potholes compared to any ordinary swimming hole on a nice summer day. It’s good to be back there!

Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 69 degrees at 5am. 10 degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 66 at 3am. South wind around 8 mph. Probably need the fan on all evening. In 2020, we had mostly clear skies. It was somewhat humid. It got down to 69 degrees. The record low of 41 occurred back in 1970.

I thought about staying over the folks house, 👪 but I was tired and wanted to get home. It has been a nice weekend, but alas I should get ready for the work week and get my camping gear put away. I also want to get the volt meter out before dark, and try to figure out why the relay isn’t closing between the starting and accessory batteries when the engine is on or the solar is outputting enough to top off both batteries. 🔋 That was annoying that wasn’t working this weekend.

Tonight will have a Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon with 81% illuminated. At 7 PM, the moon was in the southeast (139°) at an altitude of 26° from the horizon, some 226,818 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 December 9^th. Buckle up for safety! 💺 The Strawberry 🍓 Moon is on Thursday, June 24. The darkest hour is at 12:58 am, followed by dawn at 4:43 am, and sun starting to rise at 5:18 am in the east-northeast (57°) and last for 3 minutes and 28 seconds. Sunrise is 11 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 6:01 am with sun in the east-northeast (64°). Tonight will have 8 hours and 41 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 2 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have a chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly after 4pm. Some of the storms could produce small hail, gusty winds, and heavy rain. Mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 89 degrees at 3pm. Eight degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 71 at 11am. South wind 10 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. It was somewhat humid. The high last year was 92 degrees. The record high of 97 was set in 1938.

Friday turned out to be a very late start heading north. 🚍 I decided not to drive downtown as I’m out of practice with parallel parking and I hate dealing with rush hour traffic. 🚙 So I took the bus home and packed the coolers but ended up having to run to the grocery store to get all the things I didn’t previously pack. But at least the nights are long, and I had plenty of time to get set up, gather some firewood 🔥 and get things going.

The relay that connects the alternator – starting battery 🔋 to the accessory batteries quit working on the way up to camp. Not sure if it’s the exciter wire that broke or the relay is seized. It was fine, I had lots of sun ☀ for the solar so all was good. I stopped on Friday to try to get figure out the issue but nothing obvious. I’ll test this evening or tomorrow with the volt meter. ⚡ It’s possible that the big old can relay failed from the occasional clatter of the relay when clouds appear on a sunny day, although I think I have mostly arrested that by adjusting settings on the voltage control. I am betting the wire is just broken.

In four weeks on July 18 the sun will be setting in the west-northwest (300°) at 8:29 pm,🌄 which is 7 minutes and 24 seconds earlier then today. In 2020 on that day, we had hot and sunny weather with shallow fog in the morning and temperatures between 87 and 59 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 84 and 63 degrees. The record high of 100 degrees was set back in 1953.

By then, I hope to be on my summer vacation. 😎 I am thinking the Finger Lakes National Forest and the state parks circuit I normally do, finding new places to hike or explore. I kind of like that campsite I stayed at last year without cell service, because I find do a lot more reading and thinking if I’m camping somewhere without cell service, 🤫 the quiet with no Facebook quite nice. 📱 I admit I am a bit of social media addict, even if my own postings to social media are a bit more asinine as I hate all the creepy commercial advertising that follows you around the internet, especially the green schemes.

Looking ahead, Independence Day 🇺🇸 is Next Sunday, World Population Day 👩‍👩‍👧‍👧 is in 3 weeks, Ugly Truck Day 🚚 is a month away, August 🌻 is in 6 weeks, Buck Moon 🌕 is in 9 weeks, Halloween 🎃 is in 19 weeks, Average High is 50 🍂 is in 21 weeks, Regular Deer Season in Southern Zone 🦌 is in 5 months, Repeal of Prohibition Day 🍺 is in 24 weeks, Cold Moon 🌕 is in 26 weeks and Boxing Day 🥊 is in 27 weeks.