Good morning! January is almost done. Yes, tomorrow is February. On Friday, the average high is 33 degrees, so it will on average get above freezing. And probably push closer to 40 this year. But wait there is more. Six weeks to Daylight Savings Time Returns, featuring the 7 PM Sunset 🌇 . Partly sunny and 5 degrees in Delmar, NY. Calm wind. With a still breeze and the sun feels warmer then that. There are 2 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Even as close as Five Rivers, there is a fair amount more snow. Things will start to thaw out at Thursday around 1 pm. 🌡But first a snow storm. ️

Another cold morning, and I delayed getting milk for my coffee. Heat is working well in my apartment, but I just didn’t feel like rushing out of bed during the weekend – as I knew it would be cold outside. Maybe I should have gotten an earlier start as the sunny skies aren’t expected to last. I am thinking of doing a little hiking or skiing this afternoon but I’m undecided on the location. I know mornings will be darker again when the time changes, in six weeks but at least they will be warmer at that point.

Yesterday, it was a nice hike out to Five Rivers and Van Dyke Preserve, although I kept moving as it was cold and I didn’t want to freeze off my you know what. The sun helped a lot and there was a lot of nature to see. It also just got my out of my apartment and meant I didn’t burn up much gas while I was away from home. Trying to save wherever I can, especially with the higher heating and electricity bills, being that I work from home. At least with the work VPN and the hotspot plan, I don’t have to drive or take a bus anywhere, so I’m saving there.

Today will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 19 degrees at 3pm. 13 degrees below normal. Light north wind. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 36 degrees. The record high of 58 was set in 1913. 6.9 inches of snow fell back in 2000.❄ I think we will get more snow on Monday – Tuesday of this year. I am planning on covering up my truck, so the snow stays off the solar panel this evening for easy cleaning come Wednesday. That way the solar panel can start soaking up the sun and keeping the batteries topped off.

I haven’t really decided what I am going to do today, I might check out a local preserve or I guess I could do some skiing, but I don’t really want to travel too far from home. I am going out to the folks house for Sunday dinner.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:10 pm with sun having an altitude of 30.1° from the due south horizon (-40.7° vs. 6/21). That’s kind of a big deal as it means days won’t be cold when the sun is out. A six foot person will cast a 10.3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:27 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (240°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (247°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 5:08 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 9 seconds with dusk around 5:37 pm, which is one minute and 19 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:12 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 18 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 9 hours and 57 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 20 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have a slight chance of snow after 3am. Mostly cloudy 🌨, with a low of 13 degrees at 1am. Two degrees below normal. Maximum wind chill around 10 at 6pm; North wind around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2020, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 32 degrees. The record low of -20 occurred back in 1920.

Monday is when the snow comes. On Monday snow is likely, mainly after 3pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 27. North wind 7 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible. Come Monday night, even more snow with a low around 26. North wind around 13 mph. Night time accumulation of 6 to 10 inches possible.

It seems like Monday morning I can definitely do my walk. Maybe not on Monday evening, but that’s fine. I will probably just stay home and watch the snow come down. Tuesday morning probably won’t have sidewalks cleared up enough, but assuming snow removal isn’t a complete cluster they’ll have the sidewalks cleared for the evening walk.

Tuesday is Ground Hog Day. They say the skies will be 85% overcast in Punxsutawney, but history isn’t encouraging – the ground hog sees his shadow most years, although he hasn’t been seeing it as much in recent years probably because more winter days are cloudy and mild due to Climate Change.

🌹🌻🌼Only 48 days remain until the first day of calendar spring!🌹🌻🌼

I am thinking maybe if it’s mild after the time changes, I can get up to the Adirondacks for a long weekend or two. If remote work continues, I can work up in Speculator and camp off the East Branch, although a lot depends on how much snow there is in March. Often the snow lasts a long time around in the Adirondacks. I am looking forward to nicer weather for sure.

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until Valentines Day ❤️ when the sun will be setting at 5:26 pm with dusk at 5:55 pm. Or as I like to spell it, Valente’s Day, mainly because there was an era before spell check. On that day in 2020, we had mostly sunny and temperatures between 36 and 7 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 34 degrees. We hit a record high of 63 back in 1946.

Good morning! Happy 5 PM Sunset 🌇 ! Next Monday is February 🌧 . Mostly sunny and 17 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌞 Calm wind. There are 2 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️

Last night my apartment flooded again. Yet, another water heater melted down, starting to leak water out of the top again. Called the landlord, and he says he’s going to have the plumber install another heater tomorrow. 💦 This time for some reason the catch pan didn’t empty out the leak and it poured all over the floor of the closet, into my bedroom and through the living room ceiling downstairs, but so be it. Third water-heater this unit has gone through since I moved in December 2007. 🙄Kind of annoying, but it’s more my landlords problem then mine, bar the extra cleaning and mopping up of the wet dirty stuff from the melt down. It’s annoying that it’s one issue after another with the plumbing here, but at least he’s good at getting things fixed. 🚽 I wish he would just buy a good quality heater, so I wouldn’t be dealing with this issue every five years, especially when things flood. Last time they didn’t but I’m guessing the drain pan hose iced up in the cold.

To be fair, my apartment is quite affordable 🏘 as it’s been the same place I’ve been sent back in the day when I was making $27.5k at my first job out of college. Today, I make quite a bit more and my rent has not increased much over the years. Of course the fact that the landlord keeps having to replace the waterheater suggests at some point rent will be going up again. I like my apartment and it’s location, but I guess you get what you pay for these days. And it’s good that it gave me a long needed cleaning and straightening up my bedroom.🛏 Too often things just kind of got piled up around, things that I thought I might use some time in the future but probably should have long ago been chucked in the recycling bin or trash like old magazines. Dust doesn’t get cleaned off, books fall out of book shelves, you name it, it happens. 📚That’s kind of why I eventually want to own a tiny home, so if it’s not immediately being used and is kind of marginal in usefulness, it goes out to out the burn barrel for a very fiery form of disposal. 🔥

I was also having blog problems, ✍ due to a software update under Linux which seems to have broken the SSH connections everywhere on the system. I am looking into it further on my end but it only really effects a few things I use regularly, including syncing the website to local database. 🔄 The techs got part of it working again, but I’m still trying to figure out what I broke on my end. Not sure at all – I think either a certificate layer or broken protocol software. 🔢 When I get to the library later in the week, I’ll run apt and update the software, and hopefully that will fix things. I only don’t have synced things from the past few days.

Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 29 degrees at 2pm. Two degrees below normal. Northwest wind 3 to 6 mph. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning, which became rain by afternoon. The high last year was 39 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 1938. 9.5 inches of snow fell back in 2000.❄

It’s going to be a cold day today, but sunny. 🌞 While I did my evening walk, I skipped the morning walk as I was still cleaning up from yesterday’s mess. I really should done more to clean up earlier on – like get the old ripped clothing to the recycling center ♻ and put all my summer clothing away so I could put my winter clothing in the dresser, but it’s now done. I also cleaned up and organized the crawl space, because I wanted to make sure none of my other clothing or camping gear would be sitting in a puddle of water for the rest of the winter. 👕 It’s good though come the spring, it will be easier to get out the things I need.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:08 pm with sun having an altitude of 28.5° from the due south horizon (-42.3° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 11 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:18 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (238°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (245°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 5:00 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 13 seconds with dusk around 5:30 pm, which is one minute and 17 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous Moon 🌝 Moon in the east (88°) at an altitude of 37° from the horizon, 246,581 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:05 pm. At sunset, look for partly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 28 degrees. There will be a north-northwest breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 44 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 7 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌤, with a low of 17 degrees at 3am. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around February 11th. Calm wind. In 2020, we had light rain in the evening, which became light drizzle by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 34 degrees. The record low of -17 occurred back in 1920.

Sunny but cold Saturday, snow possible for Sunday. Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 22. 🌞 Sunday, a chance of snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 29. ⛅Chance of precipitation is 30%. ❄ Typical average high for the weekend is 31 degrees.

🌹🌻🌼Only 54 days remain until the first day of calendar spring!🌹🌻🌼 I can’t wait until it’s warm enough to have the windows open and some fresh air. While that doesn’t happen all of the time in March, sometimes it can get fairly warm and nice. I am really looking forward to spending more nights in the woods. I can do winter camping, but I like it when the time changes and the weather is much nicer in the spring.

As previously noted, next Monday is February 🌧 when the sun will be setting at 5:09 pm with dusk at 5:38 pm. I am glad, this month seems like it has dragged on forever, and it’s been so controversial with so many angry people everywhere. Hopefully with a professional in the White House, the vaccine will roll out much more smoothly, and we can get back to normal life. 😃On that day in 2020, we had snow showers, cloudy, mild and temperatures between 40 and 32 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 32 degrees. We hit a record high of 65 back in 1989.

Good morning! Today is Martin Luther King Jr Day. ♥ The holiday formerly known as Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, it was changed to honor M.L. King after Ronnie Reagan decided he needed to win more black votes, and the consternation of some states, most notably Arizona which had rather racist representatives and didn’t want to honor an insurrectionist. Today also is Winnie the Pooh Day 🍯 ! The day we mark the birthday of A. A. Milne, the man who created the beloved bear who had a thing for honey. Nowadays, bears are mostly interested in rummaging through rednecks’ burn barrels in Tioga County, PA to chew on half burnt moldy ham sandwiches and turkey carcasses flavored with burnt plastic. 🔥 Yum. Next Monday is 5 PM Sunset 🌇 . Yes, the days have grown noticeably longer then they were a few weeks ago. 🌞 I’ve noticed it in the evening, although it’s not a pronounced as I’m not waiting downtown to catch the bus home at 5 PM. 🚏 Cloudy, some red sky to the south, above one degree of freezing at 33 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ Just imagine how much nicer it would be if we used Celsius? Be a half degree a I recon. I’ll take some honey. There is a southwest breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. There is a dusting of snow on the ground. ☃ Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 6 pm. ☃️

M. L. King Day will have a chance of snow showers before 2pm, then a slight chance of rain and snow showers between 2pm and 4pm, then a slight chance of snow showers after 4pm. I’d call that pretty cloudy 🌦, with a high of 38 degrees at 2pm. Eight degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around February 26th. Southwest wind 6 to 13 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning, which became snow by afternoon. The high last year was 30 degrees. The record high of 59 was set in 1973. 7.9 inches of snow fell back in 1891.❄

My foot is feeling better ever since I got the athlete’s foot cream on it, 👣 and let it soaked. Amazing how fast as a bad athlete’s foot infection can go away when you kill off the fungus. I’ve been trying to make sure to change my socks more regularly, 🧦 and hopefully it won’t become a problem. I did get out for my evening walk, which was pleasant 🚶 and not too cold. Forgot my muzzle, I mean to the non-III’ers, my mask but that was fine I didn’t see anyone on the street. 😷 I’ve not decided on whether or not I’ll go for a walk this morning, but I could go out to Five Rivers as it’s  a work holiday. 🐦 Not real nice day but who doesn’t like a good walk? Maybe I could do Van Dyke Preserve then walk out along the farms on Meads Road out to Five Rivers like I did last weekend. Or maybe that’s a crazy an overly ambitious idea, and I shouldn’t see if I could injure my foot first.

Breakfast this day was scrambled eggs with chopped peppers and ham. 🍳 It was a pretty good breakfast and now after having another cup or two of coffee ☕ I should clean up the kitchen next and get the bed made so I can get out. I don’t want to dilly around too much and waste all day, although the weather isn’t going to be great.☁ But it’s silly to delay all day. It will be dark out before you know it, despite the longer days.🌆 What’s the Gordon Lightfoot song I was listening to on the bus the other day?

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:07 pm with sun having an altitude of 26.9° from the due south horizon (-43.9° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 11.8 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:08 pm with the sun in the southwest (235°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (243°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:51 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 16 seconds with dusk around 5:22 pm, which is one minute and 13 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the First Quarter 🌓 Moon in the south-southwest (195°) at an altitude of 45° from the horizon, 249,828 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:57 pm. At sunset, look for snow showers 🌨 and temperatures around 37 degrees. Warm enough the roads will be fine. There will be a west-northwest breeze at 13 mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 32 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 52 seconds over today.

This afternoon going out to the folks house for Sunday dinner, 😋 and I also want to get the rest of the system updates installed on the Winders side of my laptop and get that Cisco program installed so they can telnet in and get all the VPN network drives mounted. 💻 At least I won’t have to be going downtown as much now when I need to file paperwork or get things off the server, or as mostly has been happening, asking friends to send me files that I need off the server. I really hate using Winders, but sometimes you just got to do it because it’s popular because of all the commercial advertising. If only the feds has stuck to their UNIX-mandate a few more years longer.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 22 degrees at 6am. Eight degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 4th. Maximum wind chill around 19 at 12am; Northwest wind 6 to 11 mph becoming light after midnight. In 2020, we had light snow. It got down to 17 degrees. The record low of -28 occurred back in 1971.

Cold next weekend with temperatures running 7 degrees below normal but otherwise sunny. 😃 Finally, some sun, but you’ll be using your heat. Welcome to the poor house with all your money going to the frackers! And probably 50 cents to the dirt-poor dairy farmer getting a royalty check for the 10 acres of cropland they forfeited for two decades. Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 26. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 22. Typical average high for the weekend is 31 degrees. While the temperature normally this time of year starts to moderate with the longer days and higher sun angle, it’s

🌹🌻🌼Only 61 days remain until the first day of calendar spring!🌹🌻🌼Tomorrow marks 60 days, if you do the math. But I expect many cold, much colder then today, days before then.

As previously noted, next Monday is 5 PM Sunset 🌇 when the sun will be setting at 5:00 pm with dusk at 5:30 pm. On that day in 2020, we had rain and temperatures between 39 and 22 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 31 degrees. We hit a record high of 61 back in 1938.

Good morning! Monday’s come back around again. Two weeks to 5 PM Sunset 🌇 . Not a lot of sun for today. Dark and overcast, and 25 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ Calm wind. There is a inch of snow on the ground. ☃ I am sure at some point we will see the sun again, but so far the optimistic forecasts have been just that — rather optimistic but not true. ️Things will start to thaw out at tomorrow around 11 am. 🌡️ Maybe in ten days, the new leadership at the National Weather Service will improve that forecast.

Out for the morning walk. 🚶It could be colder so I’m not complaining, but I don’t like the lack of sun. Air has a tinge of wood smoke and manure on it. More people out walking than expected today. 👪 But so we move forward on this Monday. At least with working from home, I don’t have to dress up for work. 🕴That’s kind of nice, saves on the dry cleaning bills. 🚍 Plus no rushing for the bus. If I’m a few minutes late to get back to home, 🏡 not going to miss the bus. ⌚ Which is good because I’m running a bit late.

I got milk 🥛 at the store 🏬 yesterday after my evening walk. That made the coffee ☕ much better this morning. Pancakes 🥞 For breakfast, I wanted eggs 🥚 but I didn’t have any so that was not to be. Not going to be a real real nice day but except for my morning and evening walks needn’t go anywhere.

Today will have a slight chance of snow showers between 1pm and 4pm. Mostly cloudy 🌦, with a high of 30 degrees at 1pm. Typical for today. Calm wind. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 67 degrees. The record high of 57 was set in 1975. 8 inches of snow fell back in 1922.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:04 pm with sun having an altitude of 25.6° from the due south horizon (-45.2° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.5 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:59 pm with the sun in the southwest (233°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (241°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:43 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 20 seconds with dusk around 5:14 pm, which is one minute and 7 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:50 pm. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies ☁ and temperatures around 29 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 20 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 29 seconds over today.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 21 degrees at 5am. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 1st. Maximum wind chill around 22 at 6am; Light south wind. In 2020, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 31 degrees. The record low of -26 occurred back in 1968.

So far I haven’t caught any more mice after the one I caught. 🐁Yesterday I heard another in the wall but I haven’t seen it or caught it yet. So be it.

I have a bunch more maps and interactive stuff 🗺 for the blog today. While I finally have added legends to most of the newer maps, there was some issues that kept them from displaying by default.

Right now, a split verdict on the weekend. 😕 Saturday, a chance of rain and snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 37. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 35. Typical average high for the weekend is 30 degrees. Not sure if I’m going to the Adirondacks this weekend, it’s the long Martin Luther King Jr weekend.

🌹🌻🌼Only 68 days remain until the first day of calendar spring!🌹🌻🌼That what happens two days after seven weeks until spring. But the important thing is we are inching closer. When there is no hope, there is spring, as they say.

As previously noted, next Monday is Martin Luther King Day 🖤 when the sun will be setting at 4:51 pm with dusk at 5:22 pm. On that day in 2020, we had snow showers with cloudy skies and temperatures between 30 and 10 degrees. Pretty much what one would expect. That said, with virtual MLK Day celebrations due to CORONA the weather doesn’t matter much. Typically, the high temperature is 30 degrees. We hit a record high of 59 back in 1973.

Good morning! Happy Bubble Bath Day 🧼 ! Never was into the bubble bath, but I do like the bubbly potholers on a hot summer day. 🏊 Three weeks to my 38th Birthday 🎉 . 17 years until I will be 55. That said I’m not sure if I will stick around in Albany for another decade and a half. 👴 So many things to do before then. Cloudy and 21 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ There is a north-northwest breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. There is a inch of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Things will start to thaw out at around 2 pm. 🌡️

Kind of a cold and gray morning. 🌥 I am rather disappointed with the weather. Fewer dog 🐶 walker to have to put the mask on for and step off the trail for on the era of THE COVID. Hopefully, we will have more sun later ☀ as I like looking at blue skies with the endless work zoom meetings of lately. ⌨️ Normally I mute 🔕 myself but lately with too many Ferris Buehler moments I left the microphone on and then my typing got picked up and I got yelled at during the meeting. I just find the phone zoom app is incredibly hard to unmute I a hurry. So it’s back to staring out the window. ⬜

I think today will be a work from home day, 🏠 that is after I go for my morning walk on this most cloudy start of day. ☁ Yesterday was so nice with all that sun to get the morning started, but that’s definitely not to be today. But hopefully it will get nicer once that high level front passes through. But I was hoping for seven days of blue skies in the morning, but that was not to be.We can have hopes for nice weather, but that rarely comes to be. But still I enjoy my morning walks. 🍳 I had a good pan of eggs with a chopped up ham-steak, broccoli, cheese and lots of coffee ☕ so I should have plenty of energy for the day. 💤 Slept well last night.

Today will be cloudy through mid morning, then gradual clearing ⛅, with a high of 34 degrees at 3pm. I am surprised how cloudy it out this morning. I thought the week was supposed to be a lot more sunny. Debbie downer I guess. Geos-East shows a row of clouds pushing through. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around February 11th. Northwest wind 7 to 9 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became mostly clear by afternoon. The high last year was 39 degrees. The record high of 60 was set in 2008. 8.3 inches of snow fell back in 1923.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:03 pm with sun having an altitude of 25.2° from the due south horizon (-45.6° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.8 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:55 pm with the sun in the southwest (232°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (240°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:40 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 22 seconds with dusk around 5:11 pm, which is one minute and 2 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:47 pm. At sunset, look for mostly sunny skies 🌃 and temperatures around 32 degrees. There will be a north-northwest breeze at 7 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 14 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 14 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 17 degrees at 6am. Two degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around February 11th. Maximum wind chill around 14 at 3am; Northwest wind 6 to 8 mph. In 2020, we had light snow in the evening, which tapered off and the skies become mostly clear and cold by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 13 degrees. The record low of -20 occurred back in 1968. But not 1968 cold, as it rarely gets that cold these days around here, but who knows with the polar vortex roaring around, although it seems unlikely to hit here in New York.

Tomorrow will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 33 degrees at 1pm. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around February 6th. Northwest wind 7 to 10 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became mostly clear by afternoon. The high last year was 30 degrees. The record high of 62 was set in 2008. 9.9 inches of snow fell back in 1953.❄

I haven’t decided yet for sure but I might just walk 🚶🏻 out to Five Rivers tomorrow 🐦 to watch the birds rather than driving anywhere. 🚘 I just washed my truck yesterday and I don’t want to get it dirty plus the fuel tank ⛽ is getting low and I don’t want to have to get gas until next week and I’ll save money 💵 by not visiting Aldi for even more groceries. Although I do also want to explore the Van Dyke Preserve which is near Meade’s Farm Road — never been there before, and it’s a short walk from the house. Maybe I’ll hike to the Van Dyke Preserve then out to Five Rivers. That will give me a full day of hiking and keep me busy if the weather is decent. I never trust the forecast these days.

Looking ahead to Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 34. 😎Northwest wind around 7 mph. Typical average high for the weekend is 30 degrees.

I am thinking Sunday I will go for a walk 🚶🏻around the Holt Preserve. Been a while since I was last there, and I don’t want to drive too far this weekend. 🚘 Close to home and it’s an easy drive out there without too many back roads to get my truck dirty with.

Finally got to the bank yesterday, 🏦 and got the stack of checks I had been hoarding into the bank. I’ve gotten good at driving my big jacked up truck to the ATM. 🏧 There was a big line at the bank drive through as all the interior banking facilities are closed due to the COVID, and I had trouble making the turn to get to the ATM but eventually traffic moved ahead, and with a little jumping of the curb with the back wheel of Big Red and some careful negotiation of the drive through, I made it there safely.

I wasn’t going to do the IRA thing this year in favor of a Roth, 💵 but after looking at my tax situation, I’ll probably do some of a regular IRA for part of $6k. If I do move to a low tax state in my later years for my homestead it won’t be that big of a deal, and if I have my own land, I’ll probably not be spending that much money on any particular year so my income will be lower. Then when I max out the IRA, I’ll just do the CD or investment account. Should do the trick. And I’ll keep looking at properties in rural Missouri and Neberaska to tease myself in thinking about a better tomorrow.

I also got a bunch of groceries, 🛍️ and cleaning supplies. 🧽 I bought this big bottle of ammonium – lemon cleaning solution and it stunk to high hell, 🦨 but it did a good job cleaning the kitchen and bathroom. At first I thought I thought there had been a mixture of some of the old residual chemicals and the ammonium producing noxious chloramine but no, it just was a lot more pungent 👃 then the other knock-off Pine Sol I normally get. The stink quickly dissipated though, and it was very effective at cleaning the floors and countertops. I am trying to spend a few hours year week cleaning to keep things a bit nicer around here. ☠ Probably toxic as hell but so be it. We live in a world of chemicals.

I haven’t seen any mice since the mouse I caught yesterday, 🐁 so that’s a good thing. I thought this would be a mice free winter, and until January 6th, that was the case. Then that one made a riotest appearance. Despite the news from that hick town some 500 miles south of me, I thought Wednesday was a pretty quiet day except for that one mouse I caught. I also bought more peanut butter for traps or to use with lunch.

The peanut butter will be good for snacks.🍪 I got kind of a sweet tooth when I got that big bag of Christmas cookies at Aldi’s two weeks ago, but I normally don’t have cookies or sweets at home, but a glob of peanut butter along with the frozen fruit in the freezer should help make up for it. I don’t like to have cookies at home, as they’re not healthy and there are a expense I can’t afford with my budget being as tight as it these days. 💸🚭 I’ll eat cookies and drink beer and maybe even drag on something when I’m camping but I refuse to do any of those vices at home.

I’ve been using less data then expected, 📶 so come April if I’m still working from home, I’ll probably switch back to the 10 GB hotspot plan and then back to the old, cheaper phone plan once I’m back to work again downtown. Right now, things are working out good, just spending one afternoon a week at the library parking lot when it’s not to cold to get the big files I need for mapping or other purposes. The extra $20 a month (or $10 if i go back to 10 GB) is reasonable these days with no or little bus fares to pay working from home. But I think I’d prefer to work down at the library or the park when the weather is nice and not have to be watching every megabyte on the gauge. 🔌 Then I’ll be just watching the watt-hour gauge and resetting the undervoltage relay when it clouds up too much.

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until 38th Birthday 🎉 when the sun will be setting at 5:05 pm with dusk at 5:35 pm. On that day in 2020, we had partly cloudy skies 🌥 and temperatures between 35 and 19 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 31 degrees. We hit a record high of 54 back in 2002.

🌹🌻🌼Only 71 days remain until the first day of calendar spring!🌹🌻🌼 Tomorrow marks ten weeks until calendar spring. But sometimes we get nicer weather before then but who knows. It varies a lot from year to year, with sometimes the worse blizzards in late March, although that time of the year with average highs in the 40s, snow doesn’t last long.

Good morning! Happy Thursday. Three weeks to Wolf Moon 🌕 . Howl. 🐺 Partly cloudy and 25 degrees in Delmar, NY. ⛅ There is a northwest breeze at 10 mph. 🍃. The current wind chill is 14. There are 2 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Things will start to thaw out at around noontime. 🌡️ With the sun up, it’s a pretty nice morning and it’s only going to get nicer, although cold because it’s still January. But eventually the winter will fade away, as we inch towards spring and black flies. That cold breeze is refreshing.

Out for my morning walk 🚶on this most beautiful of days. After many cloudy days lots of blue skies. 🌅 It is cool but I’m just happy for the sun ☀ after so many cloudy days. A ton of people out walking their dogs 🐶 this morning. Looks like all of the rest of the week will be quite nice. I don’t know about you but I was ready for a change in the weather. Winter weeks are just different working from home. Time ⌚ just goes slower.

Yesterday was busy but a good day with more downtime than I expected. 🤫 The upgrades to the blog really make it easy for quick updates. It was another good day in the market but it’s all just paper gains right now and I expect a downturn in the near future. 💵 At some point the fed rate will go up, the money supply will decrease and stocks will go down. It’s a certainty and I do expect big drops in the market.🙄

It got kind of cold in my apartment in the afternoon so I ended up turning on the small electric heater 🧣to warm up and the heating pad. Honestly I figure that’s cheaper than turning up the main heat as I don’t need it for that warm ♨ downstairs. I try to save money wherever possible for a better tomorrow but it gets cold working all day from home. I sometimes feel the hypothermia kicking in. Kind of like remote work in the summer without air conditioning ❄ but at least then I could hide out in the Adirondacks.

Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 34 degrees at 2pm. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around February 11th. Northwest wind around 11 mph. No complaints on this front, although it will be a bit cool with the wind. I probably should get to the library for before it starts to cools off in the afternoon. Depends on how busy work today is. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 39 degrees. The record high of 56 was set in 1915. 7.2 inches of snow fell back in 1994.❄

It’s good that we have a good weather pattern ahead of us for the next week. 🌅 It’s trending cooler but not absurdly cold. I plan to dig out my truck, wash it, 🚚 today and get those checks in the bank 🏦 and get groceries. 🛒 I also want to get on the library Wi-Fi for work, so I can get some big files 📂 I need mostly for fun and save a big on the bandwidth. That said I’ve been using less bandwidth than I thought with the Hotspot plan with my phone – only about 3.5 GB out of the 20 GB for the month. Maybe I could have gotten away with just 10 gb data. I’ll see when we get closer to the end of the month. For a lot of things I just prefer to use my phone with unlimited data over the laptop. 📶 I’m going to make it work and I don’t need the commitment of a permanent internet connection. The pandemic will end.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:02 pm with sun having an altitude of 25.1° from the due south horizon (-45.8° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.8 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:54 pm with the sun in the southwest (232°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (240°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:39 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 22 seconds with dusk around 5:10 pm, which is one minute and one second later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:46 pm. At sunset, look for mostly sunny skies 🌃 and temperatures around 33 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 10 mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 14 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 14 seconds over today.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 20 degrees at 5am. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around February 25th. Maximum wind chill around 13 at 3am; Northwest wind 7 to 9 mph. In 2020, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 21 degrees. The record low of -18 occurred back in 1878.

A picture perfect weekend on tap. 😎 Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 33. North wind 6 to 11 mph. Wind might be kind of chilly. But bundle up and enjoy it. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 33. Typical average high for the weekend is 30 degrees.

Looking for a a nice weekend. 😊 While there are definite advantages to working from home I do think that it makes the week drag on longer. At least I didn’t have to figure out bus schedules 🚍 and being stuck for a while waiting for the next bus. 🚌

🌹🌻🌼Only 72 days remain until the first day of calendar spring!🌹🌻🌼 Day by day, we get closer to spring and all the mud, black flies and warmer weather. I know I can’t wait for better weather, although this morning is already pretty nice.

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until Wolf Moon 🌕 when the sun will be setting at 5:03 pm with dusk at 5:33 pm. On that day in 2020, we had partly cloudy, snow showers and temperatures between 37 and 31 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 31 degrees. We hit a record high of 56 back in 1916.