Good morning! Happy Thursday. Partly sunny and 32 degrees in Delmar. There is a west-northwest breeze at 5 mph. 

Kind of a cool morning getting out of bed  as the place I was staying in Cicero always had the heat turned up and I don’t do that at home. I normally leave my heat at 50 as it saves energy. But then again, I’ll be camping next week. 

Drinking percolator coffee was good this morning. Nice and strong. My home stove isn’t as nearly warm as my camp stove so it takes a lot longer. Coffee at camp will be nice, sitting next to the Big Buddy Heater on a frosty morning. Looks like I will have some days out in the wilderness at least through Thursday. 

Going to be a nice day. It l will be mostly sunny, with a high of 53 degrees at 1pm. Three degrees above normal. West wind 5 to 7 mph becoming south in the afternoon. Last year, mostly cloudy with a high around 59. The record high of 72 was set in 1931. There was 3.2 inches of snow back in 1987.

Today the long haired country boy is going to get a haircut. I don’t want my hair to get all icky while I spend my week in the woods. Then I got to go to the store and pick up up a few supplies, run down to the library and update my blog and research laptops further. I think I’m going for the IdeaPad R4 but need to research further. Just need to wait for the sale though. I might walk to the barber just for the exercise and because it’s a nice day. 

This evening the sun will set at 4:36 pm with dusk around 5:06 pm, which is 1 minutes and 2 seconds earlier than yesterday. That’s about 10 minutes before North Syracuse. Today will have 9 hours and 54 minutes of daylight, a decrease of 2 minutes and 18 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have increasing clouds, with a low of 39 degrees at 6am. Six degrees above normal. South wind around 8 mph. One year ago, cloudy with a low around 44. The record low of 15 occurred back in 1956.

There are 2 weeks until Thanksgiving when the sun will be setting at 4:25 pm with dusk at 4:56 pm. Everybody likes Turkey Day, especially turkey farners. The average high temperature is 44 degrees, with a record high of 70 in 2014. I remember my parents house loosing power on that mild Thanksgiving Day in 2014, but fortunately it came back in time to cook the turkey. 

Good morning! Did you remember to set your clocks back?  Mostly cloudy and 45 degrees in Cicero, NY. Clearing around sunrise which is 6:46 am. There is a north-northwest breeze at 6 mph. The skies will clear around 10 am.

Today will be partly sunny, with a high of 43 degrees at 6pm. Two degrees below normal. Northwest wind 6 to 9 mph. Last year, mostly cloudy with a high around 73. The record high of 73 was set in 2015. There was 3.2 inches of snow back in 1933.

Good evening! Partly cloudy and 45 degrees in Cicero, NY. A nice little sliver of the moon to the west and not too cold for November. There is a west breeze at 5 mph. The skies will clear around 10 pm.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy, with a low of 44 degrees at 5am. Nine degrees above normal. Northwest wind 5 to 8 mph. One year ago, mostly cloudy with a low around 56. The record low of 15 occurred back in 1951.

Got some beer and trail mix, and watched the MSNBC news coverage for a while. Retiring to bed shortly so I can go for a walk at Green Lakes State Park at least one more time while I’m still in the Syracuse area. 

Swapped out Podcast Addict for Antenna Pod, and now I have a lot more free memory on my phone. That’s good as it means I won’t be constantly cleaning out the cache on my phone or missing emails because a lack of memory. I also had room to reinstall Facebook messagener which is nice. 

Waining Crescent Moon tonight with 40% illuminated. The moon will set around 12:52 am. The First Quarter Moon is on Sunday night with mostly clear skies expected. The Full “Beaver” Moon is the following Sunday night.

Tomorrow will be mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny, with a high of 49 degrees at 3pm. Three degrees below normal. Cool but not outrageously cool for this time of year.  Northwest wind 6 to 8 mph. Last year, mostly cloudy with a high around 73. The record high of 73 was set in 2015. There was 3.2 inches of snow back in 1933. The sun will rise at 6:46 am with the first light at 6:16 am, which is one hour, one minutes and 18 seconds later then yesterday. Don’t forget to set your clocks back an hour. 

Looking ahead, Regular Season Opens in Southern Zone is in 2 weeks and New Years Eve is in 8 weeks.

There are 1 days, 23 hours and 10 minutes until the polls close in NY State on Election Day. I will be so glad when it’s all over. I look forward to spending next week in the wilderness, especially exploring Allegany County. 

Good morning! Happy First Saturday of November. Last day of Daylight Savings Time in 2016. Which is good thing, as with the cloudy skies and the 7:47 AM sunrise, it was a pretty late this morning. Still pretty cloudy this morning with a few breaks in the clouds and temperatures around 48 degrees in Cicero, NY. There is a west-southwest breeze at 9 mph. The skies will clear tomorrow around noontime.

The mercury will creep up a bit to around 53 degrees at 3pm under mostly cloudy skies. One degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 45 at 1pm. West wind 9 to 11 mph. Last year was much warmer, with partly cloudy skies with a high around 72. The record high of 75 was set in 1994. There was 3.0 inches of snow back in 1894. A few years before my time.

The sun will set at 5:50 pm with dusk around 6:19 pm, which is 1 minutes and 12 seconds earlier than yesterday. Enjoy the late sunset, tomorrow Today will have 10 hours and 3 minutes of daylight, a decrease of 2 minutes and 30 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy with a low of 42 degrees at 5am. Seven degrees above normal. West wind around 7 mph. One year ago, mostly cloudy with a low around 56. The record low of 15 occurred back in 1951.

We are now 2 weeks out until Regular Season Opens in Southern Zone when the sun will be setting at 4:36 pm with dusk at 5:07 pm (Standard Time). The average high temperature is 47 degrees, with a record high of 71 in 1921.

There are 2 days, 12 hours and 59 minutes until the polls close in NY State on Election Day. It’s coming up quickly. Election Day, at least in Central New York should be quite nice, with a high of 59 degrees under mostly sunny skies.

Good morning! Happy Thursday. Some pretty heavy rain and 53 degrees in Cicero, NY. There is a north-northwest breeze at 6 mph. The dew point is 52 degrees. A very wet day, although the rain will fade out later, and it will just be damp and cloudy. The skies will clear tomorrow around noontime. I sure hope this pattern doesn’t last for all of November, as it would be darn depressing for camping and my road trip come next week. I plan to leave a week from Friday (Veterans Day) and return the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

Continued showers through the morning, then just clouds and dampness later. High of 54 degrees at 1pm. One degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 51 at 9am. Northwest wind 6 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. Last year, mostly sunny with a high around 72. I wish we had weather like that today. The record high of 75 was set in 1990. There was 0.9 inches of snow back in 1951, back when Averill Harriman was the governor and the man from Missouri was President.

The sun will set at 5:52 pm with dusk around 6:22 pm, which is 1 minutes and 16 seconds earlier than yesterday. Daylight Savings Time ends on Sunday morning at 2:59 AM when our clocks automatically flip back an hour, except for the clock in Big Red.  Today will have 10 hours and 8 minutes of daylight, a decrease of 2 minutes and 33 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have a chance of showers, mainly between 8pm and 5am. Low of 42 degrees at 5am. Six degrees above normal. West wind 7 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. One year ago, clear with a low around 40. The record low of 17 occurred back in 1951.

There are 3 weeks until Thanksgiving when the sun will be setting at 4:33 pm with dusk at 5:04 pm (Standard Time). The average high temperature is 44 degrees, with a record high of 70 in 2014.

There are 4 days, 12 hours and 16 minutes until the polls close in NY State on Election Day. At this point, I am pretty indifferent about the presidential election. I voted for Jill Stein, and I honestly don’t care if Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton wins. Both of them will make our lives miserable.

I don’t understand why some of my friends get all excited about the Presidential race. I would be absolutely fine with Trump winning. I think he would be a good safe guard on the second amendment. I also think he would have a more balanced approach to the environment and be less antagonistic towards the people who use our public lands. On the other hand, I think Clinton would be better on the economy and foreign relations. There are many things I like about Trump, and other things I like about Clinton. Time is going by so quickly at this point, but I’m glad it will be soon over. And then I’ll be in the woods, hopefully not sitting under a tarp, freezing off my ass, listening to the NPR’s postmortems on the election on my waterproof bluetooth speaker. But hopefully not snow.

Since I got the new brakes on my truck, I’m impressed how smoothly it stops. Actually, it’s a bit disconcerting to apply the brakes and feel nothing at all as the peddle is depressed — besides the vehicle slowing. I guess the rotators were pretty warped, but I hadn’t noticed because it was gradual. Even in the rain this morning, the truck stopped very smoothly. It used to be kind of bad with the rain.

Back in 1957, The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 2. On board is the first animal to enter orbit, a dog named Laika. He had no plan for return, and gave his life on the mission, but he did survive living in outer space for several hours, showing that human life could be sustained up there.

Today, three years later in 1960, the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge was established by an Act of Congress after a year-long legal battle that pitted local residents against Port Authority of New York and New Jersey officials wishing to turn the Great Swamp into a major regional airport for jet aircraft.

Good morning! Sixty days from now it will be New Years Day 2017. Where does the time go by so quickly? In the mean time, it is a rather depressing November morning. Cloudy and 56 degrees in Cicero, NY. Calm wind. The dew point is 52 degrees. The skies will clear Friday around 6 am.

Today will have a slight chance of showers after 3pm. Otherwise pretty cloudy and gray November day. High of 62 degrees at 2pm. Nine degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 56 at 2pm. Calm wind. Chance of precipitation is 20%. Last year, partly sunny with a high around 63. The record high of 82 was set in 1950. There was 0.1 inches of snow back in 1911.

Got the new brakes, rotators, and tires rotated. I had them also flush and replace the brake fluid, which after 5 years most certainly was contaminated with water (and is recommended by manual to be changed). Water tends to corrode all the brake components and also increases stopping distance. I probably should have done that sooner, but the brakes have lasted a lot longer for me then many people. The brakes seem to stop better, but I don’t use them that much, but I wanted to make sure things were working well before vacation. It wasn’t cheap, but with my big truck, nothing is ever cheap. I could of waited longer, but I didn’t want to risk trouble later on.

Still need to work out my vacation plans. I think I will stop over at least one night at the Finger Lakes National Forest and the Allegheny National Forest, but I also want to spend a lot of time this year in Allegany, Cattaragaus, and Chautauqua counties in the Southern Tier. There are a lot of state forests and lands I want to explore in this remote part of state. Probably some truck cap camping and some tent camping, depending on where I am and the weather. If I do Canaseraga/Ossian State Forest, it will be tent camping. But with the lantern and the heater, and the portable bluetooth speaker I’ll have audio. Some will depend on the weather.

The sun will set at 5:53 pm with dusk around 6:23 pm, which is 1 minutes and 17 seconds earlier than yesterday. Today will have 10 hours and 11 minutes of daylight, a decrease of 2 minutes and 34 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have a slight chance of showers before 9pm, then rain likely, mainly after 3am. Low of 53 degrees at 4am. 17 degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 55 at 6pm. Light and variable wind. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. One year ago, mostly clear with a low around 36. The record low of 20 occurred back in 1980.

There are 4 weeks until First Day with Temperatures Recorded Below Zero when the sun will be setting at 4:30 pm with dusk at 5:02 pm (Standard Time). The average high temperature is 42 degrees, with a record high of 67 in 1933.

Today is the earliest day of the year that Election Day can fall, as it always has to be the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Needless to say, the first Tuesday of November this year was November 1st, so we don’t have Election Day until November 8th. There are 5 days, 10 hours and 52 minutes until the polls close in NY State on Election Day.

Forty years ago today, Jimmy Carter was elected president. Before my time. The peanut farmer, he was the first and only president from the deep south, unless you consider the Ozark-country Governor of Arkansas was who was elected in 1992.

Good morning! Today is a nice start to November. Partly sunny and 39 degrees in Cicero, NY. There is a east-southeast breeze at 7 mph. Hopefully this weather will last, but alas November is the cloudiest month of the year in Upstate New York, and a lot of cloudy days are ahead on the calendar. Rain is quite likely for the weekend with lots of clouds. The good news is it’s not snow.

Today is going to mostly sunny with a high of 59 degrees at 3pm. Five degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 43 at 5pm. South wind 7 to 13 mph. Last year, mostly cloudy with a high around 62. The record high of 78 was set in 1950. There was 3.9 inches of snow back in 1951.

Dropped Big Red off to have new brakes put on and tires rotated. I was on the fence about the brakes, but I wanted them done before I go on vacation next week. They had some life left on them, but as the shop noted and visual inspection also concluded, the pads are almost down to the wear indicators. While I’m in North Syracuse, I’d rather have my truck worked on rather then breaking down on vacation due to worn brakes.

I’ve waited too long on the brakes  in the past, and then it gets a lot more expensive. Brakes really are a simple job, and while they’ll charge an arm and leg to do it, I’d rather just leave the experts do it rather then bugger up the  bolts or break hardware. A shop can do it while I work, or I can I can waste a morning in the cold freeing up stuck bolts, and possibly messing up the brakes. I’ve wrecked many a vacation trip with brake worries or problems.

I’ll top off the oil and windshield washer fluid and should be ready for vacation. I’m thinking Western NY and Pennsylvania this year. I was going to go to West Virgina and Blue Ridge Parkway, but it seems like most of the campgrounds are closed this time of year down that way, and the days are so darn short. I have a list of some little known state forests I think I want to visit in Western NY this year. I have my New York hunting license, so I might put it use while I’m out there. All the equipment should be working well on my truck including the batteries and electric, and it should be a good trip. I will bring the Big Buddy Heater to keep warm, especially around the fire. I am looking forward to getting out.

Thinking that Black Friday is only three weeks from Friday, and my old laptop is chugging along quite well now that I have access to my files. That way I can get the Christmas specials. I’m still really liking that Lenovo Ideapad R14 I saw at the store but with the SSD drive for $620 that Staples had on sale last week. The touch screen and tablet mode would be ideal for making up maps. I love the 1920×1080 resolution too — it just gives a lot more room for map making on screen with all the toolbars I use. But I ain’t paying the $750-800 for it when it recently was on sale for much less.

I haven’t set up the new version of QGIS on my old laptop, but I have enough maps in reserve on my blog that I don’t really need to make up ones. I guess I could install QGIS so I could make up some Google Maps in particular. I’ll be on vacation through the start of deer season, which this falls the weekend before Thanksgiving — so I won’t really need a laptop. Southern Zone deer season is early compared to Election Day but that’s because Election Day is late, and Thanksgiving is early because December 1st is a Thursday.

I drove to the sketchy North Syracuse Chinese Restaurant in my jacked up pickup truck last night. The food was sketchy. But I tried it. I’ve been wondering for a long time if it was as bad as it looked. It is. Overpriced too. I actually liked the Chinese food I got in Canastota. That place was more sketchy than North Syracuse. You never know what hick town Chinese places are like until you try them. Hick towns can be fun places.

As we head into November, days are rapidly getting shorter. The sunset is earlier, but it will be much earlier come next Sunday. Look for a sunset at 5:55 pm with dusk around 6:24 pm, which is 1 minutes and 18 seconds earlier than yesterday. On Sunday, with the time change, the sun will set at 4:48 pm. I hate commuting home in the dark on the express bus this time of year. It’s so dark in Glenmont on the Delmar Bypass. Today will have 10 hours and 14 minutes of daylight, a decrease of 2 minutes and 35 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have a slight chance of showers between 9pm and midnight. More clouds as the evening progresses. Low of 51 degrees at 3am. 16 degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 49 at 6am. Southeast wind 6 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. One year ago, partly cloudy with a  low around 39. The record low of 19 occurred back in 2002.

We are now one week out from  Election Day when the sun will be setting at 4:46 pm with dusk at 5:16 pm (Standard Time). The average high temperature is 51 degrees, with a record high of 75 in 1975. There are 6 days, 12 hours and 21 minutes until the polls close in NY State on Election Day.