Good evening! Rain and 63 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ There is a west breeze at 8 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 60 degrees. More of a drizzle now but around 7 pm the sky was really pouring.

No evening walk 🚶 due to the rain. That downpour and wind was intense for a while – it must have knocked down a tree 🌲as I heard somebody in the neighborhood with a chain saw. But as fast as it came it was gone.

I was working down at the library parking lot today and it started to get so hot with that sun ☀. Got to hook up the fan and maybe bring water but then I’ll need to run home for bathroom 🚽 breaks. The library Wi-Fi has gotten so popular lately – some times you’ll see a dozen cars in the lot with folks on their laptops. 💻 But it’s fine, everybody is maintaining social distancing and my laptop stays charged off the sun.

Working on a new interactive mapping feature for the blog that will allow for large format maps that can be scrolled 📜 left and right and maybe zoomed in based on the jquery library I eventually end up linking against.

Also been experimenting with historical topographic maps and removing their collars 🗾 which turns out to be super easy to do creating seemless historical maps of larger areas like Moose River Plains. The accuracy of those early USGS maps is amazing as long as you don’t zoom in too far beyond the scale.

Tonight will have showers likely, mainly before 1am. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 54 degrees at 6am. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around June 6th. Maximum dew point of 60 at 10pm. Northwest wind 7 to 9 mph. Another night sleeping with the windows open. I like the fresh air and things are quite with everything shut down due to pandemic. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 48 degrees. The record low of 33 occurred back in 1980.

Tonight will have a Last Quarter 🌗 Moon with 35% illuminated. The darkest hour is at 12:53 am, followed by dawn at 5:01 am, and sun starting to rise at 5:34 am in the east-northeast (63°) and last for 3 minutes and 15 seconds. Sunrise is one minute and one second earlier than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 6:14 am with sun in the east-northeast (70°). Tonight will have 9 hours and 20 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 2 minutes and 2 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 73 degrees at 3pm. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around May 27th. Maximum dew point of 52 at 10am. North wind 7 to 9 mph. Should be a real nice day. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning, which became light rain by afternoon. The high last year was 69 degrees. The record high of 89 was set in 1991.

I’m thinking Thacher Park OSI parcel tomorrow from that lesser used trail head to the Nature Center at Thompsons Lake 🐦 and some of the lesser used trails to the overlooks. 🐸 I want to do some bird watching and just general wildlife observation 🔭 if I can find some quiet places to sit in the woods. I’ll definitely be wearing my jeans 👖 that are treated with Permethrin.

I’ve really been struggling with the Lyme disease this time. 🐜 The doxycycline works but it’s not as effective as the first time I got Lyme last October and there are times I am sore and stiff. I do keep getting out – walking 5 to 10 miles a day around the neighborhood – but at times I feel exhausted and just so stiff and sore. I’m be out of doxycycline Tuesday and if I still feel like shit I’m going to call the doctor 😷.

I went to the the laundromat and hardware store today. 👚 Washed my clothes and sprayed three pare of older jeans and t-shirts with Permethrin. Users of it swear by it for ticks. Certainly the Army uses a lot of it as do cattle farmers for fly control. I picked up two empty spray bottles so I’d have them to apply the chemicals. Mixing the chemical 20 to 1 with water wasn’t too bad, twenty oz of mixture pretty much covered three jeans and shirts. Didn’t see any staining or odors. I washed my hands carefully after use but noticed no incidental skin reaction. The chemical supposedly lasts six washings but honestly I’d probably reapply it before packing for any major camping trip or extended outdoor activity because if it knocks down the ticks it’s worth it without a question.

In four weeks on June 12 the sun will be setting in the west-northwest (303°) at 8:33 pm,🌄 which is 22 minutes and 36 seconds later then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had mostly sunny and temperatures between 77 and 50 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 77 and 56 degrees. The record high of 95 degrees was set back in 2017.

Looking ahead, 8:30 PM Sunset ️⛱️ is in 3 weeks.

🇺🇸🦅Only 1 week remains until the start of Memorial Day Weekend!🦅🇺🇸

I made no decision about next weekend. ⛺ Unless the forecast calls for exceptionally nice weather next weekend the plan will be avoid the crowds Memorial Day Weekend and work only three days the following week, leave Thursday and take Friday off celebrate the unofficial kick off to summer with fewer crowds and the potholers a little warmer.

Good evening! Mostly clear and 48 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌃 There is a northwest breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. It’s a pretty nice evening out, I sat out back for a while but soon I’ll retire to bed. Fairly nice evening.

Well I think despite my doctor’s doubts 😷 I have Lyme and the doxycycline is working well now that I finally started taking it. The soreness and stiffness is gone from legs. While it was never totally debilitating and I kept walking and hiking 🚶 I had the fear of not being able to climb the stairs in my apartment because the Lyme really was making me stiff at times. But that is already gone. But the doxycycline really hit me hard this time – all day I thought I’d need tooth picks to remain awake through five o’clock. Fairly slow day at work, had a project come in and phone call 📞 to make in the afternoon but I made it to five. It also made me feel like I needed to puke half the morning.

Between my before work and evening walk 🚶 today I got five miles of walking in. Not too bad. I tried replacing the battery and testing my bathroom scale ⚠without much luck. I’m sure weighting myself everyday isn’t going to tell me much besides the fact I just drank a lot of water 💦 or more likely milk. 🐮 I don’t believe the doctors scale plus I was wearing my carhartt vest, steel toe boots 👢 and a rain coat.

Bought two gallons of milk at Stewart’s for the week, ironically standing behind a local dairy farmer at the store who was buying coffee ☕. Pre pandemic I’d buy a gallon and go like twice a week for the freshest milk 🐄 but I know they say you should avoid unnecessary trips to the store. 🏬 Next week is the big half gallon ice cream sale. Price has gone up 20 cents to $3.19 during the sale. I don’t normally buy ice cream these days but when the sale is going on I’ll have to spring for a half gallon. 🍧🍨🍦Too bad it’s going to be mad cold next week.

I am thought about going out to Five Rivers Environmental Education Center or maybe Schodack Island State Park after work ⛲ but I was pretty tired from the doxycycline and was worried about falling asleep driving 🚘. I don’t need groceries right away at any rate. I feel so much less stiff but keeping my eyes 👀 open all day has been a challenge.

Tonight will have patchy frost after 1am. Otherwise, mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 34 degrees at 5am. 10 degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 7th. Northwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 53 degrees. The record low of 29 occurred back in 1969.

Tonight will have a Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon with 97% illuminated. At 9 PM, the moon was in the southeast (131°) at an altitude of 28° from the horizon, some 226,726 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 24^th. Buckle up for safety! 💺 The Flower 🌷 Moon is on Thursday, May 7. The darkest hour is at 12:53 am, followed by dawn at 5:14 am, and sun starting to rise at 5:45 am in the east-northeast (67°) and last for 3 minutes and 9 seconds. Sunrise is one minute and 17 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 6:25 am with sun in the east-northeast (73°). Tonight will have 9 hours and 42 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 2 minutes and 20 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have a slight chance of showers after 3pm. Partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 57 degrees at 2pm. 10 degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 13th. Light northeast wind. Chance of precipitation is 20%. More sun than I expected. A year ago, we had light rain in the morning, which became light rain by afternoon. The high last year was 74 degrees. The record high of 89 was set in 1930. There was a dusting of snow in 1994.❄

Tomorrow I may drive down to the library 📚 to upload maps 🌏 and reply back to the numerous emails 📧 I’ve gotten related to people’s questions about state lands. 🌲🌳 At times I feel like I’m an unofficial ambassador to state land. I also should try to make my mind up on what screen house I want to buy for camping and just order it. 🎪 It will make long weekends in black fly season and summer vacation a lot more enjoyable.

With the state campgrounds closed Memorial Day Weekend I am pretty sue I’ll stay in town that weekend and maybe take the following Friday off for a long weekend at Piseco Powley Road and the potholers. ⛺ I can always make my own three day weekend, I have quite a bit of time in my time bank 🏦 at this point working from home as no need to clock out if I feel a bit sick or need to run a quick errand.

I bet in a few more weeks the cold will pass ❄ it will be so sultry out. I’m kind of hoping to be back working downtown by then because I don’t have air conditioning at home and it could be a bit sultry working out of my truck. 🚘 I guess there is always a fan and lots of water with ice cubes.

In four weeks on June 2 the sun will be setting in the west-northwest (302°) at 8:27 pm,🌄 which is 27 minutes and 12 seconds later then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had partly sunny, rain showers and temperatures between 76 and 49 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 74 and 53 degrees. The record high of 94 degrees was set back in 1895.

Looking ahead, 8:30 PM Sunset ️⛱️ is a month away, Primary Day 🗳️ is in 7 weeks, and Election Day 2020 🗳️ is in 26 weeks.

🇺🇸🦅Only 17 days remain until the start of Memorial Day Weekend!🦅🇺🇸