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To ride the Erie Canalway in Madison County today 🚲

For many the extra hours is a chance to sleep in but I look at it as another hour to ride and explore the Erie Canalway today.

Good morning! Happy Sunday. Cloudy and 44 degrees at the Stoney Pond State Forest. ☔ Calm wind. Nice morning now that the rain showers have pulled away.

Started my morning with frying 🍳 onions, spinach, garlic and peppers. And making eggs, dumping cinnamon rather than chipotle on them but actually I kind of liked the warm note the cinnamon gave to the eggs 🥚. Experimenting isn’t a bad thing even if it’s driven by your half awake body. Coffee ☕ is good, with the intended cinnamon and ginger in it, lol 😂.

Bit cooler this morning then last night with the breeze picking up 🌬️ after that little clipper front came through delivering rain showers early on keeping me mostly in the truck bed 🛏 until closer to six though around five I got up and visited the bucket shitter 🚽. Eating breakfast this morning I watched a gray squirrel 🐿️ run up the tree across the way and wonder why I wasn’t sitting next to my 22. Probably shouldn’t be shooting in a campground at any rate, especially as there are people camping down the way by the lake, but we used to shoot up here back in the day with the boys when I was working down in Nelson. Those were the days. 🔫 I was surprised that others are camping but they’re a ½ mile away and out of ear shot. 👂 Except maybe from a gun.

Today will have a chance of showers, mainly before 8am. Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny 🌥 👉 🌞, with a high of 46 degrees at 1pm. Eight degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 23rd. Light west wind becoming northwest 5 to 9 mph in the morning. Chantce of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies. The high last year was 76 degrees. The record high of 75 was set in 1994. 3.0 inches of snow fell back in 1894.❄

Heading down to Chittenango to explore the Chittenango Landing Musuem, 🚣 and ride the Erie Canalway west to Green Lakes area and then go west to Canastota. I was originally going to park in Canastota as I thought it was closer but I think I’d rather explore the other part of the trail as it seems more interesting. 🚲 The Oneida – Canastota section pretty much just runs along the road that I’ve driven a million times when I was working up this way.

I could stop at the Aldi’s in Canastota this afternoon but I think I’m fairly set on overpriced groceries after visiting the Richmond Springs Price Chopper. 💵 It actually wasn’t that bad but I skipped getting peppers and broccoli 🥦 there as they were absurdly expensive. I skipped getting gas in Sharon Springs for $3.54 a gallon and was raked over the coals for gas at $3.79 in Richfield Springs ⛽ but I wasn’t messing around this time as I almost ran out of gas driving down to Binghamton two weeks ago. ⛽ Figured better just get r dun. It’s stupid to stress over $4 when your putting $80 in your truck. I got black sweet grapes 🍇 at Price Chopper hoping to capture some of that sweet flavor of the concord grapes I got last week at Annuto’s. Lol. 😂 Nope, maybe 20%, of the sweetness. Tomorrow I’ll probably check out the fancy Caz Aldi’s though.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:47 am with sun having an altitude of 31.5° from the due south horizon (-39° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 9.8 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:11 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (242°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (249°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:52 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 7 seconds with dusk around 5:20 pm, which is one minute and 13 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:55 pm. Time change gets you! At sunset, look for partly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 42 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 9 mph. Tomorrow will have 10 hours and 9 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 28 seconds over today.

Night is going to come quickly that’s why I am getting an early start 🌅 and have gathered firewood up for later. 🪵🪓 This way it will have time to dry ☀ and I fully expect tonight I’ll be rolling back to camp about sunset 🌇 after riding the bulk of the day. Should be more sun later plus I get an extra hour with the time change. Need to shave, change and load my bike up but for now it’s nice by the heater. ♨

Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌃, with a low of 33 degrees at 6am. Two degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 10th. Northwest wind around 6 mph becoming calm. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It became somewhat humid as the night progressed. It got down to 67 degrees. Very mild night for November last year. I think I was in West Virginia then. The record low of 15 occurred back in 1951.

Yesterday was a fun day, 🚵 especially riding back down Tassel Hill once I found the trail. Some of those drops on the single track trail with the hairpin switchbacks were a blast on the mountain bike. Nothing technical or jumps just a lot of fun. That said parts of the lower trail weren’t well marked leading me to have to stop 🛑 and sear he for the trail a few times. 🔎 🗺

Then I rode along the old Chenango Canal Towpath trail 🚲 to the northern end or at least as far as I could go before downed trees blocked the northern end a bit past the substation. The northern end isn’t that impressive, 🐸 it’s a ditch and a towpath along the County Highway known as Canal Road. Kind of rough and slow going on the grass, took the county highway back. I then rode down to Woodman Pond 🦆 where there was a ton of geese. Nice section of the trail there though they resurfaced the old towpath there with fairly course gravel which made for more difficult riding.

Got to Stoney Pond by around 4:15 pm and I was disappointed to arrive to the campsite I like ⛺ and find a construction bag full of garbage and more garbage dumped in the woods. 🌲🌳🗑️ Got the mess picked upand seperated out the deposit cans, ♻ and gathered firewood 🪵🪓 for the night. 🔥 It was a beautiful night but dark, came so quickly by though. Very mild in the low fifties with a calm wind. This morning is cooler. Really wasn’t much garbage left by the time that rip roaring fire was done, the scraps of aluminum and cans I’ll take home crushed and recycle ♻.

One month 📅 from now will be Repeal of Prohibition Day 🍺 when the sun will be setting at 4:30 pm with dusk at 5:00 pm. I don’t drink the way I used to due to health reasons but an occasional drink isn’t a bad thing, especially a real high quality brew.

The great autumn road trip ends much like it started in the rain ☔

Good morning! Happy Sunday. Time to get up in a bit before it’s real wet then head home. Rain showers and 46 degrees at Long Pond State Forest in Smithfield Flats, NY. ☁ There is a north breeze at 8 mph. 🍃.

Back in New York State. I decided to drive all the way back to New York yesterday from Paw Paw as I figured it would mean back tracking to get back to Interstate 99 and heading north. 🛣️ Rain is expected before day break in Wellsboro so I figured that at any rate, not worth the back tracking and the $10 fee to camp in Pennsylvania. ⛺ At Long Pond State Forest which is two hours from home l figured that the rain would start later so maybe a quick breakfast and coffee ☕ 🥣 before the rain picked up.

Figured it would be interesting to come back via 81 and see at least the skyline of Hagerstown Maryland, Harrisburg, Wilkes Barre and Scranton Penna 🌆 but truth be told by the time I reached Hazleton it was dark, and from Hagerstown to the I-78 and I-81 split in Jonestown, traffic was much too heavy for ones eyes 👀 to leave the road for much scenic viewing. People often suggest taking Interstate 81 to West Virginia but I have to say at this point I don’t recommend it. 🚙 Too much traffic, especially truck 🚚 traffic compared to the leisurely drive along Interstate 99.

Truth is though I was bored with taking Interstate 99, I’ve done it several times in the past years to West Virginia. 🗻 It’s scenic but after a while the towns are all the same. Somehow I was hoping that 81 would change things up. Same thing with US 6 in Penna. It’s slow, and long, the farms 🚜 and rural homesteads 🏡 🐐 are still the same but with fewer burn barrels 🛢 as a decade or so ago. All that plastic shit stinks when you burn it, lol 😂.

Somehow I just had it in my mind that Interstate 81 would shave miles and hours off the trip. 🚘 But it’s really not that much of a time or milage savings. And while I’m only two hours from home compared to 3 1/2 that extra hour and a half got tacked onto yesterday’s drive, 🌃 meaning several hours of driving in the darkness and arriving at Long Pond State Forest at 8:30 pm rather than before six o’clock as I had planned. I had no cell service 📶 in Paw Paw so it was just a wild assed guess on the distance to Asaph Run or County Bridge compared to Long Pond.

The moonlight helped, as did getting up and walking 🚶 around the rest area near Wilkes Barre and ultimately getting a box of five hour energy shots 🤪 which not only made me awake for driving kept me up half the night. Almost stopped and got dinner at Dennys in Hazleton but I decided I was running so far behind schedule, best to have some energy shots, hard boiled eggs and bananas and push forward. ☕ Regardless, I made it to camp safely and expect a nice drive the rest of the way home. 🙏

I was pretty wired from the energy shot ⚡ last night and it was a pretty evening with the full moon 🌕 so I stayed up to midnight.🦆 Listened to the geese well into the night honking and every time I walked to the lake the beaver 🦫 would jump back in with a big splash 💦.

Today will have showers through 9 am, then rain after 10am. 🌧 High of 46 degrees at 6am. 10 degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 23rd. North wind 6 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 63 degrees. The record high of 77 was set in 1946. 3.8 inches of snow fell back in 2011.❄

Coffee ☕ and cream of wheat is cooking on the stove. It’s now just the final two hours home 🏡. Probably need to get a bit more fuel ⛽ and I’m likely going to stop and get apples 🍏 at Annuto’s in Oneonta. They open at nine 9⃣ but I don’t necessarily have to be there right at nine. And maybe other produce like Butternut Squash. 🍆 They have quite the selection of farm products. No doughnuts 🍩 though, even though they were good to start off vacation as a special treat. 😋

Then get home, unpack, shower 🚿 for the first time in nine days 👃 and knead bread 🍞 and soak peas for pea soup. Maybe go to the laundromat and buy produce at Hannaford, or that could wait until Monday.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:40 pm with sun having an altitude of 34° from the due south horizon (-36.8° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 8.9 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 5:14 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (246°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (253°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 5:54 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 2 seconds with dusk around 6:21 pm, which is one minute and 22 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waining Gibbous 🌖 Moon in the east-northeast (63°) at an altitude of 0° from the horizon, 235,306 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:56 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 43 degrees. There will be a north-northeast breeze at 6 mph. Tomorrow will have 10 hours and 27 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 36 seconds over today.

Rode about twenty miles of the Chesapeake and Ohio outside Paw Paw and then went into the village on my bike yesterday. Not a lot of note in the village that I saw but maybe I rode the wrong road. 🚲 That said, the Paw Paw Tunnel is really neat. 🚉 Not only can you hike – bike the canal tunnel when I was there people were kayaking in it. 🛶 Rode 19 miles or about three hours including breaks. Stopped at the Capacon Overlook 🏞 after driving WV 9 which is as curvy as you might expect any good ol West Virginia road to be going through the mountains. Phil Ochs wasn’t wrong when he sung about the roads would wind and wind through the hills of West Virginia.

Tonight will have showers before 2am, then rain likely after 2am. Cloudy 🌧, with a low of 42 degrees at 7pm. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 14th. Calm wind becoming southeast around 5 mph after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 28 degrees. The record low of 20 occurred back in 1969.

Next it’s watching the forecast for next week. 🐮 I’m still thinking about a trip out to Madison County either next week or the weekend after for four days, tacking a day onto the Election Day Weekend or Veterans Day Weekend. ⛺ I know it seems like it’s coming on right after vacation but rifle season 🦌 and Thanksgiving is right around the corner and who knows when we’ll get our first snowfall and those areas inaccessible. 🌨 Winter’s coming.

Looking ahead, there are 6 weeks until 7:15 AM Sunrise ⌛️ when the sun will be setting at 4:23 pm with dusk at 4:53 pm (Standard Time). On that day in 2022, we had mostly sunny skies and temperatures between 31 and 20 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 40 degrees. Winter’s coming. We hit a record high of 64 back in 1966.

The blog for the first month made a little over $80 a month or so worth in advertising. 🖥 Figuring th hosting and domains work out to $17 a month, its a nice little check. Won’t make me rich and it’s possible that I could potentially squeeze additional revenue by more obnoxious ads or changing the content on my blog but I want to maintain absolute editorial control over my blog. 📝 That’s one of the reasons I maintain a personal blog and don’t just do social media.

Paw Paw and Heading North 🐾

Good morning! Happy Saturday. Today I Head North! Cloudy ⛅ and 67 degrees in Canaan Heights, WV. Super mild! There is a south-southeast breeze at 13 mph with gusts up to 25 mph. 🌬️ That wind is roaring around, unstable weather coming. But I’m heading off the Appalachian Front shortly.

Up at six o’clock taking camp down. 🕔 Still quite dark out. To get a jump start on the day and limit pee breaks, 🚽 I hard boiled eggs 🥚 last night and will have two eggs for protein with a banana 🍌 for sugar and some peppers maybe later on. ☕ If I decide I really need coffee I can get some in Keyser this morning. Took the tent down last night ⛺ and packed and organized as much as I could last night, including writing much of this blog post last night. 📝

Today will likely rain ☔ , mainly after 3pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 67 at six AM. Southwest wind 5 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 55 degrees. The record high of 78 was set in 1971. 2.0 inches of snow fell back in 1952.❄

Today it’s off to Paw Paw Tunnel and ultimately Maryland then onward Pennsylvania. 🚲 The tunnel, part of the C – I Canal National Park Trailway looks neat, it’s a canal through a mountain. Sunday’s forecast looks very wet, so I don’t know if I’ll bother to go to Asaph Run in hoping to bike the Pine Creek Rail Trail after a quick overnight camp. ⛺

It’s possible that I’ll decide to either do my overnight at County Bridge Campground or maybe if time allows, Long Pond State Forest in New York State. 🛣️ The later is free 🆓 and probably more on the route home, plus come Sunday it’s less than 2 hours home from there. If I do the later, I would probably take Interstate 80 from I 99 to I 81.

Or I could possibly overnight at the Paw Paw Campground, I’m just worried about of the drive in one day. 🚘 We’ll over six hours driving Interstate 81 which goes through several big cities like Harrisburg and Scranton versus the relatively quiet I-99. Really don’t want to drive more than four hours a day, with one hour play time and four hours to hike, bicycle or visit parks. 🏞

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:40 pm with sun having an altitude of 34.3° from the due south horizon (-36.5° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 8.8 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 5:16 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (246°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (253°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 5:55 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 2 seconds with dusk around 6:23 pm, which is one minute and 24 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Full 🌝 Moon in the east-northeast (75°) at an altitude of 6° from the horizon, 232,615 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:58 pm. At sunset, look for mostly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 63 degrees. The dew point will be 51 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 13 mph. Tomorrow will have 10 hours and 30 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 37 seconds over today.

Yesterday, I hiked 15 miles in Dolly Sods. 🚶 Not a bad day but most of the day was grayer then I would have hoped. 🌥 Lot of haze too. Hiked in from the Canaan Valley Wildlife Refuge and along much of the ridge overlooking the wildlife refuge. It was good, I visited some of the more remote places in the wilderness, though still a lot of people exploring there. Sort of hoped to make it across to the top of the Allegheny Front and maybe Bears Rocks 🐻 but time was tight with the early sunset 🌇, no overnight parking 🅿 signs where I was parked and simply the trail I planned to cross the Red Creek with – Dobbins Grade is low water crossng not the case this week. 🐸 Plus the beaver dam. In the evening around sunset walked the new boardwalk in the wildlife refuge off Freeman Drive. Headed back to camp, had a nice dinner and some beer 🍻, took down the tent and organized my gear.

I haven’t posted many pictures 📸 to either Facebook or the blog due to connection issues here but also because I’m trying to maximize my remaining time here in West Virginia. Time is precious. ⌛ I figure all next week I can go through my photos and start sharing them, bringing back memories of what was on my trip.

Tonight will have mostly cloudy ☁, with a low of 41 degrees at 6am. Six degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 11th. Northwest wind 8 to 13 mph. In 2022, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 29 degrees. The record low of 19 occurred back in 1969.

Sunday will rain starting around dawn. 🌧️High near 45. Northeast wind around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.

I’m expecting a wet ending to my vacation both Saturday night and definitely Sunday for the last leg of the trip home. 🏡 It’s fine, it rained ☔ on the way down here too at least through New York. The colors probably are pretty much gone for the return trip home I would assume. Then it looks to be cold next week once I’m home. Hoping to ride to work a few more times both ways before the time change but I’m not holding out my breath for too many days next week. 🚲 Might even need to turn the heat back on in my apartment. In contrast, it’s been so warm in West Virginia that I only used the propane heater on Sunday evening and Monday morning ♨️, the rest of the week it’s been shut off and locked 🔒 up.

In 1956, Elvis Presley receives a polio vaccination on national TV. 💉This single event is credited with raising immunization levels in the United States from 0.6% to over 80% in just six months.

Then next Saturday is Daylight Savings Time Ends 🛥️ when the sun will be setting at 5:46 pm with dusk at 6:14 pm. On that day in 2022, we had sunny, warm and temperatures between 71 and 46 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 54 degrees. We hit a record high of 76 back in 1994.

Already thinking next week about potentially a four day trip out to Madison County. 🐮 Probably Stoney Pond and peddle around Cazenovia and the Cazenovia – Chittenango Rail Trail and possibly some of the single track mountain bike trails at Alfred Woodford and Tassel Hill. 🚲 Maybe take off the Monday before Election Day for a four day weekend as far away from politics as possible. Or the following Friday is Armstice Day aka Veterans Day Observed, so if I took off either Thursday or the following Monday, it’s another four day weekend. I want to get away one more time before rifle season 🦌.

I Guess Columbus Day Weekend Isn’t a Complete Washout 🌧 🤛🏻 ⛵ 🍂

Totally bummed out about this weekend, but maybe I shouldn’t be. It didn’t rain until quite late into the night and this morning the rain has slackened up quite a bit. Maybe it will be nice enough to go for a bike ride to Voorheesville or Five Rivers — and it might be pretty to check out the Pine Hollow Arboretum which amazingly enough I’ve never been there. Almost rain free-enough to make me wish I had headed out of town to get camping. Maybe tomorrow but it’s likely going to be cold and windy, and probably still damp. We’ll see come the morning, I got to start working on packing and thinking about West Virginia sooner rather then later.

Good morning! Happy Saturday on this rather Rainy Start to Columbus Day Weekend! Rain showers, at least a few drops of rain here and there and 65 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ There is a south-southeast breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 63 degrees. The skies will clear tomorrow around 10 am.

I slept in until 5:50 AM when my alarm went off ⏰ got up and make oatmeal-banana pancakes to start off my morning. 😵 Lots of coffee ☕ so I waited a while before heading out in case I had to piss up a storm, and ended up deciding bicycling was a safer option lest I needed to pee 🚽 or the sky opened up with rain. ☔

Today will have showers and possibly a thunderstorm. ⛈ Some of the storms could produce heavy rain. Temperature falling to around 57 by 5pm. Southeast wind 7 to 9 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New rainfall amounts between 2 and 3 inches possible. Yeah, even though it’s not raining right now, I’m glad I’m not camping in that kind of crap. That’s a lot of rain. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 71 degrees. The record high of 89 was set in 1963.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:44 pm with sun having an altitude of 42° from the due south horizon (-28.9° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 6.7 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 5:51 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (257°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (263°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 6:28 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 56 seconds with dusk around 6:55 pm, which is one minute and 43 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 7:29 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 56 degrees. The dew point will be 54 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 11 mph. Tomorrow will have 11 hours and 27 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 50 seconds over today.

Tonight will have showers, mainly before 1am. 🌧 Low of 47 degrees at 5am. Two degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 3rd. Northwest wind around 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. In 2022, we had partly cloudy skies. It got down to 38 degrees. The record low of 21 occurred back in 1964.

For tomorrow, Sunday, things may improve. ⛅ A slight chance of showers before 8am, then a slight chance of showers after noon. Partly sunny, with a high near 59. Southwest wind 8 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. That wind will make it cool but maybe I should plan to do some biking and camping out of town. 🏕 I heard there is some pretty good color in the Catskills. And for Columbus Day, cool but mostly sunny, with a high near 59. South wind around 9 mph. That does seem like an improvement over earlier forecasts. 😀 My parents are out of town this weekend, so I won’t be visiting them this weekend, so I am kind of free to do whatever I want this weekend both days and I don’t have to rush home. I have enough clothes for the upcoming week for work, as it’s going to be cool and I wore t-shirt and shorts all last week, including the day I was off. 👖 I will have to go to the laundromat later in the week though before I head down to West Virginia. Assuming that’s where I end up — if it looks truly cold and wet for the following week I could change my plans to be closer to home, but regardless I plan to camp for the full week. 🤷‍♂️

I am watching the forecast for both here in Delmar, Wellsboro Penna and Thomas WV, 🌧 and I’m not pleased with how much rain I’m seeing, though 7 days out it really is just a crap shoot. The rain numbers are quite meaningless at this point as so much could change. If it rains on my drive down to WV it’s not the end of the world, I don’t need to take a million different side trips. I’ll skip the Pine Creek Rail Trail 🚂 and the C-O Canal Trail 🚲 until later in the week or not at all, and mostly just drive down, and hunker down at camp. 🚘 Once I’m in West Virginia once camp’s set up the rain is less of an issue. Indeed, the 8-14 day outlook suggests especially in West Virginia in the mid-Atlantic states it might be a fairly dry week but cool. 😎 I’ll take that as long as there isn’t snow. ❄️

I will be bringing my heater, and can hot tent if it’s really cold up in Canaan Heights but I want to have sunny days for hiking and bicycling, plus it makes the scenery better. ♨️ ⛺ I hear they’re getting their first likely frost in the high country this weekend, so by next weekend it should still be close to peak color, without the crowds of Columbus Day Weekend. 👪 There is a reason I waited to later this year, plus it seems like autumn is occurring each year a bit later — and the High Country of West Virginia is more like the Hilltowns climate-wise then the mountains of New York due to the more southerly location.

I found my West Virginia maps including the Monongahela National Forest 🗺 along with the Pine Creek Rail Trail and several other Pennsylvania State Parks I may want to visit on the way down assuming it’s not raining. I am going to print up at work a few small scale maps of Canaan Heights and some other trails in the Otter Creek and Dolly Sods Wilderness at work, 🖨 assuming I can find a printer that still works in the office, lol. 🤣 No-ones going to care if I print up like four pages, assuming that the machine still works as nobody prints much anymore work-related. Then it’s just clothes and supplies to pack for camping. I will bring a fair amount of food with me, but only one cooler as it will be cool enough that most fruits and vegetables don’t need cooling, and I don’t eat nearly as much meat and dairy as I once did. 🥩 🥛 I’m not a vegetarian but healthier, whole foods that are low on saturated fats really don’t need as much refrigeration.

The past few days I’ve been getting a ton of blog traffic 🗺 🤖 I think with people looking for places to camp and hike for the Columbus Day Weekend. One day I pulled in over $10 in ad revenue, and I’m in the low-$30s of what I’ve pulled in over the past week and a half of running ads. I think I will be close to $70 by the end of month, and while I won’t get paid until I rack up $100 in revenue, I think by December 1st I’ll probably be getting my first check 💰 which could easily be above $130 by my own estimates, though it depends how much demand drops for my blog as the winter season approaches. ☃ Traffic usually drops fairly low in December and January. Maybe I need to do more maps relating to skiing and snowmobiling or winter camping locations. 🏕 But it will pick up again come April and May, having looked at my old web logs. It’s good because the $540 check to the web host goes out tomorrow for the next three years. Hopefully, within a year I’ll made enough from blog ads to be made whole, all while enjoying telling my story.

Looking ahead, there are 4 weeks until Daylight Savings Time Ends 🛥️ when the sun will be setting at 5:46 pm with dusk at 6:14 pm. On that day in 2022, we had sunny, warm and temperatures between 71 and 46 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 54 degrees. We hit a record high of 76 back in 1994.

Rain showers change everything 🌧️

I was going to take today off to go to the Adirondacks or Schoharie County or maybe the Green Mountains but the forecast is trending wetter then I expected. So I’m going to head into the office today to work and maybe reconsider a day off midweek next week to do something fun probably with the mountain bike.

Good morning! Yeah, it’s Friday! Rain and 55 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ Calm wind. The dew point is 51 degrees. The skies will clear tomorrow around 1 pm.

I guess I’m having the ultimate in fad breakfasts today, probably something they would eat on the colored television … 🥣 Reheated quinoa with chia seeds, topped with Greek yogurt, shredded apple with a ton of cinnamon and ginger and black coffee. ☕ I heard it’s National Coffee Day. Black is beautiful but don’t tell the teat strippers. 🐮 And I don’t want to drink too much, as my doctor says not to. 🚽 I did rehydrate well last night. At any rate, I actually doubt people on the colored television eat such things, 📺 not enough corporate profits manufacturing such things plus not enough sugar and saturated fats to keep people tossing it in their shopping carts. 🛒

Up and going this morning, ☺ with the rain I’m catching the early express downtown and will walk laps on the Plaza or the Knickerbocker Arena to get my steps 👣 as much as possible before work. I might walk down to the library 📚 after work, it depends on how wet it is but I could use a good book or two to read 📖. I really like getting up at five o’clock after getting to bed at nine. 🛏 Early to bed and early rise is great, especially when you have good meals cooking down on stove. 👨‍🍳 Not so much this morning, as I have plenty in my fridge cooked, and I’m cutting back on calories today after a heavy day yesterday.

Expensive day – $2,300 going out of the door 🚪 today for rent, car insurance, stock – bond purchases and the Roth IRA. That’s after getting paid $1,800 this week, so my account balance will drop to a hundred or so above the minimum. 🤯 I will have sufficient funds but I might tap my rainy day fund before my trip to West Virginia so I can retire some credit card 💳 debt early so I have extra room on my card for emergencies. It happens occasionally to the best of us. As my checking account isn’t interest bearing these days with inflation you don’t want to keep more than a few pennies above the minimum with the bank 🏦.

Today will rain, mainly after 7am. Cloudy 🌧, with a high of 60 degrees at 3pm. Nine degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 19th. Maximum dew point of 53 at 4pm. Light and variable wind. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with a few breaks of sun the afternoon. The high last year was 62 degrees. The record high of 86 was set in 1921.

I took off yesterday to do a day trip with my parents to the Adirondacks. ⛰ 📸 They’re getting up in the years and walking is hard for them so we didn’t go far from the car but in parts there was some nice color 🍂 and I showed them around Speculator, Piseco-Powley Road then Canal Place and Moss Island in Little Falls. It was a great trip, nice to spend a day with the family 👪 as in your forties you know those days won’t last forever. I made some really good hummus to have with lunch, mom made some good cheese and turkey wraps. 😋 Nice breeze on the lake, colors varied from good to quite muted. 🍁 We had a nice picnic on the shores of Lake Pleasant in Speculator then dinner at Poncho’s Mexican 🇲🇽 in Elsmere. It was good Mexican, the chips and food super greasy but that’s to be expected. Came home and had some edamame and butternut squash to have more fiber to tie down all those fats — with some ginger and tumerac because I like such things. 🌯 And no dessert. 😋 Chose a light breakfast today. It’s fun to have some junk with friends and family, especially knowing how fast time goes by so quickly.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:47 pm with sun having an altitude of 45° from the due south horizon (-25.8° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 6 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:05 pm with the sun in the west (261°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (268°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 6:42 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 54 seconds with dusk around 7:09 pm, which is one minute and 46 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waning Gibbous 🌖 Moon in the east (86°) at an altitude of 2° from the horizon, 229,425 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 7:43 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 58 degrees. The dew point will be 53 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Tomorrow will have 11 hours and 50 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 52 seconds over today.

Times of rain this evening. 🌧, with a low of 52 degrees at 4am. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around September 18th. Maximum dew point of 53 at 6pm. North wind 3 to 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 39 degrees. The record low of 28 occurred back in 1991.

The rain clears out for the Saturday. 😀 A chance of showers before 8am. Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 68. North wind around 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Not as nice of a forecast then they were predicting 🔮 but not a wash out.

I was originally planning on heading out to Rennselaerville State Forest and then Burnt-Rossman or maybe the Green Mountains 🌲🌳🏕️ before the forecast turned to rain ☔ today. Not sure what my weekend plans are now, I’m thinking I will rattle can over the rust on Big Red on Saturday.🖌️🛻 I could do an overnight somewhere but I have my doubts at this point. It might be better to stay closer to home, save some money, especially if I want to do some trail riding mid-week, and maybe head out of town next weekend. 🧀 Somehow I’m very interested in that whole Little Falls Cheese festival, which cow owners tell me is a really fun event to attend. This year Piseco-Powley would likely be at peak color for Columbus Day Weekend 🍂 so maybe that’s where I should go. The colors weren’t bad yesterday when I was up there with the folks.

Looking ahead to Sunday the first of October, sunny, ☀ with a high near 75. Maximum dew point of 57 at 4pm. Wow, that sounds like a beautiful day for starting out October. Basically perfect, when you figure the typical average high for the weekend is 68 degrees. 🎃 Next to make more meals with pumpkin, lol. That might be a good day to play around on the mountain bike trails on Wolf Hill. 🚲 That is if I don’t decide to do an overnight somewhere. I don’t know.

Looking ahead, there are 8 weeks until Buy Nothing Day 🛍️ when the sun will be setting at 4:27 pm with dusk at 4:57 pm (Standard Time). Day after Thanksgiving, seems so soon. 🦃 If there isn’t a ton of snow, I’ll probably head up north for that day, as rifle season is waning in those days. 🦌 Probably camp along NY 8, if I hike it will be a more popular trail with lots of blaze orange on. On that day in 2022, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 49 and 24 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 46 degrees. We hit a record high of 70 back in 2014.

More darkness than light 🌃

Despite the nearly full moon, it was so dark last night at 7:30 pm while I was transferring buses by that guady old state office building downtown. It seems like more and more of the time I’m walking in the darkness or delaying my morning walk due to darkness. More time to enjoy delicious food I’m cooking up in the kitchen in the morning.

Good morning! Bumping over the Hump Day and the middle of the week and the night to day balance. Partly clear and 42 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌅 Calm wind. You’ll need your choke on this morning until it warms up this morning and maybe gloves 🧤. It’s a bit chilly this morning at least for the fingers on the morning walk. 🚶 Fog around and the air tastes of silage. 🐮 Autumn is here. 🍂 The fresh bread was good this morning. 🍞

Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 70 degrees at 3pm. Typical for today. Maximum dew point of 51 at 6pm. Northeast wind 3 to 6 mph. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning, which became cloudy by afternoon. The high last year was 68 degrees. The record high of 89 was set in 2017. Amazing how quickly the average temperature drops this time of year.

Bed time was at nine o’clock. 🛏 I rose at five to cook. Early to bed, early to rise. ☺ Peas soaked overnight, with pea soup cooked this morning for lunch. Whole wheat has been baked. The dough was been kneaded for ten minutes – I find watching YouTube helps pass the time and is rising overnight for morning baking. Also will bake squash and zucchini at the same time to save energy. On the griddle this morning was oatmeal – banana pumpkin pancakes topped with frozen strawberries. Yum!

Last night was brown rice, lentils, black beans with lots of turmeric and Chipotle pepper spice with green beans. 🍲 I cooked that this morning, made crispy in the broiler last. 🍏 Then non-fat plain Greek yogurt with shredded apples with ginger, cinnamon. Yum. It was a great to eat as I was hungry after attending a planning board meeting in Colonie regarding a proposed solar farm in the Albany Pine Bush.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:47 pm with sun having an altitude of 45.8° from the due south horizon (-25° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 5.8 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:09 pm with the sun in the west (262°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (269°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 6:46 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 54 seconds with dusk around 7:12 pm, which is one minute and 46 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Full 🌝 Moon in the east-southeast (112°) at an altitude of 10° from the horizon, 226,705 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 7:47 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 66 degrees. The dew point will be 51 degrees. There will be a east-northeast breeze at 5 mph. Tomorrow will have 11 hours and 56 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 52 seconds over today.

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌃 , with a low of 44 degrees at 6am. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 7th. Calm wind. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 52 degrees. The record low of 24 occurred back in 1947.

Last night I went up to a scoping overview meeting in Colonie over a proposal solar facility in the Albany Pine Bush, next to a known butterfly site. While they didn’t take scoping comment at this meeting, and I had to leave early to catch the bus home around 7 PM due to the next bus not being another hour, and it wouldn’t have worked with the connecting bus back home. I honestly didn’t want to drive up there, as I don’t have parking downtown, and Lynne was out of town so I couldn’t get a ride there, but it was important for as many Save the Pine Bush members as possible to be there.

Riding to the Colonie Town Hall on a bicycle at rush hour this evening was fun, bypassing all the cars stuck in traffic on the shoulder. 🚘 The hills on Lark Street aren’t that bad, Northern Boulevard is nice with the bike lanes, the merge onto US 9 from Northern Boulevard is a bit sketchy due to the narrow shoulder just past the ramp. The rest of US 9 for the most part has a good shoulder. Honestly, I did not mind the ride. Plus it got my exercise part of the day in with my morning commute downtown yesterday.

I do wish there was more CDTA Route 182 buses in the evening, had to leave the planning board meeting a few minutes early. 🚍 Or more daylight, I would have ridden back downtown if not already dark. But I certainly wasn’t going to ride US 9 after dark, especially without a bike taillight — which I lost this past weekend mountain biking up at the Thacher.

A picture perfect autumn weekend on tap. 🍁 Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 74. Maximum dew point of 58 at 12pm. Sunday, sunny, with a high near 76. Maximum dew point of 59 at 4pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 68 degrees. Heat wave! Even warmer next week. I really should take Friday off. Maybe I will.

I am also thinking of requesting off October 16-20th to go down to West Virginia. This is the week after Columbus Day Weekend, probably somewhat beyond peak color, though I expect it to be late this year due to the mild weather. That said, it will very a lot depending on my elevation, and I’m not necessarily set on going all the way to WV — it’s such a long multi-day drive in my old truck. I could do a trip to Allegheny National Forest as an alternative, or maybe the Tug Hill Plateau and North Country. That’s a trip I will explore this afternoon most likely as a blog post.

Looking ahead but maybe not forward, next Wednesday is Last Sunset After 6:30 PM 🌆 when the sun will be setting at 6:33 pm with dusk at 7:00 pm. On that day in 2022, we had mostly cloudy, rain showers and temperatures between 60 and 47 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 67 degrees. We hit a record high of 86 back in 1891.

Down to a single cooler 🧊

That’s always a sign that summer vacation is coming to a close. With all the various things I cooked up with the clams last night I was able to use up enough food that today I’m down to a single cooler and even that’s pretty empty post the scrambled eggs I had for breakfast the last of which I’m currently boiling as a protein source for today and tomorrow. Hoping if I can get some fresh farm stand peaches today I’ll be good on food until I get home Sunday, yet not bring much extra food home. The only thing that ultimately expired while camping was the black beans I cooked prior to camping, the fire got them last night, I eat everything else. And obviously Glen Dairy Bar ice cream tonight.

Good morning! Partly cloudy ⛅ and 63 degrees at the Finger Lakes National Forest. ⛅ Final morning before I take down camp tomorrow. There is a west-northwest breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 62 degrees. I think a rain stop came through briefly this morning but it looks like this has been a largely rain free week except for last Saturday afternoon and a brief shower on Monday when I was out hiking at Beebe Pond at Cornell University.

Today will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 74 degrees at 3pm. Nine degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around September 17th. Maximum dew point of 63 at 9am. North wind 6 to 10 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with a few breaks of sun the afternoon. It was sticky. The high last year was 93 degrees. It looks like we might actually get some hot weather come mid to late August, that’s good, I’ll plan my next long weekend for the Potholers then. The record high of 99 was set in 1955.

Today’s plans call for visiting Sugar Hill State Forest 🐴 and riding and hiking some of the trails there. 🚵 Most of the horse trails there are open to mountain bikes and while I don’t plan to ride any of the real rough and muddy trails. Then head back to Watkins Glen, float on my tube ⭕ in Seneca Lake, ride down through Rock Cabin Road, Montour Falls, Catharine WMA, 🐦 Glen Dairy Bar, 🍦 Seneca Harbor ⚓ and watch the sunset 🌇 before returning to camp ⛺ one last time around nine.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:14 pm with sun having an altitude of 64.4° from the due south horizon (-6.3° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 2.9 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:44 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (288°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (294°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:24 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 11 seconds with dusk around 8:54 pm, which is one minute and 15 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:35 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 65 degrees. The dew point will be 55 degrees. There will be a north breeze at 6 mph. Today will have 14 hours and 22 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 18 seconds over yesterday.

Yesterday I started my day at the Queen’s Castle on Caywood Point Seneca Lake. 🏰 The morning started out quite gray ☁️ but then cleared out and was hot. I wouldn’t be surprised if today isn’t a similar kind of day. Then I headed across the northern part of the National Forest to Trumansburg 🚲 and rode from the top of the Taughannock Gorge parking 🅿 area along the Black Diamond Trail to Ithaca then rode along the Cayuga Inlet for a while before doing the 9 mile 450 ft climb back to Taughannock, and then rode Taughannock Falls Road to the overlook 🚲 and then up to NY 96 in Trumansburg. 🏊‍♂️ Drove down to the Main Park area and swam and did the beach 🏖 thing in Cayuga Lake until 5 pm when I headed back to camp ⛺ – early – for onions, peppers, mushroom clams and sweet corn cooked in beer and clam broth 🌽 before bicycling along the dirt roads, up to Parameter Road up towards the north end of the National Forest before riding the Interloken Trail through the woods and then Horton Pasture, covering my mountain bike with cow manure and mud. 🐮 Damn cows didn’t want to move off the trail.

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌃, with a low of 54 degrees at 6am. Eight degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around September 12th. Not surprising, it’s cooler in the Finger Lakes especially on Hector’s backbone. Maximum dew point of 56 at 6pm. North wind around 6 mph becoming calm in the evening. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies. It was very sticky. It got down to 70 degrees. The record low of 45 occurred back in 1994.

Looking ahead, next Saturday is Last Sunset After 8 PM in Albany 🌆 but when the sun will be setting at 8:15 pm with dusk at 8:44 pm in the Finger Lakes. On that day in 2022, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 79 and 60 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 83 degrees. We hit a record high of 99 back in 1944.

Andy Arthur.org

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