Search Results for: mount adams

The smell of love is in the air ๐Ÿฆจ ๐Ÿ’ž

Riding the mountain bike out Orchard Avenue yesterday morning I could definitely smell one of the sure signs winter is fading away – the musk of skunk as their breeding season gets underway during the shortest month of the year – February – one of love especially for one of most pungent furbearers out there. Then comes March and April and manuring as the preparation for crop planting season gets underway.

Good morning! Mostly cloudy and 31 degrees in Delmar, NY. โ˜ There is a south breeze at 5 mph. ๐Ÿƒ. There are 2 inches of snow on the ground. โ˜ƒ ๏ธThe skies will clear tomorrow around 7 pm.

Going to be a good day for riding the bike ๐Ÿšฒ to work today, the rail trail is mostly free of snow and ice. Not so cold, indeed we will start February out more like March then April. Plus it saves time and I get exercise to boot. Should be a nice commute on in. Too dark to ride home but still it saves a buck thirty on the bus fare. โ˜บ These days with inflation every buck helps. The nice thing about riding in is not only the exercise in the morning, but also the opportunity to go for a ride during the mid-day during lunch down by the river.

Today will have a slight chance of showers after 4pm. Patchy freezing fog before 9am. Cloudy ๐ŸŒฆ, with a high of 42 degrees at 1pm. Nine degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 6th. South wind 5 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 29 degrees. The record high of 65 was set in 1989. 15.0 inches of snow fell back in 1898.โ„

Last night I was filmed for the Reszin Adams documentary. ๐Ÿ“น Being one of the younger members of Save the Pine Bush, getting involved in 2004 after Reszin was starting to step back, I don’t have as many good stories to tell as many Save the Pine Bush members, but I tried to tell the most that I have of memories of her working behind the scenes, putting together the lasagna dinners.

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 12:10 pm with sun having an altitude of 30.2° from the due south horizon (-40.7° vs. 6/21). 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 ๐Ÿ… starts at 4:27 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (240°). ๐Ÿ“ธ 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 5:38 pm, which is one minute and 19 seconds later than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ The best time to look at the stars is after 6:12 pm. At sunset, look for rain ๐ŸŒง and temperatures around 40 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 5 mph. Tomorrow will have 10 hours and 3 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 22 seconds over today.

Tonight will have a slight chance of rain showers before 3am, then a slight chance of rain and snow showers between 3am and 4am, then a slight chance of snow showers after 4am. Cloudy ๐ŸŒง, with a low of 33 degrees at 5am. 18 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 5th. Light and variable wind. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2023, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 19 degrees. The record low of -18 occurred back in 1961.

A picture perfect weekend on tap. ๐Ÿ˜Ž Saturday, sunny, with a high near 36. North wind 8 to 10 mph. Sunday, sunny, with a high near 39. Typical average high for the weekend is 33 degrees. I am thinking about heading out to the wilderness for a quick overnight camping.

One month ๐Ÿ“… from now will be March ๐ŸŒจ when the sun will be setting at 5:46 pm with dusk at 6:13 pm. The average high temperature is 34 degrees, with a record high of 61 in 1895.

Along Bradt Hollow Road

Six Weeks Until New Years Eve ๐ŸŽ‡

Those extra cups of coffee did me no good yesterday. Not only did it make it impossible to get to sleep, it contributed to my extreme anxiety I had most of the afternoon. I just kind of wanted to relax to some extra coffee yesterday but I guess I really overdone it. I swear I used to drink a lot more coffee when I was younger, and coffee ain’t as strong as it once was when sipping it, but the after effects are much worse. Between the garlic powder gas and shits, the anxiety and staying up too late, I didn’t get much sleep and sleeping past 6 o’clock is unimaginable in my mind at this point.

Good morning! Happy Sunday. Partly clear and 34 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a south breeze at 6 mph. ๐Ÿƒ. Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 10 pm. โ˜ƒ๏ธ

Not a super cool morning. ๐Ÿ˜€ I could go for a walk but I want to get to the store pretty earlier and my guts are mess after last night I don’t want to risk an accident out walking. ๐Ÿ’ฉ Could be excess coffee of yesterday โ˜• but I think it’s the garlic powder I added to the tomato sauce I had last night, as that previously gave me trouble in West Virginia plus one other time at home. Big bulk container I got from Hannaford, even in moderation it keeps me running to the toilet ๐Ÿšฝ . Could be salmonella or mold growing in the container. I probably should empty it and toss in the recycle bin โ™ป๏ธ before it gets me sick again. ๐Ÿคข

Decided on pancakes this morning ๐Ÿฅž as that’s all I really had left. I was playing with recipes, decided to do ground oatmeal, with one egg, apple cider vinegar and baking soda for levity, and Splenda rather then bananna for sugar. Came out fairly good, little more filling then just ordinary oatmeal-banana pancakes. Topped with shredded apples from the food processor ๐Ÿ heated and cooked down in the microwave, along with chopped bananas. ๐ŸŒ Pretty good.

Today will be mostly sunny ๐ŸŒž, with a high of 46 degrees at 12pm. Two degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 23rd. South wind 6 to 11 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with a few breaks of sun the afternoon. The high last year was 39 degrees. The record high of 71 was set in 1921. 4.2 inches of snow fell back in 1914.โ„

First thing this morning is to shower ๐Ÿ›€ and then head over to Price Chopper in Slingerlands for grocery shopping, ๐Ÿ›’ that is once I get my list together. ๐Ÿ“œ I need to get $50 in groceries to use my $5 coupon, though that shouldn’t be hard as groceries are so expensive these days. Only shopping through Friday morning, as I plan to get what I need when heading up to the Adirondacks. Not Walmart on Black Friday, but I don’t think Hannaford will be particularly crowded the day after Thanksgiving. Mostly just restocking the pantry full of fruits and veggies, though I’m also going to get a big bag of frozen salmon fillets as I have that other coupon too. ๐ŸŽซ Eating lots of omega-3 is good.

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 11:42 am with sun having an altitude of 28° from the due south horizon (-42.9° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 11.3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour ๐Ÿ… starts at 3:48 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (237°). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west-southwest (244°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:31 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 14 seconds with dusk around 5:00 pm, which is 47 seconds earlier than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ At dusk you’ll see the First Quarter ๐ŸŒ“ Moon in the south (170°) at an altitude of 28° from the horizon, 226,654 miles away. ๐Ÿš€ The best time to look at the stars is after 5:36 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies ๐ŸŒƒ and temperatures around 42 degrees. There will be a west-northwest breeze at 10 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 41 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and one second over yesterday.

Been continuing on the Udemy Courses. ๐ŸŽ“ I am on my third course after two courses on remote sensing. ๐Ÿ›ฐ So far done is Remote Sensing with QGIS: Basics of Satellite Imagery Classification and Fundamentals of Remote Sensing and Geospatial Analysis. Been learning a lot. It’s wonderful that my public library ๐Ÿ“š offers these classes for free and you get free certifications ๐Ÿ“„ after you get done watching the classes and doing the quizzes. The most recent one is Spatial Data Analysis with R, QGIS & More which is good but it’s about 7 or 8 years out of date, and doesn’t show a recent version of QGIS and uses the obsolete R library of rgeos rather then sf and terra which is used today. But still it’s interesting and good to learn as a big part of the class is about kriging, which is something I am still struggling to fully understand. ๐Ÿ—บ ๐Ÿ“

Yesterday I checked out the Bethlehem Sportsmart โ›ท and was shocked at the prices of skis, especially ones in good quality. At over $100 for a pair of cross-country skis, I think I’d be best off to get a pair at a retailer, maybe after the holidays, one that fits and works properly for my needs. It was mobbed at the sportsmart, with screaming babies ๐Ÿ‘ถ and children running around. ๐Ÿง’ The skis I have currently are groomed-track skis, which besides being broken, really aren’t good for the kind of cross-country skiing I do that rarely involves following groomed tracks. ๐Ÿค‘ The problem with those skis is they are too fast and sink too deep in unpacked snow, the prior is a particular concern when descending mountains, especially now that I’m close to 41 years old, and crashing with skis may very well mean broken bones. ๐Ÿค• Plus I wasn’t in the mood to spend any money right now, to say nothing about that I’m not sure if it will be a particularly snowy winter. I might just stay closer to home this winter, do more bike riding ๐Ÿšด‍โ™€๏ธ on the roads. Winter ski season is so short around here, and it’s often quite cold int he winter.

Didn’t end up being able to fix the vacuum cleaner yesterday, ๐Ÿงน turns out that after I got it all apart, then put it back to work, I found out the source of the rattle — bad ball bearing. After fiddling for it for a few more hours, I ended up pulling the motor and any part I could reuse or scrap. โš™ Heck of it is I had it back to together and it was working until it’s started sparking and not working again. โšก Disappointing crap, I bought it only 7 years ago but ever since I got it constantly plugged, burned up belts and malfunctioned. If I get another vacuum, I am going to get a small rechargeable hand held ๐Ÿคฒ one as I don’t really have that much carpet in my apartment and then I can do the stairs and vacuum out the mud and dust from my truck better. I’m just annoyed by all that plastic trash, even I will be able to reuse the switch and cord from the vacuum for camp lighting, ๐Ÿ”Œ and may be able to part out parts of the motor for electronics projects or add to the stack of scrap metal for eventual recycling at the scrap yard. โ™ป๏ธ It wasn’t a real cheap vacuum — it was like $70 or $80 bucks, a Dirt Devil Pet Hair Vacuum but it constantly plugged on wads of hair and dust. I bought it because the reviews were good originally, and I figured a pet hair vacuum wouldn’t clog as much as a standard vacuum. ๐Ÿถ I guess don’t believe the review. I just hate carpet, when I have my own land, I don’t ever want that indoors. Especially not the gross, nasty worn out shag carpet like in my apartment.

The broken vacuum cleaner, the debate in my mind to renew or not renew my certificate of deposit,  the signing of Clean Slate last week, getting my ego knocked down a peg for that messed up background at work, and cold weather ๐Ÿคช plus all that coffee just really got me into a bad place by last night. ๐Ÿคฏ My mind was racing, I just kind of felt sick. The whole thing was stupid, it wasn’t entirely my fault I messed up the background, the researcher and big boss didn’t catch it either. ๐Ÿ’ฃ The vacuum cleaner was cheap shit it never worked right. The truck is going to be fine for another year. Then I got the shits from that garlic powder. ๐Ÿ’ฉ Yuck, I was so sick for a while. Did I mention I burnt my finger ๐Ÿ‘† on the soldering iron when I was working last night. ๐Ÿ˜  I was just so bitter, angry and frustrated all evening. I mean it’s stupid, what happened at work isn’t the end of world, moving to a new department soon, the seven-year old vacuum cleaner was less then a tank of gas these days, my truck will likely make it another year, it’s winter it’s cold but I am still planning adventures, I can get better skis somewhere else, and the coffee and shits will wear themselves off.

But regardless, I had a nice bicycle ride out to Voorheesville. ๐Ÿšฒ The bridge is fully re-opened, they did a nice job, it’s a very smooth ride up and over the bridge. On the west side of the bridge it’s a slight upgrade, but the expansion gaps are remarkably smooth and it’s blacktop, all the more surprising for a “temporary bridge”. Truth is they did such a nice job on the “temporary” bridge that they really don’t have a good reason to necessarily replace it anytime soon. Sat and watched the 4 PM freight train roll through Voorheesville ๐Ÿš‚ then watched the sunset ๐ŸŒ† from Bender Mellon Farms and rode home quickly, thinking it would get dark but it didn’t so I rode down to Adams Street then back along the designated bike route through the back roads of Delmar. Great evening even if it was shitty day in so many ways. That part of the day was pretty nice, even if I got sick in evening ๐Ÿ˜ซ and my mind was racing the rest of day. ๐Ÿคช

Tonight will have a slight chance of showers before 8pm. Partly cloudy ๐ŸŒƒ, with a low of 26 degrees at 6am. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 3rd. Northwest wind 8 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2022, we had clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 24 degrees. The record low of 6 occurred back in 1986.

Last night made homemade tomato sauce with canned tomatoes, Italian spices, spinach, peas, chopped garlic, crushed red pepper, smoked paprika and kidney beans. Added a little bit of lentil pasta towards the end. Tasted good, very filling and kept me full. ๐Ÿฅ˜ It as all good until I added some garlic powder (really not much), which totally blew up my stomach starting around midnight, with frequent visits the bathroom and everything stinking of garlic. I don’t know why I have such problems with this garlic powder I got the other day — crushed garlic is good. I thought the problem was the whole wheat flour I got from Price Chopper but I’m pretty sure it’s the garlic powder. Been having a lot of stomach issues lately, I thought I would adjust to the high-fiber diet but it’s proven difficult. ๐Ÿคฐ

Got reading about the latest generation of single board computers ๐Ÿ–ฅ which keep getting more and more powerful and cheaper. Technology on this front is advancing so quickly, it’s a golden age to be a hobbyist with things like the original Arduino from years ago seeming so out of date. ๐Ÿค– Then I got reading about stomach issues as my stomach grumbled, and this really weird thread on the internet where people fight about whether or not sugars in excessive fruit consumption ๐ŸŒ ๐Ÿ ๐Ÿ’ lead to fatty liver disease and diabetes. Most of the experts think the benefit of the extra fiber far outweigh any downsides to a diet rich in fruits, though I do eat a lot of fruit (and vegetables too). Probably too much fruit but I like sweet. But I also don’t eat any food with added sugars if I can all avoid it, which is what most doctors ๐Ÿ‘จ‍โš•๏ธ think really are a big threat to health. I am a bit obsessed with fatty liver disease after people warned me about the risk of loosing so much weight so quickly. Hell of it is I don’t have much control over my weight, it really is a just a side effect of diet. Hard to gain too much when your stuffing your face with fruits, vegetables and beans all of the time, and riding to work and walking everywhere.

Next Friday through the following Monday is looking good for the Adirondacks ๐Ÿ• though only time will determine for sure. โ„๏ธ It looks like the snow event in Wednesday isn’t going to leave feet of snow up north, so I should be able to get back to camp without doing a lot of shoveling or hauling gear back, though worse come to worse, I’ll bring the sled and drag gear back. ๐Ÿ›ท The weekend looks to be cool but not as cold as they first predicted โ˜• and warm coffee and meals along with the heater should be good. And I can get away from it all.

Looking ahead, there are 3 weeks until 7:15 AM Sunrise โŒ›๏ธ when the sun will be setting at 4:23 pm with dusk at 4:53 pm. On that day in 2022, we had mostly sunny and temperatures between 31 and 20 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 40 degrees. We hit a record high of 64 back in 1966.

Driving the Elk Highway

Twenty two years ago on this September 11th ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ

Hard to believe it was 22 years ago that I was a freshman in college at Hudson Valley Community College on that day with the bright blue skies, listening to Amy Goodman and seeing those terrorist attacks on television at my college statistics class before college adjourned for the day and I spent it just walking along High Point Road in Berne, looking up and noticing the skies without airplanes above.

Good morning! Rain showers and 69 degrees in Delmar. โ˜” Calm wind. The dew point is 65 degrees. The skies will clear Wednesday around 11 pm.

Catching the earlier express bus ๐Ÿš downtown so I walk ๐Ÿšถ in the Plaza before work as it’s really not a particularly nice day. Kind of a dreary autumn day, though at least not so hot. Certainly not the crisp, clear day of 22 years ago. I don’t want to go back to those days with all trials and tribulations ahead of me as I started in college, ๐ŸŽ“ it’s kind of nice to be in the midlife even if things aren’t perfect every day. That was quite a time, when so much possibility ahead existed, when I was learning so much and changing so quickly. I was bad yesterday, didn’t get my steps in, ๐Ÿ‘ฃ but this morning I plan to do the stairs maybe twice at work, and walk the Plaza in an attempt to get in 10,000 steps for the day.

Twenty two years is a long time โณ even if in the grand scheme of things it’s not. 14 ½ years from now my mom was pointing out I will be 55 years old and if I’m still working for the state at that point I’ll have in close to 30 years and can collect my Tier 4 pension if I decide to do alternative things. ๐Ÿ’ต Maybe move out west, have that off-grid homestead property I want. By then I’m hoping to have $1.5 million in assets put away though some I won’t be able to tap until 59 1/2 (IRA) but it’s still young enough that if I stay healthy and continue to improve my physical shape there is a lot of possibilities at that age. September 11th in 2001 seems like just yesterday but it was a long time ago now. ๐Ÿ™

Today will have showers likely, with thunderstorms also possible after 1pm. Mostly cloudy ๐ŸŒฆ, with a high of 71 degrees at 1pm. Five degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around September 24th. Maximum dew point of 67 at 1pm. Calm wind becoming north 5 to 7 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. It was somewhat humid. The high last year was 74 degrees. The record high of 98 was set in 1931.

Listening to Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning while doing my morning walk ๐Ÿšถ around the Plaza. I’m actually surprised there is less of a police ๐Ÿ‘ฎ presence as there was in years past on the anniversary. I guess September 11th has been forgotten but then again it was more than a generation ago now – and I’m sure the threat analysis by terrorism center kept the color code green or blue. I remember that day so well, listening to the attacks live with Amy Goodman on Democracy Now, followed by that somewhat old lady troublemaker sounding Rezsin Adams who read ๐Ÿ“– from the Nation Magazine like she did every morning after Democracy Now on WRPI. It’s been decades now since she was kicked off the radio, ๐Ÿ“ป and going on three years since her passing. It’s good I got to know her when I was at her house folding the Save the Pine Bush newsletter.

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 12:53 pm with sun having an altitude of 52° from the due south horizon (-18.8° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 4.7 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour ๐Ÿ… starts at 6:38 pm with the sun in the west (271°). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west (277°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:15 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 55 seconds with dusk around 7:41 pm, which is one minute and 46 seconds earlier than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ The best time to look at the stars is after 8:17 pm. At sunset, look for rain ๐ŸŒง and temperatures around 70 degrees. The dew point will be 65 degrees. There will be a north breeze at 6 mph. Today will have 12 hours and 44 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 50 seconds over yesterday.

Yesterday, after a few hours of cussing including on Facebook ๐Ÿคฌ and playing around with controls on my bike and some internet research, I got the bicycle shifting smoothly again. โš™ ๐Ÿšฒ I think what happened is a snagged the front derailleur cable on some bushes when I was riding at the back country at Thacher Park, plus over the past 750 miles or so of riding, cables have stretched. I think it’s good enough for now, though come the end of the year, I’ll take Blackie to the shop for a full tune up — the gears professionally adjusted for smooth shifting along with the wheels trued again. ๐Ÿšต‍โ™€๏ธ If I have continued problems with noisy operation or rough shifting, I will just take it back to Steiner Sports to get tuned up and maybe that cable replaced in the front. Sucks I have to put more money into the bike already, but in the grand scheme of things it’s not going to cost that much, even in these inflationary times. The gear adjusting is actually pretty simple to do, I can’t imagine they would charge a small fortune for 5 minutes on the bike stand to index the gears.

I also glued back together the lid on my mini food processor/chopped ๐Ÿ‘จ‍๐Ÿณ and it’s working fine after shattering yesterday, but I got looking at getting a full-sized food processor with a dough blade and a big enough motor to knead dough. I would then “retire” my mini-food to my camping supplies, as it works well enough now glued together but I really want something for more power for at home, especially if want to use it to help automate the bread and dough making processor, make chickpea and red lentil flower, larger batches of hummus, etc. ๐Ÿž ๐ŸŒ I don’t mind kneading dough, but it sure would be convenient to dump the ingredients in, have things kneaded for me without a full bread machine. Looking at $60 model at Wally World, which is not a super high-end but should do that trick with enough power, assuming my dough aren’t so sticky and far more powerful then the 70 watt mini processor.  Truth be told I don’t need the mini-food processor for camping, but I sure like the sauces it makes, and how it mills the oatmeal perfectly for oatmeal-banana pancakes, and perfectly scrambled eggs. And it really has minimal current draw on the inverter.

I am a little worried about money, ๐Ÿค‘ but this week is a pay week and my credit card bill gets retired on Friday automatically, so that will help restore my credit limit. It’s funny but when you do the Autopay, it does it the date the bill is due, so it really covers the cost of summer vacation now. Plus I’ve had more costs with inflation, high food and gas prices โ›ฝ and a lot more summer travel over the past few months — to say nothing of getting more spices and kitchen supplies for doing more cooking. ๐Ÿฅ˜ But it’s good as eating healthier is an investment in my future. And it most of my concerns are short-term, if I have to move money around for a few days from a rainy day fund, it’s not the end of the world.

Tonight will be scattered showers, mainly before 7pm. Patchy fog after 2am. Otherwise, mostly cloudy โ˜๏ธ, with a low of 61 degrees at 5am. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around August 19th. Maximum dew point of 66 at 6pm. North wind around 6 mph becoming calm after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2022, we had light rain in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It was humid. It got down to 65 degrees. The record low of 36 occurred back in 1875.

I think I might have a bladder infection ๐Ÿšฝ as I am going to the doctor’s this afternoon to get checked out. For a while I was chocking going to the bathroom at night and having to stop so much when traveling to just eating a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables with farm stand season underway, especially all those aciditic tomatoes and peaches, ๐Ÿ‘ ๐Ÿ… but I was talking to my parents this weekend, and I think it’s best to get it checked out, especially before it could spread to my kidneys. Turns out it’s a simple test, and then antibotics if necessary. And then relief from pissing all of the time. It’s kind of bad that I can’t go anywhere these days without needing a pee break every hour or so, especially in the morning. Maybe I need to cut back on the coffee but I think I might also have an issue — and I’ve noticed some soreness since Friday.

Cool almost autumn like weekend ahead. ๐Ÿ‚ Maybe the North Country will have it’s first hints of autumn this weekend. I thought about heading north, but I think I’d rather wait for more color. It will be refreshing after all the heat and humidity of late. Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 72. Maximum dew point of 53 at 12pm. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 75. Maximum dew point of 58 at 12pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 75 degrees. ๐Ÿ˜€

This weekend I would like to head out of town. โ›บ Maybe Rennselearville State Forest or hammock camping at Cole Hill State Forest is an inexpensive option, I know mom wants me to go apple ๐Ÿ picking with dad come Sunday. Not totally sure, the sunsets are so much earlier this time of year. If I want to head north, it’s best to take off Friday and just leave early that day to get north. That said, I think I’d rather wait until there is more color for a trip up north. ๐Ÿ‚ I wouldn’t mind a couple of quiet nights in the woods, even though the nights are much longer now, and some trail riding.

Looking ahead but not forward, next Monday is 7 PM Sunset ๐ŸŒ† with dusk at 7:28 pm. On that day in 2022, we had rain and temperatures between 80 and 62 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 74 degrees. We hit a record high of 91 back in 1891.

Tree on Bank of Lake Ontario

Finally a beautiful Saturday out in Schoharie and Delaware County after so many crappy weekends ๐Ÿšต๐ŸŠ๐Ÿ•๏ธ

After such a run of wet and bad weather we finally got a break and I got away from town. Awesome, although I will say that the pool is cold with the low dew point and the breeze. But it was great for hiking Platts Rocks then riding 26 miles round trip or the Catskill Scenic Trail. That said, I’m beat after all that bicycling, I barely want to hit the pool. But it’s fine, I got a shower and some pool time in and it will be closing for a bit and then be time to head up to camp.

Good evening! It’s been a pleasant day. Mostly sunny and 78 degrees at the Mine Kill State Park. There is a northwest breeze at 9 mph. ๐Ÿƒ. The dew point is 55 degrees.

Lol where to start! ๐Ÿ˜‚ Last night turned out much better than forecasted so I ended up deciding to ride out to the Bender Mellon Preserve ๐Ÿ‰ and hiking around that for nearly an hour, exploring the outside parameter trail and taking a bunch of pictures after deciding ๐Ÿ“ธ the trail wasn’t so wet yesterday and the skies were interesting. Then I decided to ride out to Voorheesville, down Main Street then out past the Voorheesville High School and library then down the rail trail to Adams Place then snaked through the subdivisions back home. ๐Ÿ By then it was late for packing for camp but I got some done like filling the water container and some other things but won’t say that I didn’t stay up late sitting out back and still had a bunch to do in the morning contributing to me not leaving until 9:30 am.

On my way out I realized I forgot toilet paper ๐Ÿšฝ and paper towels. Both are good for camping. What I ended up doing was going to Tops in Greenville and buying paper towels for both purposes. They’ll be good for both. Then I took NY 81 out to Oak Hill which is still closed west of there.

With the detour I ended up deciding to head over to Prattville and checking out Pratts Rock. What a beautiful day. ๐Ÿž Finally got to the Catskill Scenic Trail in Grand Gorge at 12 noon, rode until 1:45 when I got to Hobart at 1:40 pm when I stopped at the park for a while ๐Ÿšฒ and headed south almost to South Kortwright but turned back as I wanted to be back to my truck as close as possible to 4 pm so I could shower ๐Ÿšฟ and cool down in the pool. ๐ŸŠโ€โ™‚๏ธ Then off to camp at Betty Brook most likely though if the campsite on West Kill Road is open I might stay there.

Tonight will be mostly clear ๐ŸŒƒ, with a low of 54 degrees at 5am. Nine degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around September 12th. Maximum dew point of 56 at 7pm. Northwest wind 5 to 8 mph becoming calm in the evening. Going to be a cool evening especially here in the mountains. In 2022, we had partly cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It was somewhat humid. It got down to 65 degrees. The record low of 45 occurred back in 1981.

Tonight will have a Waxing Crescent ๐ŸŒ’ Moon with 22% illuminated. At 5 PM, the moon was in the south (185ยฐ) at an altitude of 51ยฐ from the horizon, some 249,518 miles away from where you are looking up from the earth. ๐Ÿš€ At the state speed limit of 55 mph, you’ll make it there by January 28th. Buckle up for safety! ๐Ÿ’บ The moon will set in the west (273ยฐ) at 11:05 pm. The Strugeon ๐Ÿก Moon is on Tuesday, August 1. The darkest hour is at 1:05 am, followed by dawn at 5:08 am, and sun starting to rise at 5:41 am in the east-northeast (61ยฐ) and last for 3 minutes and 17 seconds. Sunrise is 56 seconds later than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ„ The golden hour ends at 6:22 am with sun in the east-northeast (68ยฐ). Tonight will have 9 hours and 9 minutes of darkness, an increase of one minute and 48 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be sunny ๐ŸŒž, with a high of 83 degrees at 5pm. One degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around August 3rd. Maximum dew point of 60 at 5pm. Calm wind. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. It was humid. The high last year was 97 degrees. The record high of 96 was set in 1955.

I’m undecided about my plans for tomorrow. ๐Ÿ’ญ I still want to get to the farm stands of the Schoharie Valley ๐ŸŒฝ ๐Ÿ… but I also kind of want to set up camp โ›บ and not have to secure it or take it down tomorrow. Plus I don’t love driving that rough Betty Brook Road, it’s tough on Big Reds aging suspension. ๐Ÿšฒ That said it could be a fun filled day. I might cycle from the Rest Area to Middleburgh, then poke around the village, get ice cream ๐Ÿฆ then hike Vromans Nose ๐Ÿ‘ƒ and turn hit up the farm stands, head back to Mine Kill Pool and swim some more before camp. Monday I will park in Stamford, ride down to Bloomfield and maybe hike not drive Utsaythana followed by a swim at Mine Kill before going out to see the folks before vacation which starts Friday.

In four weeks on August 19 the sun will be setting in the west-northwest (288ยฐ) at 7:55 pm,๐ŸŒ„ which is 34 minutes and 33 seconds earlier then today. In 2022 on that day, we had hot, mostly sunny and temperatures between 89 and 58 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 82 and 61 degrees. The record high of 92 degrees was set back in 1899.

Looking ahead, Work Like a Dog Day ๐Ÿฉ is Next Saturday (not likely to happen on vacation), Last Sunset After 8 PM ๐ŸŒ† is in 3 weeks, National Dog Day ๐Ÿฉ is in 5 weeks, Autumn ๐Ÿ‚ is in 2 months, Daylight Savings Time Ends ๐Ÿ›ฅ๏ธ is in 15 weeks, Veterans Day ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ is in 16 weeks, Regular Deer Season in Southern Zone ๐ŸฆŒ is in 17 weeks, Small Business Saturday ๐Ÿ›๏ธ is in 18 weeks, Average High is 40 ๐ŸŒจ is in 20 weeks, Earliest Sunset of the Year โŒ›๏ธ is in 20 weeks, Tea Party Day ๐Ÿ is in 21 weeks, Days are Getting Longer โ˜€๏ธ is in 5 months, Festivus ๐Ÿ– is in 22 weeks, Bacon Day ๐Ÿฅ“ is in 23 weeks and Bacon Day ๐Ÿฅ“ is in 23 weeks.

Fields

Normans Kill Ravine Park

The Normans Kill Ravines Park's address is 70 Wright Lane in Delmar, off Adams Place near the Four Corners. It is home to a rough 3.5 mile mountain bike trail that traverses up and down several ridges and swampy areas and follows roughly 250 feet of the Normans Kill. You should plan on at least 1 1/2 hours to hike this trail, as many of the inner connections (shortcut) trails are overgrown and unmarked, while the outer trail is designated "one way" and blazed only in the clockwise fashion (north -> east -> south -> west -> south).

https://www.townofbethlehem.org/893/Normans-Kill-Ravines-Park
http://walkingman247.blogspot.com/2021/06/normans-kill-ravines-parkdelmar-town-of.html
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/new-york/normans-kill-ravines-full-loop-trail

 

Pine Cobble Trail

Trail to scenic overlooks above North Adams and the Taconics. Trail ends at the Appalachian Trail on East Mountain. 

January 11, 2020 Morning

Good morning! Happy Saturday. Finally the weekend! Next Saturday is Winnie the Pooh Day 🍯. Cloudy and 51 degrees at the CDTA Bus Stop #449. โ˜ Breezy, ๏ธ18 mph breeze from the south 🌬 with gusts up to 32 mph 💨💨💨. The dew point is 46 degrees. Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 9 pm. โ˜ƒ๏ธ

I was up bright and early today at 6:30 AM but after getting up I ended up wasting time, I mean using it productively working on maps and content for the blog. But my thing wasn’t to be super prodcutive, it was to establish a better sleeping routine, getting up early each morning on weekends and weekdays alike. 🌅 I now try to be in bed by 9 PM or so, and asleep by 10 PM. I just think I’ve been staying up too late, and too rushed in the morning, and it’s much better for health to not sleep in on the weekends.

I needed milk 🐮 so I went to Stewart’s and got milk and ice cream 🍨as the sale goes on to Sunday. Got half off my gallon of milk as my milk card 💳 was fully stamped. Lately I’ve not been drinking so much milk as I’m a big fan of sugary apple 🍏 juice. That said it’s I don’t drink alcohol anymore at home and don’t have sweets at home 🍬 but I do have occasional sweets at work. They do have the best ice cream and it’s a true half gallon. 🍦I Crumbs along the Mohawk. Yum. 😋

This morning with the thawed out ground rain expected, you could smell them out hauling manure 💩 at the farm down the road. Good stuff, makes the corn 🌽 and hay grow well 🌾 and really is the best stuff for fertile fields come next year. Cow poop, soiled hay, and rotted silage is a lot more than just a stinky source of nitrogen. It really does rebuild the land. 🚜 And milk is still God’s best beverage 🍵 to say nothing of cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese and ice cream. Pretty much can make everything out of milk. Plus everybody loves cows even if living near a farm can be pungent at times. 🐄

That said, I was kind of late to the meeting I was supposed to be at this morning because I got working on a map and some research for some projects for the blog. 🗾 I’ve been a bit lazy about creating new content for the blog, spending too much time on the exercise bike 🚲 and the YouTube. I just spend too much times day dreaming about far away places from the world I’m in and the very budge basement office 🏢 I work in with no views. I got so spoiled when I worked in the Alfred E Smith building with the view of the mountains and the amazing sunsets 🌇.

Today will have a chance of showers, mainly after 5pm. Cloudy 🌦, with a high of 60 degrees at 3pm. 30 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 18th. Maximum dew point of 50 at 4pm. Breezy, with a south wind 16 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 33 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 24 degrees. The record high of 57 was set in 1975. 8 inches of snow fell back in 1922.โ„

Busy day today. Pine Bush meeting in the morning and then filming 📹 the Reszin Adams documentary. We are still trying to figure out the camera and the best way to produce the video as none of us, the myself the camera man included, know what the hell we are doing. I’m sure though our professional producer will give us some tips. We have nice microphones and lights but I can only guess how to set it all up. I was debating about taking the bus 🚍 versus driving 🚘 but I will probably drive so I can get groceries afterwards and so I don’t accidentally get stuck in the rain waiting for the bus โ˜” for forty five minutes. The buses move fast on the weekends but the schedule is thin compared to the weekdays.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:03 pm with sun having an altitude of 25.5ยฐ from the due south horizon (-45.3ยฐ vs. 6/21). The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:57 pm with the sun in the southwest (233ยฐ). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (241ยฐ) starting at 4:39 pm and lasts for 3 minutes and 20 seconds with dusk around 5:13 pm, which is one minute and 6 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:48 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 60 degrees. The dew point will be 50 degrees. Breezy, 16 mph breeze โ›… from the south with gusts up to 29mph. Today will have 9 hours and 17 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 23 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will rain, with thunderstorms also possible after 3am. Some of the storms could produce heavy rain. 🌧 Low of 55 degrees at 6am. 41 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around June 9th. Maximum dew point of 53 at 2am. 🏖๏ธ South wind 13 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. In 2019, we had clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 12 degrees. The record low of -26 occurred back in 1968.

🌹🌻🌼Only 68 days remain until the first day of calendar spring!🌹🌻🌼

I am watching the forecast for next weekend to see if I can get out of town. โ„ Looks really snowy next weekend so I guess I should just go ahead and enjoy today even wiyj my busy schedule.

As previously noted, next Saturday is Winnie the Pooh Day 🍯 when the sun will be setting at 4:49 pm with dusk at 5:20 pm. On that day in 2019, we had snow showers, mostly cloudy and temperatures between 35 and 21 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 30 degrees. We hit a record high of 59 back in 1973.

Snow at Base of Tower