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I thought about going for a early morning bike ride ๐Ÿšฒ ๐Ÿ‘‰ ๐Ÿšถ

But changed my mind in favor of going in on the early bus and walking laps on the Plaza. I’ve been having a lot of trouble this winter with cold numb hands when I go out walking and riding this year. Maybe I need heavier gloves but it’s not pleasant to get home have sore fingers and struggle to unlock and open the door.

Good morning! Yeah, it’s Friday! Cloudy and 17 degrees in Delmar. โ˜ Calm wind. Still a cold morning. There are 3 inches of snow on the ground. โ˜ƒ ๏ธThings will start to thaw out next Tuesday around 8 am. ๐ŸŒก๏ธThis weekend is going to ducking ๐Ÿฆ† cold.

Breakfast was onions, canned green beans, canned ๐Ÿฅซ tomatoes and eggs ๐Ÿฅš. It’s what I had and with some spices it was pretty good. My pantry is completely void of fruit ๐ŸŒ after today’s lunch and the vegetables aren’t much more plentiful unless you count the canned stuff I primarily have for camping. ๐Ÿ›’ I plan to go shopping tomorrow, though a lot depends on whether I’m getting filmed ๐Ÿ“ผ for the Rezsin Adams documentary tomorrow.

Wanted to catch the earliest express downtown ๐Ÿš but I ended up catching the second express downtown after walking down to the Park and Ride. ๐Ÿšถ I want to try to get in at least 7,000 steps ๐Ÿ‘ฃ before settling in my office this morning. I’m a bit concerned about how sore and numb my hands ๐Ÿ‘ get from the cold now โ„ but I realize I’m getting older, my body is wearing out and frankly I probably need better gloves ๐Ÿงค. The Plaza will be nice to walk inside.

Today will have a chance of snow showers, mainly after 11am. Cloudy ๐ŸŒฆ, with a high of 22 degrees at 12pm. 10 degrees below normal. Calm wind becoming north 5 to 9 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became light rain by afternoon. The high last year was 39 degrees. The record high of 62 was set in 1929. 8.5 inches of snow fell back in 1886.โ„

All week I’ve been dealing with not only cold fingers but also anxiety ๐Ÿฅถ as it’s been a tough adjustment to all that is new in my life. Its just such a different experience working out in a suburban office environment, much more of a corporate office culture with less opportunities for creativity. It’s tough learning all the new faces, ๐Ÿ‘ฅ the culture and the technical nature of the work. โš™ I’m doing good I guess though I wish I had known the VIM editor better which is so much a big part of my new position. Fortunately I’m pretty good at most of the other parts of the job like the bash shell, SQL, data tidying. ๐Ÿ–ฅ

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 12:07 pm with sun having an altitude of 27° from the due south horizon (-43.9° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 11.8 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour ๐Ÿ… starts at 4:08 pm with the sun in the southwest (235°). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west-southwest (243°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:52 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 16 seconds with dusk around 5:22 pm, which is one minute and 13 seconds later than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous ๐ŸŒ” Moon in the southeast (125°) at an altitude of 58° from the horizon, 233,485 miles away. ๐Ÿš€ The best time to look at the stars is after 5:57 pm. At sunset, look for snow ๐ŸŒจ and temperatures around 22 degrees. There will be a north breeze at 8 mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 35 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 51 seconds over today.

Last night ๐ŸŒƒ I made it up until almost 9 pm last night, as I went for an evening walk ๐Ÿšถ and then laid in bed ๐Ÿ› for a while listening to a podcast ๐ŸŽง about the rise of homeschooling in America. ๐Ÿซ๐Ÿšธ I think it was NPR Fresh Air. But I can’t blame parents when most schools these days are Confined Education Operations Systems (CEOs), designed primarily to waste taxpayer dollars ๐Ÿ’ต and prepare the youth of tomorrow for working in acre sized bull pens next to 5 acres of parking off of the freeway interchange in the suburbs. ๐Ÿ›ฃ๏ธ

Tonight will be really cold. That’s relatively speaking. We will have a slight chance of snow showers before 11pm. Cloudy ๐ŸŒง, with a low of 9 degrees at 6am. Six degrees below normal. Maximum wind chill around -4 at 5am; Northwest wind 7 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2023, we had light rain. It got down to 32 degrees. The record low of -22 occurred back in 1970.

This evening I think I will go down to the library ๐Ÿ“š pick up the damaged books that I reimbursed the library for and work on my laptop for a while. It is a good way to get some steps in and then head to bed relatively early. ๐Ÿ˜ด Tomorrow is going to be cold, but I will make the best of it.

I’ve been quite impressed how smoothly the transfer has been between the shuttle and the express bus. ๐ŸšŒ ๐Ÿ”› ๐Ÿš There is a only a few minutes between the buses but so far I’ve always made the transfer without issue, plus there is a warm place to wait in the Concourse bus station. Works out much better then I expect. ๐Ÿ˜€ My commute remains the same as before time wise, about 40 minutes, leaving and getting home at the same time, without the late nights. The drive in would be 20 minutes, but that doesn’t include time cleaning off snow and ice, warming the truck up or parking. So really taking the bus is a win-win.

Tomorrow will have a chance of snow showers, mainly after 4pm. Cloudy ๐ŸŒฆ, with a high of 17 degrees at 1pm. 15 degrees below normal. Maximum wind chill around -6 at 6am; Northwest wind 11 to 17 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Little or no snow accumulation expected. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became light rain by afternoon. The high last year was 38 degrees. The record high of 53 was set in 2006. 10.4 inches of snow fell back in 2019.โ„

Looking ahead to Sunday, sunny and cold, with a high near 23. โ˜€ Northwest wind around 15 mph. Typical average high for the weekend is 32 degrees. Probably going out to see the folks then, ๐Ÿ‘ช and maybe do a hike earlier in the day, if I bundle up. But with my problem with my fingers getting cold, this seems less fun then in years past.

When there is no hope, there are 2 weeks until Ground Hog Day ๐Ÿป when the sun will be setting at 5:10 pm with dusk at 5:39 pm. I bet he will see his shadow. On that day in 2023, we had partly cloudy and temperatures between 36 and 19 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 33 degrees. We hit a record high of 53 back in 1981.

Deer ?

Places I Camped in 2023

While this year was a rainy one, and it rained during many of my trips, I was able to get out for 53 nights in the wilderness — mostly fairly close to home but I also did a trip down to West Virginia in late October with several trips to the Adirondacks, Central New York and summer vacation in the Finger Lakes.

Places I Camped in 2023

Martin Luther Kings Day โ€“ January 14-16 (2 nights)

To start out my camping adventures in 2023, I drove out to Charles Baker State Forest and Brookfield Horse Camp. There wasn’t a lot of snow — just a dusting but it was a fun weekend, topped off by a beautiful sun-full glittery hike up Tassell Hill after a hoar frost. Explored Lost Pond and several of the trails in the middle of state forest.

Home for the weekend

40th Birthday โ€“ January 27-29 (2 nights)

For my fortieth birthday, I took off the Friday leading up to my 40th birthday to cross country ski and winter camp at Rensselaerville State Forest. It was a beautiful weekend with lots of blue skies, sufficient snow for skiing but not so much that was a ton of snowmobiles out on the trails.

Beautiful Day of Skiing

Presidents Day โ€“ February 17-19 (2 nights)

I decided for Presidents Day Weekend to do another trip out to Charles Baker State Forest and Brookfield Horse Camp. Slightly more snow then last time but again largely a snow-less winter, with some nice days for hikes through the various truck and horse trails. I hiked around much of state forest, especially the more southern part of the forest.

Evening on Truck Trail 13

Easter Weekend โ€“ April 7-9 (2 nights)

On Good Friday through Easter I camped at at Rensselaerville State Forest. The snow was gone and it was fairly mild though at times it was a bit cool. Spent a fair amount of time walking around and exploring the new OSI Parcel that has been recently added to state forest and is still largely open fields with sweeping views of the Catskill Mountains.

Hillcross Farm Pond

Duck Pond Trip โ€“ May 5-7 (2 nights)

The first Friday in May I took a half day from work and headed out to Schoharie County to camp at Duck Pond at Burnt-Rossman Hills State Forest. Originally the plan was to camp two nights at Duck Pond, hiking along the Long Path and exploring the state forest and then on Sunday hiking the Catskill Scenic Trail. That part of the trip changed when driving along Duck Pond Road the low tire pressure light came on I found a pallet nail in my truck tire. I was able to top off the truck tire and then change the tire when I got home and got the nail pulled and plugged. But it wasn’t the best way ever to end a trip early.

Spring

Overnight at Cole Hill – May 13-14 (1 night)

After visiting the folks on Mother’s Day Weekend, I decided to do a quick overnight hammock camp on Cole Hill State Forest in Berne. Nothing fancy or formal, it was as much a way to test out sleeping in my hammock with the bug screen. Kind of a chilly night, I took camp down fairly and headed home early in the morning.

Hammock Camping on Cole Hill

Memorial Day Weekend at Cole Hill โ€“ May 20-22 (2 nights)

This year I decided to eschew the Adirondacks and Greene Mountains for Memorial Day Weekend due to the black flies, my desire to look at bicycles, and work I had to do on the Saturday morning leading up to the holiday weekend. I decided to hammock camp again Cole Hill State Forest in Berne. This was a three-day two night trip, so it it gave me a chance to bring more gear up the mountain, set up a more formal camp. Cooked on the fire, hiked around the forest. It was a warm weekend, but I enjoy the solitude, along with having good cell service for listening to podcasts and watching videos.

Cooking down dinner

Juneteenth Weekend on Piseco-Powley โ€“ June 15-20 (4 nights)

To kick off summer, I did my usual Juneteenth weekend camping trip, tacking on some days on the Juneteenth Holiday Weekend. It was a bit of a cool and rainy weekend to kick off summer, one that would actually be followed by many cool and rainy weekends where I would stay home. Camped at House Pond for the first three nights, spending time down floating in the tube on East Branch while the final night I camped up at Powley Bridge site and kayaked along the East Branch. Really, like often is the case, the best weather was the day I took down camp.

Evening on East Canada Creek

Catskill Scenic Trail Trip โ€“ July 22-24 (3 nights)

After several months of researching and visiting various bike shops, I finally got a mountain bike. I decided it would be fun to do as much of the Catskill Scenic Trail as I could before my summer vacation got underway. Actually did quite a bit of riding and hiking that weekend — started out hiking Pratts Rock’s then riding from Grand George to Hobart. Sunday, I rode from Fultonham to Middleburgh on NY 30, doing a quick climb up Vromans Nose, then stopping at the farm market then going to Mine Kill State Park to swim. Monday I rode from Hobart down to Bloomville, getting caught in a major thunderstorm and downpour a few miles north of Bloomville with no shelter in sight. The trail became super boggy, then I went to Mine Kill State Park for one more swim, and then out to folks house for Sunday dinner a day later then usual.

After the rain showers

Finger Lakes National Forest โ€“ July 28 โ€“ August 6 (9 nights)

Every year for nearly a decade and a half I’ve been doing summer vacation out in the Finger Lakes — camping in the National Forest and exploring as much as possible during my days there. The past few years I’ve been driving there on a Friday, to get a better campsite before they’re taken by the weekend campers. This year was no exception. With Blackie, my mountain bike, I did nearly all of the bike trails in the near vicinity, from the Black Diamond Trail to the Cayuta Valley Trail to Dresden – Penn Yan Canal Trail. Kayaked on both Cayuga and Scenic Lakes, swam many days at Watkins Glen State Park and Taughannock State Park, explored the Cornell Campus and Botanical Gardens on my bike. Got some good ice cream at the Spotted Duck, explored the Geneva Waterfront along with the Cayuga-Seneca Canalway. Some rain but compared to the wet summer that was, this was a pretty good week.

Morning on Searsburg Road

Piseco-Powley โ€“ House Pond Campsite โ€“ August 18-20 (3 nights)

The next few weeks for rainy and by the time I got away for one more long weekend, it promised to be fairly nice weekend but turned out to be fairly cool and cloudy with some rain. Back at the House Pond Campsite, did some swimming in East Branch, but with the mercury in the 60s most of the weekend, I didn’t spend a lot of time in the water. Hardly what I had dreamed when the I planned the weekend. Rode Blackie up to Goldmine Stream Falls and relaxed down by the falls for a bit, also sat down by the swimming hole off of the Old Edick Road Snowmobile Trail, watching the rain fall, bemoaning the wet and cold weather. Still it was good to get away for a bit, and I did do a fair amount of reading in hammock, under the protection of the bug net, as the bugs were bad after such a wet summer.

Gentle Drop Into A Golden Pool

Labor Day at Perkins Clearing – September 1-4 (3 nights)

I took the Friday off before Labor Day to get a jump on the holiday season travel, and set up camp at the site I really enjoy up at Perkins Clearing overlooking the mountains. Did a fair amount of riding along the various dirt roads of Perkins Clearing, including over to Mason Lake and on Sunday rode most of the way to the Spruce Lake Trailhead, though didn’t make it there in time as I got a bit of a late start as I spent the balance of the day reading and swimming in the Jessup River Bridge swimming hole. Labor Day, I rode around the Spectulator Tree Farm, doing a large loop, through the tree farm, past the north end of Elm Lake, then down to Austin Falls and Old Route 8B. I had hoped to get ice cream, but by the time I got to the ice cream shop they were out of soft-ice cream, and there was a long line. Summer was dragging to a close.

Kunjamunk River from Long Level Bridge

September Trip to Rensselearville State Forest โ€“ September 15-17 (2 nights)

With time being fairly tight and the weather only so-so I decided to do a two night trip close to home out in Rennselearville to ride some of the gravel trails, explore the OSI Parcel further and just enjoy an early autumn weekend camping.

Evening

Columbus Day at Rensselearville State Forest โ€“ October 8-9 (1 night)

Columbus Day Weekend was cold and rainy for the first half of the weekend, but the Sunday heading into Columbus Day was nice, so I decided to head out to Rensselaerville for a quick overnight at the campsite on CCC Road. Leaves were late this year, so not a lot of color, but it still was nice to get away for a night and ride some of the trails around.

Leonard Hill

West Virginia Trip โ€“ October 21-29 (8 nights)

The banner trip of the year was my trip down to West Virigina. While it started and ended in rain, it was a very enjoyable trip with lots of new adventures this year. Camped the balance of the week — 6 nights in Canaan Heights — doing day trips from that area. Overnighted one night driving down at County Bridge Campground in Pennsylvania, and a on the way back camped overnight at Long Pond State Forest in New York. Adventures in West Virginia included hiking at Dolly Sods, mountain biking at night in the sods of Canaan Heights, riding up and hiking to Table Rock, exploring Blackwater Falls State Park on the mountain bike, MonPower Mountain Bike Park, Thomas Rail Grade and the Olson Firetower. Rode part of the Great Allegheny Trail through the Cumberland Passage, and the two sections of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canalway, including the Paw Paw Tunnel.

Sunrise

Stoney Pond โ€“ November 4-7 (3 nights)

A little over a week back from West Virginia, I headed out to Madison County to ride the Tassel Hill Mountain Bike Trails at Alfred Woodford, the Chenango Canal Trail in Hamilton and Erie Canalway from Chittenango to Green Lakes State Park and then to Canastota and Wampsville. The first night was cold at Stoney Pond but the subsequent nights were quite pleasant and mild.

Old Canal Warehouse in Chittenango  [Expires November 19 2023]

Prospect Mountain – East Branch Sacanadaga โ€“ Buttermilk Falls/Hudson Special Management Area โ€“ November 24-28 (3 nights)

Strangely enough, I had never been up Prospect Mountain. So I decided the day after Thanksgiving (Black Friday) to hike up Prospect Mountain, and then spend the next two nights camping on East Branch of the Sacandaga River. The Saturday and Sunday was fairly cold, so I ended up spending the bulk of day hanging around camp, doing a bit of hiking around Fox Lair. Sunday, evening around 8 PM it started to sleet, then snow, then rain, Monday morning, it turned into a white globby snow, and I ended up taking down camp fairly early after discovering I was out of propane and then spent much of the day exploring the Hudson River Special Management Area – Buttermilk Falls.

Icy River Road

Stoney Pond – Charles Baker โ€“ December 21-26 (5 nights)

On the days leading up to Christmas I decided to take a second trip to Madison County. I was originally planning to camp two nights at Stoney Pond then two nights at the Charles Baker Horse Camp but my family’s holiday plans were cancelled due to illness in my family, so I ended up staying an extra night at the horse camp, through the day after Christmas. On Friday, I rode the Erie Canalway from Canastota to East Verona, nearly to Rome. On Christmas Day I rode around many of truck trails at Charles Baker with my mountain bike, leaving my face splattered with mud. Many of the days were fairly cold and cloudy, but that’s too be expected in late December. Still it was a special way to spend Christmas.

Camp on this cold but still morning ?

Final Friday of 2023 โ˜บ

The year is coming to a close. I decided to work from home today so I can run to the store midday to get the supplies and food I need for the New Years Eve trip and probably because we’ll get released early and frankly because I don’t expect a busy day today at work today. If I have downtime, might as well work from home. But first a quick ride out to Voorheesville to get some exercise before work starts.

Good morning! Yeah, it’s Friday! Clouds and 42 degrees in Delmar, NY. โ˜” Calm wind. Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow night around 10 pm. โ˜ƒ๏ธ But first quite mild.

I was pleasantly surprised โ˜บ that there is no showers around this morning ๐Ÿšฒ and I can do a morning bike ride before work for some exercise and working at home. Some things to do today but should be a generally slow day. At lunch time I want to get propane ๐Ÿฎ so my tank is full for camping ๐Ÿ• along with toothpaste and other things on my list at Walmart. ๐Ÿ“ƒ

Today will have a chance of showers. Patchy fog before noon. Otherwise, cloudy ๐ŸŒฆ, with a high of 47 degrees at 1pm. 12 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 22nd. Calm wind becoming southwest around 6 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter 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 48 degrees. The record high of 71 was set in 1984. 6.0 inches of snow fell back in 1915.โ„

I managed to set off the smoke alarm twice this morning while cooking. ๐Ÿง‘โ€๐Ÿš’ I I’m sure my neighbor loves me for that fortunately he works the early shift. ๐Ÿณ Shredded onions and spinach with eggs ๐Ÿฅš made into a cake with mushrooms and peppers. Pretty good, fiber rich breakfast. I’ve also been enjoying that carrot ๐Ÿฅ• bread I made – the vital wheat gluten really helps improve the consistency ๐Ÿž and between the shredded carrots and the baking soda it baked to a nice deep color, almost like pumpernickel bread moist with the consistency almost of cake. And this time it wasn’t so tough on my stomach. ๐Ÿคฐ๐Ÿฝ

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 11:58 am with sun having an altitude of 24.1ยฐ from the due south horizon (-46.7ยฐ vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.4 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour ๐Ÿ… starts at 3:45 pm with the sun in the southwest (231ยฐ). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west-southwest (239ยฐ) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:30 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 25 seconds with dusk around 5:01 pm, which is 44 seconds later than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ The best time to look at the stars is after 5:38 pm. At sunset, look for rain ๐ŸŒง and temperatures around 46 degrees. There will be a west-southwest breeze at 6 mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 8 minutes of daytime, an increase of 36 seconds over today.

Tonight will have a chance of showers. Cloudy ๐ŸŒง, with a low of 38 degrees at 6am. 19 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 27th. West wind around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 43 degrees. The record low of -21 occurred back in 1933.

Tomorrow will have a chance of rain showers before 4pm, then a slight chance of rain and snow showers. Mostly cloudy ๐ŸŒฆ, with a high of 43 degrees at 12pm. Eight degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 2nd. West wind 5 to 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Little or no snow accumulation expected. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 57 degrees. The record high of 53 was set in 1984. 10.9 inches of snow fell back in 2000.โ„

I think I’ll probably head up to camp โ›บ mid-morning tomorrow for the New Years Holiday. ๐ŸŽŠ Not planning anything too fancy just two nights in the wilderness with a fire ๐Ÿ”ฅ and some sparklers ๐ŸŽ‡ and try to stay up until midnight on NYE and toast in 2024. Maybe fry up some walnuts and cranberries. Listen to podcasts ๐Ÿ“ป and enjoy the mild weather and probably mud. I’m going to ride some trails and roads ๐Ÿšฒ though probably a lot will be muddy.

Looking ahead to Sunday, New Years Eve, partly sunny, โ˜€ with a high near 38. Northwest wind 8 to 11 mph. Typical average high for the weekend is 35 degrees.

Christmas Eve Sunset

Like so many people, the day after Christmas is one for heading home ๐ŸŽ„โžก ๐Ÿš˜ โžก ๐Ÿก

After five nights of camping, three nights here at Charles Baker State Forest I’m taking down camp and finishing up packing my truck. I want to get home fairly early so I can do my wash at the laundromat and possibly wash my truck though that gives me pause as come Friday I might be heading back out to the wilderness for a NYE trip though the start of 2024 on Monday morning.

Good morning! Mostly cloudy and 38 degrees at the Moscow Hill Camping Area. โ˜ There is a south breeze at 9 mph. ๐Ÿƒ. Temperatures will drop below freezing at Friday around 9 pm. โ˜ƒ๏ธ

Last night was pleasant and not too cold under the full moon ๐ŸŒ• as I sat by the campfire until around 9:30 pm. It didn’t get below freezing until well into the night ๐ŸŒƒ. It followed a nice but rather muddy day ๐Ÿšฒ riding truck trails on my mountain bike at Charles Baker. The roads were muddy with all the melting ice on them.

Today will have a chance of rain, mainly after 4pm. Mostly cloudy ๐ŸŒง, with a high of 46 degrees at 2pm. 11 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 24th. South wind around 10 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 a few breaks of sun the afternoon. The high last year was 30 degrees. The record high of 59 was set in 1895. 13.9 inches of snow fell back in 1969.โ„

Laundromat and unpacking first when I get home ๐Ÿ‘š and then I’ll also shower ๐Ÿšฟ as I’m quite dirty and then go to the grocery store ๐Ÿ›’. Pretty low on groceries at this point. ๐Ÿ Fortunately it’s just a short work week. Undecided about going to the car wash ๐Ÿ›ป, I should get the salt off my truck but if I’m planning on heading out of town on Friday or Saturday for NYE washing my truck at this point would be silly. ๐Ÿงผ

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 12:03 pm with sun having an altitude of 23.8° from the due south horizon (-46.8° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.6 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 southwest (230°). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west-southwest (238°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:34 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 26 seconds with dusk around 5:05 pm, which is 38 seconds later than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ At dusk you’ll see the Full ๐ŸŒ Moon in the east-northeast (60°) at an altitude of 9° from the horizon, 243,682 miles away. ๐Ÿš€ The best time to look at the stars is after 5:42 pm. At sunset, look for rain ๐ŸŒง and temperatures around 44 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 9 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 5 minutes of daytime, an increase of 17 seconds over yesterday.

Ad revenue has really dried up lately on the blog ๐Ÿ’ธ but that’s to be expected this time of year with less traffic. I guess I could do more aggressive ads but I feel like it’s enough advertising as it is for my taste. Traffic will come back come next summer when people are looking for maps and stories about camping. That $164 check I got last Friday was kind of nice, but with the drop of revenue this time of year I doubt I’ll get another payment until the third week of March, and that will probably only be slightly more then that check. But I do expect looking at historical blog traffic things should pick up.

Tonight will rain likely, mainly after 3am. Cloudy ๐ŸŒง, with a low of 41 degrees at 6am. 21 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 17th. South wind around 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. In 2022, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 22 degrees. The record low of -18 occurred back in 1914.

Cloudy with snow showers likely in Madison County for NYE weekend in Madison County. ๐ŸŒจ Maybe more sun and somewhat warmer back in the Albany area. Saturday, a chance of snow showers before 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 30. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New Years Eve, mostly cloudy, with a high near 34. New Years Day, party sunny and 35. Typical average high for the weekend is 35 degrees.

Schodack Creek

Tuesday, Tuesday. Four weeks and it’s back to work for the New Year 2024.

I saw that the new legislative session calendar was released for next year. Heavy weighted for January and February but that’s to be expected with the early primaries.

Good morning! Partly cloudy and 33 degrees at the Delmar, NY. โ›… There is a northwest breeze at 11 mph. ๐Ÿƒ. Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 6 pm. โ˜ƒ๏ธ Much cooler than yesterday.

Decided to do cream of wheat topped with shredded apples ๐Ÿ and homemade this morning cranberry sauce. Coffee โ˜• with lots of ginger and cinnamon. Plus some water with apple cider vinegar and ginger to smooth digestion, had a bit of an upset stomach ๐Ÿ˜ฒ after the pea soup last night. I really now understand why people add ham to pea soup – it’s for the fats which ease digestion by buffering the highly basic peas. ๐Ÿฒ Not the taste per se, despite what folks claim. It would help too if I added more water to the soup to make it liquid before reheating for buffering plus adding more aciditic balsamic vinegar when serving and possibly adding a healthy fat like maybe mashed avocado ๐Ÿฅ‘ or some olive oil to the mix. Ham isn’t required especially if you are adding salt to the pea soup for taste. ๐Ÿท

I think it will be nice enough to ride to work. ๐Ÿšฒ Wear gloves ๐Ÿงค and embrace the cold it won’t be much longer for riding to work until spring or at least a February thaw. โ˜ƒ I figure with the new office ๐Ÿข I’ll be able to ride in when there is enough daylight to ride back to the express bus in the evening. ๐Ÿš Which isn’t the case in January.

Today will be mostly cloudy ๐ŸŒฅ, with a high of 37 degrees at 11am. Five degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 18th. Northwest wind 5 to 11 mph becoming northeast in the afternoon. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 44 degrees. The record high of 65 was set in 2001. 9.0 inches of snow fell back in 1902.โ„

Stayed in the office late last night to watch the fireworks ๐ŸŽ†. Honestly I would have gotten a better view from the Plaza as the agency buildings blocked the view of lower firing fireworks. I figured view the fireworks from my office before I move on. It wasn’t that late and I just caught the 6:45 bus home. ๐ŸšŒ Already had dinner in the office, and I thought about going for a walk but my stomach was kind of upset after the pea soup.

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 11:47 am with sun having an altitude of 25° from the due south horizon (-45.8° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.8 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour ๐Ÿ… starts at 3:38 pm with the sun in the southwest (232°). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west-southwest (240°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:23 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 21 seconds with dusk around 4:53 pm, which is 10 seconds earlier than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ The best time to look at the stars is after 5:30 pm. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies โ˜ and temperatures around 36 degrees. There will be a north-northeast breeze at 5 mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 14 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 7 seconds over today.

I got home ๐Ÿก last night and with my upset stomach ๐Ÿคฐ๐Ÿผ decided it best not to do an evening walk ๐Ÿšถ plus I was tired ๐Ÿ˜ด and lazy being a Monday. Heated up a glass of milk ๐Ÿฅ› with lots of cinnamon and ginger and that was good, retired to bed ๐Ÿ› and watched some more of that class on machine learning ๐Ÿค–. I think even more than a so called smoothie which adds natural sugars in the form of fruit and or yogurt I’m just as good with plain fat free milk loaded up with cinnamon and ginger nice and warm. Supposed to help with sleep ๐Ÿ˜ด besides warming you up.

Tonight will be cloudy โ˜, with a low of 27 degrees at 5am. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 2nd. North wind around 6 mph. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became light rain by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 39 degrees. The record low of -5 occurred back in 1901.

Another rainy but mild weekend ahead. ๐ŸŒง๏ธ Saturday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 49. Sunday, showers likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 56. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Typical average high for the weekend is 40 degrees. No snow in the immediate future ๐Ÿ”ฎ but definitely cloudy and gray. And rain for the weekends, which seems like we are stuck on the pattern of rainy weekends.

Looking ahead, there are 3 weeks until Boxing Day ๐ŸฅŠ when the sun will be setting at 4:29 pm with dusk at 4:59 pm. A good day for burning up all those boxes and wrapping paper from Christmas. ๐Ÿ“ฆ ๐Ÿ”ฅ On that day in 2022, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 30 and 16 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 35 degrees. We hit a record high of 59 back in 1895.

Tonight

29 days left in the year โŒ›

Depending on how you count it, basically four weekends left if even that before we start the 2024 year. Going to be a busy year, but I am looking forward to the next chapter of my life working out in the suburbs, really putting my data science knowledge and experience to work in my new job. But first a rainy but mild weekend to get through and the holidays.

Good morning! Happy Saturday. Finally the weekend! Not such a drag as I had Monday off and the rest of week was pretty busy, although Friday morning dragged a bit waiting for the next project to come in. Mostly cloudy and 37 degrees at the Delmar, NY. โ˜ Calm wind.Temperatures will drop below freezing at Tuesday around 4 am. โ˜ƒ๏ธ

Started out my morning a little after 5 o’clock as I always do. โฐ I’m not one to set an alarm but I wake up at that hour as I’m usually asleep before 9 PM and around then I have to get up and do the bathroom thing, ๐Ÿ’ฉ so it’s best to get up and going and get a bright and early start on the morning. Decided to bake a breakfast cake this morning ๐Ÿฐ — this time I started with food-processor milled oatmeal, whole wheat flour, stevia, two bananas, baking powder, canned pumpkin an egg, and some water and baking it. Topped it with lots of pumpkin pie spice. ๐ŸŽƒ It was pretty darn good, the egg and gluten from the whole-wheat flour made it very cake like and not so dry as often comes out when cooking with milled oatmeal. Plus some stomach-filling protein from the egg, and two types of fiber — insoluble fiber from the whole-wheat flour and pumpkin plus soluble fiber from oatmeal. โ˜• I had to go to Stewart’s to get milk for the coffee but now this morning is a go.

Today will have a slight chance of showers between 10am and 1pm. Mostly cloudy ๐ŸŒฆ, with a high of 47 degrees at 1pm. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 22nd. South wind 3 to 5 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 41 degrees. The record high of 66 was set in 1998. 6.8 inches of snow fell back in 2019.โ„

I am going to take a wait and see approach to today ๐ŸŒง but if it looks like it’s going to remain just cloudy I might head up to the Albany Pine Bush for a bike / hike on some of the trails, ๐Ÿšฒ ๐Ÿšถโ€โ™€๏ธ and then head up to the Salvation Army to look at clothes, especially dressier things for work. ๐Ÿ‘” I am though most likely going to have to just buy some dress shirts and pants for work ๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ’ผ as nothing I have really fits well anymore after loosing so much weight. Then I need to get spices and probably some other groceries at Walmart, though truth be told my pantry isn’t bad currently but I need more frozen fruit and vegetables, ๐Ÿ“ ๐Ÿฅฆ along with the spices. Turmeric and ginger in particular but also some cinnamon and Chipotle would be good as I’m low on all those things. I don’t really have to go shopping, but at some point I do want to replenish my pantry and I hate to stay home all day. ๐Ÿ›’

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 11:46 am with sun having an altitude of 25.5ยฐ from the due south horizon (-45.4ยฐ vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.6 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour ๐Ÿ… starts at 3:39 pm with the sun in the southwest (233ยฐ). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west-southwest (241ยฐ) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:24 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 21 seconds with dusk around 4:54 pm, which is 18 seconds earlier than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ The best time to look at the stars is after 5:31 pm. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies โ˜ and temperatures around 46 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 18 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 18 seconds over today.

I haven’t decided to make bread or pea soup today. ๐Ÿž That was originally the plan but I kind of forgot or was tired and cold after last night so after my salmon ๐ŸŸ for dinner, I had some Greek yogurt and pumpkin, ๐ŸŽƒ then settled down to bed ๐Ÿ›Œ doing some more of the Udemy course ๐ŸŽ“ on machine learning and went to sleep. I might wait until Sunday evening to kneed and make more bread, and enjoy it fresh come Monday. Maybe the same thing with the pea soup. I do have kidney beans cooking down on the stove, so I could do beans and rice later, and I took both some previously cooked and frozen chickpeas and butternut squash out of the freezer. Also still have spaghetti squash in the fridge from earlier in the week I should eat before it goes bad. Maybe it’s best to save the bread until Monday. Pea soup is good but it can make me gassy, ๐Ÿ˜ค which is why I was thinking maybe better to have it during the weekend. Helps though if I make sure to drink plenty of water with it and avoid the shredded carrots ๐Ÿฅ• in the bread I’m serving with it.

Tonight will have a chance of showers, mainly after 5am. Cloudy ๐ŸŒง, with a low of 39 degrees at 5am. 13 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 23rd. Light north wind. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2022, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became rain by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 38 degrees. The record low of -1 occurred back in 1976.

The blog advertising pulled in $165 since September 23, ๐Ÿค‘ which isn’t too bad and will help me recoup at least some of the costs of the web hosting come a few weeks when finally the money is deposited in my bank. It looks like I will be earning roughly $75 a month going forward, getting paid every other month. By April, I should have recouped the hosting and domain costs from advertising, though some depends on ad rates which decline after the Christmas season and web traffic, ๐Ÿ•ธ which always picks up during the summer months when people are looking for trails and places for camping. ๐Ÿ• I probably wouldn’t have done the advertising thing but I didn’t like the sting of the rising hosting bills a few months back, of which my bank account still hasn’t fully recovered.

I put in a FOIL request for the Recreation Unit Management Plan Shapefile with the DEC. ๐Ÿ• This would be nice for making maps, somebody asked for it a while back and I never was able to get them the file. Basically this shapefile includes the area covered unit plans, and I can’t find it online on an ArcGIS REST/Service or the DEC website. I don’t like doing too many FOIL requests ๐Ÿฃ these days, as I don’t like my name all over government documents, but this would be useful to have, and could create many good maps and analysis for the blog ๐Ÿ—บ which could further drive traffic here. Come February 2024, I am also going to get the update voter file for the full state rather than just the county that I have now, ๐Ÿ—ณ so I can use it for analysis, especially machine learning purposes to see if I can figure out new ways of targeting ๐ŸŽฏ voters.

As previously noted, next Saturday is Average High is 40 ๐ŸŒจ when the sun will be setting at 4:23 pm with dusk at 4:53 pm. On that day in 2022, we had sunny and temperatures between 39 and 25 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 40 degrees. We hit a record high of 62 back in 1966.

Sun Peaks Over Ashokan Range

Fifty days remain in 2023 ๐Ÿ—“

Day by day. The fact that Thanksgiving Day Week is basically the week after next week shows how fast the year is coming to a close. While maybe it would have been nice to get out of town this weekend, I’m thinking today I’ll ride to Peebles Island and have some fun closer to home while trying to hold the line on expenses, though I’ll probably end up taking the 18 bus back home and will probably need to get to the grocery store and or Walmart this evening as I’m eating myself out of house and home again.

Good morning! Partly clear ๐ŸŒ… and 41 degrees in Delmar, NY on this Veteran’s Day. ๐Ÿต There is a northwest breeze at 6 mph. ๐Ÿƒ. Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 10 pm. โ˜ƒ๏ธ Not so cold for a mid-November morning, though it won’t warm up that much and it will be breezy.

Up a bit before six o’clock โฐ though I was awake before then. Decided to do oatmeal-banana pancakes with chia seeds today, ๐Ÿฅž topped with shredded apples ๐ŸŽ mixed with boiled apple cider, cinnamon, ginger and heated in the microwave. It was good. I have to admit I also had a bit more of that soup I made up last night — chicken soup I guess — ๐Ÿฒ though it was more of a stew with rich earthy overtones with lots of cumin and ground chili spice. Also finally getting around to cooking some chickpeas, ๐Ÿ‘ฉ‍๐Ÿณ might make hummus or just have them with various meals. Mom was suggesting putting them in soups. I also like them with fresh fruit, kind of like a trail mix without as much as fat as nuts, though they can certainly be good mixed in a handful of almonds, blueberries, and raspberries. ๐Ÿฅœ

Today is Veterans Day, which will will be mostly sunny ๐ŸŒž, with a high of 46 degrees at 1pm. Five degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 23rd. Northwest wind 6 to 11 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became rain by afternoon. It became somewhat humid as the day progressed. The high last year was 69 degrees. The record high of 70 was set in 2002. 3.0 inches of snow fell back in 1906.โ„

I am thinking about riding out to Peebles Island State Park in Cohoes. ๐Ÿšฒ It’s about 17 miles or an hour and a half ride each way. I am thinking I would likely ride up to the park, bring a lunch, walk around Peebles Island and maybe a little bit in Cohoes along the Canal. ๐Ÿ“ท Going to be a nice sunny day with blue skies for pictures. Then ride back to Albany via the Empire Trail, and catch the 18 bus back home. ๐ŸšŒ as I expect by then I’ll probably be running low on daylight and pretty tired as it’s a big trip. ๐ŸŒ† Days are so short come mid-November. I am thinking my next out of town adventure will be in a little under two weeks — the day after Thanksgiving through the following Monday, probably Route 8 on East Branch. Some quiet time off the internet.

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 11:40 am with sun having an altitude of 30° from the due south horizon (-40.8° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 10.4 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour ๐Ÿ… starts at 3:57 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 4:38 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 10 seconds with dusk around 5:07 pm, which is one minute and 3 seconds earlier than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ The best time to look at the stars is after 5:42 pm. At sunset, look for mostly clear skies ๐ŸŒ„ and temperatures around 43 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 10 mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 56 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 16 seconds over today.

Money is just kind of tight ๐Ÿ’ณ after vacation and renewing my blog contract and all the trips I’ve been taking. โ›ฝ I ended up transferring in $750 from savings to ensure I had enough money to pay my credit card bill and maintain adequate balance in my bank account through the money. It’s not a pay week but come Wednesday, $1,300 goes out to the credit card. Already earned $135 from blog advertising, though I won’t get paid until mid-December under the Google Ad Sense rules that require a $100 minimum unpaid balance at end of the month to get paid, and then they hold your check for three weeks to verify it and collect interest on it. ๐Ÿจ I know, it’s kind of obnoxious but I’ll probably earn at least another $30 or $40 bucks before the month is done to tack on the $135. Web advertising is a bit of a mystery, based on bidding — one day I earned like $11 in ad revenue which is crazy compared to a buck or two most days and when you multiply it out over the months, especially for a small little blog like this. It’s good I’m staying home this weekend.

Truth is I have a lot of money coming in, ๐Ÿ”€ but the thing is as soon as it comes in a lot goes out. I am continuing to invest heavily into my retirement accounts ๐Ÿ‘ด as now is the time to do it while I’m relatively young and making good money, ๐Ÿ’ต and also into my investment accounts so they can continue to grow and own my own land eventually. While interest rates are up on my savings account — close to 5%, with inflation I figure it’s better to be going into the stock and bond market, especially over the long term. There will be a recession ๐Ÿ“‰ but eventually we’ll come out of it and things will grow. I am hopeful I can pay back my savings account in the next few months, especially as some of those short term expenses like vacation come and go, though soon I’ll have heating bills, though so far I’ve avoided using the heat, though yesterday โ™จ๏ธ I finally put the screens in my window and patched the air leaks around the door, ๐ŸชŸ as I know I’ll need the heat before long. I have the heated blanket ready to go but I haven’t put that on the bed yet, though I will be ready when those days come.

Tonight will be mostly clear ๐ŸŒƒ, with a low of 26 degrees at 6am. Seven degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 3rd. Northwest wind 5 to 7 mph becoming calm in the evening. In 2022, we had light rain in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It was somewhat humid. It got down to 49 degrees. The record low of 15 occurred back in 1976.

Yesterday, I rode out to Voorheesville ๐Ÿšฒ and spent a lot of time reading and watching video and reading material for yet another Udemy class that I get free from the library. ๐Ÿ“ฑ Last week I finished a class called the Fundamentals of Remote Sensing and Geospatial Analysis, now I am a few hours into a class on Remote Sensing and QGIS. Basically it’s all about using data collected from satellites ๐Ÿ“ก to learn about what is happening on the earth’s surface. ๐Ÿ“š I was going to go down to the library last night but I was tired and comfortable in my bed, after enjoying that soup that I made earlier int he day. ๐Ÿ›Œ I figure this is the time of year to learn more, and Remote Sensing is only going to improve my GIS skills, especially combined with the use of raster math both in QGIS and R programming language.

As previously noted, next Saturday is Regular Deer Season in Southern Zone ๐ŸฆŒ when the sun will be setting at 4:32 pm with dusk at 5:01 pm. On that day in 2022, we had partly cloudy skies, snow showers and temperatures between 43 and 28 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 48 degrees. Opened this morning in Vermont. We hit a record high of 71 back in 1928.

Old Railbed Follows the Creek