Good morning! Happy Ground Hog Day 🐻! Like a true Ground Hog Day I decided to walk out to Five Rivers Environmental Education Center 🐸 two days in a row. The rail trail is fine but there is more nature and bathrooms 🚽 at Five Rivers to take a piss. Plus hiking along 443, is always an adventure in its own right. Next Sunday is the Snow Moon. 🌕 Partly cloudy and 33 degrees at the Five Rivers Environmental Education Center. ⛅ There is a west-northwest breeze at 5 mph. 🍃.

Been feeling a lot better lately 👍 ever since the Lyme Disease symptoms have gone away. They didn’t disappear instantly when I got off the medication 💊 but two or three months out they’re totally gone and I’m enjoying doing a lot more walking. 🚶 The bicycle is fine 🚲 but walking is better for the whole body. 💪

Had some really blue skies and sun ☀ around 8 AM but by the time I started hiking out to Five Rivers for the second time this weekend it started to cloud up. But I like listening 👂 to the birds 🐦 and observing nature. I figure it might not be that nice come this afternoon. I also have some stuff I want to work on at the Bethlehem library before going out to the folks house this afternoon. 👪

Today will have a slight chance of snow before noon, then a chance of rain and snow after 2pm. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a high of 38 degrees at 1pm. Six degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around February 26th. Southwest wind around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 32 degrees. The record high of 53 was set in 1981. 11.9 inches of snow fell back in 2015.❄

I went shopping 🏪 yesterday and washed my truck in the evening 🚘 so I don’t have to do that today. Also got gas for Big Red, ⛽ thirstier than I thought but I haven’t gotten gas in about three weeks. As I said earlier, I do want to get down to the library books later on to do some work on the internet but I guess I can do it at my parents house 🏡 if it looks like it will pour this afternoon.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:10 pm with sun having an altitude of 30.5° from the due south horizon (-40.4° vs. 6/21). The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:29 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (241°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (248°) starting at 5:07 pm and lasts for 3 minutes and 9 seconds with dusk around 5:39 pm, which is one minute and 18 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon in the south-southeast (151°) at an altitude of 61° from the horizon, 246,044 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:14 pm. At sunset, look for possible rain showers 🌧 and snow showers 🌨 and temperatures around 35 degrees. Won’t freeze on the road most likely. There will be a southwest breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 10 hours of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 21 seconds over yesterday.

Yesterday I was in the Five Rivers discovery center, studying the bird 🐦 name display. All of the birds listed are incredibly common locally and I probably could identify most by memory but I’m not sure if I would be able to do it as part of a quiz show. 💭 I really should study up on bird and plant 🌿 identification.

I didn’t do a blog post last night as I was tired 😴 and there is a bug in the code that is keeping me from using the blog template at the first and last quarter 🌗 moon. I upgraded to a new library for moon phase predictions after the Navy stopped posting their moon tables as part of their website redesign. Plus I got reading 📖 that book about the loosing presidential candidates and how their losses changed America.

Tonight will snow likely, mainly before 11pm. Mostly cloudy 🌨, with a low of 30 degrees at 9pm. 15 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 27th. South wind 5 to 8 mph becoming west after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. I think it’s going to mostly be a nuisance snow if even that. In 2019, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 31 degrees. The record low of -18 occurred back in 1955.

🌹🌻🌼Only 46 days remain until the first day of calendar spring!🌹🌻🌼

That’s roughly six weeks away but the Ground Hog 🐻 is calling for an early spring. I have my doubts, I bet it will get cold by late February or early March but things could change. Varmints have a mixed record on predicting the weather, they’re much better at breaking tractor axles 🚜 and legs. Kind of like the mafia but more agricultural, digging holes in farm fields and eating crops. 🌽

Been continuing to research picnic table tents 🎪 to use during Memorial Day Weekend and my summer camping trip. While I hate to acquire more gear to store, maintain and ultimately dispose of – it would be nice to have a good sheltered place from the black flies in the spring and rainy days in the summer. Or even for camping in a site with limited shade and trees to hang stuff from. Where I can sit with a book or cook sheltered. 💭

As previously noted, next Sunday is the Snow Moon 🌕 when the sun will be setting at 5:18 pm with dusk at 5:48 pm. On that day in 2019, we had mostly sunny, snow showers and temperatures between 31 and 20 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 33 degrees. We hit a record high of 57 back in 1925.

Good morning! What day is it? Hump Day, of course. Three weeks to 7 PM Sunset 🌆. Mostly cloudy and 15 degrees in Delmar. ☁ Calm wind.There are 4.5 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ Things will start to thaw out at tomorrow around 6 am. 🌡️

This morning when I walked down to Stewart’s to buy milk, ☕the air had a tinge of manure 🐮 and wood smoke on it,🔥during this most cloudy of mornings prior to the snow and ice coming down later. ☁ I don’t really live in the country any more but on the outskirts of the suburbs as they start to peter out to the countryside.

After getting milk and having a breakfast of frozen fruit🍛🍒🍌 and cereal I walked down to the express bus. 🚌 I actually didn’t end up needing the milk today, but maybe tomorrow. Bus was running a little late, which was fine, it showed up but then we hit more traffic heading into the plaza. I don’t care that much about it, I’m not driving.

Today will have a chance of snow, mainly after 3pm. Cloudy 🌨, with a high of 28 degrees at 1pm. Eight degrees below normal. Calm wind becoming south 5 to 8 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than one inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny in the morning, which became partly cloudy by afternoon. The high last year was 63 degrees. The record high of 66 was set in 1930. 11.2 inches of snow fell back in 1977.❄

I’ll take 63 degrees for sure any day now. We are due for a spring thaw anytime🌱 now, maybe a bit later this week although I doubt we will see the sixties anytime soon. But one can hope and maybe God will listen. Trump doesn’t believe in global warming after all. But winters aren’t nearly as cold as once where.

Looking forward to the Pine Bush dinner tonight,🍝 it should be really good with the lasagna and Ward Stone speaking. 🎤 He’s getting up there in the years, so who knows how many opportunities there will be able to hear him in the coming years. He’s an authority on many things, especially things that the state government finds particularly unpleasant like the Coeymans Blue Circle Plant, that was poisoning everything nearby with mercury, at least until they “fixed” the plant with a big upgrade.🏭 Blue Circle Cement, later known as LaFarge, was built because Governor Thomas Dewey gave them a big tax break to build the non-union plant, to break the cement strike in New York. But we don’t talk about the history anymore.

But actually, Ward Stone is coming to talk about another state proposal, re-powering the old ANSWERS incinerator to work as a micro-grid power plant, that will burn natural gas for generations to come, as the climate warms,  🌍 to heat and cool the Empire Plaza and other state office buildings, and also generate electricity for the buildings, as an alternative to grid power — and act as a “jump start pack” for the electric grid, which may become more unstable 🔌 both when the climate becomes more unstable and more renewables are put on it.

Times change, and sometimes opportunities that once existed suddenly. So definitely come to the Pine Bush dinner, before it’s late. 🍽  6 PM tonight is the dinner, 7 PM is the free lecture. I think the dinner costs like $12 but I usually end up throwing in $15 or $20 for it.  Should be a great evening.

The sun will set at 5:34 pm with dusk around 6:02 pm, which is one minute and 16 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for snow showers 🌨 and temperatures around 27 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 8 mph. Today will have 10 hours and 50 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 46 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be periods of snow and sleet before 11pm, then periods of sleet between 11pm and midnight, then periods of freezing rain after midnight. 🌧 Low of 26 degrees at 6pm. Sounds like it could be pretty icy later. Well the bus will get me home from the Pine Bush dinner so I’m not that worried about it. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 16th. South wind around 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New ice accumulation of less than a 0.1 of an inch possible. New snow and sleet accumulation of less than one inch possible. In 2018, we had mostly clear in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 40 degrees. The record low of -10 occurred back in 2015.

Tomorrow will have a chance of rain and sleet before 7am, then a chance of rain between 7am and 10am. Partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 47 degrees at 2pm. 11 degrees above normal, which is similiar to a typical day around March 22nd. Breezy, with a south wind 6 to 11 mph becoming west 17 to 22 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 34 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Little or no sleet accumulation expected. Not sure if tomorrow I’ll be walking down to the Park and Ride. A year ago, we had mostly sunny in the morning, which became partly cloudy by afternoon. The high last year was 73 degrees. The record high of 73 was set in 2018. 11.0 inches of snow fell back in 1929.❄

Last night’s commute wasn’t too bad. 🚗🚗🚗🚃🚌🚐🚒🚚🚛 Traffic actually was pretty light due to the holiday weekend. I thought about cooking up some pasta for dinner, but decided on fish sticks and broccoli, as I wanted something different, as tonight is the Save the Pine Bush Dinner. 🐟 Laid back for a while, ate dinner, then hopped on the exercise bike. Really wasn’t that hungry,

Then I thought about going down to the library but decided that it would be a would be nice to go for a walk in the evening around 8 pm. 🚶In the meantime I decided to ride the exercise bike for an hour while listening to Fresh Air podcast with Andrew McCabe formerly of the FBI and then a video about about Core Memory. 🎧 I heard it first on the radio starting, but put on the podcast, so I could listen over my bluetooth headphones while on the bike. I’ll have to ask my neighbor if he can hear the rumble of the bike the next time I see him, but I try not to ride the bike much after 8:30 most nights.

Around 8:30 I went for my evening walk under the beautiful snow moon. 🌕 No problem walking in the darkness, plenty of light and the sidewalks were free of ice and snow for the most part. Pretty night but fairly cold but at least the wind had died down. 🍃 It was cold, but not that cold. That said, I’m certainly looking forward to nicer weather, sitting out back with a cold glass of orange juice 🍊 or maybe ice water with a drop of lemon juice in it.🍋

Came home and laid in bed watching a few YouTube videos🎥 I had previously downloaded, one about thermal storage of heat, 🔥 one about stocking rate of cattle on ranches, 🐮and one about off grid living. Then I took my contacts out and retired for the night. 👁I do like how the lights automatically remind me when it’s time for bed, automatically dimming at 10:10 pm😴. It really helps when you get to bed at a proper hour for boosting your sleep. I always try to bed down by the time the lights start dimming at 10:10 pm. It really is a good reminder.

I am definitely looking forward to those longer nights in a month with dusk not being until after 7:30 pm🕗 and hopefully for some warmer nights when I can sit out back, looking up at the stars. ✨ Usually I work on a blog post out back in the warmer weather, although now that I’ve built a system for downloading videos, I might actually watch one of the videos from the channels I’ve downloaded. Honestly, I’m not a big fan of staring at a screen, but I listen to them, and are learning a lot about many different topics, expanding my knowledge and hopefully my future.

Right now, a split verdict on the weekend. 😕 Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 41. Sunday, rain likely before 1pm, then showers likely, mainly after 4pm. Cloudy, with a high near 48. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Typical average high for the weekend is 37 degrees.

NOAA seems to think this weekend will be quite sunny, at least for the Save the Pine Bush hike. I am not sure I totally agree, but it will be mild for the ski trip. 🎿I know Sunday still looks to be quite wet, which looks like it will melt the snow, hopefully melting it away the rain and not turning to ice. I am a bit worried about ice again, so if your joining us, bring your microspikes. Skis might not work well.

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until 7 PM Sunset 🌆 with dusk at 7:27 pm (Daylight Savings Time). On that day in 2018, we had snow and temperatures between 34 and 30 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 43 degrees. We hit a record high of 70 back in 2012.

In four weeks on March 20 the sun will be setting at 7:07 pm (Daylight Savings Time),🌄 which is one hour, 33 minutes and 49 seconds later then today. In 2018 on that day, we had cold, partly sunny and temperatures between 37 and 15 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 46 and 27 degrees. The record high of 78 degrees was set back in 2012.

Looking ahead, 7 PM Sunset 🌆 is in 3 weeks, May 🕊 is in 10 weeks, 8:30 PM Sunset ️⛱️ is in 15 weeks and Inauguration Day 2021 👴🏻 is in 23 months.

Good morning! Happy February! Tomorrow is the most important day of the year, Ground Hog Day! 🐻 Four weeks to March 🌨. That’s some news you can use! Partly sunny and negative one degrees in Delmar. Don’t be negative, very positive, warmer weather is in the forecast the next few days. Calm wind.There are 8.5 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Things will start to thaw out at Sunday around 11 am. 🌡️

Definitely a cold morning today although the bright sun was quite pleasant. 😎 But definitely a cold start, I think it was around negative ten and it was clear that the heat downstairs was struggling to keep up.

Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 16 degrees at 3pm. 16 degrees below normal. Maximum wind chill around -9 at 8am; West wind 3 to 6 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy in the morning, which became mostly sunny by afternoon. The high last year was 39 degrees. The record high of 65 was set in 1989. 15.0 inches of snow fell back in 1898.❄

The sun will set at 5:09 pm with dusk around 5:39 pm, which is one minute and 19 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for mostly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 13 degrees. Almost toasty compared to the weather of recent. There will be a west breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 10 hours of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 23 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 1 degrees at 3am. 14 degrees below normal. Maximum wind chill around -6 at 1am; Light and variable wind. In 2018, we had cloudy in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 7 degrees. The record low of -18 occurred back in 1961.

Saturday will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a high of 31 degrees at 4pm. One degrees below normal, which is similiar to a typical day around January 30th. South wind 5 to 8 mph becoming west in the afternoon. A year ago, we had partly cloudy in the morning, which became mostly sunny by afternoon. The high last year was 34 degrees. The record high of 53 was set in 1981. 11.9 inches of snow fell back in 2015.❄

Looking ahead to Sunday, a slight chance of rain after 1pm, mixing with snow after 4pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 36. ⛅ Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 20%. Typical average high for the weekend is 32 degrees.

Woke up around 6 AM, decided that I was cold, so I ended up turning on the electric heat in my bedroom. I normally don’t but I was kind chilly as the gas heat downstairs wasn’t letting enough upstairs.💢 Hot water, while cold at first in the bathroom worked well. I was up early enough I could have taken the express bus downtown but I decided it was too cold to walk down there.

Yesterday’s commute home wasn’t too bad. 🚗🚙🚚🚛🚌Traffic was fairly light, I made it home and heated up some burritos then went over to John Wolcott’s house for a bit in Sheridan Hollow to continue sorting his papers. I ended up watching about an hour of Mary Paly’s film about her husband Bob Paley the Knickerbocker News photographer who captured much of the news photography in Albany during the 1960s.🎥 Definitely a dramatic time in Albany, kind of interesting to be there in the same room with probably the man who did more to preserve Albany’s history during the intervening decades since then.

Big Red despite sitting for five days started right up. With the days sunshine, the solar panel fully recharged the accessory battery giving the starting battery enough kick that the engine started like it was warm at negative two degrees tonight.🔋 The accessory battery was at 12.9 volts on meter in the truck cap at six o’clock. I had minimal problems getting it out of park, it seems to be less problematic when it’s around 0 than around 20. I am definitely glad I cleaned off the panel yesterday morning.

I guess it’s been cold outside but with work, some planning on avoiding the outdoors and buses that have been close to on-time the past few days I’ve not noticed the cold.❄ Granted I’ve worn my sweater in my office and in the days it’s been pretty pleasant with the sun radiating in on the south side windows in my office. Once again my Christmas cactus has been looking a bit sick again but then it perks up. I’m starting to think it got to dried out again or maybe it’s suffering from the root disease again. 🌾I’m really not sure. I guess if it doesn’t make it, I’ll make another pot of the spider plant as that is certainly healthy.

Bought some ant bait and stuck it on the counter and on the floor. The ants previously seemed to be gone, maybe because I’ve been more aggressive at cleaning the counter but I spotted a few last evening. 🐜 None this morning though. I don’t know, hopefully this will help. I also got fabric superglue to fix my ski boots so hopefully I can enjoy some skiing on Sunday. Depends on the weather.

In the mail yesterday I got the replacement board for the headphone jack on my laptop so that should be fully fixed by the weekend so I won’t have to always carry around the external USB audio dongle. 🎧 Shouldn’t be a difficult repair and it only cost me $12 for a tested used board. I also got two more HC – 06 bluetooth modules, one which I plan to use as a dedicated communications channel between the LED lamp above my bed and the color temperature controlled LED lamp across my bedroom for better virtual sunrises and control of the light in my room.♒ I was originally going to use the built-in Bluetooth of the esp32 but I wasn’t sure how was it would be to have multiple Bluetooth connections from that one device.

Made waffles with blueberries this morning and lots of coffee. ☕ Nice and toasty by the time I got out of bed and sat at my desk looking out of the frost covered window. Waffles were good, I probably spent a good half hour just looking out at the cold. Made it in decent time to the bus stop, not too much of a wait which was good as a I left my hat and gloves in the office. 🚏

In four weeks on March 1 the sun will be setting at 5:45 pm,🌄 which is 36 minutes and 2 seconds later then today. In 2018 on that day, we had partly cloudy skies and otherwise mild conditions with some snow showers early and temperatures between 50 and 35 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 39 and 21 degrees. The record high of 66 degrees was set back in 2017.

Looking ahead, March 🌨 is a month away, Ides of March ✝ is in 6 weeks, April Fools Day 🤡 is in 2 months, May 🕊 is in 3 months, Memorial Day Weekend Starts 🏕️ is in 16 weeks, June 🍹 is in 4 months, July 🏊🏿 is in 5 months, Dog Days of Summer 🌻 is in 22 weeks and August 🌻 is in 6 months.