Search Results for: photo water container

Changes I’m Making to My Coolers This SUmmer

When I camp, I always like to have a fresh supply of fish, meat, vegetables, milk and cheese. I’ve long used two coolers in the warmest part of summer, one for drinks like bee, and condiments that are less critical to stay cold, and one for milk and meat which must remain cold for the weekend but only will be opened occasionally over the trip.

After Breakfast

This year, I am changing a few things….

Old Plastic Coffee Containers rather then Milk Jugs
The coffee containers when snapped shut, generally do not leak water at all. They do “sweat” from the moisture being attracted to the cold, but they don’t leak or leave the bottom of the cooler swamped with water.

Salt-Water rather then Regular Water
Salt water freezes at a lower temperature then regular water. That means more energy is stored in the water, which means it will thaw out slower, drawing more energy out of the surrounding foods, keeping them cooler longer then they would otherwise be, ensuring that even on the hottest long-summer weekends, the coolers will remain cold.

January 26, 2023 Night

Good evening! Clouds ☁️ and 29 degrees for the evening walk 🚶. There is a west breeze at 10 mph. 🍃 with gusts up to 22 mph 💨💨💨. Zero chance of seeing that metroid that they are talking about unless it hits the earth with a big bang. There are 4 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Things will start to thaw out at tomorrow around 11 am. 🌡️

Probably didn’t need to go for a walk 🚶 tonight but extra steps are good and I like walking. Helps pass the time and it’s healthy.

The big forty is what’s on my mind tonight. 🎂 I mean I know it’s just a number and most people eventually hit it but it’s not something you ever give much thought about when you are young. The day will come and go like all do, and what matters is what you make of it as one step towards the future 🔮 but it’s such a big number. Been doing a lot of reading about the meaning of turning forty and I guess the best thing about being in your forties is you don’t give a rats ass what others think about you not that I ever really did.

Tonight will have a slight chance of snow showers before midnight. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 26 degrees at 4am. 11 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 15th. Maximum wind chill around 26 at 5am; West wind 5 to 10 mph becoming light after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 26 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2022, we had light snow. It got down to 23 degrees. The record low of -23 occurred back in 1994.

I went to the library for the first time in several weeks 📚 mostly to use the internet, I didn’t get any books out. The library since the pandemic seems so much more crowded than the past. With my unlimited phone plan I mostly just use my phone 📱 but for coding purposes and data intensive things it’s best to go to the library. Plus cell service lately has been unreliable locally since the storm yesterday.

Tonight will have a Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon with 32% illuminated. At 8 PM, the moon was in the west-southwest (244°) at an altitude of 30° from the horizon, some 234,343 miles away from where you are looking up from the earth. 🚀 Can’t see it through the clouds. At the state speed limit of 55 mph, you’ll make it there by July 23rd. Buckle up for safety! 💺

The moon will set in the west (276°) at 10:56 pm. The Snow ❄ Moon is on Sunday, February 5. The darkest hour is at 12:09 am, followed by dawn at 6:46 am, and sun starting to rise at 7:16 am in the east-southeast (115°) and last for 3 minutes and 12 seconds. Sunrise is 51 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 7:59 am with sun in the east-southeast (123°). Tonight will have 14 hours and 10 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 2 minutes and 9 seconds over last night.

I filled up the water 💦 container and loaded up the propane tank to be filled after I go to the dentist and then I plan to head up to the woods to ski 🎿 and camp ⛺ on my final day of being in my thirties. I just sleep better and are happier in the woods. 🌲🌲 But first the evening walk 🚶. Also may need more coffee ☕ before I run out.

Tomorrow will have a slight chance of snow showers after noon, mixing with rain after 1pm. Mostly cloudy 🌞, with a high of 37 degrees at 2pm. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around February 18th. Light southwest wind. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning, which became snow by afternoon. The high last year was 28 degrees. The record high of 62 was set in 1974. 9.3 inches of snow fell back in 1963.❄

In four weeks on February 23 the sun will be setting in the west-southwest (258°) at 5:38 pm,🌄 which is 36 minutes and 21 seconds later then tonight. In 2021 on that day, we had mostly cloudy, snow showers and temperatures between 38 and 28 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 38 and 20 degrees. The record high of 69 degrees was set back in 2017.

Looking ahead, Ground Hog Day 🐻 is Next Thursday, Average High is 35 ☀️ is in three weeks, Read Across America Day 📚 is in 5 weeks, Arbor Day 🌳 is in 13 weeks, 8:30 PM Dusk 🌆 is in 14 weeks, 8 PM Sunset 🌇 is in 14 weeks, 9 PM Dusk 🌆 is in 18 weeks, June 🍹 is in 18 weeks, 8:30 PM Sunset 🌇 is in 19 weeks, Ugly Truck Day 🚚 is in 25 weeks, Campfire Day 🔥 is in 27 weeks, National Dog Day 🐩 is in 7 months, Columbus Day 🛥️ is in 37 weeks, Average High is 60 🍂 is in 38 weeks, Thanksgiving 🦃 is in 43 weeks, First Day of Winter ☃️ is in 47 weeks, Boxing Day 🥊 is in 11 months and 4:30 PM Sunset 🌆 is in 48 weeks.

Franklin Roosevelt's Car

NY 8 and the true cost of litter 🚮

NY 8 and the true cost of litter 🚮

I was walking a remote section of NY 8 the other day, noticing the various pieces of litter along the road side. Some of it is intentional garbage dumping – the worn out television and recliner, the lamp shade – but a lot of it is packing from go food – plastic water bottles, beer cans, burrito and burger wrappers, french fries holders like you get from many a fast food chain.

Probably very few people litter but many pass by this road, and the occasional burger wrapper and beer can out the window adds up. Probably far more toss the wrapper in their car’s backseat and then put it into a designated garbage can, emptied and hauled to the outskirts of the city to be added to the ever growing mountains of garbage.

Go food might make people happy but it’s a temporary high one quickly consumed and discarded. Often the prices at gas stations and grease pits are far marked up from a sandwich made at home or reusable water or juice container. Money wasted that could be invested towards improving your life and future. Money spent on fatty foods and intoxicating beverages and more generally garbage now littering our roadsides.

Litter

Good Evening – August 15, 2021

Good evening! Sitting on the Kane Firetower waiting for the sun to set 🗼

Partly clear and 69 degrees at the Kane Mountain Firetower. Light breeze. The dew point is 51 degrees. A very clear evening 🌃 for sure, good for watching the sunset. With the low dew point I can easily see the other side of the Mohawk Valley including some of the silos on the Schoharie side. Also the wind turbines on the ridge outside of the Adirondack Park.

It’s been a nice weekend up north, ☺ with way too many beer boiled clams, sausage and sweet corn 🦪🍻🌽 and swimming 🏊🏻‍♂️ holes and about 25 miles of hiking – well over 15 miles was today alone. Camped at the House Pond Campsite 2 again. Today I hiked from Seeley Road in Knapville to Dexter Lake and then to Spectacle Lake and then to Waters Mill Pond. Then about two hours in the evening cooling off in the Potholers, followed by a sunset hike up Kane Mountain. Now to drive home by 10 pm.

Yesterday, I hiked back to House Pond which had a lot of blow down over parts of the trail. 🎋 There was a bad thunderstorm ⛈ in July that I remember seeing on the news 📰 that caused some big trees to come down, but at least it didn’t wash out the road much or if it did Stratford had already fixed it. Looks like they had to saw and remove multiple trees off Piseco-Powley Road that had came down it and I could hear them cutting downed trees at the hunting camp down the road and I saw them leaving with several pickup trucks full of wood.

Also yesterday I hiked along the Edick Road Snowmobile Trail and then back to Edick Road Campsite #1 out along the ledge overlooking the East Canada Creek, spotting a photographing a doe up close. 🦌 I climbed down the gorge wall and watched the various birds 🐦 in the grass lands along that grassy part of the river. Then more clams, corn and sausage. And back to Potholers.

Friday was even more lazy — it was fairly hot. Many hours reading and learning more about Python, 🐍 and then I hiked to Potholers. 🏊‍♀️ Then after I got back to camp, I swam at the swimming hole across the road from House Pond Campsite 2 until dusk, listening to a podcast, started a fire 🔥 had more clams, 🕹 laid back in hammock until it started to pour 🌧 and then hung out under the tarp as it rained some more listening to podcasts until 11 PM.

Thursday, was a rather late start because it was so humid and I was on vacation and was lazy. I screwed up and didn’t get my turn signal on time for Sandell Farm’s to get sweet corn, and ended up going to Rogers Orchard to get sweet corn and blueberries. 🍎 Then I ended up running to Wally World and forgetting the main reason I wanted to go there — to get coffee. ☕ I like the large coffee containers they have there not just because they are inexpensive on a per pound basis, they make great containers for making ice in for camping. Or “donating” to the state to put toilet paper in the outhouses, to keep the racoons from shredding it. 🚽 I was hoping to check out Willie Marsh 🐸 but I got on the wrong road, so I didn’t go by there. I finally got camp around 12:30, set things up, made my first batch of clams, 🕹 and they were good. Swam in the swimming hole across the way from House Pond Campsite, 🏊‍♀️ which might not be the potholers, but it’s right next door. Sat back in the hammock for a while listening to some music 🎼 and the news 📻, then had a fire. 🔥 The wood sure was wet that first night, and it was a bit smokey until I got it going well.

October 12, 2020 Morning

Good morning! Happy Columbus Day ! ⛵ 🍂 Cloudy but no rain yet and 43 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁️ There is a east-southeast breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. The skies will clear tomorrow around 5 pm.

Cool but not a bad autumn morning. ☁️ More sun though would be nice. It was a nice weekend 🍂 and I sort of wish I had headed out of town but I did get some nice hiking in at Hand Hollow Conservation Area and the State Forest of the same name, followed by a visit to the Ooms Conservation Area, an open fields birding area 🐦 above a water supply pond near the Ooms Dairy 🐮 in Columbia County. Speiglton Lake is quite pretty little Reservoir nestled in the hills although certainly parts of Hands Hollow were noisy from the Lebanon Valley Speedway and being race day. 🏎🏎 Looked like a good place to hunt on the state forest, as the woods is fairly thin and full of wildlife 🌲🌲🌲 and it’s less known as a newer state forest. Outside of Speiglton Lake there aren’t a lot of trails but most of the woods is quite accessible as long as you have a good map 🗺 to stay on public property.

After hiking I bought stuff to make good baked Macoroni and Cheese 🧀 and it came out pretty good, washed down with a bunch of beer 🍻. And I have meals 🍴 for all week and I might end up freezing it in smaller containers for more food later on so I’m not just eating the same thing over and over this week.

Columbia County with all those monied folks in those old houses is quite a trip. 🏣 So many houses with Black Lives Matters signs and Biden Harris lawn signs. I had to joke to myself that there are more people with Black Lives Matters signs then there are black people in that part of the county. 🤨 I bet though running a dairy in that area must be a bit challenging with the gentrifiers finding every reason to complain. 🐄

Columbus Day 🍂⛵ will have a slight chance of rain between 2pm and 3pm. Cloudy 🌧, with a high of 53 degrees at 1pm. Eight degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 2nd. Southeast wind 6 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies. The high last year was 66 degrees. The record high of 85 was set in 1954. There was a dusting of snow in 1904.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:42 pm with sun having an altitude of 39.8° from the due south horizon (-31.1° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 7.2 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 5:41 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (254°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (260°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 6:19 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 56 seconds with dusk around 6:45 pm, which is one minute and 39 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 7:20 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 52 degrees. There will be a east-southeast breeze at 8 mph. Today will have 11 hours and 11 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 48 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will rain, mainly after 1am. Patchy fog after 2am. 🌧 Low of 49 degrees at 9pm. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around September 27th. East wind around 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 42 degrees. The record low of 24 occurred back in 1981.

So yeah its not going to be a real nice day. 🌥 I’m going over to John Wolcott house to do more filming tonight 📼, we will see how things go. With work I’m not sure if I’ll have much free time to get over there and go through his files 📂 though until November.

A picture perfect weekend on tap. 😎 Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 55. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 56. Typical average high for the weekend is 59 degrees.

I would really like to get out of town this weekend ⛺ but I have to make sure I have good cell service 📱 for work. I’m still leaning towards Madison County at this point. Things could change – some forecasts are more pessimistic especially for Friday but I’ll continue to watch it an decide. Turns out that weather wise the past weekend would have been nicer. ☀️⛵🍂

Looking ahead, there are 7 weeks until Cyber Monday 🛍️ and Beaver Moon 🐻 🌕 when the sun will be setting at 4:23 pm with dusk at 4:54 pm (Standard Time). On that day in 2019, we had mostly sunny and temperatures between 33 and 19 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 42 degrees. We hit a record high of 67 back in 1933. Probably have to turn the heat back on by then. ♨

Getting Campfire Going

September 22, 2020 Night

Good evening! Clear and 55 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌌There is a northwest breeze at 8 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 42 degrees.

This evening after work I was back over at John Wolcott’s house, continuing to look through his Fort Orange file. 📂 I found some interesting photos which I posted last night. ⚒ It was a a nice evening but by the time I had dinner it was too late for the evening walk 🚶🏻.

I really enjoyed being downtown at working in a real office. 🏢 Simply said, my wooden chair on a painters bench isn’t really comfortable for working and both the cellular internet and the Wi-Fi at the library parking lot 🅿 are slow compared to working directly over the ethernet with the big monitor I have at the office. 🖥️ I think as long as the pandemic remains in control I will start working downtown on Tuesdays going forward 🏙, but heading in and staying late to avoid crowded buses. 🚌

Tonight will be clear 🌃, with a low of 48 degrees at 5am. One degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around September 24th. Northwest wind around 8 mph. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It was humid. It got down to 66 degrees. The record low of 32 occurred back in 1963.

Tonight will have a First Quarter 🌓 Moon with 37% illuminated. At 10 PM, the moon was in the west-southwest (236°) at an altitude of 3° from the horizon, some 230,026 miles away from where you are looking up from the earth. 🚀 At the state speed limit of 55 mph, you’ll make it there by March 16th. Buckle up for safety! 💺You don’t want to get into a crash when you are on a rocket. The moon will set in the west-southwest (240°) at 10:20 pm. The Hunter 🏹 Moon is on Thursday, October 1. The darkest hour is at 12:49 am, followed by dawn at 6:16 am, and sun starting to rise at 6:44 am in the east (89°) and last for 2 minutes and 53 seconds. Sunrise is one minute and 5 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 7:21 am with sun in the east (95°). Tonight will have 11 hours and 52 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 52 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 72 degrees at 2pm. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around September 17th. Maximum dew point of 52 at 3pm. Northwest wind 7 to 15 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. It became humid as the day progressed. The high last year was 86 degrees. The record high of 97 was set in 1895.

Tomorrow I want to get packed up for camping 🏕 and go grocery shopping. 🛒 I am out of most food 🍲 so I ended up eating the last of the pasta I had at home which was okay 👌🏻 but nothing to celebrate. I especially don’t like eating a lot of pasta before bed 🛏 but I was hungry and that’s all I had.

In four weeks on October 20 the sun will be setting in the west-southwest (256°) at 6:04 pm,🌄 which is 47 minutes and 23 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had partly cloudy, patches of fog and temperatures between 54 and 34 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 58 and 38 degrees. The record high of 80 degrees was set back in 1965.

That article on Vermont banning disposable glass bottles was definitely an interesting one. 🍶While many recycling programs claim to take back glass ♻, in many cases its a scam because the recycled glass is just pulverized and used for landfill road backfill instead of gravel. Glass is such a nuisance in farm country to this day, it gets into hay and kills cows and cuts feet. Farm trash dumps are full of it because it doesn’t burn. 🔥 Plastics may also be problematic but at least it tends not to be quite as harmful as glass, at least mechanically but it is more toxic ☠ when it goes up into smoke or is ground up in the water or soil. Honestly, the solution is more refillable containers like used to be common. As the sign at Byrne Dairy says, get your milk in (returnable/refillable) glass and have less trash. ⬇️🗑

Looking ahead, Election Day 2019 🗳️ is in 6 weeks, Average High is 50 🍂 is in 7 weeks, Regular Deer Season in Southern Zone 🦌 is in 8 weeks, December 🎄 is in 10 weeks, Bill of Rights Day 📜 is in 12 weeks, Days are Getting Longer ☀️ is in 3 months, Cold Moon 🌕 is in 14 weeks, National Bird Day 🐧 is in 15 weeks, 5:30 PM Dusk 🌆 is in 18 weeks and Ground Hog Day 🐻 is in 19 weeks.

Plains Road

August 6, 2020 Night

Good evening! Partly clear and 70 degrees in Delmar, NY. Calm wind. The dew point is 58 degrees. 🌃 Another quite pleasant mid summer evening with the crickets 🦗 singing their song. 🎶

Called the forest service today 🌲 to confirm that camping 🏕 was still open after the earlier Coronavirus closure. It is.. Did some packing but the first half of the day I was super groggy for unknown reasons. 😴 Didn’t do the laundry 👚 as I figured do it all on Friday while I work before heading out in the evening. Assuming tomorrow evening isn’t a complete washout.

I discovered I had accidentally deleted the code that allows me to display charts 📊 and history comparisons today but if you hit refresh 🔄 that should be good now. Also uploaded a few other new things. Then it was a busy afternoon at work, getting things lined up before vacation. 🏖 Went to the Town Park and worked on the blog for a bit.

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌃 , with a low of 58 degrees at 3am. Three degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around August 27th. Maximum dew point of 58 at 9pm. Light north wind. In 2019, we had partly cloudy skies. It was sticky. It got down to 69 degrees. The record low of 46 occurred back in 1994.

Tonight will have a Waining Gibbous 🌖 Moon with 88% illuminated. The moon will rise at 10:08 pm. The darkest hour is at 1:02 am, followed by dawn at 5:22 am, and sun starting to rise at 5:54 am in the east-northeast (66°) and last for 3 minutes and 9 seconds. Sunrise is one minute and 3 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 6:33 am with sun in the east-northeast (73°). Tonight will have 9 hours and 45 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 20 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have isolated showers, then scattered showers and thunderstorms after noon. Partly sunny 🌦, with a high of 76 degrees at 3pm. Six degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around September 5th. Maximum dew point of 63 at 6pm. Light and variable wind becoming east around 5 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became rain by afternoon. It was very sticky. The high last year was 84 degrees. The record high of 102 was set in 1918.

I started packing this evening and doing some cleaning during the downtime today. 🧹 The beer 🍻 is in the fridge being chilled, I started packing clothes 👖 and the water containers are loaded in the truck. I’ll do the kayak 🛶 and propane tomorrow.

I am thinking of leaving tomorrow after work for Madison County 🐮 but I might not leave until Saturday morning early if Friday night is going to be a real washout. While I’d rather be farther west and break the trip up going out there not if it means camping the first night in the pouring rain. ⛈️ I don’t want to get soaked my first night of camping. Still thinking about the mid state route via NY 13 and Cortland.

Weather looks pretty good for next week 👌based on the at least some forecast models but others show more clouds 🌥 and rain. It’s summer and it’s a crap shoot but if the weather is too bad I’ll just stay in camp and read 📖. Nice thing about the National Forest is you can camp for up to two weeks, no permit needed.

Been drinking a lot more water 🥤 with lemon juice in it. 🍋 Much healthier than all that apple 🍏 juice I’ve been drinking lately. No sugar in it although I’m sure the acid ain’t great for the teeth but I still drink plenty of milk. 🥛Plus a whole lot less plastic trash. ♻

In four weeks on September 3 the sun will be setting in the west (281°) at 7:25 pm,🌄 which is 43 minutes and 17 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had mostly sunny, shallow fog and temperatures between 79 and 55 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 77 and 56 degrees. The record high of 100 degrees was set back in 1953.

Looking ahead, 6:30 Sunrise 🌇 is in 5 weeks, Constitution Day 📜 is in 6 weeks, October 🛥 and Harvest Moon 🌕 is in 8 weeks, Average High is 60 🍂 is in 10 weeks, Thanksgiving 🦃 is in 16 weeks, First Sunday of Advent ✝️ is in 4 months, Saint Nicholas Day 🎅 is in 4 months, 7:15 AM Sunrise ⌛️ is in 18 weeks, Christmas Eve 🎅 is in 20 weeks, New Years Eve 🎆 is in 21 weeks, Coldest Week of the Year 🌬 is in 23 weeks, Wolf Moon 🌕 is in 25 weeks, Save the Pine Bush Turns 43 🦋 is in 6 months, Don’t Cry over Spilled Milk Day 🥛 is in 27 weeks and National Drink Wine Day 🍷 is in 28 weeks.