Good morning! Final week of the Legislative Session. Or so I’m hoping. Sitting downtown at a railway station 🚉 one toke over the line. Or so goes the Brewer and Shipley song on the radio. Next Monday is Latest Sunset of the Year 🌆. About a half week after the first day of summer, due to the shifting transit of the sun. Now if the sun ever came out, we could enjoy that more. Maybe today. Partly sunny and 68 degrees in Delmar, NY. Calm wind. The dew point is 57 degrees. Going to a nice day.

Feeling fairly decent this morning, 😀 only with a minor headache that isn’t bothering me too much. DIdn’t feel all that great after going to see my parents house, but then I went home and got to bed fairly early. I was originally planning to spend the night at my parents house in the camper shell, but it was kind of rainy, wet evening, so I decided to go home. 👔 I think it was a good thing though, because it gave me time last night to get my shirts hung up, and clothes put away before this most busy of weeks at work. I am just allergic to Mondays, or so I think. I did clean up the mildew in the bathroom, especially in the tub, 🛀 so hopefully that will help.

Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 79 degrees at 4pm. Nice weather, with temperatures typical for today. Maximum dew point of 57 at 8am. Low humidity, nice. Calm wind becoming north around 5 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 90 degrees. Much hotter. The record high of 94 was set in 1994.

I fully expect a long day at work. I packed lunch and dinner, and hopefully I will be able to find room in one of multiple mini-refigerators that have in the office to make up for the big dead one. 🍗🌯😋 I am guessing I will be taking the 9:45 or 10:30 bus home tonight, 🚌 but the nice thing about the bus, is even if I’m in a daze and tired, I don’t have to worry about the traffic lights or hitting something. Plus, I think most of the drivers know my stop, and I’ll set the alarm on the phone for 5 minutes before I expect to need to get off the bus. I’m going to take each day by day this morning, and only get my truck in evening if I expect to be released between 11:30 PM and 6 AM — which seems unlikely.

The sun will set at 8:35 pm with dusk around 9:10 pm, which is 21 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for partly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 72 degrees. The dew point will be 56 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 15 hours and 18 minutes of daytime, an increase of 15 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have isolated showers after 11pm. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 59 degrees at 4am. Two degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around June 22nd. Maximum dew point of 56 at 7pm. Calm wind. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2018, we had mostly clear skies. It became sticky as the night progressed. It got down to 71 degrees. The record low of 39 occurred back in 1958.

Looks like a really nice weekend. Two options are on the short list for the weekend. ⛺ My preferred option would be to leave after work on Friday for Piseco Powley Road, paddle Lily Lake from Stewart Landing, see the Lilies 🌸, have a nice fire 🔥 and maybe do the Potholers on Sunday. I also want to hike back to Dexter Lake but I doubt I’ll be able to do that in a weekend. It would be nice to get back to the Adirondacks — the last time I was up in the area was in early May, and I would like to see Lily Lake before the lilies are gone, like happened last year.

But that all depends on how long the legislative session goes this week. 🏯 If I’m at work until 3 AM on Friday I’m not going to drive up to the Adirondacks unless maybe they give us Friday off. I also need time to pack 💼 and pick up some supplies although I guess I could stop on my way out there. It’s possible but unlikely that Wednesday will be the very late night. Maybe things could go into Friday daytime but I doubt it. I am not going to kill myself to get up there on a lack of sleep 😴 with Friday traffic.

The alternative is a Schoharie County trip. 🏊 Mine Kill pool opens Saturday so I could hike the trails around there, swim in the pool, ⛺ camp at Burnt Rossman, 🚶 hike the Cliffs of Middleburgh or Vromans Nose, fish the Schoharie Creek 🐠 and swim again. That could be nice alternative. I always like to do a few Schoharie County trips during the summer weekends, especially once that sweet corn is out. But I could get some strawberries 🍓 and maybe tomatoes 🍅 are Boriengers this weekend. If that’s the option I’m stuck with, which really wouldn’t be bad but I’d prefer the Adirondacks.

Wiring projects are done on the truck. 🔋I’m really interested to see how things preform with the additional battery, and how much power I’m actually getting out of the solar panel in various conditions. With the clouds yesterday, I only have a total of 82 watt hours from the panel, but to be fair it was cloudy and rainy yesterday, and the solar controlled floated the batteries after I had driven a bit with the alternator doing most of the topping off. I was thinking I am pretty much done with wiring projects, but now I’m thinking about getting an MPPT solar controller. ☀ That would help with charging the batteries better in low light conditions, and they’ve certainly come down in price, even if a decent quality one — like the Renology Rover, which I found for sale as low as $80. But not right away, as it would require some moving around of components and cutting new wires, and I’m in no rush to do it, when my existing PWM controller works just fine, and may be more then suitable for all my needs. Plus $80 bucks is money spent today is money that can’t be saved for a future, when I have land and actual need for a real MPPT solar controller for my off-grid home.

It will be interesting to see what happens with marijuana this week. 🚬 For sure. I think it’s an interesting agriculture crop 🌾, especially after reading that article this weekend in the Buffalo News that I shared below about the possibility of home growing. Turns out it’s a pretty easy crop to grow in a backyard flower pot, which is not surprising as you sometimes find it growing in the woods. I think it could get people interested in gardening and agriculture, although I do think there are legitimate concerns about the smoke and odors of people burning it especially in urban areas. It really stinks and the odor lingers around — I can tell when people are smoking pot in the parking lot 100 feet from my place — or when somebody gets on the bus after smoking.💨 Few things besides mucking a hog or dairy barn are as pungent in the air or on your clothes. 🐽

Hopefully with the majority of the nation’s population legalizing it we can see national action as that would make it easier for growers and avoid potential headaches for gun owners with the existing laws, although I’m not sure how they’d know if you bought legal pot or not. It might be a fun crop to grow in a pot or garden with other herbs and veggies 🌿 and cure when I own land, although I doubt I’d ever pay the high price for it commercially. 💰 Maybe if I got it free at a reception or party, but I’m not going to spend $20 bucks for a hit of it at some fancy-pansy commercial place. I would never use it heavy, but maybe a few times a year, a hit or some pot brownies would be good, especially when I own my own land.🍰

On this day in 1972, Five White House operatives are arrested for burgling the offices of the Democratic National Committee,👮 in an attempt by some members of the Republican party to illegally wiretap their opposition. 👂This would become the basis for the Watergate scandal. Then Tom Paxton wrote a fun song about it. Had they not burglarized the Watergate, Mr. Paxton would have had to write a different song. The DNC stuck there for decades after, but lately has moved to a newer shiny office building of their own.

As previously noted, next Monday is Latest Sunset 🌆 when the sun will be setting at 8:37 pm with dusk at 9:12 pm. On that day in 2018, we had rain and temperatures between 76 and 61 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 80 degrees. We hit a record high of 96 back in 1943.

Good evening! After some rain, it’s now cloudy and 68 degrees at my parents house in Westerlo, NY. ☁ There is a northwest breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 66 degrees. Rained and thundered for an hour or so but not so hard that the rain made it into the truck cap, as often happens with heavy rains.

My parents loss power at their house, but I didn’t notice for a while — I thought the Wi-Fi just dropped because the lights powered by the battery and solar panel continued burning brightly. 🌃I switched over to my phone’s 4G network and only noticed the lights were out at my parents house after I saw somebody mentioned the power loss on the Facebook. For many reasons, including reliability, that’s why when I own land and a house, I’m planning on going the off-grid route. ⚡Sure off-grid systems fail, but when they do, you can usually fix them yourself rather then wait for the grid operator to fix the poles and the plants. 🕯Usually too your less reliant on the electric power living off-grid, so your more prepared to make appropriate adjustments.

Tonight will have showers and thunderstorms likely before midnight, then a chance of showers. Some of the storms could produce gusty winds and heavy rain. Mostly cloudy ☔ , with a low of 61 degrees at 4am. One degree above normal. Maximum dew point of 66 at 8pm. Northwest wind around 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. In 2017, we had mostly cloudy skies, clearing in the early hours of the next day. It got down to 58 degrees. The record low of 45 occurred back in 1982.

Tonight will have a Waxing Gibbous Moon 🌔 with 92% illuminated. The moon will set at 3:42 am. The 🌕 is on Wednesday night with showers. The sun will rise at 5:18 am with the first light at 4:43 am, which is 20 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 Tonight will have 8 hours and 41 minutes of darkness, an increase of 15 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming sunny , with a high of 76 degrees at 3pm. Four degrees below normal. Maximum dew point of 58 at 6am. North wind 9 to 15 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. It was somewhat humid. The high last year was 80 degrees. The record high of 95 was set in 1898.

Definately got warmer and more humid as the day progressed. 🌶 We had a little bit of sun for a while but that disappeared later on. Then before I headed out to the store it’s started to pour. 💦 Strangely enough after I cleaned the sap off the windshield earlier in the day, I had zero problems driving in the rain. Not a lot of rain all told but for a while it picked up. 🌧 The more the better. 🔥 We need all the rain we can get to avoid burn bans should it get hot and dry come July.😎

I had a nice dinner at my parents house and now are camping in my truck. As I mentioned earlier, it rained for a bit earlier, but now I expect a fairly nice evening. Might open the windows for ventilation in my truck.

I hooked up my laptop to my monitor and desktop keyboard and worked on some code last night into this morning,💻 although I have to admit those projects were mostly bust — especially my effort to streamline the Nano code using pointers and references — I kept messing it up. I guess I’m learning.🎓 I rarely end up using my big monitor or computer at home.

Continuing to play with pointers and references in an effort to reduce the code size for one of the display projects I’m working on. Despite buying 4 more Arduino Nano development boards, I think the in the future I will use more ESP32 development boards, because they are similiar but much more powerful with only using slightly more power.💻 I’m just running up constant memory limitations with the Nano, even when I try optimizing the code a lot. Combined with a kind of shitty PWM mechanism, and an very outdated architecture, 🐭 I am not sure why the Nano isn’t just retired in favor of ESP32. Maybe because it’s not designed by the open source folks that originally made the Nano and are still making money selling the genuine board. Open source software has to make a profit somehow so people get paid, and donations and government funding is limited.

Made a lot of progress on things that needed to be addressed — things were cleaned up in various parts of my apartment, with a good heavy bleach in places to retard the mildew growth, the trash was taken out, a bunch of beer cans were returned and cardboard and paperboard recycled at the Park and Ride dumpster. Finally got rid of that box the solar panel came in, as I expect I won’t be needing that anymore now that the panel is semi-permanently mounted to the truck.

Went to walmart and bought food and boots for the week.🍗🌽🍳🍛 I especially needed cheese and oil and pan spray for making up waffles. Now I can do eggs or waffles for breakfast next week. My apartment is still a dump,💩 one that will start costing me another $25 a month once rent goes up in August. Still I think it’s a good deal, when you look at the cost of buying a house and land, paying taxes, and dealing with all the crap being a New Yorker is.🛒 It would be one thing if I was committed to live in New York for the rest of my life, but that’s not likely unless I get hit by a car crossing the street or do something with electricity or fire that is really dumb.💀

Looking ahead to next weekend, the story will be all about the heat that I’m enjoying from the Potholers in the Adirondacks. Next Saturday, sunny and hot, with a high near 94. Maximum dew point of 71 at 7pm. Next Sunday, mostly sunny and hot, with a high near 96. Maximum dew point of 75 at 7pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 81 degrees.

I am trying to get things ready as possible for next week, with the heat and humidity on its way. :evil:Not only will that certainly encourage mildew, I am not going to want to spend much time inside, certainly not working hard cleaning. Plus it’s a quiet weekend, compared to next weekend when I am going to spend an (possible) extended weekend most likely on Piseco-Powley Road. ⛺I am thinking of taking off Friday or Monday, maybe the prior as I think it will be easier to get off from work with the holiday weekend next week, plus it would mean I could get better campsite. 🏕 I want an isolated one so I can light off fireworks and shoot my guns without disturbing anyone, but on the other hand, having sunlight would mean I could keep the battery fully charged, for running the fan — which I’m sure will be on a lot but would make camping a lot hotter.

I checked the oil in Big Red, 🚗 and decided it could use another quarter quart. It’s not gone down much but I always like to check it at least every month or two or every 1,000-2,000 miles and keep the oil levels right around the same part in the middle of the normal range. Oil consumption isn’t excessive but that one time, after driving 10,000 miles and not checking it (after my 2015 West Virigina Trip), it was below the normal operating range.😮 I may have been parked on a slope that time in mid-2016 too, so I got a bad reading. I am not do for an oil change for a while, as I haven’t driven much but I may get the oil changed before my week-long summer trip to the Finger Lakes at the end of July. I also scrubbed down the inside and outside of the windshield, which hopefully it will make it easier to see driving at night and when I’m driving in the sun. 🔳The windshield was so dirty on the outside from the sappy pollen from the tree it’s parked under, plus the inside was dirty from both the plasticizers leaking out of the dashboard plastic, the dust and grim from driving many miles on dirt roads in the back country. 🔲Much cleaner now.

While I promise you this won’t be a rant about New York State, I think it’s horseshit they arrested those kids at Stewart Landing for illegal camping and one of them for having a “big scary (illegal) handgun” on them. I think the Sullivan Act is a lot of bullshit, something that is totally obnoxious and stupid in New York — along with the ban on aerial fireworks. 🎆 In Pennsylvania or about 40 other states, wouldn’t have even been the least bit illegal. They should build more campsites along Stewart Landing and fix up the road back there. I’m sure one of the uppity neighbors called them in for partying, because as far as I’ve heard they still don’t have an active ranger stationed down that way. Those campsites — except those on the lake — aren’t that great and are hard to get at Stewart Landing. I much rather camp on Piseco-Powley and drive down there.🔥 I can understand why they want to control camping to a certain extent, but they do fine in the all the National Forests I’ve been to in many other states without officially designated campsites. New York has many stupid laws made by people from New York City who don’t understand life upstate.

I ordered the dual throw switch and a box of diodes, both from US suppliers, although the later came from an US-based AliExpress supplier. The switch came from EBay in Staten Island — it was cheaper then what I would have likely paid at AutoZone. I actually bought two, because of the shipping costs, and I figured I can always use a dual throw switch for other projects. 🔘 The diode I’m using is a standard electronic 5-watt 20 volt Schottsky diode — nothing fancy so I can use the remaining 19 of them for other projects. Those relays don’t move much current at any rate, but the automotive application has a forward voltage that is dangerously close to the 16 volt diodes I had at home. 🔋 I probably didn’t need a Schottsky diode but I figure this way I can use them for other projects. I don’t really know why anybody would use Silcon-diodes at this point anymore, unless you really wanted to waste energy and produce heat. I guess if you use thousands in manufacturing, you might go for the slightly lower prices. Some electronics use Zener diodes, with their predictable reverse voltage, but those are different. 🔌 I am going to hook things up probably on the Fourth of July — not before this weekend, because I don’t want to accidentially break something before camping, although I’m not sure what I could pull lose by accident.

The plan is that I have one position that disconnects the accessory battery form the starting battery when camping, as the system currently works. This way I won’t overdischarge the starting battery by my lights and things I plug into my truck cap. The other position will keep the batteries connected even when the truck is off. This way when I am camping and I have bright sunlight pushing the solar controller to ramp down, I can dump some of this extra power to top off the starting battery during extended stays, when it might get discharged from opening and closing the doors. Also, when I’m parked at home for a week or longer, the solar panel can make sure the starting battery remains at full charge. This will be particularly useful in below zero weather we sometimes get in the winter — it will start after a week parked with ease if the starting battery has been maintained at 100% even in the cold. Sunlight is limited in winter, but the panel is a 100-watt panel and the starting battery should be close to 100% before I get started.

In four weeks on July 22 the sun will be setting at 8:25 pm,🌄 which is 11 minutes and 43 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2017 on that day, we had rain, cloudy skies and temperatures between 79 and 66 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 83 and 62 degrees. The record high of 102 degrees was set back in 1926.

Looking ahead, July 🏊🏿 is in 1 weeks, Last Sunset After 8 PM 🌆 is in 7 weeks, Average High Falls To 79 Degrees ⛱ is in 2 months, Daylight Savings Time Ends 🛥 is in 19 weeks, Veterans Day (Sunday) 🇺🇸 is in 20 weeks and First Sunday of Advent ✝ is in 23 weeks.

Good afternoon! Partly sunny and 77 degrees in Delmar, NY. Calm wind. The dew point is 55 degrees. Kind of a bit hazy this afternoon, but hopefully it will be nicer out when I head up north this weekend to the Adirondacks. Heading up to the area near Wells, I am thinking of hiking back to Wilcox Lake on Saturday.

The truck is gased up and the gear is packed. I tried out the kayak on the roof of the truck and adjusted the rack to make sure it’s safely above the solar panel but decided to remove it and not bring it as this weekend I’m not planning on kayaking but instead will do hiking and shore fishing. My hope is to get the campsite I want and be able to park and hike from there to Wilcox Lake.

This afternoon will be mostly sunny 🌞 , with a high of 81 degrees at 4pm. Five degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 56 at 2pm. Light and variable wind. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies with more clouds in the afternoon. The high last year was 80 degrees. The record high of 93 was set in 2011.

The sun will set at 8:31 pm with dusk around 9:06 pm, which is 36 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for mostly clear skies and72 degrees. The dew point will be 56 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 15 hours and 14 minutes of daytime, an increase of 49 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 52 degrees at 5am. Three degrees below normal. Maximum dew point of 56 at 7pm. Northwest wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. In 2017, we had mostly cloudy skies. It got down to 57 degrees. The record low of 37 occurred back in 1977.

Tomorrow will be mostly sunny 🌞 , with a high of 80 degrees at 4pm. Four degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 51 at 10am. Calm wind becoming west 5 to 9 mph in the afternoon. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies with more clouds in the afternoon. The high last year was 79 degrees. The record high of 100 was set in 1933.

Looking ahead to Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 76. 😎North wind around 7 mph. Maximum dew point of 47 at 6am. Typical average high for the weekend is 76 degrees.

Looking forward to a nice quiet weekend without too much going on. I had originally thought about heading up to Piseco-Powley Road, but I go up there a lot, and I kind of wanted to go up to the Wells area for fishing and hiking. Maybe later in June I’ll head up to Piseco-Powley Road and the potholers, especially once it gets a bit warmer. The forecast is warmer now for the weekend, but it’s not going to be a scorcher as it is when I like to visit the potholers.

Thanks to having solar, I can just leave the truck off all weekend but keep the accessory battery plenty charged.🔋 I kind of like not having to back in and out of camp all the time or idling the truck for power. Obviously with the kayak on the roof I’ll have to remove it to get much power out of panel. But guess what, many times when I’m out paddling on a lake I’m parked in the sun so things will charge more than just whatever short drive I would make to the lake. Plus the solar charge is so much more of a deep full charge than the alternator would ever put out.

On this day in 1968, Robert F. Kennedy’s funeral takes place at the St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City.😭

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until Average High is 80 🏖 when the sun will be setting at 8:37 pm with dusk at 9:12 pm. On that day in 2017, we had mostly cloudy skies and temperatures between 81 and 53 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 80 degrees. We hit a record high of 95 back in 1954.

In four weeks on July 6 the sun will be setting at 8:35 pm,🌄 which is 3 minutes and 55 seconds later then today. In 2017 on that day, we had partly cloudy skies and temperatures between 82 and 68 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 82 and 61 degrees. The record high of 97 degrees was set back in 1886.

Looking ahead, Average High is 80 🏖 is in 2 weeks, Columbus Day 🛥 is in 4 months and Buy Nothing Day 🛍 is in 24 weeks.