Good morning! Happy Bacon Day 🥓! Who is opposed to bacon, besides religious zealots? Not mention all those other delicious things that pigs produce and the rich farm dirt. 🐷 Read about that a lot in Foxfire Books. 📔 Two weeks to Make Your Dream Come True Day 🏡. What can I say, Cam Edwards and his podcast is a bad influence.

Not real nice morning. Cloudy and 20 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ Calm wind. Things will start to thaw out at around 2 pm. 🌡️

Feeling a lot better today, 😃 I think the knock off NightQuil and DayQuil helped a lot. 🤒I usually do get a bad cold this time of year, although somehow I thought I would be immune this year with social distancing, but who knows. My throat isn’t as sore as it was, and while my nose is a bit stuffy 👃 I am feeling a lot better and plan to work on getting packed for the Adirondacks later this evening. Going to head up early in the morning, so I can have time to dig out a parking spot and campsite.☃ I might just stay the night or maybe for the weekend, still watching the forecast.

That said, I skipped my morning and evening walks. 🚶 I know bad. But I’m thinking about a lunch time walk. ☕ No reason not to, I don’t expect a busy day the day before the long weekend. My job now has an hour lunch break, so I should take it (watches as email 📧 comes in a 1:00 PM 🕐 as I go to lunch). 🍳 I had a nice breakfast of eggs and ham, which was really good with the coffee. It’s sad how addicted I am coffee but it is a good stimulus for getting going in the morning. 💵 Maybe not as good as a free $2,000 check from the government, but I’ll take it.

Today will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a high of 35 degrees at 4pm. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 19th. Light south wind increasing to 10 to 15 mph in the morning. A year ago, we had patches of fog in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 39 degrees. The record high of 53 was set in 1984. 10.9 inches of snow fell back in 2000.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:59 am with sun having an altitude of 24.3° from the due south horizon (-46.6° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:46 pm with the sun in the southwest (231°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (239°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:32 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 24 seconds with dusk around 5:03 pm, which is 48 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waning Gibbous 🌖 Moon in the east-northeast (57°) at an altitude of 2° from the horizon, 242,450 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:39 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 34 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 15 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 6 minutes of daytime, an increase of 39 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have a chance of rain showers and sleet before 11pm, then a chance of rain and snow showers between 11pm and midnight, then rain showers likely after midnight. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 32 degrees at 6pm. 16 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 16th. South wind 7 to 15 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Little or no snow and sleet accumulation expected. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became light snow by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 34 degrees. The record low of -17 occurred back in 1917.

Kind of a mixed bag for the weekend. 😞 New Years day. Mostly sunny, with a high near 32. Calm wind becoming southeast around 5 mph in the afternoon.  Saturday, freezing rain and sleet before 10am, then rain likely between 10am and 4pm, then a chance of rain and snow showers after 4pm. High near 39. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Sunday, a chance of snow before 1pm, then a chance of rain and snow. Partly sunny, with a high near 36. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Typical average high for the weekend is 31 degrees.

So I am continuing to watch the weather, 💭 but I’m thinking of heading up to the Adirondacks at least for New Years Eve and Day. Not sure if I want to deal with freezing rain though, but I can monitor the weather and decide to come back on New Years Day if necessary. I just don’t want to deal with a tent covered with ice or the potential for snapping tree branches. That said, it does look like Sunday it will be warm enough that the roads will be fine, and there isn’t going to be a ton of snow, to make shoveling out to the road difficult (I’m going to park near the road).

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until Make Your Dream Come True Day 🏡 when the sun will be setting at 4:45 pm with dusk at 5:16 pm. The longer days will be nice. On that day in 2020, we had mostly cloudy skies, it was mild with a few rain showers and temperatures between 40 and 29 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 30 degrees. We hit a record high of 71 back in 1932.

Good morning! Happy Cold Moon 🌕! Couldn’t see the moon last night because of the clouds. Next Tuesday is National Bird Day 🐧. Snow showers, mostly cloudy and 28 degrees in Delmar, NY. ❄ There is a west-northwest breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. I heard though it’s supposed to clear out later. There is a dusting of snow on the ground. ☃ Things will start to thaw out at tomorrow around 2 pm. 🌡️

I went out for my morning walk, 🚶and while it wasn’t terrible warm or nice, it got nicer as the morning progressed. 🌄 Also did my evening walk. Feeling a better today, although still some tightness in my throat. But I plan to mask up 😷 and run to the store today as I need to get some supplies. I think I just have a bit of a cold, 🤒 but the Day Quill helps. Good to use it up now, as it has an expiration of next month I guess. Always seem to get a bit of a cold this time of year. No fever or loss of smell, so I’m not real concerned. 👾 Not the topic the politicians like to publicly expose themselves about to get on camera. The pancakes for breakfast were good, 🥞 although I wasn’t happy about the coffee being weak, ☕ as I reused the beans from yesterday, as I ran out of coffee. I really need to get to the store today, as I miss my coffee and hot coca in the evening.🛍 I realize I’ve been kind of wasteful with coffee lately — been putting too much in the peculator and could be reusing the beans more. For me caffeine is just a drug, and I drink a shit ton more from home.

I also want to get to the library, 📚 as I accidentally messed up the projections library on my computer so I can’t do much in the way of map making. I was trying to process LiDAR point clouds into digital terrain models for measuring tree height, and when I added the extra software, I managed to cause a conflict in the projections library. I am going to have to purge that library and then reinstall it and all of the supporting software, and that will take a lot of bandwidth, so best do down at the library. 💻  With the sun it shouldn’t be too cold down there.

Today will have a slight chance of snow showers before 10am. Mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 31 degrees at 10am. One degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical Northwest wind 6 to 14 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 71 was set in 1984. 6.0 inches of snow fell back in 1915.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:58 am with sun having an altitude of 24.2° from the due south horizon (-46.6° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:45 pm with the sun in the southwest (231°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (239°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:31 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 25 seconds with dusk around 5:02 pm, which is 46 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Full 🌝 Moon in the east-northeast (65°) at an altitude of 10° from the horizon, 245,218 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:38 pm. At sunset, look for mostly sunny skies 🌃 and temperatures around 28 degrees. The wind chill around sunset will be 17. ☃️ There will be a northwest breeze at 14 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 5 minutes of daytime, an increase of 34 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 16 degrees at 4am. Typical for tonight. Maximum wind chill around 14 at 6pm; Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming light and variable after midnight. In 2019, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 34 degrees. The record low of -21 occurred back in 1933.

Right now, a split verdict on the weekend. 😕 Saturday, rain likely before 10am, then a chance of showers between 10am and 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 46. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 36. Typical average high for the weekend is 31 degrees.

Based on the latest forecast, I am inclined to go up to the Adirondacks this long weekend. 🏕 It does like we might get a few or maybe several inches of snow on Friday, but I’ll park close to the road, and then drag my gear back. That way if we get a ton of snow, I can just shovel out the driveway and around the tent. I don’t really need to buy any food or supplies for camping, so I am good if I decide to head north on New Years Eve.📲 I’d prefer to camp somewhere I have cell reception but it’s hard to know where I am going to be. But with unlimited mobile data, it might be fun to be able to watch a Youtube when I’m in the tent during the long nights.

Been working on a year on review video for the blog, 🖼 basically just a picture series that goes through all of the photos that I posted over the year. It is mostly done now, I’ll probably try to get it uploaded ⬆ when I’m all the library. Also, I am working on adding some new types of interactives based on leafletjs — namely side-by-sides and overlays. Right now with the historical comparisons the blog, you can’t zoom in and out, and that’s something I’d like to change.

As previously noted, next Tuesday is National Bird Day 🐧 when the sun will be setting at 4:36 pm with dusk at 5:08 pm. On that day in 2020, we had partly cloudy and temperatures between 37 and 24 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 31 degrees. We hit a record high of 64 back in 1950.

Good morning! Today is the first 4:30 PM Sunset of New Year 🌆. Or maybe it’s not, as it’s still twenty-twenty. Despite the pronouncements of the world’s worse year ever, it’s still with us for a few more days. But Friday is 2021. Go figure. Three weeks to Winnie the Pooh Day 🍯. Snow showers and 34 degrees in Delmar, NY. ❄ Breezy, ️16 mph breeze from the south 🌬 . There are 0.5 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 1 am. ☃️

I was going to go for my morning walk, 🌬 but that wind was really whipping around and a little bit fuzzy from the sleeping pill I took last night (first one in over a month), 💊I decided it best to stay home. Also my throat is a bit sore, maybe allergies from my parent’s dog. 🐕 I’ve been noticing the past few times I’ve been out there I’ve been feeling awful congested later in the evening. Or it could be a cold or the COVID but from where I don’t know, it’s not like I’ve been to any public place besides my parents house since I got propane and gasoline a week ago. I’ve really been sleeping better lately, but last night I was kind of wound up from my walk, and I wanted to get bed earlier.

Today will rain and snow showers likely before noon, then a slight chance of rain showers between noon and 1pm. Mostly cloudy 🌦, with a high of 42 degrees at 2pm. 10 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 30th. South wind 8 to 16 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Little or no snow accumulation expected. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 44 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 1982. 7.0 inches of snow fell back in 1967.❄ Not terribly cold today, but without sun, it’s not going to be a nice day for working from the library.

Working from home should work well, 🏠 with my new cell plan. I will do all the video things on my phone, and then reserve my laptop for emails and other things that don’t use a lot of data. But so far I’ve ended up using not all that much data, because I’ve been trying to conserve. 💻 But it still nice to be able to pull up tabs in the browser and do modest amounts of web work on my laptop. It’s great for coding — I can easily cut and paste code into projects I’m building. 🖱

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:58 am with sun having an altitude of 24.1° from the due south horizon (-46.7° 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 🏅 starts at 3:44 pm with the sun in the southwest (231°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (239°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:30 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 24 seconds with dusk around 5:01 pm, which is 44 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Full 🌝 Moon in the east-northeast (73°) at an altitude of 18° from the horizon, 247,678 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:38 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 40 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 8 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 4 minutes of daytime, an increase of 29 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌤, with a low of 26 degrees at 6am. Nine degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 4th. West wind 6 to 10 mph. In 2019, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 26 degrees. The record low of -18 occurred back in 1933.

Right now, a split verdict on the weekend. 😕 Saturday, a chance of rain and snow. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 42. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 36. Typical average high for the weekend is 31 degrees.

I am really on the fence about this weekend. 🏕🌨 It looks like it’s trending cooler and might be more snow, and that might be better for camping, as I will park by the road and use the sled to drag my gear back to camp. But it also could be pretty cold and damp. While I can stay warm next to heater, it still is going to be a lot cooler. Also, if the weather forecast is accurate, they might get a 1/2 foot of snow in the Adirondacks, and that’s problematic with my tent, which certainly is not a winter tent. 🌨 Plus I worry about getting plowed in from the snow. There is always January, or maybe February and March. And then it will be warmer weather in April. If things are still remote work come April, maybe I can camp, work out from the woods, and then do some trout fishing.

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until Winnie the Pooh Day 🍯 when the sun will be setting at 4:51 pm with dusk at 5:22 pm. On that day in 2020, we had snow, cloudy and temperatures between 30 and 10 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 30 degrees. We hit a record high of 59 back in 1973.

Good morning! Happy Boxing Day 🥊! Rednecks 👨🏻‍🌾 everywhere gotta burn those gotta burn those boxes 📦 and wrapping paper 🎁 to keep it out of the landfill 🔥 and have fun. Two weeks to Static Electric Shock Day 🧼. Definitely gets dry in winter, especially on a cold day on the carpeting in the office.

Partly cloudy and 26 degrees in Delmar, NY. ⛅ Very cloudy to start out the day, but more sun now. I’d say the day is improving, but still quite a bit of slippery ice around. There is a southwest breeze at 11 mph. 🍃. The current wind chill is 15. There is a dusting of snow on the ground and on the untreated pavement but let’s be honest, snowman had a meltdown on Christmas Eve. ☃ ️Things will start to thaw out at tomorrow around noontime. 🌡️

Much sunnier today but cold ❄. Gray up north I was told. So I’m staying home. Yesterday I mostly stayed home and read 📖 and worked on some coding and other projects for the blog. I was hoping to get get out of town but it rained all afternoon and when I was ready to go fi my evening walk it turned out all wet and sloppy. ⛽ By it being warm yesterday I saved by keeping the heat off 📴 and I won’t need to burn the fuel for camping.

Today will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 31 degrees at 1pm. Two degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical West wind 10 to 15 mph. 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 59 was set in 1895. 13.9 inches of snow fell back in 1969.❄

While at one point I had ambitious plans for the weekend, 🚶 I think I will likely just end up going for a nice walk out to Five Rivers mid-day. 🐦 That is, once the ice is off the sidewalks whic I think will happen with the sun. 🌞 The days are pretty short now, and the weather looks like it will be cloudy but cold up north. 🏕 Will I be able to get up north next weekend, for the New Years holiday? Doesn’t look good but then again, it’s rare when the stars align for winter camping — it’s either depressing cloudy, too snowy, or super cold and clear during most of the winter. So is life in Upstate NY. 💰

But it’s good to save money as the end of the month is coming, rent and my credit card bill is due, so many is tight. 🎫 I really try to live paycheck to paycheck, as my checking account earns no interest, and having no money in any my account keeps me spending less. 😳 It’s rare that I have more then $40 in my wallet. Worked well until late November when my direct deposit got interrupted and I was glaring at the checking account with the number dropping much too close to zero.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:57 am with sun having an altitude of 24° from the due south horizon (-46.8° 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. Starting to gain a bit of sun altitude, slowly though. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:43 pm with the sun in the southwest (230°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (238°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:29 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 25 seconds with dusk around 5:00 pm, which is 40 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see a nearly Full 🌝 Moon in the east (93°) at an altitude of 31° from the horizon, 251,186 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:36 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 30 degrees. There will be a west-southwest breeze at 10 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 3 minutes of daytime, an increase of 21 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌤, with a low of 20 degrees at 6am. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 20th. Maximum wind chill around 18 at 6pm; Southwest wind 7 to 10 mph. In 2019, we had light snow in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 40 degrees. The record low of -18 occurred back in 1914. A little cool but shouldn’t be bad for the evening walk.

Tomorrow I might go out to the Wolf Hill Preserve and do some hiking there. 🚶I don’t really feel like going too far from home and it’s been a while since I’ve been there. I don’t expect much more then a dusting of snow and except for one or two parts, I can’t imagine that trail will be super wet up there. Next weekend maybe I’ll go up to the Adirondacks 🏕 — all week looks pretty warm and sunny, and while there is a New Years Day/Eve storm to watch, I’ll have to see how things work out timing wise for next weekend. I could also go out to Madison County if they don’t have a lot of snow out there — as it looks like if anything most of the residual snow will disappear this week.

Been continuing to read various books on GIS and also the Foxfire Books. 📚 I actually like reading books on my phone, it’s small and easy to handle. It has web access and is easy to download and load things, although for some books that print is pretty small. I am trying to invest more time in reading and learning, I spend too much time flipping through Facebook looking at cute pictures of Jersey calves 🐮 and Kune Kune hogs. 🐷 I am actually learning a lot more about the practice of mapping making — stuff I had picked up by practice but I didn’t have a formal, structured way to look at it. 🗺

I am not finding any digital terrain models, that show tree canopy 🌲🌳 and building heights made up as digital elevation models, but it looks like I could derive that information from the LSZ LiDAR files but I am not sure if it’s worth downloading the 500 MB plus tiles, then a bunch of time running CPU process to get the data. It looks like there are open source tools to do this, but they’re not super well documented and it’s area I don’t know much about. 🧑‍🏫The DTM data is pretty neat, especially for making 3D models, and could make for some interesting maps comparing tree height to ground elevation (digital surface model or bare-earth models that are common and available in normal LiDAR DEM files). For example, are trees shorter at the top of the peaks compared below them? It seems like they have DTM data in the LSZ files for much of state, but I think I’ll hold off from now on addressing.

I also need to work on my budget for next year. 🔍 I think it will pretty much stay the same as this year, but I need to figure out if I do the Roth or regular IRA this year. I pay so much in taxes, but I think this year it probably makes more sense to go back to the Roth. I am continuing to look for ways to trim things so I can invest and save more going forward. But honestly I am pretty content with my simple way of living, and knowing that in a few years if I want to buy land, I’ll be able to pay cash, and I will have enough money saved for retirement (if I stay the course for the rest of the decade). 🏚️ Still thinking of eventually buying an off-grid property, maybe an old hunting camp or otherwise run down house out in the country, where I have enough land where I can do what I want and nobody is going to care if I have noisy or smell livestock 🐷 or have bonfires, 🔥, ride ATVs, shoot guns 🔫 or burn trash.♻ It’s just a matter of having the resources, and that takes time to save. I want to do it right and have the resources all lined out and planned first.

The hotspot on my phone is working good, 📶 and I have enough data for reasonable amounts of web browsing, as long as I don’t do a lot of streaming or downloads of big GIS data. I still will probably go down to the library on nice days to get bigger files, but I should be set for working from home during the winter, and because it’s mobile I can take it other places if we have nice winter weather and I decide to do some traveling. It’s a lot cheaper and more flexible then having a wired connection. That said, as soon as the vaccine is out and I’m working back downtown, I will go back to the normal cell plan.📱 I’d rather dump that expense from my budget, and I actually like the walk down to the library after work.📚

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until Static Electric Shock Day 🧼 when the sun will be setting at 4:40 pm with dusk at 5:12 pm. On that day in 2020, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 30 and 13 degrees. Cold yes. But then spring comes. Typically, the high temperature is 30 degrees. We hit a record high of 62 back in 2008.

Good morning! Merry but very wet Christmas 🎅! It could have been a blizzard like a few years back, but instead too warm. Actually it looks like Next Friday, New Years Day 2021 🎉, will be far more wintery. Heavy rain and 62 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ There is a south breeze at 15 mph. 🍃 with gusts up to 31 mph 💨💨💨. The dew point is 57 degrees. With temperatures in the 60s, there is abut 5 inches of snow on the ground and I just saw a jogger in shorts and spandex run down Elm Avenue. ☃ It’s Delmar, yuppies like their physical fitness. ️But it will get colder as the day progresses, although not until late. Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 10 pm. ☃️

Yesterday had a nice Christmas dinner with the folks. 🦃 Turkey and all the fixings. We decided on Christmas Eve this year, as I wasn’t sure if I was going to be out of town this year for Christmas Day for camping. Today I’ll probably stay home, work on some projects I have around, do some writing and reading, 📖 and maybe watch some of the videos I downloaded yesterday and the day before. 🎅🎄I don’t have any big Christmas plans, as I think it will be much to wet to head up north today.

A White Christmas? ❄ That point is debatable. We have snow but it’s disappearing fast. It actually looks kind of muddy and mucky, and I’m sure it’s even worse in farm country with the dirt roads. Christmas Day will rain before noon, then showers likely, mainly between noon and 2pm. The rain could be heavy at times. Areas of fog before noon. Temperature falling to around 47 by 5pm. Breezy, with a south wind 20 to 25 mph becoming light in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 41 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half 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 39 degrees. The record high of 66 was set in 1889. 19.2 inches of snow fell back in 2002.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:56 am with sun having an altitude of 24° from the due south horizon (-46.8° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.5 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:42 pm with the sun in the southwest (230°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (238°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:28 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 25 seconds with dusk around 4:59 pm, which is 38 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon in the east-southeast (105°) at an altitude of 36° from the horizon, 252,054 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:36 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 50 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 9 hours and 3 minutes of daytime, an increase of 16 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be scattered rain and snow showers before 9pm, then scattered snow showers between 9pm and 2am. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 24 degrees at 6am. Six degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 9th. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming south in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New snow accumulation of less than a half 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 27 degrees. The record low of -17 occurred back in 1914.

Tomorrow will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 31 degrees at 1pm. Two degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical Southwest wind 8 to 11 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 41 degrees. The record high of 59 was set in 1895. 13.9 inches of snow fell back in 1969.❄

Originally my plan was to head up to the Adirondacks this weekend, 🏕 and do some winter camping but now it looks like today will be very wet, and then tomorrow will be cloudy up north and pretty cold.☁ Honestly, I find a cloudy day to be more depressing and cold then a cold but clear day. I have the propane and fuel in my truck and enough supplies, 🏔 and it looks like it will be snow-free but the weather down here looks much nicer then up north. I guess Brookfield is another alternative but there is probably still snow and ice on Cherry Ridge and even the lower Assembly area is still probably muddy and smelly after all the rain, even if the sites are hardened for horses and trailers in the summer. I do like Madison County and agricultural landscape, but also the Adirondack wilderness is nice too. Now the next weekend forecast looks nicer, but I’m sure that certainly subject to change too.

Looking ahead to Sunday, mostly sunny, 🌞 with a high near 34. West wind around 6 mph becoming light and variable in the afternoon. Typical average high for the weekend is 33 degrees. Not a half bad day, but I expect in the

So maybe I need to figure out alternative plans for the weekend. 🚶It seems like things will be quite snow free in most locations, and it will be cold enough that the ground is relatively frozen for walking on, although I certainly wouldn’t want to drive anywhere the ground is not well hardened by asphalt or gravel. But it could be good for hiking. That said, I think there may still be snow in some higher elevation locations.

I have the hotspot service hooked up to my laptop and it working fine, 📲 although I will have to keep an eye on the bandwidth it will use and avoid streaming on my laptop, as I have a 20 GB monthly cap but it should get me through the winter okay for basic work tasks without having to go down to the library parking lot in frigid weather to do work. I have data use monitoring tools on my computer, and I might use wondershaper to limit bandwidth further. It certainly is a lot cheaper then getting Verizon or Spectrum cable service and a lot more flexible as I can travel. It’s pretty fast, and it’s month to month, so come the summer months and the end of the pandemic, I can drop the service and go back to my normal level of cell service, saving like $17 or so bucks a month. Truth be told, I use my phone for most work things these days, so the laptop really is just going to be for things that I can’t do from my phone — a handful of websites or some research may be easier on the laptop.

And while I get that Americans love an all you can eat buffet, 😋 truth be told I like having to conserve and working in a somewhat constrained environment. It makes you think about what your using, and not be so wasteful. I like paying for things in advance, and watching as they get used up and things creep down towards an empty tank. It just is a much more thoughtful of a form of consumption, then the standard of consume now without worries, pay later. 🤑  That honestly may be the reason I am most interested in owning an off-grid property when I own my own land — it’s much more fun to watch the battery bank drain down or propane tanks get used or wood pile to get burnt up, then just use whatever this month and then have to end up mailing a check to the utility company.

As previously noted, next Friday is New Years Day 2021 🎉 when the sun will be setting at 4:32 pm with dusk at 5:04 pm. On that day in 2020, we had cloudy, mild, snow showers and temperatures between 40 and 34 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 31 degrees. We hit a record high of 57 back in 1966.

Good morning! It’s Christmas Eve 🎅! Which of course means next Thursday is New Years Eve 🎆. People call it the worse year ever, but I don’t know. Certainly not the purtiest Christmas Ever but at least the snow is melting away and turning into muck. Cloudy and 39 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ There is a south breeze at 11 mph. 🍃 with gusts up to 24 mph 💨💨💨. There are 11 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 9 pm. ☃️ But they’re not expecting a quick ice over.

Today will have a chance of drizzle before 1pm, then rain likely, mainly after 2pm. Cloudy 🌧, with a high of 53 degrees at 6pm. 20 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 4th. Maximum dew point of 48 at 6pm. South wind 11 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 42 degrees. The record high of 72 was set in 2015. 13.0 inches of snow fell back in 1966.❄

Heading out to the parents house for Christmas dinner. 🦃 Then I’ll probably head home. No evening walk tonight due to the rain. ☔

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:56 am with sun having an altitude of 24° from the due south horizon (-46.8° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.5 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:42 pm with the sun in the southwest (230°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (238°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:27 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 25 seconds with dusk around 4:58 pm, which is 36 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon in the east-southeast (117°) at an altitude of 39° from the horizon, 252,259 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:35 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 52 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 15 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 3 minutes of daytime, an increase of 13 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will rain. The rain could be heavy at times. Areas of dense fog. 🌧 Low of 53 degrees at 6pm. 35 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around September 13th. Maximum dew point of 54 at 3am. 🏖️ Breezy, with a south wind 16 to 25 mph, with gusts as high as 47 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New precipitation amounts between 1 and 2 inches possible. In 2019, we had light snow in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 20 degrees. The record low of -22 occurred back in 1969.

I am not sure if I am heading north this weekend, 🤔 as it looks like Christmas Day will be rainy ☔ and Saturday looks cloudy ⛅ and cold. I got propane and gasoline yesterday and I have enough food 🍲 and supplies for camping 🏕 if I go north.

Cold but sunny this weekend. 😎At least it means all the mud will be frozen. Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 31. West wind 5 to 9 mph. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 34. Typical average high for the weekend is 33 degrees.

As previously noted, next Thursday is New Years Eve 🎆 when the sun will be setting at 4:32 pm with dusk at 5:03 pm. On that day in 2019, we had snow showers, partly cloudy skies, mild weather with temperatures between 39 and 34 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 32 degrees. We hit a record high of 61 back in 1895.

Good morning! Happy Festivus 🍖! I don’t own a colored television 📺 but I know about that holiday from interwebs. Honestly, I think I prefer bacon 🥓 day. Next Wednesday is Bacon Day 🥓. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve 🎄 Mostly sunny and 24 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌞Calm wind. Quite a nice sunny morning for early winter. Not April yet. There are 11 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Melting fast, half as much snow as a week ago. Sidewalks are finally plowed and mostly free of snow and ice. ❄ Things will start to thaw out at around 1 pm. 🌡️

Even with the weak sun angle 🌅 the sun’s warmth is pretty good. I like how I am finally able to do my walks 🚶🏻 without the danger of the narrow road shoulder or falling on the ice.

Today will have increasing clouds ☁, with a high of 35 degrees at 2pm. Two degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 19th. Calm wind becoming southeast around 5 mph in the afternoon. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 50 degrees. The record high of 64 was set in 1990. 8.8 inches of snow fell back in 1947.❄.

I didn’t get to the store 🏬 yesterday, because I had a work project come in and then the landlord was blocking the driveway for a while with his truck while working on the other unit. 🚚 New neighbors again. 🏘 I did end up going down to the library 📚 and working down there for a while but it cold ❄ and I got chilled through so I ended up going home. 🧣 Sat at home by the heater, reading 📖 until around nine o’clock then went for the evening walk.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:55 am with sun having an altitude of 24° from the due south horizon (-46.9° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.5 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:41 pm with the sun in the southwest (230°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (238°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:27 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 26 seconds with dusk around 4:58 pm, which is 34 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon in the southeast (131°) at an altitude of 41° from the horizon, 251,792 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:35 pm. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies ☁ and temperatures around 34 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 3 minutes of daytime, an increase of 8 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 30 degrees at 9pm. 12 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 23rd. South wind 10 to 13 mph. In 2019, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 25 degrees. The record low of -15 occurred back in 1989.

It’s going to be a cold but sunny weekend. ❄ I am still thinking about heading north on Christmas 🤶🏻 Day but I’m watching the forecast. I might go that Saturday but winter camping is a lot of work so I’d rather go two nights. ⛺ Going to cold enough up north that the snow shouldn’t be wet and melting but I won’t go far off the asphalt due to the ground being very soft.

A picture perfect weekend on tap. 😎 Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 29. Sunday, sunny, with a high near 34. Typical average high for the weekend is 33 degrees.

As previously noted, next Wednesday is Bacon Day 🥓 when the sun will be setting at 4:31 pm with dusk at 5:03 pm. On that day in 2019, we had drizzle and temperatures between 39 and 34 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 32 degrees. We hit a record high of 53 back in 1984.