Search Results for: photo clearing 8

January 2, 2021 Morning

Good morning! Happy Saturday on this first weekend of the New Year! Twenty Twenty One.ย 2๏ธโƒฃ0๏ธโƒฃ2๏ธโƒฃ1๏ธโƒฃ Tomorrow is week 1๏ธโƒฃ, officially. Hopefully a time of change, we will have a new president in 20. ๐Ÿ•ด Or well, maybe a throw back from the way-back machine. ๐Ÿ‘ด Normalcy this year with the vaccine? Adults in the White House? No more midnight crazy tweeting? I am glad I deleted my Twitter and Facebook accounts, and created new private ones for browsing only. Honest. No more inappropriate comments except my own on the blog. It feels good. Next Saturday is Static Electric Shock Day ๐Ÿงผ. Be careful when you are referenced to ground this time of year. โšก That dry air, walking over carpet can make some good shocks and make your hair look wild. ๐Ÿคช Not that you’d know with the pandemic and working from home. Rain and 33 degrees in Delmar, NY. โ˜” There is a south breeze at 7 mph. ๐Ÿƒ. There is two inches of snow on the ground. โ˜ƒ ๏ธTemperatures will drop below freezing at around 7 pm. โ˜ƒ๏ธ

While it looks like it was mostly snow up north, ๐ŸŒจ I am thinking I am glad to be back home as it would have been kind of a cold and wet morning, and I enjoyed sleeping in my bed at home. The tent was fine but the ground was hard sleeping on a sheet of ice, below the ground tarp and layers of sleeping pads of course. But with the ice and snow, I’d probably be stuck up north, and I’m not sure how early it would clear out. Plus I enjoyed hiking back to Stewart Creek ๐Ÿšถ yesterday, although that drone ๐Ÿš was a bit odd to see fly over head when your in the wilderness. But I tell you, drone footage sure is cool. ๐Ÿ“ฝ That said, I had fun on Campsite 7 on East Branch and I’m thinking I might do another winter camping trip, hopefully for multiple nights, should the weather cooperate later in the winter. The trick is to bring a shovel, park at Cod Pond, then dig out enough space on the driveway before carefully backing in. ๐Ÿ…ฟ

Today will rain and sleet likely before 10am, then a chance of rain between 10am and 3pm. ๐ŸŒง Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny ๐ŸŒฆ, with a high of 41 degrees at 1pm. 10 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 7th. Breezy, with a south wind 7 to 12 mph becoming west 17 to 22 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 37 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Little or no sleet accumulation expected. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 45 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 1890. 7.1 inches of snow fell back in 2014.โ„

Today I am planning on going out to the folks house later. ๐Ÿ‘ช We are doing a socially-distanced fondue, which I know seems like a stretch but I guess it involves masks, ๐Ÿ˜ท a soup ladle ๐Ÿฅ„ and sitting on opposite sides of the room. โ†• Or something like that. It’s not like any of us go out anymore anywhere, with everything shutting down. ๐Ÿง€ And who knows, time is tight and limited. ๐Ÿ‘ต Tomorrow with the snow coming, I’ll stay home, well except maybe for the evening walk.

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 12:00 pm with sun having an altitude of 24.5ยฐ from the due south horizon (-46.3ยฐ vs. 6/21). A long ways until summer but right now the transit is perfectly at noon. A six foot person will cast a 13.2 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour ๐Ÿ… starts at 3:49 pm with the sun in the southwest (231ยฐ). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west-southwest (239ยฐ) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:34 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 24 seconds with dusk around 5:05 pm, which is 53 seconds later than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ The best time to look at the stars is after 5:41 pm. At sunset, look for partly sunny skies ๐ŸŒƒ and temperatures around 36 degrees. The wind chill around sunset will be 25. โ˜ƒ๏ธ Breezy, 21 mph breeze โ›… from the northwest with gusts up to 36mph. Today will have 9 hours and 8 minutes of daytime, an increase of 51 seconds over yesterday. It won’t be long before we gain a minute each day — lots in the evening, and even

Tonight will be partly cloudy ๐ŸŒค, with a low of 23 degrees at 4am. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 8th. Maximum wind chill around 20 at 6am; Northwest wind 6 to 11 mph becoming light after midnight. In 2020, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 39 degrees. The record low of -14 occurred back in 1970.

As previously noted, next Saturday is Static Electric Shock Day ๐Ÿงผ 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. Typically, the high temperature is 30 degrees. We hit a record high of 62 back in 2008.

Hunter and Devils Path Mountains

December 30, 2020 Night

Good evening! Rain showers and 35 degrees in Delmar, NY. โ˜” There is a south breeze at 13 mph. ๐Ÿƒ. Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 6 pm. โ˜ƒ๏ธ

I am feeling a lot better tonight ๐Ÿšถ๐Ÿป and went for my evening walk. Cold and a bit of a drizzle outside but I was glad to be out of my apartment for a while. Sore throat is almost entirely gone but still a bit congested. Since I got back home the rain has picked up a bit.๐Ÿ’ฆ

It looks like with the pandemic getting worse ๐Ÿ‘พI’ll be working from home all next month but the Hotspot on my phone works quite well and I’m finding I’m using a lot less data than I expected but I’m careful. But at least it will be warmer than working down at the library parking lot. Definitely been an odd but I would argue fun year.

Tonight will rain likely before 3am, then a chance of rain and snow. Cloudy ๐ŸŒง, with a low of 33 degrees at 3am. 17 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 12th. South wind 9 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Little or no snow 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.

Tonight will have a Full ๐ŸŒ Moon with 99% illuminated. At 10 PM, the moon was in the east-southeast (104ยฐ) at an altitude of 52ยฐ from the horizon, some 241,857 miles away from where you are looking up from the earth. ๐Ÿš€ At the state speed limit of 55 mph, you’ll make it there by July 2nd. Buckle up for safety! ๐Ÿ’บ The Wolf ๐Ÿบ Moon is on Saturday, January 16. The darkest hour is at 11:59 pm, followed by dawn at 6:54 am, and sun starting to rise at 7:26 am in the east-southeast (121ยฐ) and last for 3 minutes and 24 seconds. Sunrise is 10 seconds later than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ„ The golden hour ends at 8:12 am with sun in the southeast (129ยฐ). Tonight will have 14 hours and 54 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 41 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have a chance of rain and snow showers, mainly before 7am. Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny ๐ŸŒž, with a high of 38 degrees at 11am. Six degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 10th. West wind 9 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Little or no snow accumulation expected. 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 61 was set in 1895. 7.9 inches of snow fell back in 2007.โ„

Been working on some new maps ๐Ÿ—บ and content to take advantage of leafletjs. I figure if it’s free to use I might as well maximize the technology. You can do some very cool and interactive maps with leaflet.

I think I’m going to head up to the Adirondacks tomorrow โ›บ through at least New Years Day and maybe the weekend. I was on the fence with the forecast and feeling so sick earlier in the week but I think things are looking up for the final night of the year. It would be fun to get out night 63 camping this year. I’m trying to purposely stay up a bit late tonight to make the NYE a bit easier.

In four weeks on January 27 the sun will be setting in the west-southwest (246ยฐ) at 5:02 pm,๐ŸŒ„ which is 31 minutes and 20 seconds later then tonight. In 2020 on that day, we had partly cloudy skies, mild weather with snow showers and temperatures between 43 and 35 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 31 and 14 degrees. The record high of 62 degrees was set back in 1974.

Looking ahead, Make Your Dream Come True Day ๐Ÿก is in 2 weeks, Inauguration Day ๐Ÿ‘ด๐Ÿผ is in 3 weeks, Clean Your Computer Day ๐Ÿงน is in 6 weeks and Presidents Day ๐Ÿ›๏ธ is in 7 weeks.

High Point

December 30, 2020 Morning

Good morning! Happy Bacon Day ๐Ÿฅ“! Who is opposed to bacon, besides religious zealots? Not mention all those other delicious things that pigs produce and the rich farm dirt. ๐Ÿท Read about that a lot in Foxfire Books. ๐Ÿ“” Two weeks to Make Your Dream Come True Day ๐Ÿก. What can I say, Cam Edwards and his podcast is a bad influence.

Not real nice morning. Cloudy and 20 degrees in Delmar, NY. โ˜ Calm wind. Things will start to thaw out at around 2 pm. ๐ŸŒก๏ธ

Feeling a lot better today, ๐Ÿ˜ƒ I think the knock off NightQuil and DayQuil helped a lot. ๐Ÿค’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 ๐Ÿ‘ƒ 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.โ˜ƒ I might just stay the night or maybe for the weekend, still watching the forecast.

That said, I skipped my morning and evening walks. ๐Ÿšถ I know bad. But I’m thinking about a lunch time walk. โ˜• 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 ๐Ÿ“ง comes in a 1:00 PM ๐Ÿ• as I go to lunch). ๐Ÿณ 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. ๐Ÿ’ต Maybe not as good as a free $2,000 check from the government, but I’ll take it.

Today will be mostly cloudy ๐ŸŒฅ, 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.โ„

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 11:59 am with sun having an altitude of 24.3ยฐ from the due south horizon (-46.6ยฐ 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 ๐Ÿ… starts at 3:46 pm with the sun in the southwest (231ยฐ). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west-southwest (239ยฐ) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:32 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 24 seconds with dusk around 5:03 pm, which is 48 seconds later than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ At dusk you’ll see the Waning Gibbous ๐ŸŒ– Moon in the east-northeast (57ยฐ) at an altitude of 2ยฐ from the horizon, 242,450 miles away. ๐Ÿš€ The best time to look at the stars is after 5:39 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies ๐ŸŒƒ 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 ๐ŸŒง, 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. ๐Ÿ˜ž New Years day. Mostly sunny, with a high near 32. Calm wind becoming southeast around 5 mph in the afternoon.ย  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, ๐Ÿ’ญ 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 ๐Ÿก 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.

Trees on Overlook

December 25, 2020 Morning

Good morning! Merry but very wet Christmas ๐ŸŽ…! 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 ๐ŸŽ‰, will be far more wintery. Heavy rain and 62 degrees in Delmar, NY. โ˜” There is a south breeze at 15 mph. ๐Ÿƒ with gusts up to 31 mph ๐Ÿ’จ๐Ÿ’จ๐Ÿ’จ. 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. โ˜ƒ It’s Delmar, yuppies like their physical fitness. ๏ธBut it will get colder as the day progresses, although not until late. Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 10 pm. โ˜ƒ๏ธ

Yesterday had a nice Christmas dinner with the folks. ๐Ÿฆƒ 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, ๐Ÿ“– and maybe watch some of the videos I downloaded yesterday and the day before. ๐ŸŽ…๐ŸŽ„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? โ„ 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.โ„

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 11:56 am with sun having an altitude of 24ยฐ from the due south horizon (-46.8ยฐ 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 ๐Ÿ… starts at 3:42 pm with the sun in the southwest (230ยฐ). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west-southwest (238ยฐ) 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. ๐ŸŒ‡ At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous ๐ŸŒ” Moon in the east-southeast (105ยฐ) at an altitude of 36ยฐ from the horizon, 252,054 miles away. ๐Ÿš€ The best time to look at the stars is after 5:36 pm. At sunset, look for rain ๐ŸŒง 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 ๐ŸŒง, 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 ๐ŸŒž, 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.โ„

Originally my plan was to head up to the Adirondacks this weekend, ๐Ÿ• 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.โ˜ 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, ๐Ÿ” 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, ๐ŸŒž 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. ๐ŸšถIt 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, ๐Ÿ“ฒ 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, ๐Ÿ˜‹ 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. ๐Ÿค‘ย  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 ๐ŸŽ‰ 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.

Bethlehem Library

December 24, 2020 Morning

Good morning! It’s Christmas Eve ๐ŸŽ…! Which of course means next Thursday is New Years Eve ๐ŸŽ†. 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. โ˜” There is a south breeze at 11 mph. ๐Ÿƒ with gusts up to 24 mph ๐Ÿ’จ๐Ÿ’จ๐Ÿ’จ. There are 11 inches of snow on the ground. โ˜ƒ ๏ธTemperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 9 pm. โ˜ƒ๏ธ 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 ๐ŸŒง, 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.โ„

Heading out to the parents house for Christmas dinner. ๐Ÿฆƒ Then I’ll probably head home. No evening walk tonight due to the rain. โ˜”

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 11:56 am with sun having an altitude of 24ยฐ from the due south horizon (-46.8ยฐ 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 ๐Ÿ… starts at 3:42 pm with the sun in the southwest (230ยฐ). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west-southwest (238ยฐ) 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. ๐ŸŒ‡ At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous ๐ŸŒ” Moon in the east-southeast (117ยฐ) at an altitude of 39ยฐ from the horizon, 252,259 miles away. ๐Ÿš€ The best time to look at the stars is after 5:35 pm. At sunset, look for rain ๐ŸŒง 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. ๐ŸŒง 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. ๐Ÿ–๏ธ 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, ๐Ÿค” as it looks like Christmas Day will be rainy โ˜” and Saturday looks cloudy โ›… and cold. I got propane and gasoline yesterday and I have enough food ๐Ÿฒ and supplies for camping ๐Ÿ• if I go north.

Cold but sunny this weekend. ๐Ÿ˜ŽAt 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 ๐ŸŽ† 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.

Evening Light Through the Steps

December 20, 2020 Morning

Good morning! Happy Sunday. โ›ช Third Sunday of advent, last day of autumn 2020. Winter 2021 starts tomorrow. That said it’s going to warm up a lot this week with possibly heavy rain on Christmas Eve. ๐ŸŽ„ โ˜” Two weeks to Latest Sunrise of the Winter ๐ŸŒ„๏ธ. Mostly cloudy and 21 degrees in Delmar, NY. โ˜ There is a south breeze at 6 mph. ๐Ÿƒ. The current wind chill is 10. There are 21 inches of snow on the ground. โ˜ƒ ๏ธThings will start to thaw out at tomorrow around 10 am. ๐ŸŒก๏ธ

Yesterday was nice cross country skiing ๐ŸŽฟ at Schodack Island. That said I really enjoyed the Christmas ๐Ÿคถ๐Ÿป Spice Cookies ๐Ÿช they have at Aldi’s. Cheap too and so good. I really need to get over to Rennselear more often. Well with winter I probably will ski more at Schodack Island as there isn’t the hills there to fall on as my skiis are fairly aggressive, designed for groomed trails. I saw a fair number of bright red robins and Blue Jays out there and lots of eastern sparrows. ๐Ÿฆ Kind of a pretty sunset ๐ŸŒ‡ and I ran into one of Albany’s most chatty insiders there ๐Ÿ—ฃ๏ธ and we chatted for a while until right before the park was locked ๐Ÿ”’ for the evening. Fun though, and I got to learn all the gossips about Albany.

I tell you when I own my own land, ๐Ÿ›’ I hope to live near enough a town that has an Aldi’s – they’re cheap, fun and so convenient. While they don’t have the selection of a Wally World or the bulk goods, ๐Ÿฑ I like their product selection. True, sometimes the lower their prices by smaller packages ๐Ÿ“ฆ but as they say, the burn barrel gotta eat too. ๐Ÿ”ฅ Plus a good library to download podcasts, ๐ŸŽง and a laundromat. ๐Ÿ‘š I wouldn’t mind living out in the sticks ๐Ÿฎ in a town that smells like silage and manure some of the year but it’s nice to have access to the basics. Good gun shop ๐Ÿ”ซ too.

You can forget what an agricultural county Rennselear is but while I was shopping ๐Ÿ›’ at Aldi, I spotted a Toyota Tundra with a big metal flask in the backseat. It caught my eye ๐Ÿ‘โ€๐Ÿ—จ and it turned out to be a bucket milker. ๐Ÿฎ Dairy farmer, maybe a small scale operation or maybe they’re using it to milk a cow that is on the withdrawal period from antibiotics or for feeding calves. Big unit though, must be heavy when it’s full of milk but then again Holstein do produce a lot of milk ๐Ÿฅ›. Upstate NY may have fewer farms but there are still a lot of people who homestead and live off the land – and Aldi’s is such an affordable option.

At any rate, yesterday was nice โ˜€ and pretty sunny although a bit cold but nice when I was moving. Getting off the trails though was a bit of slog with the skiis though. ๐ŸŽฟ I thought about going up to Partridge Run but it’s still black powder season ๐ŸฆŒ and I’d be drowned out probably by the noise of snow machines.

Today will snow showers likely, mainly after 3pm. Cloudy ๐ŸŒฆ, with a high of 32 degrees at 5pm. Two degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 27th. South wind 6 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 21 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 1957. 8.4 inches of snow fell back in 1975.โ„

Not a super nice day out today ๐ŸŒจ๏ธ just very gray. I told mom and dad I’d be out for Sunday dinner assuming that it doesn’t snow too much. ๐Ÿฒ It will be nice to see them. I’m really not out and about in the community lately and we’ll stay socially distant. I do go to the supermarket ๐Ÿ›’ from time but I wear a mask ๐Ÿ˜ท and any COVID positive person I might be near its very passing at that.

Dash cam hasn’t been working right for some time now. ๐Ÿ“น It looked like it was crashing. I am going to try reformatting the memory cards ๐ŸŽด and installing the latest firmware update and clean the lens off. I really like capturing some scenes from my trips on the dash cam but it hasn’t been working reliaby all autumn. It is about four years old and though is exposed to all the heat and cold in the windshield so maybe a capictor or the alike is failing.

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 11:54 am with sun having an altitude of 24ยฐ from the due south horizon (-46.9ยฐ 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 ๐Ÿ… starts at 3:40 pm with the sun in the southwest (230ยฐ). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west-southwest (238ยฐ) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:25 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 25 seconds with dusk around 4:56 pm, which is 27 seconds later than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ At dusk you’ll see the First Quarter ๐ŸŒ“ Moon in the south (174ยฐ) at an altitude of 37ยฐ from the horizon, 246,764 miles away. ๐Ÿš€ The best time to look at the stars is after 5:33 pm. At sunset, look for snow ๐ŸŒจ and temperatures around 31 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 9 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 2 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 6 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have a slight chance of snow showers before 9pm. Mostly cloudy ๐ŸŒง, with a low of 26 degrees at 4am. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 4th. Maximum wind chill around 24 at 4am; South wind 3 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2019, we had light rain. It got down to 8 degrees. The record low of -18 occurred back in 1942.

They still haven’t done the sidewalks near where I live โ„ which is super obnoxious. I thought about a day time walk ๐Ÿšถ๐Ÿป – it’s plowed on the Bypass sidewalks but not Elm at this point. I guess it’s just a lot of snow, there has been budget cuts and probably workers are quarrentined with COVID. ๐Ÿ‘พ I don’t know, it’s frustrating ๐Ÿ˜ค as I sure miss my morning and evening walks, especially as I work from home these days.

Today a train moved very fast in America — that is relatively speaking. ๐Ÿš‰ In 1967, a Pennsylvania Railroad Budd Metroliner exceeds 155 mph on their New York Division, now Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor. But they would never operate that fast and frequently broke down and would be scrapped by the late 1980s or used as coaches towed by diesel locomotives. But the truth is that Penn Central was in bad shape by the 1960s, and while the Northeast Corridor was still profitable to the system, the entire railroad suffered from Penn Central decades of neglect.

Tuesday I am thinking I’ll work down at the library parking lot ๐Ÿ…ฟ for probably the balance of the day. It’s going to be in the upper 30s and sunny โ˜€ so it should be warm enough. I have a Zoom meeting then and I have plenty of cellular bandwidth I still prefer to use the library wifi ๐Ÿ“š as then I can do the Zoom from my laptop do other things while the meeting drags on. Plus I want to do some things with WMS map services and I don’t want to use too much of my limited Hotspot data on my phone. ๐Ÿ“ฑ

It looks like Christmas Eve ๐ŸŽ…๐Ÿป is going to be warm and rainy, โ˜” so I’m hoping that I can go up to the Adirondacks for a long weekend of winter camping ๐Ÿ• with the hot tent starting Christmas Day. Its been a while since I’ve slept outside and that really does wonders for my sleep.

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until Latest Sunrise of the Winter ๐ŸŒ„๏ธ when the sun will be setting at 4:34 pm with dusk at 5:06 pm. On that day in 2020, we had mostly cloudy, mild, rain showers and temperatures between 47 and 39 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 31 degrees. We hit a record high of 61 back in 1913.

 Smoke Stacks

December 7, 2020 Morning

Good morning! Monday’s come back around again. Two weeks to First Day of Winter โ˜ƒ๏ธ. Partly sunny and 27 degrees in Delmar, NY. ๐ŸŒ… There is a west-northwest breeze at 11 mph. ๐Ÿƒ. Things will start to thaw out at around 11 am. ๐ŸŒก๏ธ

Kind of a cool Monday but the sun โ˜€ helps when it’s out pretty decently warm. Out for the morning walk ๐Ÿšถ๐Ÿป. It certainly a decent day for December. I kind of had a sluggish start this Monday but I did my walk and will sit down with breakfast and my second cup of coffee โ˜• as I get my work day started from home today. ๐Ÿก Later in the week I’ll be heading downtown for meetings.

Yesterday was kind of a quiet and cold โ„ day, but went out to my parents house for a while. I thought they’d be going into lock down ๐Ÿ”’ but apparently not yet. I looked at the statistics and it’s obvious that it’s only a matter of time before the pamademic gets a bit out of hand in Upstate NY although hopefully this time we will have the vaccine to slow it down a bit. ๐Ÿฅ˜

Today will be partly sunny ๐ŸŒž, with a high of 34 degrees at 1pm. Five degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 20th. Northwest wind 8 to 11 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 31 degrees. The record high of 65 was set in 1998. 5.5 inches of snow fell back in 2003.โ„

Cold but sunny today it looks. โ˜€๏ธ That’s to be expected for December. No snow today but maybe some on Thursday. I don’t care that much although I’d like to get one more trip in before the end of the year.

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 11:48 am with sun having an altitude of 24.7ยฐ from the due south horizon (-46.1ยฐ vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour ๐Ÿ… starts at 3:38 pm with the sun in the southwest (232ยฐ). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west-southwest (239ยฐ) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:23 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 22 seconds with dusk around 4:53 pm, which is 4 seconds earlier than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ The best time to look at the stars is after 5:30 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies ๐ŸŒƒ and temperatures around 33 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 8 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 9 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute over yesterday.

Tonight will have isolated snow showers between 9pm and 2am. Mostly cloudy ๐ŸŒง, with a low of 23 degrees at 5am. One degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 10th. Maximum wind chill around 17 at 12am; Northwest wind 5 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 1 degrees. The record low of -3 occurred back in 1902.

Today in 1787, Delaware becomes the first state to ratify the United States Constitution. ๐Ÿ“ƒ And for football fans in 1963, Instant replay makes its debut during the Army-Navy football game in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.๐Ÿˆ 1972 today marked the end of an era — Apollo 17, the last Apollo moon mission, is launched. ๐ŸŒŽ The crew takes the photograph known as The Blue Marble as they leave the Earth.

I bought two more face masks from Lynne Jackson. ๐Ÿ˜ท I kind of like the one I bought from her earlier in the year and I think at some point I’ll be working downtown more ๐Ÿ™ and need more masks. Even if we turn the corner on the virus it’s going to be bad for a while – and maybe wearing a mask occasionally even when the pandemic is over is a good way to avoid getting or spreading a cold. ๐Ÿคฎ Lynne’s masks are quite comfortable plus it’s a great way to support a local activist. While I mostly wear the bandana outside when I’m downtown it’s good to have a good mask.

Not a particularly nice weekend on tap. ๐Ÿ˜ž Saturday, a chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 47. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Sunday, a chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 48. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Typical average high for the weekend is 37 degrees.

I was hoping to get out of town this weekend โ›บ but despite the snow melting warmth not much sun. Maybe for Christmas or New Years. It looks like December will be pretty mild for a change. I guess that’s good during a pandemic.

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until First Day of Winter โ˜ƒ๏ธ when the sun will be setting at 4:25 pm with dusk at 4:57 pm. On that day in 2019, we had cold, partly cloudy and temperatures between 24 and 8 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 34 degrees. We hit a record high of 62 back in 2018.

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