Good evening! Cloudy and 60 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ There is a west-northwest breeze at 10 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 53 degrees. The skies will clear tomorrow around noontime.

I thought today was a pleasant day. 💭 Warm but not too hot. While I stuck around home for a while this morning, the bird hike I took at Schodack Island was quite productive and full of wildlife. 🐦 🐰 🐍 Not too many crowds on the hiking trail 👪, I think people’s initial desire to get outdoors and be occupied with the little ones is kind of wearing off and most of that’s now happening on weekdays. ☁ Clouds pushed in at the end of the day.

Rained a bit while I was driving home but I stocked up on $50 worth of Aldi’s groceries. 🍏 I love 😍 how I can shop for a weeks worth of groceries and be out of the store in less than ten minutes. ⏰There are only four aisles so it’s quick in and out. One other customer when I was there. They’ve taken the arrows down from the aisles ➡ as nobody pays attention to them and with the way the store is laid out the arrows don’t work compared to a big box store. I don’t even bother to bring my shopping bags inside anymore, I just bag things in my truck. Keeps them cleaner and more Coronavirus free that way. 👾

I made chilli burgers 🍔 for lunch and they were good but I’ve sure been a bit gassy 😲 all afternoon. Chilli with beans on a burger might not be good combo for my stomach. I thought I was going to have to dig a cat hole 💩 a few times when I was out hiking.

I am happy with the haircut ✂ I gave myself. Definitely a lot shorter and nicer. I might still want to work on the back. 💈 I had the clippers so I might as well use them. Eventually I go back to the barber but I think I’ll just use the trimmers for now until things are normal enough that masks and specialty are no longer required. 💇

Tonight will have isolated showers before midnight. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 49 degrees at 6am. Three degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 23rd. Northwest wind 10 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies. It was somewhat humid. It got down to 55 degrees. The record low of 34 occurred back in 1961.

Tonight will have a First Quarter 🌓 Moon with 63% illuminated. At 11 PM, the moon was in the west-southwest (239°) at an altitude of 38° from the horizon, some 226,878 miles away from where you are looking up from the earth. 🚀 At the state speed limit of 55 mph, you’ll make it there by November 18^th. Buckle up for safety! 💺 The Strawberry 🍓 Moon is on Friday, June 5. The darkest hour is at 12:54 am, followed by dawn at 4:48 am, and sun starting to rise at 5:22 am in the east-northeast (59°) and last for 3 minutes and 23 seconds. Sunrise is 32 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 6:04 am with sun in the east-northeast (66°). Tonight will have 8 hours and 55 minutes of darkness, a decrease of one minute and 21 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 64 degrees at 4pm. 10 degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 30th. Northwest wind 10 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 76 degrees. The record high of 92 was set in 2013.

Getting up early tomorrow for hiking in the Albany Pine Bush Preserve 🌲 to do some birding and socially distant citizens conservation study. The more time you spend in the woods the more you. 🐸 I’m really finding myself getting lost and loosing track of time when I spend afternoons studying the woods. It will be great fun with my colleagues.

Watching next weekends forecast ☀ but it looks sunny and hot for Thursday through Sunday. My office 🏢 will probably still be remote work only so I could work from my phone or the Speculator library if I wanted to take another long weekend of social distancing up north. I could use some more beach time at the Speculator Beach 🏊 and maybe come the weekend do some hiking, maybe somewhere different up that way.

In four weeks on June 27 the sun will be setting in the west-northwest (303°) at 8:37 pm,🌄 which is 12 minutes and 5 seconds later then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had hot, mostly sunny, shallow fog and temperatures between 87 and 63 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 81 and 60 degrees. The record high of 97 degrees was set back in 1941.

While I know I probably shouldn’t be, 🚨💥I’ve been watching the unrest unfold in Albany on the Twitter. I heard a few pops earlier in the evening and a police siren but I doubt it’s related. 👮 Probably just a fender bender locally 🚙 on the road. Kind of scary when you watch it all on the Twitter. I hope my absentee ballot applications ❌ isn’t destroyed or lost in the chaos in the south end. I could always vote on the machine but voting at home is a lot more convenient, especially as I suspect there will be much fewer poll workers and polling places ✉ during the pandemic.

After all those people looking down at the apparently crowded beaches on the long angle lens and then those dismissing the lock 🔒 down protests as passing the virus around, 👾 you have to wonder about these mass rallies over policing across the country. I just don’t like double standards or the bias against conservatives 🏊 .

Of course, no single event is likely to make a mass spike in cases of Coronavirus 👾as single events are burried by statistical noise♒ but together they could set back progress at slowing the spread. You can say no mass gatherings of more than 10 people ✊ but it’s kind of hard to break up a protest that is criticizing public policy and clearly is first amendment guaranteed. 📃 So much for reopening the economy so quickly should there be an uptick in cases.

I guess there isn’t much I can do about it. 💭 My priority has to be to save money, 💵 enjoy life, protect myself from the government 🏫 and work for a better tomorrow and eventually my off-grid property. 🏡 I can’t save Albany or change the world 🌍 but I can make a better life for myself. What’s happening is kind of sad but there is only so much I can do about it.

Looking ahead, Summer ️⛱️ is in 3 weeks.

Good morning! Happy Thursday. Sunny and 44 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌞 Calm wind. Cool start to the day but a nice one this morning. I’m going to head out for my morning walk 🚶 shortly and get the day started. Already had a big pan 🍳 of eggs and bacon, and of coffee ☕.

Tomorrow at this time ⌚ I plan to already be in the city beyond the pines, Schenectady, 🌲🌲🌲🌲🌇 and well on my way to the Adirondacks. I’d like to be to camp by 8:30 and at least have a table set up and power cords run by the time I clock in a nine. I will bring a dress shirt and an old blazer to toss over my t shirt and Permethrin sprayed jeans 👖with my office background picture for any Zoom meetings I may have during the day. 📹 Bird noises and gun shots in the background during the meeting?The chimes of freedom. 💥Must be because the windows are open. 🐦 I may make a second pot of coffee this morning ☕ and refrigerate it for tomorrow for a better jump start.

I am done with the doxycycline again 💊but I’m shit scared of ticks. That’s why I am bathing myself in chemicals hoping to avoid the next biting. 🐜 I know that the black flies will be insane up north but they only work during the daytime hours and hopefully the screen to tent will work along with the DEET, PMD and Picardin and clotheses covered by Permethrin.

Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 76 degrees at 4pm. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around June 7th. Light south wind increasing to 5 to 10 mph in the morning. Another beautiful day.💚 Better put sunscreen on my truckers arm from working in my truck. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 67 degrees. The record high of 92 was set in 1941. There was a dusting of snow in 1895.❄

Today I will work down at the laundromat 👚 midday then later get groceries and gas for camping. It should be a nice day as long as I don’t make my shotgun arm any more crispy from working in the truck. I was pushing 75 watts out of the panel for a good portion of the day charging both my personal and work laptops.😎

Next week I am expecting one of those reflective wind shield screens that I ordered, mainly because I’m working in my truck office and it gets hot. 😎 Plus I tend to now camp in sunnier campsites so I can have the solar power for the battery 🔋 bank. The cooler I keep my truck the better especially if my coolers are up there. Back to two coolers now – one for beer and cold cuts and the other for real cold stuff now that summer is here.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:53 pm with sun having an altitude of 67.7° from the due south horizon (-3.1° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 2.5 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:37 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (292°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (299°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:18 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 18 seconds with dusk around 8:50 pm, which is 58 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:33 pm. At sunset, look for clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 68 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 8 mph. Today will have 14 hours and 50 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 48 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be clear 🌃, with a low of 50 degrees at 5am. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 24th. South wind 6 to 8 mph. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 45 degrees. The record low of 33 occurred back in 2002.

Right now, a split verdict on the weekend. 😕 Saturday, a chance of showers, with thunderstorms also possible after 2pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 77. Calm wind becoming east around 5 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. Maximum dew point of 57 at 10am. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 74. Maximum dew point of 48 at 6pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 72 degrees.

It looks like the forecast is better up north. ☺ That said, following weekend looks rain

Good morning! Happy Pack Rat Day 🐀! I bet a lot of debris got burned up in people’s bonfires over the weekend 🔥 some of it not wood now that the spring time restrictions are over. As a farmer kid once told me back in the day, they can’t see the black smoke if you burn it at night.

Three weeks to Strawberry Moon 🍓. No its not the color of strawberry milk. I did see some Juneberries up hiking at Thacher Park yesterday. They are fun to pick and eat. The wild blueberries and black raspberries. 🍒 Oh sweet cherries. I do need to get to Schoharie Valley and get some fresh fruit come June. Even if Mine Kill is closed this summer there are other swimming holes. 🏊 But maybe Governor one percent will change his mind.

A little bit of blue sky today but not a lot. Partly cloudy and 54 degrees in Delmar, NY. ⛅ There is a south-southeast breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 48 degrees. A surprisingly nice spring day. It would have been nice to get out of town this weekend but the forecast was iffy and I things to do in town plus I’m broke. I mean I got paid last week but it seems like the money never lasts long enough. 💵

Today will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 71 degrees at 4pm. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical day around May 20th. Maximum dew point of 50 at 1pm. Southeast wind 3 to 8 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became light rain by afternoon. The high last year was 73 degrees. The record high of 92 was set in 2017.

If it’s nice today, 🐦 I’ll grab my binoculars and head out to Five Rivers Environmental Education Center to do some birding and exercise. 🏃 I’d kind of like this to be a stay home day, as I feel like I drive too much with buses being stopped 🚍 and needing to get on the internet from the library. 📚 I’ve really gotten into nature study lately. 🐸

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:53 pm with sun having an altitude of 66.8° from the due south horizon (-4° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 2.6 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:33 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (291°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (298°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:14 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 16 seconds with dusk around 8:45 pm, which is one minute and one second later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:27 pm. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies ☁ and temperatures around 65 degrees. The dew point will be 50 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 14 hours and 42 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 58 seconds over yesterday.

It should be another nice mild night 🌃 for sitting out back, even if the stars ✨ aren’t that great. Got to enjoy the nice weather as long as possible before it gets super hot and muggy before winter returns. With the pandemic on tap, it could be a very different summer.

Tonight will have showers likely, mainly after 4am. Cloudy 🌧, with a low of 53 degrees at 5am. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around June 2nd. Maximum dew point of 50 at 6pm. Calm wind. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies. It got down to 46 degrees. The record low of 29 occurred back in 1981.

Tomorrow will have a chance of showers. Mostly cloudy 🌦, with a high of 66 degrees at 4pm. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around May 5th. Maximum dew point of 49 at 6am. Calm wind becoming northeast around 5 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became light rain by afternoon. The high last year was 73 degrees. The record high of 94 was set in 2017. 2.2 inches of snow fell back in 2002.❄

I finally got my 1,200 buck Donald Trump endorsed check. 📨 Happy Election Year! ☑ Corona 2020 for President. It ducking sucks that they couldn’t direct deposit but I’ll have to deposit it on Monday. I am getting good at driving my big jacked up truck through the ATM 🏧 lane. I’ll put $400 into savings and $800 into index funds. 〽I figure save the money now and eventually turn it into something fun in a decade or two from now like a tractor, 🚜 an AR-15 🔫 or something that makes black smoke and pretty colors in the burn pit. 🔥

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until Strawberry Moon 🌕 when the sun will be setting at 8:31 pm with dusk at 9:05 pm. On that day in 2019, we had mostly sunny and temperatures between 82 and 53 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 76 degrees. We hit a record high of 95 back in 1999.

The long weekend looks better now. 👌Next Saturday, a chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 76. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Maximum dew point of 57 at 8am. ☀ Typical average high for the weekend is 72 degrees.

It’s starting to look like next weekend is back on ⛺ based on the forecast. That assumes that I can get Friday off which who knows. But I’m sure the forecast will turn to rain before that in Trump’s Amerika. I’ll have to make a decision before work tomorrow so I can decide to put in for Friday or not. I want to see when my screen tent is going to be delivered 🎪 as that will make all the difference with the black flies plus I don’t want it to be delivered while I’m not home. 🏡 Otherwise there is always next week.

In four weeks on June 14 the sun will be setting in the west-northwest (303°) at 8:34 pm,🌄 which is 21 minutes and 28 seconds later then today. In 2019 on that day, we had partly cloudy and temperatures between 68 and 53 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 78 and 56 degrees. The record high of 96 degrees was set back in 1892.

Looking ahead, Strawberry Moon 🌕 is in 3 weeks and Fathers Day 👨 is in 4 weeks.

Good evening! Rain and 63 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ There is a west breeze at 8 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 60 degrees. More of a drizzle now but around 7 pm the sky was really pouring.

No evening walk 🚶 due to the rain. That downpour and wind was intense for a while – it must have knocked down a tree 🌲as I heard somebody in the neighborhood with a chain saw. But as fast as it came it was gone.

I was working down at the library parking lot today and it started to get so hot with that sun ☀. Got to hook up the fan and maybe bring water but then I’ll need to run home for bathroom 🚽 breaks. The library Wi-Fi has gotten so popular lately – some times you’ll see a dozen cars in the lot with folks on their laptops. 💻 But it’s fine, everybody is maintaining social distancing and my laptop stays charged off the sun.

Working on a new interactive mapping feature for the blog that will allow for large format maps that can be scrolled 📜 left and right and maybe zoomed in based on the jquery library I eventually end up linking against.

Also been experimenting with historical topographic maps and removing their collars 🗾 which turns out to be super easy to do creating seemless historical maps of larger areas like Moose River Plains. The accuracy of those early USGS maps is amazing as long as you don’t zoom in too far beyond the scale.

Tonight will have showers likely, mainly before 1am. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 54 degrees at 6am. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around June 6th. Maximum dew point of 60 at 10pm. Northwest wind 7 to 9 mph. Another night sleeping with the windows open. I like the fresh air and things are quite with everything shut down due to pandemic. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 48 degrees. The record low of 33 occurred back in 1980.

Tonight will have a Last Quarter 🌗 Moon with 35% illuminated. The darkest hour is at 12:53 am, followed by dawn at 5:01 am, and sun starting to rise at 5:34 am in the east-northeast (63°) and last for 3 minutes and 15 seconds. Sunrise is one minute and one second earlier than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 6:14 am with sun in the east-northeast (70°). Tonight will have 9 hours and 20 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 2 minutes and 2 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 73 degrees at 3pm. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around May 27th. Maximum dew point of 52 at 10am. North wind 7 to 9 mph. Should be a real nice day. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning, which became light rain by afternoon. The high last year was 69 degrees. The record high of 89 was set in 1991.

I’m thinking Thacher Park OSI parcel tomorrow from that lesser used trail head to the Nature Center at Thompsons Lake 🐦 and some of the lesser used trails to the overlooks. 🐸 I want to do some bird watching and just general wildlife observation 🔭 if I can find some quiet places to sit in the woods. I’ll definitely be wearing my jeans 👖 that are treated with Permethrin.

I’ve really been struggling with the Lyme disease this time. 🐜 The doxycycline works but it’s not as effective as the first time I got Lyme last October and there are times I am sore and stiff. I do keep getting out – walking 5 to 10 miles a day around the neighborhood – but at times I feel exhausted and just so stiff and sore. I’m be out of doxycycline Tuesday and if I still feel like shit I’m going to call the doctor 😷.

I went to the the laundromat and hardware store today. 👚 Washed my clothes and sprayed three pare of older jeans and t-shirts with Permethrin. Users of it swear by it for ticks. Certainly the Army uses a lot of it as do cattle farmers for fly control. I picked up two empty spray bottles so I’d have them to apply the chemicals. Mixing the chemical 20 to 1 with water wasn’t too bad, twenty oz of mixture pretty much covered three jeans and shirts. Didn’t see any staining or odors. I washed my hands carefully after use but noticed no incidental skin reaction. The chemical supposedly lasts six washings but honestly I’d probably reapply it before packing for any major camping trip or extended outdoor activity because if it knocks down the ticks it’s worth it without a question.

In four weeks on June 12 the sun will be setting in the west-northwest (303°) at 8:33 pm,🌄 which is 22 minutes and 36 seconds later then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had mostly sunny and temperatures between 77 and 50 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 77 and 56 degrees. The record high of 95 degrees was set back in 2017.

Looking ahead, 8:30 PM Sunset ️⛱️ is in 3 weeks.

🇺🇸🦅Only 1 week remains until the start of Memorial Day Weekend!🦅🇺🇸

I made no decision about next weekend. ⛺ Unless the forecast calls for exceptionally nice weather next weekend the plan will be avoid the crowds Memorial Day Weekend and work only three days the following week, leave Thursday and take Friday off celebrate the unofficial kick off to summer with fewer crowds and the potholers a little warmer.