Good morning! Happy Sunday. Three weeks to Average High 70 🎑 . Tick, tick, tick, ⏳ autumn is coming. 🍂 I know that’s more ticks than a Chevy 5.3 engine makes. But today will feel pretty autumn like too. Partly sunny and 62 degrees in Delmar, NY. ⛅There is a west-northwest breeze at 10 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 62 degrees.

I have some work stuff to do and I’m enjoying my coffee ☕. It’s a beautiful day and I’ll head up to Partridge Run by the midday I think after some lunch. 🌯 I do need to go shopping for food 🛒 but I’ll do that come Monday or Tuesday once I have a better plan what I want to do next weekend. I’m now thinking about a trip to the Green Mountains next weekend. ⛰️

Some years it seems like autumn comes late and others early. 🍁 This year it seems like we’ve had a lot of cool August days rather than the sultry days that are common but I wouldn’t be shocked if things don’t change come September and we don’t get at least a few hot days although it gets difficult with the average high dropping so quickly. 🌽 Seems like a lot of people are starting to chop corn silage now. 👨🏻‍🌾

I’ve been watching to see when Piseco Powley Road will reopen, 🚧 hoping for easy access to the Potholers so I can do an autumn trip up there maybe combined with a day in Little Falls and Moss Island 🏝 out hiking and paddling. Fall camping is fun at the Potholers especially if it’s warm – but it sure gets dark early. But the farm stands are good this time of year. 🍎🍒🍅🥔🥕🌽

Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 73 degrees at 3pm. Five degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around September 13th. Maximum dew point of 62 at 7am. Northwest wind 10 to 14 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 82 degrees. The record high of 98 was set in 1953.

Should be a really nice day. ☺ I just need to figure out where I want to go while avoiding crowds. There definitely are lots of options that I could do of I want. Probably don’t want though to stray too far from home as I did a pretty good trip last week – maybe Partridge Run I’m thinking. 🦉

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:57 pm with sun having an altitude of 56.2° from the due south horizon (-14.7° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 4 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:57 pm with the sun in the west (277°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (283°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:34 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 59 seconds with dusk around 8:01 pm, which is one minute and 41 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Full 🌝 Moon in the southeast (132°) at an altitude of 12° from the horizon, 242,210 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:38 pm. At sunset, look for mostly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 67 degrees. The dew point will be 50 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 8 mph. Today will have 13 hours and 13 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 45 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 50 degrees at 5am. Seven degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around September 19th. Northwest wind around 6 mph becoming calm in the evening. 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 54 degrees. The record low of 37 occurred back in 1965.

On this day in 1967, Thurgood Marshall is confirmed as the first African American Justice 👨🏾‍⚖️ of the Supreme Court of the United States. ⚖ And in 1974, a powerful bomb explodes at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries headquarters in Marunouchi, Tokyo, Japan. 🇯🇵 💣Eight are killed, 378 are injured. 👮🏽 Eight left-wing activists are arrested on May 19, 1975 by Japanese authorities.

I am looking at next weekends forecast ☀ and it looks so nice. I wonder what I should do or plan. ⛺ I will need cell service for work 📶 so that limits my options somewhat and I want to avoid the crowds. Maybe Vermont I’m thinking 💭 for a few days. I’ll have to think about it some more – I was actually planning to avoid crowds next week and wait until mid September but we’ll see. 🍁Another option is tent or lean to camping in the back country. But I’m still looking forward to to September camping after the crowds clear out. 👋🏻

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until the Average High 70 🎑 when the sun will be setting at 6:55 pm with dusk at 7:23 pm. On that day in 2019, we had partly sunny, patches of fog and temperatures between 79 and 42 degrees. We hit a record high of 90 back in 1946.

Man I do like looking at those off-grid cabins. 🏡 So many people have such nice places that are small, simple and easy to clean and heat with wood. In an era of the 3,000 square foot house, those little 400 or 500 ft square cabins are so appealing – not a lot of place for junk. I think it would be more fun to have goats 🐐 and pigs 🐖than all that plastic stuff in subunanite houses. I want to read a book 📙 on goat farming next.

Good evening! Cloudy and damp around 70 degrees on Delmar. ☁️ There is a west breeze at 13 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 67 degrees. The skies will clear around 9 pm.

Not a super nice day so I stayed home 🏡 and read and worked on a variety of little projects. I wanted to go for an evening walk 🚶🏻 but the threat of rain was much too high. Tomorrow I’ll get out hiking. Put together some new maps 🗺️and stuff for the blog, was reading another book 📙 about homesteading. 🐐 Cheeses and dairy science is fascinating stuff 🧀 – minor changes in processing milk 🥛 can create vastly different effects products or more likely ruin it entirely.

I finally baked up that cookie mix 🍪that expired in April. Good peanut 🥜 butter cookies that I bought last fall for my West Virginia trip but never eat. 😋 I figured I better eat it before the mice get in an chew holes in the packaging.🐁It’s been a bad year for mice in the woods – something people were talking about yesterday on Facebook and I noticed we’re bad both in the Finger Lakes and Piseco Powley Road.

Tonight will have a slight chance of showers before 11pm. Partly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 58 degrees at 5am. Typical for tonight. Maximum dew point of 67 at 9pm. West wind 10 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. 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 57 degrees. The record low of 38 occurred back in 1982.

Tonight will have a Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon with 90% illuminated. At 9 PM, the moon was in the south-southeast (156°) at an altitude of 21° from the horizon, some 239,388 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 February 27^th. Buckle up for safety! 💺 The darkest hour is at 12:57 am, followed by dawn at 5:49 am, and sun starting to rise at 6:19 am in the east-northeast (77°) and last for 2 minutes and 59 seconds. Sunrise is one minute and 4 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 6:56 am with sun in the east (83°). Tonight will have 10 hours and 44 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 44 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 72 degrees at 3pm. Six degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around September 16th. Maximum dew point of 58 at 7am. Northwest wind 13 to 15 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 82 degrees. The record high of 98 was set in 1953. The great Heat Wave of 1953.

Should be a nice autumn like day. 🍂 Nice change from the humidity and stormy weather today. I am thinking of doing some hiking and fishing 🎣 at Partridge Run tomorrow. Should be a great day to spend outdoors but maybe a bit chilly by the time I go out to my parents house for Sunday dinner. 🍲 But then again, Tuesday is September. Summer has quickly bit the dust.

I get so tired of hearing so many police 🚨 sirens lately. The past few months they really have been abusing them it seems. For a while they were relatively quiet, tapping the sirens only briefly at the traffic light 🚦 to warn motorists but lately it’s been non-stop and it’s annoying. That and the super throaty motorcycles and trucks 🏍. Maybe I’m noticing it more this year as I’m home all of the time I’m not in the woods enjoying the quiet. 🤫

I am planning my next trip after Labor Day Weekend. 🍂 I’ll have to get out my blaze orange and gun cleaned up at that point. I’m thinking the Spectulator Area most likely especially if I’m planning several weekdays because the library is a pleasant place to work for Zoom Meetings. After October 1st I might camp and work from a combination of Stoney Pond State Forest and Charles Baker. ⛺ I can probably get Wi-Fi at the Cazenovia and Hamilton libraries out there for Zoom. Remote work has its benefits. 💻No permit is needed for Stoney Pond State Forest after October 1st and it’s unlikely I’ll see anyone there except maybe a grizzled old hunter. 🎫 Fishing in Nelson Swamp is a lot of fun too.

I really enjoy reading and looking at pictures of folks off grid properties on the Facebook. 🏡 I just really like the simple and the small with lots of land in remote country. Some folks are really fancy or big builders but that certainly aint me. Some are into art work and making things pretty but I’m fine with chipboard for walls. The less you have, the less to spend money on, the less to break or have to throw away regularly. 🛠️

I’ve considered doing a trip in October to the Finger Lakes 💻 and remote working from there but I have concerns about the length of day and having enough sunlight then to keep things charged and the long trip back to Albany after hours should something break that I can’t continue to work from there likedead fuse, inverter or other problems with the solar system which I couldn’t fix in the field. ⬛ It would be fun though to enjoy the leaves, 🍁 hunt before 9 AM 🐿️🐰🦃and then work the rest of the day from camp but maybe exhausting to boot. At the National Forest you can camp for two weeks in one site, no permits required.

I also don’t want to put on too many miles or break shit in my truck 🔧before the state inspection in November. Since addressing the tire wear issue on the truck in June things have been a lot better at slowing the wear and I’m not concerned about this year’s inspection but I also don’t want to have any kind of costly repairs this autumn if possible. 🔩

In four weeks on September 26 the sun will be setting in the west (269°) at 6:45 pm,🌄 which is 49 minutes and 15 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had partly cloudy, rain showers and temperatures between 69 and 53 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 68 and 47 degrees. The record high of 90 degrees was set back in 2017.

Looking ahead, Northern Zone Regular Season 🦌 is in 7 weeks, Halloween 🛥️ and the Blue Moon 🌕 is in 9 weeks, Small Business Saturday 🛍️ is in 13 weeks, Repeal of Prohibition Day 🍺 is in 14 weeks, Boxing Day 🥊 is in 17 weeks, Cold Moon 🌕 is in 4 months, Static Electric Shock Day 🧼 is in 19 weeks, National Cheese Lovers Day 🧀 is in 21 weeks, 38th Birthday 🎉 is in 5 months, Save the Pine Bush Turns 43 🦋 is in 23 weeks, 5:30 PM Sunset 🌆 is in 25 weeks, Snow Moon 🌕 is in 26 weeks and Snow Moon 🌕 is in 26 weeks.

Good evening! Partly clear in Delmar. 🌉 Sixty two degrees. There is a west-northwest breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 47 degrees. All things considered, a pretty pleasant evening.

I told myself that I should work outside today ☀ with the great weather but I was super busy with work so I didn’t go outside except for my morning stroll around the Swift Preserve. And then in the evening, a walk around the Albany Pine Bush. 🌲🌲

Also attended the Save the Pine Bush protest at Guilderland Town Hall 🏛️ and held up signs wearing masks. 😷 Town leaders were so afraid 😨 of the public and a bunch of senior citizens 👵🏻 and television reporters 📺 they had to enter the back door 🚪 of Town Hall by police escort. 👮🏼 Not sure why the town planning board is so afraid of a bunch of elderly 👵🏻 seniors with paper signs.

The fight for the Pine Bush seems endless and thankless against the big developers 🏗️ but it’s worth it because if you don’t fight in the trenches, who will. Even though the battle is ongoing its worthwhile. While eventually when I own my off-grid property 🏚️I’ll probably be non political when I’m in Albany it’s fun to fight the developers the best I can and keep pour wild land wild. 🐦 We got good media coverage tonight. 🎥

The walk around the Pine Bush 🦋 was really nice but it got dark quickly with some clouds pushing in after sunset 🌇. Grass was super high 🌾and I didn’t want to catch Lyme disease🕷️ again so as soon as I got home I took a shower 🚿 because I was wearing shorts while I was walking in in the Pine Bush. 😳

Tonight will have a chance of showers, mainly after 2am. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 54 degrees at 2am. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around September 9th. Maximum dew point of 50 at 6am. Northwest wind around 6 mph becoming light and variable after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2019, we had partly cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 53 degrees. The record low of 41 occurred back in 1969.

Tonight will have a First Quarter 🌓 Moon with 64% illuminated. At 9 PM, the moon was in the south-southwest (197°) at an altitude of 23° from the horizon, some 231,153 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 February 18^th. Buckle up for safety! 💺 The darkest hour is at 12:58 am, followed by dawn at 5:46 am, and sun starting to rise at 6:15 am in the east-northeast (75°) and last for 2 minutes and 59 seconds. Sunrise is one minute and 4 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 6:53 am with sun in the east (82°). Tonight will have 10 hours and 36 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 43 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have a chance of showers and thunderstorms before 8am, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm between 8am and 2pm, then showers and thunderstorms likely after 2pm. Some of the storms could be severe. Mostly cloudy 🌩, with a high of 74 degrees at 3pm. Five degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around September 11th. Maximum dew point of 65 at 2pm. Southeast wind 5 to 7 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible. A year ago, we had sunny skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 75 degrees. The record high of 97 was set in 1948.

I think I’m happy 😊 with the haircut 💇🏻 I gave myself. That sharper trimmer did a nice job although I may want to trim behind my ears 👂🏻 a little closer. I think next time I might also use a slightly longer cutting guard. My sideburns though are growing in quite gray now. 🧔🏻

I don’t see myself heading out of town the next two weeks ✌️ although I guess depending on how many Zoom Meetings I have coming up I could take a long weekend at some point. I don’t mind using my phone 📱 or the cellular internet on my work laptop but I really need Wi-Fi for Zoom. I guess I could go up to the Spectulator Library. Maybe after the holiday weekend when they crowds filter out from the Adirondack Park. The only concern then is the days are starting to get short and the sun angle is decling which means less solar power.

In four weeks on September 23 the sun will be setting in the west (270°) at 6:50 pm,🌄 which is 48 minutes and 54 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had humid, partly sunny, warm weather, rain showers and temperatures between 86 and 66 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 69 and 49 degrees. The record high of 97 degrees was set back in 1895.

I joined a group on Facebook about backyard pig raising. 🐖 Some people raise some beautiful hogs including here in New York. After finishing up that book 📙 I was reading 📖 I find that Facebook group endlessly fascinating. Maybe because farming and homesteading is so much different than my every day work. That said a pair of hogs and two ton of grain run through them can turn some pretty marginal dirt or bare rock into good soil. 💩 I do wonder about invasive species – while grain isn’t likely to introduce them any time you disturb soil it makes it so much easier for them to take root. Next I think I’ll get a book 📙 about goats. 🐐

Looking ahead, Average High is 55 🍂 is in 9 weeks, Day After Election Day 🛀 is in 10 weeks, Veterans Day 🇺🇸 is in 11 weeks, Thanksgiving 🦃 is in 3 months, Earliest Sunset of the Year ⌛️ is in 15 weeks, Tea Party Day 🐍 is in 16 weeks, Festivus 🍖 is in 17 weeks, Boxing Day 🥊 is in 4 months, Bacon Day 🥓 is in 18 weeks, Make Your Dream Come True Day 🏡 is in 20 weeks, Inauguration Day ✅ is in 21 weeks, 5:30 PM Dusk 🌆 is in 5 months, Clean Your Computer Day 🧹 is in 24 weeks and Presidents Day 👴 is in 25 weeks.