Search Results for: photo a very wet afternoon

State of the State Day ๐Ÿซ

I wonder if this means any new swimming pools will open up at State Parks near where I like to explore. More like shouting protestors and State Troopers swarming the Capitol complex. I kind of wish at this point I was moved to the new office to avoid all the craziness. But summer time at State Parks is on my mind, not the ice fog of today.

Good morning! Happy State of the State Day. ๐Ÿซ For me that just means avoid the Concourse and Capitol like the plague or risk crowds of people yelling you, probably about the Isreal and Palestine conflict which is on the other side of the world and I have nothing to do about. Ice fog from the snow and 20 degrees in Delmar. ๐ŸŒซ Calm wind. There are 5 inches of snow on the ground. โ˜ƒ ๏ธThings will start to thaw out at around noontime. ๐ŸŒก๏ธThen rain tonight.

Ironing my shirt and pants ๐Ÿ•ด๐Ÿปgetting ready for another session day. Drinking coffee โ˜• and enjoying the very good pancakes ๐Ÿฅž I made topped with frozen wild Maine blueberries ๐Ÿซ, Greek yogurt and pure maple ๐Ÿ syrup. Very tasty, I used more whole wheat flour ๐ŸŒพ then oats in the mix with an egg, some milk, water and baking powder for fluffiness. I’m just now waiting for the inevitable blood sugar crash๐Ÿ˜”. Been a bit heavy on the carbs lately so I skipped making bread for now. ๐Ÿž Maybe knead more tonight. I took salmon ๐ŸŸ out of the freezer for cooking tonight after work.

Today will have a chance of snow between noon and 3pm, then rain and snow. ๐ŸŒง High of 35 degrees at 3pm. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around February 14th. Light southeast wind increasing to 11 to 16 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with a few breaks of sun the afternoon. The high last year was 36 degrees. The record high of 62 was set in 2008. 9.9 inches of snow fell back in 1953.โ„

I like my early morning bike ride ๐Ÿšฒ and will head out at 6:45 again after it’s no longer pitch black. ๐Ÿฎ I like seeing the cows and the mountains along Meads Road. It’s a good ride with the hills on Orchard Street, and while they were a bit icy yesterday, there was enough sand on them that I could maintain traction with my bike. ๐ŸŒจ Not sure if tomorrow I’ll be able to ride to work, it’s not a session day but it depends on when the rain โ˜” stops and how much snow is left on the rail trail. I guess I could take in city streets. ๐Ÿš˜ Going to certainly be mild by tomorrow morning but windy.

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 12:03 pm with sun having an altitude of 25.2° from the due south horizon (-45.6° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.7 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour ๐Ÿ… starts at 3:55 pm with the sun in the southwest (232°). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west-southwest (240°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:40 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 21 seconds with dusk around 5:11 pm, which is one minute and 2 seconds later than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ The best time to look at the stars is after 5:47 pm. At sunset, look for rain ๐ŸŒง and snow ๐ŸŒจ and temperatures around 35 degrees. Breezy, 16 mph breeze โ›… from the southeast. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 19 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 19 seconds over today.

Tonight will rain, possibly mixed with snow, becoming all rain after 7pm. โ˜” Temperature rising to around 49 by 4am. Windy, with a southeast wind 23 to 28 mph decreasing to 15 to 20 mph after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 46 mph. ๐ŸŒฌ๏ธ Chance of precipitation is 100%. Little or no snow accumulation expected. In 2023, we had light snow in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 22 degrees. The record low of -13 occurred back in 1968.

I have my doubts about the evening walk. ๐ŸŒง That said, I didn’t bother bringing an umbrella to work this afternoon, as there is no reason to have an umbrella with that kind of wind. Just going to get wet waiting for the express bus. ๐ŸšŒ It’s fine, I’ll head home, change into dry clothes, cook my salmon and brocolli ๐ŸŸ ๐Ÿฅฆ and whatever else I want for dinner, then knead the bread ๐Ÿž and put it in the oven to rise.

Saturday looks to be quite wet.๐ŸŒง๏ธ Saturday, rain, mainly before 1pm. High near 48. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Then it turns cold for Sunday into MLK Day. โ„ Sunday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 31. Breezy. MLK Day, mostly cloudy, with a high of 33. Typical average high for the weekend is 33 degrees. Deep and dark of winter.

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until National Cheese Lovers Day ๐Ÿง€ when the sun will be setting at 4:58 pm with dusk at 5:27 pm. I like cheese but I enjoy it in moderation these days. But the good news is we are almost to the 5 pm sunset then. On that day in 2023, we had snow and temperatures between 34 and 30 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 32 degrees. We hit a record high of 64 back in 1906.

Bridge

More Gluten Monday ๐Ÿž

What can I say. Adding that vital wheat gluten to my whole wheat bread added some extra fluff and it really made things less crumbly with much better texature. I’ll see how it holds up over the next few days, as I slowly slice off slices to dip in soup, make french toast and enjoy dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Good morning! Monday’s come back around again. โ˜” Hope you know where your umbrella is and your windshield wipers work during this dire emergency winter storm, comma lol. Rain and 36 degrees in Delmar, NY. ๐ŸŒง๏ธ There is a northwest breeze at 11 mph. ๐Ÿƒ. Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 9 pm. โ˜ƒ๏ธ

Taking the express bus ๐Ÿš in on this rainy โ˜” morning. Not the early one either, as by the time I was done cooking ๐Ÿง‘๐Ÿป‍๐Ÿณ and getting ready it was a no go for the earlier express. I’m not super excited about doing a lot of walking ๐Ÿšถ this morning, though I’ll try to get in my steps ๐Ÿ‘ฃ for the day, maybe even if that means bundling up and going for the evening walk. Going to be cold by evening especially with the wind. ๐ŸŒฌ๏ธ

There is a closure through the Empire State Plaza tunnels due to a water ๐Ÿ’ฆ main โ›‘ break which might cause delays but I don’t care I’m not driving ๐Ÿš˜ and it’s not a big deal if I’m a few minutes late. Looks like the driver is taking an alternative route through the city to avoid traffic. It’s not like next year when I’ll be transferring to the shuttle ๐Ÿš€ bus out to the suburban office. I do miss riding in on my bike but not with the cold and wet rain. ๐Ÿšฒ Tomorrow I’ll be back riding to work. January is going to be tough on the biking, due to the cold and inevitable snow on the trail, not to mention it’s not safe to be riding Water Street after dark in the evening.

Today will rain and snow before 11am, then a slight chance of rain between 11am and noon. ๐ŸŒž High of 41 degrees at 12pm. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 8th. Breezy, with a northwest wind 11 to 16 mph increasing to 17 to 22 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 39 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Little or no snow accumulation expected. I’m sure at some point we’ll have snow. ๐ŸŒจ A year ago, we had light snow throughout the day. The high last year was 30 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 1952. 4.3 inches of snow fell back in 1970.โ„

Adding the vital wheat ๐ŸŒพ gluten to my 100% whole wheat bread added a tad bit more fluff to the bread but it didn’t make it as light as white bread. ๐Ÿž Did make things stick together a lot better though for better slicing and texture. I bet it will hold up better in my bean soup.๐Ÿ› I’ll have to experiment with different amounts of yeast again but ultimately whole wheat is going to whole wheat. I wouldn’t say though it’s a flat bread as it was much more fluffy then what I had. White bread might be a lot more fluffy but it’s less healthy. I guess a reasonable compromise might be whole-white wheat, which is whole grain but the white wheat rather then the slightly more protein rich red wheat.

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 11:49 am with sun having an altitude of 24.4° from the due south horizon (-46.4° vs. 6/21). 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 3:38 pm with the sun in the southwest (231°). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west-southwest (239°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:23 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 24 seconds with dusk around 4:53 pm, which is 4 seconds later 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 37 degrees. The wind chill around sunset will be 26. โ˜ƒ๏ธ Breezy, 22 mph breeze โ›… from the west-northwest with gusts up to 38mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 9 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 42 seconds over today.

Looking forward to tonight with the bean soup and bread. ๐Ÿž ๐Ÿฒ It should be a good evening, but cold with the wind. But I want to walk at any rate, I’ll bundle up. ๐Ÿšถ‍โ™€๏ธ Then settle back down home under the heated blanket. Not super cold tonight, but it will be windy. But it could be a lot colder — look at the record low of negative 12.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy ๐ŸŒฅ, with a low of 28 degrees at 5am. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 29th. Maximum wind chill around 22 at 5am; Northwest wind 7 to 15 mph becoming south after midnight. In 2022, we had light snow in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 20 degrees. The record low of -12 occurred back in 1988.

I was noticing that Price Chopper has raw walnuts for sale ๐ŸŒฐ ๐ŸŽ… which might be a lot of fun when I go camping next week to roast over an open fire. I am still thinking of heading out to Madison County in the lead-up to the Christmas Holiday but it really depends on how much snow there is. โ„๏ธ Right now there is quite a bit of snow but I think much of it might melt by next weekend. I could do Stoney Pond or the Charles Baker Horse Camp. I know the mountain bike trails are closed but I can hike or ride the roads. ๐Ÿšด‍โ™€๏ธ

Today in 1997, The Kyoto Protocol opens for signature. ๐ŸŒŽ The US would never ratify the agreement, and while some countries would participate, it was a lot of talk and not a lot of action. Every year the earth gets a little bit warmer and it ain’t because I drive a big jacked up truck ๐Ÿ›ป or burn those Styrofoam egg cartons I stuff in my trash and ultimately the fire. ๐Ÿ”ฅ Seriously though we are making some technological progress but things are still going in the wrong direction as the population increases and every year we burn more fossil fuel.

A picture perfect weekend on tap. ๐Ÿ˜Ž Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 44. I am thinking Saturday of doing a bicycle ride out to the Albany Pine Bush — and maybe taking the bus back home after dark, after doing some maul walking or similar activities, just to see how crazy it is. I think I can go past the Industrial Depot and the Guilderland National Guard Rifle Range to Willow Street and out from there. Then mountain bike ๐Ÿšต‍โ™€๏ธ around the Pine Bush. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 44. ๐ŸŒž Sunday, I am going to a family event watching the Nutcracker ๐Ÿ‘ช and then out to dinner. Not too bad for the weekend before Christmas ๐Ÿคถ. Typical average high for the weekend is 38 degrees.

Looking ahead, next Monday is Bake Cookies Day ๐Ÿช when the sun will be setting at 4:25 pm with dusk at 4:55 pm. I got to bake cookies actually on Wednesday for the Cookie Share Day in the office on Thursday. I am thinking homemade cranberry-sugar cookies, going to try making with whole-wheat flour and stevia along with butter, so they aren’t quite as much junk food. On that day in 2022, we had partly cloudy and temperatures between 35 and 25 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 37 degrees. We hit a record high of 60 back in 1921.

Gorge

Well, I Didn’t Expect that Rain this Morning ๐ŸŒง

After cooking the rice-beans-lentils, along with the sweet potatoes and the acorn squash, I stuck them outside to cool down. Then I heard the rain starting to pound down the roof. Not a problem as the dishes were in sealed containers but it was a surprise. By the time I put the pea soup out I had been cooking, the rain had let up and by the time I took out the overflowing compost inside to dump into the biggest bucket, it wasn’t raining at all. And despite being a little bit damp, and having some sprinkles when I was riding in along the South End Railyards, it turned out to be a super nice day for a ride in.

Good morning! Mostly cloudy and 41 degrees in Delmar, NY. โ˜ There is a southwest breeze at 7 mph. ๐Ÿƒ. Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 5 am. โ˜ƒ๏ธ

Despite the rain, it’s a super mild day. ๐Ÿ˜€ I noticed how warm it truly was when I got up during the night to go to the bathroom ๐Ÿšฝ and started cooking a little before 5 AM. Started out by rinsing the peas that had been soaking overnight and cooking them, and then went back to bed for a little more R&R ๐Ÿ›Œ after which about 5:20 I got up and got a jump on the day, tossing the bread and acorn squash ๐Ÿž ๐ŸŽƒ into the oven to cook, chopping up the carrots ๐Ÿฅ• and onions ๐Ÿง… for the soup ๐Ÿฒ, starting up a pot of rice, lentils and beans ๐Ÿš for lunch and frying up onions, spinach, mushrooms and other vegetables ๐Ÿณ for breakfast.

I really wanted to ride in today, ๐Ÿšฒ and was glad that the rain stopped before it was time to leave after my shower. ๐Ÿšฟ Running kind of late after all that cooking, but it’s fine, it’s going to be a quiet day in the office to at least start out the morning, but depending which projects come in things could pick up. Kind of in an transitory time now, things are winding down a bit at my current position but I haven’t moved on to my new position. Just trying to get loose ends cleaned up. ๐ŸŽ€ I figure once I move to the new office, at least until late January or early February I’m not going to be able to ride in as it will be too dark to ride from the office to Peter Kiernan Plaza to catch the express home ๐ŸšŒ so I’m going to have to take the shuttle which lacks a rack for my bike. But not riding in January probably isn’t a big loss as probably much of the month the bike path will be snow covered, and not to mention it will be cold. โ›„

Had a nice Sunday dinner with the folks ๐Ÿฒ which was turkey soup ๐Ÿฆƒ left over from Thanksgiving. It was pretty good with dinner rolls and lots of egg noodles. Maybe less vegetables and fiber then what I would have at a meal at home, along with more fat ๐Ÿคฐ but it was still good and had a good big bowl of soup. I figure there is only a few more chances to have mom’s home cooking while it’s still good, as she’s getting up there in the years. I can eat healthy the rest of the week, and indeed for lunch, I had red lentil soup with spinach, mushrooms, broccoli and lots of spices. I’ve been noticing lately that my gut has been adjusting to the higher fiber loads, and things have been good though I do try to break up meals so not every night is loaded with beans and lentils, which can be particularly hard a times. ๐Ÿ˜ค I didn’t get many steps in yesterday, as it rained so much ๐ŸŒง so I was glad to ride to work today, and take the 17 flights of stairs up to my office.

Today will have a slight chance of showers after 9am. Mostly cloudy ๐ŸŒฆ, with a high of 47 degrees at 12pm. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 22nd. Southwest wind 7 to 11 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 38 degrees. The record high of 63 was set in 1998. 6.0 inches of snow fell back in 1901.โ„

On my list of things to get done today is called the shop about getting my truck state inspected ๐Ÿ”Ž ๐Ÿ›ป, tires rotated and oil changed. It’s been nearly 8 months since the last oil change, but with synthetic oil, the fact my truck quit it’s oil burning habit, and the general lack of miles driven over the past few months — especially the early summer when I was looking at mountain bikes ๐Ÿšต‍โ™€๏ธ I still have plenty of time left on the oil, but I figure get it all done at one shot. Truck’s been running good, all the tail lights are working fine, so I expect the state inspection should go smoothly.

Last Monday when I was driving to the laundromat, ๐Ÿ‘• and to wash my truck, the relay that controls the CB radio and was clicking on and off.  ๐Ÿ”˜ Not sure what the issue was but I ended up knocking the over-ride switch connector off, fiddling around with it in the dark. Strangely enough, when I was driving the truck on Sunday I didn’t have any more problems. I do need to replace that crimp connector I broke but I’m not sure where the loose wire was or why the relay was acting up, switching on and off repeatably. โšก It’s not such a big deal right now, as I’m not doing too much driving, and the worse thing that can happen is the relay gets burnt up, and it’s not expensive relay — I can always turn off the CB radio ๐Ÿ“ป manually if I continue to have problems.

Last weekend when I was camping, I accidentally left one of the library books ๐Ÿ“• in back of my truck on the shelf on that rainy, snowy wet morning, ๐ŸŒง and the book got kind of wet from snow falling on it. ๐Ÿ˜ญ After some careful drying over the past week in the oven — using residual heat from cooking or pre-warming the oven, I got the book mostly dry, and now have it propped up between some other books, and weighted down under my bed ๐Ÿ›Œ putting a lot of weight on to flatten it out, almost back to the original shape and size. I’m hopeful I can return the book in close to original condition and not get dinged for damaging the library book. Also warped the cover of another library book using it as a wait to dry out that book in the oven when the broiler had just been ton, so that cover has been taken off the book and is drying out.

I replaced the smoke detector battery ๐Ÿ‘ฉ‍๐Ÿš’ ๐Ÿ”‹in my apartment, and now it’s been working properly without so many false alarms from the shower ๐Ÿšฟ steam and cooking. I’ve gotten in the habit now of just taking it down off the wall before cooking in the morning, because inevitably cooking involves smoke, even if it’s just crap I’ve split on the stove. I’ve been thinking of upgrading to a photoelectric detector, because I’m getting really fed up with false alarms from cooking or even the shower. This time of year, especially as I keep the heat turned down in my apartment, the smoke detector is so easily triggered by both shower steam and stove cooking. And as my bedroom is upstairs were smoke detector resides, it’s so easy to set off accidentally. ๐Ÿ›Ž It doesn’t do any good to have a smoke detector if I’m constantly resetting it or taking it off the wall for cooking or showering, and then accidentally forgetting it reset it before bed.

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 11:47 am with sun having an altitude of 25.2° from the due south horizon (-45.7° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.8 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour ๐Ÿ… starts at 3:39 pm with the sun in the southwest (232°). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west-southwest (240°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:23 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 21 seconds with dusk around 4:53 pm, which is 13 seconds earlier than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ The best time to look at the stars is after 5:30 pm. At sunset, look out for a chance of rain ๐ŸŒง and temperatures around 45 degrees. There will be a west-northwest breeze at 9 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 16 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 14 seconds over yesterday.

I am thinking of staying late today at work ๐ŸŽ† to watch the fireworks and state “Empire Plaza” tree lighting ๐ŸŽ„ at 6:15 PM either from my office or down on the plaza. I think this would be my last chance to see the fireworks from my downtown office, ๐Ÿข as I’m not going to be here that much longer. I packed a dinner so I can have it at the end of day. I’ll probably clock out a five, but we’ll see how things go and how much work there is to do.

After being so opposed to smoothies ๐Ÿฅค I ended up discovering how much I like a warm glass of milk with some shredded fruit in it and lots of cinnamon, ginger or pumpkin pie spice to warm myself up as a healthier replacement for hot coca in the evening. I do think a lot of smoothie recipes you find on the internet or at your local health spa are still junk-food, but a warm glass of skim milk with cinnamon and ginger, along with shredded strawberries ๐Ÿ“ or apples ๐ŸŽ with nothing additional added (i.e. no added sugar) really isn’t any worse then having a glass of milk with an apple. And it tastes good, and a good way to warm yourself up. โ˜• I would do coffee, but in the evening, who wants to be up all night? Plus I like drinking milk ๐Ÿฎ and supporting the dairy industry, plus all that good Vitamin A & D. I’ve become a lot less of an ideologue when it comes to eating healthy these days, but I still work to stay away from excessive fat and sugar, though I do give myself a break a times.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy ๐ŸŒฅ, with a low of 31 degrees at 6am. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 19th. Northwest wind 8 to 11 mph. In 2022, we had clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 26 degrees. The record low of 2 occurred back in 1989.

Next weekend reminds me of the weekend that was. ๐ŸŒง๏ธ Saturday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 49. Sunday, showers likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 52. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Typical average high for the weekend is 40 degrees. Probably another stay home weekend, it’s the last weekend of regular deer season after which the woods should empty out for exploration. I am still thinking about those days leading up to Christmas to head out to Madison County ๐ŸŽ„ but the week before then I am planning on attending a family Christmas event.

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until Bake Cookies Day ๐Ÿช when the sun will be setting at 4:25 pm with dusk at 4:55 pm. On that day in 2022, we had partly cloudy and temperatures between 35 and 25 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 37 degrees. We hit a record high of 60 back in 1921. I actually need to to think about what kind of cookies to bake or buy. Saw a good recipe for sugar cookies, I might try to implement using whole wheat flour and stevia, and maybe bananas or honey rather then sugar, though I’m not crazy about how much butter it uses, though butter is kind of necessary to provide shortening to break the gluten bonds and give that wonderful cookie taste. Maybe work in some oatmeal into recipe, for soluble fiber. Or just get some cookies at the grocery store, and the cookies they don’t eat leave for other people.

Darkness Sets In Over Siamese Pond Wilderness

I’m back and riding my bike to work ๐Ÿšฒ

Back up at five o’clock though I missed having that blast of heat from the propane heater waking up but the coffee was a lot less fiddly then the my fairly new propane stove which was not working well most of the weekend after propane gelled or dirt got into regulator. It was working good until I ran out of propane on Monday, in the cold wet snow. But it turned out to be a pretty nice day once it warmed up. Much more story to tell.

Good morning! Happy Tuesday. Partly sunny and 29 degrees in Albany, NY. There is a west breeze at 10 mph. ๐Ÿƒ. There is a dusting of snow on the ground. โ˜ƒ Things will start to thaw out at around 10 am. ๐ŸŒก๏ธ

Rode my bike to work today, ๐Ÿšฒ it really wasn’t a particularly cold morning but then again I’m used to the cold and I’ve been keeping my heat low in my apartment. Why heat things really warm, when I have the heated blanket, plus a hot breakfast and shower to start out the day? ๐Ÿ›€ I hate wasting energy, says the boy with the big jacked up truck. โ™จ๏ธ And I like the cold in the morning, it wakes you up when you hop out of bed. I think this was the first night in many weeks I’ve slept all night without getting up to run to the toilet. ๐Ÿšฝ It helped that yesterday I had a light breakfast, due to running out of propane in camp, โ˜• which left me with just enough heat and stove output to reheat some coffee plus a five hour energy shot and some of greek yogurt. Today’s breakfast was a bit more hardy, with eggs, spinach, onions, mushrooms. ๐Ÿ‘จ‍๐Ÿณ Didn’t make bread last night but will tonight, along with soaking beans for soup. ๐Ÿž ๐Ÿฒ

Today will have snow showers likely, mainly after 4pm. Otherwise, partly sunny for the balance of the day ๐ŸŒฆ, with a high of 35 degrees at 11am. Nine degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 26th. West wind 10 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 32 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 50 degrees. The record high of 68 was set in 1990. 6.0 inches of snow fell back in 1985.โ„

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 11:44 am with sun having an altitude of 26.1° from the due south horizon (-44.7° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour ๐Ÿ… starts at 3:41 pm with the sun in the southwest (234°). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west-southwest (241°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:25 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 19 seconds with dusk around 4:55 pm, which is 27 seconds earlier than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ The best time to look at the stars is after 5:31 pm. At sunset, look for snow ๐ŸŒจ and temperatures around 33 degrees. The wind chill around sunset will be 22. โ˜ƒ๏ธ Breezy, 17 mph breeze โ›… from the west-northwest with gusts up to 32mph. Today will have 9 hours and 24 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 34 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have a chance of snow showers, mainly before 9pm. Mostly cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly clear ๐ŸŒง, with a low of 24 degrees at 5am. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 10th. Maximum wind chill around 18 at 4am; Northwest wind 6 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 29 degrees. The record low of 3 occurred back in 1875.

Things were going so well on my trip until they weren’t. Friday was completely on schedule, having woken at 5 am and hitting the road by 7:30. ๐Ÿ›ป Got gas in Glenmont, traffic was super light on 787 and ultimately the Northway. โ›ฝ I got groceries and needed supplies at Walmart in Queensbury, which I was shocked how empty it was for Black Friday. ๐Ÿ›’ Hit the trail to Prospect Mountain from Smith Street in Lake George, by ten o’clock, at that hour wasn’t crowded.

Prospect Mountain โ›ฐ was ho hum, I don’t think it would be worth it to pay to drive the auto road in the summer or for that matter to hike it again. The views of Lake George and surrounding country were rather ordinary compared to other nearby hikes like Buck Mountain, Tongue Mountain or Cat Mountain. ๐Ÿ“ธ Granted by the time I got to the summit it was fairly cloudy โ›… and rather bitterly cold. โ„ Just gusty ๐ŸŒฌ๏ธ with the mercury dropping.

I was back to my truck by two, and was setting up camp by three. โ›บ I checked out both campsites five and seven, settled on the site closer to Fox Lair as better protected from the wind and a shorter down hill driveway should we had gotten more snow then expected on Sunday night. Plus better sheltered from the wind, though less solar power. Neither site had cell service ๐Ÿ“ถ which is kind of a blessing as I needed some off the grid time without the constant social media and news cycle. ๐Ÿ”• It’s tough to turn off social media when home though I have pings always muted from Facebook. Too much temptation.

Gathered firewood ๐Ÿชต๐Ÿช“ and got the truck unpacked and heater going. All was good the campsite still had a ton of firewood from the hunters who last camped here. โ™จ Then I try to start my camp stove and it won’t start. ๐Ÿณ Damn, it’s cold out and I want a hot delicious meal ๐Ÿด. Played with the regulator on the stove for an hour, trying to clean off the ends and and warm it up to try to free the dirt and condensate in the regulator, getting the stove to work a bit but not well. Started to reheat leftovers from my freezer at home plus added onions and spinach but it wasn’t working well as the stove output was limited. ๐Ÿ”ฅ Got the fire started, let it burn down to coals, finished cooking dinner over the fire, then cooked some cranberries down with some stevia for sweetness and walnuts. ๐Ÿ’

Friday night was a cold night in the single digits. โ„ Even with the fire roaring ๐Ÿ”ฅand my propane heater on it was cold. The night was cold ๐Ÿ› in the truck, my toes were chilly by morning. Without the stove working properly, morning was kind of miserable until I got the fire going, the coffee โ˜• brewing followed by a delicious ๐Ÿ˜‹ campfire breakfast of eggs ๐Ÿฅš and all the usual fixings like onions and spinach. ๐Ÿณ Mostly hung around camp on Saturday besides a brief walk ๐Ÿšถ along Old Route 8. Saturday was also a pretty cold day for sure, mostly spent reading, listening to podcasts and hanging out over the heater. โ™จ๏ธ That’s why despite only being my six night camping, but Monday morning in the cold wet snow, I ran out of propane. It’s fine though, it helped me get an early start on Monday so I had the balance of the day to hike at Hudson River Special Area.

Sunday was a bit nicer, but still cold. โ„๏ธ Did more reading, ๐Ÿ“š hiked around Fox Lair for a while ๐ŸฆŠ , listening to podcasts ๐Ÿ“ป and just hanging around camp. The days are pretty short, it was getting up early before dawn, โ˜• enjoying my coffee — which was good as I had the stove working on Sunday so it cooked up quickly and then having oatmeal pancakes. More sun and warmer on Sunday, though by evening it started to cloud up and by 7 PM started to sleet, followed by some rain and snow, at which point I headed into my truck for the night. ๐Ÿ›Œ Cooked up onions and sweet potato on the stove, then later on finished off the cranberries with bananas and stevia. Listened to many more hours of podcasts. ๐Ÿ“ป No radio this time, as my radio is broke and normally I just use my phone for streaming. But it was good to be away from the news cycle for a few hours. ๐Ÿคซ

Monday was just cold and wet. ๐ŸŒง The sleet, snow, and rain mix just made everything wet and sloppy to start out the morning. โ˜• To make matters worse I ran out of propane while I was heating up the coffee, though I got one cup in along with a five hour energy shot and some Greek yogurt with some blueberries I added, ๐Ÿฅ„ and I was good. Drove down to Hadley, and decided to spend the balance of the day exploring the Hudson River Special Area, which had some nice views of the Hudson River ๐Ÿž along with Bear Slide Falls. As the day progressed, it warmed and sun came out. ๐Ÿ˜Ž Hiked back along River Road and Gay Pond Road. Got back to my truck around 2 PM, and headed home through Corinth and Saratoga. Got home and unpacked around 3:30, went to the laundromat in Glenmont, got groceries, and washed my truck. Headed to bed. ๐Ÿช The Glenmont laundromat isn’t as bad as the reviews suggest but more pricey then Delmar laundromat. ๐Ÿ’ฐ But it is nice that you can swing to Walmart or the car wash while your clothes are doing their thing. If I didn’t worry about the road salt eating the rest of my truck up, ๐Ÿšฟ I’d probably have just done the usual Four Corners Laundromat.

This weekend looks like it would for the first weekend of December. ๐ŸŽ„ Saturday, after the rain pushes out, partly sunny, with a high near 43. It’s good, maybe that will give me a chance to fix the relay that was malfunctioning that controls the CB radio and dash cam on my truck. It’s clicking on and off. Started doing that on the way to Glenmont, ended up stopping and slicing the feed wire until I can find the lose connection, less I burn out the relay. It’s not a big expensive relay, but still I didn’t want to have to order another one and wire it all up. ๐Ÿ“ป Sunday, a chance of rain. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 41. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Doesn’t seem like a wash out, most of the rain will be on Saturday. Typical average high for the weekend is 43 degrees.

The next trip is not until the days leading up to Christmas ๐ŸŽ„ where I am thinking of going out to Madison County but it depends on how much snow there is. ๐Ÿด Probably camp at the Brookfield Horse Camp, and then hike the trails or ride some of the dirt roads. Spend sometime down in Sherburne, and maybe other places. Then come back home on Christmas Day. A lot though depends on the weather. โ„๏ธ But that’s the next trip, which is like three and half weeks away. I need a few weekends home for now, though I have a number of family and other things to do in the meantime.

Looking ahead at bar specials, next Tuesday is Repeal of Prohibition Day ๐Ÿบ when the sun will be setting at 4:23 pm with dusk at 4:53 pm. On that day in 2022, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 44 and 26 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 42 degrees. We hit a record high of 65 back in 2001.

Hillside

Happy Thanksgiving ๐Ÿฆƒ

You can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant, exceptin Alice. Don’t get caught driving garbage around town, but at least have a big bonfire while cooking the turkey. Fairly wet out everywhere, but do be careful in places without snow.

Good morning! Happy Thanksgiving all yeah turkeys. ๐Ÿฆƒ Lots of turkey farms in the Sweedlin Valley of West Virginia. Kind of a chilly start this morning with the breeze. Partly cloudy and 37 degrees in Delmar, NY. โ›… There is a northwest breeze at 10 mph. ๐Ÿƒ with gusts up to 20 mph ๐Ÿ’จ๐Ÿ’จ๐Ÿ’จ. There is a inch of snow on the ground. โ˜ƒ ๏ธTemperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 4 pm. โ˜ƒ๏ธ

Thanksgiving Day will be partly sunny ๐ŸŒž, with a high of 46 degrees at 1pm. Typical for today. Northwest wind 6 to 11 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 49 degrees. The record high of 72 was set in 1931. 5.0 inches of snow fell back in 1943.โ„

This morning I plan to ride down to the Van Rensselaer Preserve off US 9W ๐Ÿšฒ just to explore and get some exercise in. Then I will be heading out to the folks house for Thanksgiving dinner. ๐Ÿฝ Maybe listen to Alice’s Restaurant, as that’s what you do on Thanksgiving. ๐ŸŽธ ๐Ÿ“ป And work on getting packed for a trip up to the Adirondacks tomorrow for a long weekend. Will need to get some groceries, but just planning on a fairly quiet weekend. ๐Ÿ›’ While the mauls and big boxes will likely be packed for Black Friday, who grocery shops after Thanksgiving?

Had a nice breakfast of eggs and fixings ๐Ÿณ as I figured start the morning out with a good dose of protein and fiber before the big Thanksgiving Day meal. ๐Ÿ˜‹ Most of the time I try to eat healthy, but it is Thanksgiving, though I’ll work on eating a diverse proportion of both good and bad stuff, saving room for the pie. ๐Ÿฅง I figure I can burn it off chopping wood and hiking during the upcoming weekend, lol.

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 11:43 am with sun having an altitude of 27.1° from the due south horizon (-43.7° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 11.7 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. Shadows hang long. The golden hour ๐Ÿ… starts at 3:45 pm with the sun in the southwest (235°). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west-southwest (243°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:28 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 16 seconds with dusk around 4:57 pm, which is 39 seconds earlier than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous ๐ŸŒ” Moon in the east-southeast (107°) at an altitude of 27° from the horizon, 229,125 miles away. ๐Ÿš€ The best time to look at the stars is after 5:34 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies ๐ŸŒƒ and temperatures around 44 degrees. There will be a west breeze at 6 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 33 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 50 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy โ˜๏ธ, with a low of 34 degrees at 6am. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 9th. West wind 6 to 9 mph. In 2022, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 24 degrees. The record low of 7 occurred back in 2000.

Cool by late November standards but sunny and fairly decent for the weekend after Thanksgiving. ๐Ÿ˜Ž Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 38. Northwest wind around 6 mph becoming light and variable in the afternoon. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 42. Typical average high for the weekend is 45 degrees.

It looks like Friday night will drop down into the single digits โ„๏ธ but other then that it should be a nice, sunny weekend. ๐Ÿ• I figure have a good fire on Friday night, and lots of hot coffee and eggs for breakfast on Saturday morning. Might get a little snow on Sunday evening but it looks like it will clear out and warm up that the drive back on Monday shouldn’t be a problem.

Looking ahead, there are 4 weeks until First Day of Winter โ˜ƒ๏ธ when the sun will be setting at 4:26 pm with dusk at 4:56 pm. Already by then picking up a few minutes in the evening. On that day in 2022, we had mostly sunny and temperatures between 34 and 16 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 37 degrees. We hit a record high of 62 back in 2018.

One of Many Forks of Chenango River

The mouse got away from the mouse zapper ๐Ÿญ

One of the other directors at work was saying how wonderful those electronic mouse zappers are but I avoided buying one as they’re like 20 bucks. At first it was great, catching three mice with no mess or blood, just open and dump the reusable trap but last night I heard a mouse and the zapper was tripped but no mouse to be found. Much like the snap traps, the mice are somehow getting away. Annoying. Same thing happened with the bucket drowning trap – catch a ton at first and then the rest get away.

Good morning! Mostly cloudy and 30 degrees in Delmar, NY. ๐ŸŒฅ There is a west-northwest breeze at 6 mph. ๐Ÿƒ. Things will start to thaw out at around 7 am. ๐ŸŒก๏ธ

Up a little after 5:30 am โฐ I decided to the route involving eggs ๐Ÿฅš and spinach with onions, beans, broccoli and whatever else I wanted like cottage cheese and ;nutrional yeast and hot sauce. ๐Ÿณ It was good except for the egg I dropped on the floor and had to clean up half awake. ๐Ÿ˜ด I didn’t need to get up that early to cook but I had to run to the bathroom ๐Ÿšฝ. That said the electric blanket felt wonderful this morning, still resisting turning on the central gas heat downstairs.

Walking ๐Ÿšถ down to the earlier express bus ๐Ÿš from the Park and Ride. A bit too cold and wet to ride to work ๐Ÿšฒ today plus Lynne is leaning on me to attend yet another Colonie meeting about developing even more of the Pine Bush. This week it’s housing, a change from the warehouses and industrial solar facilities. ๐Ÿ˜ ๐Ÿญ ๐ŸŒฒI’ll catch the 182 up there after work I guess. Walking laps in the Concourse.

Figured with that extra cup of coffee โ˜• probably best to walk the Concourse and then when I inevitably need to run to the restroom I can stop there. At least with the eggs and hopefully the full nights sleep – I was asleep a little after eight – ๐Ÿ› I won’t have the blood sugar crash ๐Ÿ˜ด of yesterday around ten o’clock in the morning when I could barely keep my eyes ๐Ÿ‘€ open reading that cap grant ๐Ÿ“ I was reviewing on my desk. It inevitably wasn’t the most excited organization without colorful people running it like the brain ๐Ÿง  teaser of one I got later in the day.

I am blaming the cream of wheat ๐ŸŒพ with the blueberries ๐Ÿซ and chia seeds and greek yogurt for the crash but it probably was as much getting up at five o’clock to bake the bread and soup, listening to the Bread Greatest Hits record ๐Ÿ’ฟ and that very boring ๐Ÿ’ค cap grant I was reviewing. ๐Ÿ”Ž I guess every day at work can be exciting, some days are just dull. That said, the blueberries and cream of wheat did hit the spot.

Today will have a slight chance of snow showers before 7am. Mostly cloudy ๐ŸŒž, with a high of 44 degrees at 11am. Six degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 28th. Northwest wind 6 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. 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 70 was set in 1973. 14.4 inches of snow fell back in 1972.โ„

That fifteen bean soup ๐Ÿฅฃ and homemade bread ๐Ÿž really hit the spot on the cool evening last night, it was good on a cool evening. I went for my evening walk ๐Ÿšถ shortly thereafter headed to bed ๐Ÿ› with the heated blanket trying to watch as much of the Udemy course that I could with my eyes open before going asleep. That said, I’ve been gassy ๐Ÿ˜ฒ since eating that especially with that bread that contains all of those shredded carrots ๐Ÿฅ•.

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 11:41 am with sun having an altitude of 29.2ยฐ from the due south horizon (-41.6ยฐ vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 10.7 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour ๐Ÿ… starts at 3:53 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (239ยฐ). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west-southwest (246ยฐ) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:35 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 11 seconds with dusk around 5:04 pm, which is 57 seconds earlier than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ The best time to look at the stars is after 5:40 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies ๐ŸŒƒ and temperatures around 43 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 14 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 51 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 11 seconds over yesterday.

I got oranges ๐ŸŠ for a snack in the office ๐Ÿข as they are coming back into season and it’s important to have lots of Vitamin D with the darker days ahead and inevitably more people getting sick. ๐Ÿค’ I was doing the muzzle thing for a while when I got back from West Virginia ๐Ÿ—ป though I stopped but if I hear sick people in the office that I can’t persuade to go home, I’ll put it back on.

Tonight will be partly cloudy ๐ŸŒƒ , with a low of 25 degrees at 5am. Seven degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 7th. Northwest wind 5 to 10 mph becoming light and variable after midnight. Another cool autumn evening ahead. In 2022, we had partly cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 21 degrees. The record low of 14 occurred back in 1939.

A fairly typical mid November weekend with showers for opening day in the SZ. ๐ŸฆŒ Saturday, a chance of showers before 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 50. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Bang, bang. ๐Ÿ”ซ Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 44. Typical average high for the weekend is 48 degrees.

I am just focused on the Friday after Thanksgiving ๐Ÿฆƒ for getting out of town. I am already tired of the Albany and ready for more nights ๐ŸŒƒ in the wilderness. But who knows what the weather will be like at that point but one can hope. ๐Ÿคž

Looking ahead, there are 3 weeks until Repeal of Prohibition Day ๐Ÿบ when the sun will be setting at 4:23 pm with dusk at 4:53 pm. On that day in 2022, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 44 and 26 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 42 degrees. We hit a record high of 65 back in 2001.

Looking Down Into the Gorge

Feeling great after a good night’s sleep โ˜บ

I was in bed a little before eight last night and asleep shortly thereafter. I went for my evening walk right after dinner then slept until six o’clock though I did get up a few times in the night to use the bathroom. Eggs with all the usual vegetables for breakfast this morning.

Good morning! Happy Thursday. Tomorrow is Veterans Day Observed. Another state holiday, November is good for that. Rain letting up and 36 degrees in Bethlehem, NY. โ˜” There is a south-southeast breeze at 14 mph. ๐Ÿƒ with gusts up to 26 mph ๐Ÿ’จ๐Ÿ’จ๐Ÿ’จ. Temperatures will drop below freezing at Saturday around 11 pm. โ˜ƒ๏ธ

No morning walk ๐Ÿšถ today though it was decent enough to walk down to the earlier express bus ๐Ÿš and now I’m walking in the Concourse before work. I probably could have ridden to work today but it’s rather damp and wet this morning. I thought about trying to catch the 7:20 AM downtown, but that was a bit early for me. But I still got in 5,000 steps before work, so I’m happy. I am going to see how close I can get to 10,000 steps before the bus ride home, ๐Ÿ‘ฃ but I concede I’ll probably have to do an evening walk. That said, I don’t mind the evening walk, especially if I do it right after dinner.

Tried the avocado ๐Ÿฅ‘ oil I got from Aldis this past weekend and was very impressed with the results. It’s like cooking with asbestos, the 500 degree smoke point means you can cook at high on the stove without the oil breaking down much less smoking. Things get crisp without burning. Great for cooking onions. ๐Ÿง…Healthy omega 3 fat too. โค๏ธ‍๐Ÿฉน Real nice.

Today will have rain showers, mainly before noon. Mostly cloudy ๐ŸŒง, with a high of 46 degrees at 1pm. Six degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 23rd. South wind 7 to 15 mph becoming north in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 30 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 51 degrees. The record high of 71 was set in 1975. 10.0 inches of snow fell back in 1900.โ„

Solar noon ๐ŸŒž is at 11:40 am with sun having an altitude of 30.6° from the due south horizon (-40.2° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 10.2 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour ๐Ÿ… starts at 3:59 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (241°). ๐Ÿ“ธ The sunset is in the west-southwest (248°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:40 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 8 seconds with dusk around 5:08 pm, which is one minute and 6 seconds earlier than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ‡ The best time to look at the stars is after 5:44 pm. At sunset, look for rain ๐ŸŒง and temperatures around 46 degrees. There will be a north-northwest breeze at 7 mph. Today will have 10 hours and 2 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 21 seconds over yesterday.

Yesterday I was sort of in a haze most of the day. ๐Ÿคฏ It was tough to get back into the routine with the time change, ๐Ÿ•’ plus I was up after nine 9โƒฃ finishing kneading the bread ๐Ÿž and then up at five o’clock to bake the bread along with Butternut Squash. Then I spent a lot of time studying election results ๐Ÿ”Ž at work as it was otherwise a rather slow day ๐Ÿข in the office ๐Ÿข.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy ๐ŸŒฅ, with a low of 37 degrees at 5am. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 30th. North wind 6 to 8 mph becoming south after midnight. In 2022, we had clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 31 degrees. The record low of 16 occurred back in 1965.

I still haven’t turned on the central heat where I live. โ™จ๏ธ The thing is with all cooking and the blankets, I don’t mind the cool. I did bring out the space heater and use it for like 5 minutes that one day last week when I chilled through, but other then it’s not been that cold. I’m not home all that much either, especially with all the traveling lately. And I’m thinking of heading out of town again this long weekend, as it will be cold but sunny, lol.

Veterans Day Weekend looks crisp but sunny ๐ŸŒž. Friday, Veterans Day Observed cloudy and 52 degrees. Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 46. Sunday, sunny and 43. Typical average high for the weekend is 51 degrees. I am now leaning towards spend the weekend in the Green Mountain National Forest, extending it to include Monday for three-nights, four days, much like last weekend. It will be cool but lots of sun. I’ll decide by mid-day, after checking my work calendar and how much time I have to take off. ๐Ÿ•

But then again, I was looking at the Vermont Hunting Season schedule, ๐ŸฆŒ an opening day in Vermont is Saturday, so I probably don’t want to be camping this weekend there. I could do something in New York, though probably best to just stick closer to home this week, save some gas and money. โ›ฝ I really need a quiet, off week after all the traveling lately. I thought about Burnt-Rossman or Rensselaerville, but maybe it would be better just ride my bike around town. ๐Ÿšฒ I wonder if they’ll finally have that Slingerlands Rail Trail bridge open. Going to really be a cold weekend, even if sunny.

Looking ahead, there are 2 weeks until Thanksgiving ๐Ÿฆƒ when the sun will be setting at 4:28 pm with dusk at 4:57 pm. On that day in 2022, we had partly cloudy and temperatures between 49 and 24 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 46 degrees. We hit a record high of 72 back in 1931.

Mill Pond off of Chittenango Creek