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May 30, 2021 Morning

Good morning! Happy Sunday. Two weeks to Fathers Day 👨 . The unofficial end of black fly season, although I tend to think they’re around until July 4th, although come late June it’s mostly mosquitos then July comes around and things aren’t so bad. Rain and 47 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ There is a north breeze at 8 mph. 🍃.

I wanted to walk around to Five Rivers 🐦 this morning before the rain, but it’s already raining and I did not get up early enough apparently. 😴 I’ve been bad this weekend about getting started, after getting up at 6:30 AM each day last week, so I could go for my morning walk before heading downtown on the bus. 🚌 Memorial Day Weekend will continue to be cold, damp and rainy but the skies will clear tomorrow around 5 pm in time for picnics, although you’ll definitely want a long sleeve shirt. 🌭 🍔

Today will rain, mainly after 10am. 🌧 High of 50 degrees at 4pm. 25 degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 28th. North wind around 9 mph. It’s already become a very wet day, and it looks like it only will get wetter. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 78 degrees. The record high of 92 was set in 1987.

Yesterday, I was over at the apartment where they are storing the recovered documents for John Wolcott. 📜 Didn’t find a lot of interesting things, more papers and photos, mostly personal stuff. Important for him, but it wasn’t a lot of great historic value we found yesterday. But I’ve been mostly looking through photos that we’ve been saving by soaking, separating, and drying. 🖼 👃 At least the files don’t stink as much yet, although we are starting to run the clock with the damp weather 💦 and mildew starting to grow on the wet documents. I’m going to head back there later today.

I was worried that the Fairchild Aerial Photos of Albany Pine Bush in the 1920s were misplaced, but Lynne was able to find them. I really want to get a high resolution scan of them, maybe because I’m a bit biased towards them with my love old aerial photos. 🌲 But they can also really tell a story about the Albany Pine Bush and world long gone. The USGS photos taken in the early to mid-1950s for stereographic mapping of the land for topographic maps is great, but it’s from the 1950s, and a lot of land use change occurred earlier then the 1950s in Pine Bush. 🔍

While I should have done this a long time ago, 📸 I finally took high resolution photos of my guns and their serial numbers, along with various diplomas and certification documents including my truck title an birth certificate, 👨‍🎓 and family photos, and put them in an encrypted file both on my laptop and for off-site storage. Just with my ordinary camera. 📄 This way I figure if I am ever a victim of a natural disaster, be it fire, riot, tornado, flood, I’ll have my photos and important documents backed up, with all the numbers and key information. 💾 Sure, I’ll probably have to get a new copy of my birth certificate, et. certera at some point but when you have the information it’s easier to get. Data storage is cheap, and while I don’t do the whole cloud thing, ☁️ off-site is important in case the building I live in is destroyed or my laptop is stolen or damaged. 🔫 Likewise, with the guns it’s a lot easier to file a police report if you have the serial numbers and photos. Salvaging all those charred documents 🔥 really makes me want to be a lot more careful at backing up everything. Plus I’ve purged a ton of paper documents that aren’t relevant anymore. 🗑 I need to tackle the crawl space and get rid of some worn out clothes and other things this summer. 👚 ♻️

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:54 pm with sun having an altitude of 69.2° from the due south horizon (-1.6° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 2.3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:44 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (294°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (301°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:26 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 23 seconds with dusk around 8:59 pm, which is 50 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:43 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 48 degrees. There will be a north breeze at 8 mph. Today will have 15 hours and 4 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 23 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will rain, mainly before 4am. 🌧 Low of 47 degrees at 9pm. Nine degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 4th. North wind around 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. In 2020, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 46 degrees. The record low of 34 occurred back in 1961.

Tomorrow, which is Memorial Day will have a chance of rain before 7am, then a chance of showers, mainly between 7am and 3pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 61. 🌦 Northwest wind 6 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 20 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

I had higher hopes about Memorial Day 🇺🇸 but it seems like the bad weather will continue until Tuesday when it will get nice. I can work from home on Tuesday, and while I have to work in the office on Wednesday and Thursday, I’m thinking of working from the Speculator area on Friday and Monday, just because there is that great library there and decent places to camp in the area. 🏕 I am going to hold off on the Potholers for this weekend, although looks plenty warm. I could go for a swim at Speculator Beach.  🏊‍♀️ Not sure if I will bring my kayak — my initial feeling is no to that, because I will need the solar power to work. 🛶

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until Fathers Day 👨 when the sun will be setting at 8:34 pm with dusk at 9:08 pm. On that day in 2020, we had cold but otherwise partly sunny day and temperatures between 66 and 46 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 79 degrees. We hit a record high of 94 back in 1892. Back before my time, and I suspect yours too.

Grass Along Lake

May 13, 2021 Morning

Good morning! Happy Thursday. Six weeks to Strawberry Moon 🍓🍓🍓🌕 . Those wild strawberries, the Juneberries are good. As are the ones from the farm markets in the Schoharie Valley. Mostly sunny and 55 degrees in Speculator, NY. There is a north-northwest breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. An early start, although not so early that I did hit some traffic around Schenectady and Amsterdam, but I made it up to Wells by 9 AM to check into work, and then Spectulator by mid-morning to work on the Wi-Fi up here. 📶 I was supposed to leave by 7 AM, but somehow at the end, things got slowed up and I didn’t get on the road until closer to 7:20 which meant more cars and school buses 🎒 to deal with.

This is the last Thursday I’ll be doing remote work, so I figure I should maximize it while I can. 👨‍💻 Next week starts 50% staff plus ramping up close to full-time in office come summer, although people still want some flexibility, and not sure if it always makes sense to do in-person when there isn’t meetings or trainings. Remote work is fun, especially when your out of town, but it’s still work — meaning I’m still fielding calls, writing emails and working on the laptop. But I do look forward to seeing my co-workers more in the office, and the benefits of face-to-face contact 👩‍💼 👨‍💼 that is rather lost off the Internet. 😷 It seems like masks will be the normal for a while on the bus and around the water cooler, but I really do kind of look forward things getting back closer to normal.

I am going to probably stay up north until Monday after work, 😎 but a lot depends on the weather and how I feel. I want to do some hiking and fishing on Saturday and Sunday. 🎣 I am hoping to also participate in the video call 📹 we are doing with John Wolcott and Don Rittner about the Pine Bush 🌲 on Friday night but that depends if I have cell services or not where I am camping. 📱 A lot depends on whrere I ended up.

Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 65 degrees at 4pm. Six degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 28th. North wind around 8 mph. Probably back in Albany, it will be closer to normal. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 59 degrees. The record high of 86 was set in 2004. There was a dusting of snow in 1953.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:55 pm with sun having an altitude of 65° from the due south horizon (-5° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 2.8 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 (290°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (297°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:14 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 17 seconds with dusk around 8:46 pm, which is one minute and 6 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the west-northwest (289°) at an altitude of 15° from the horizon, 250,745 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:28 pm. At sunset, look for clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 57 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 14 hours and 39 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 13 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 39 degrees at 5am. Nine degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 21st. Northwest wind 5 to 7 mph. I brought the heater as I might need it by morning to warm my hands. At least no ice or snow. In 2020, we had mostly clear skies. It got down to 33 degrees. The record low of 30 occurred back in 1996.

A picture perfect weekend on tap. 😎 Saturday, isolated showers after 2pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 67. West wind 3 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. Maximum dew point of 38 at 8am. Sunday, a chance of showers after 2pm. Mostly sunny, with a high near 66. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Maximum dew point of 43 at 8pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 71 degrees.

It should be nice up north, about what you would expect for this time of year. 😎 Not too warm, fairly typical. Maybe some thunderstorms, but that’s expected this time of year. I want to do some hiking and laying back in the hammock, although I admit I’ll probably be a prisoner to the screen tent 🎪 more then I want to admit when the black flies are biting around. 🐜 I am thinking hiking back to Bennett Lake or maybe Wilcox Lake or somewhere along the East Branch. Or if Mason Lake is open, maybe up that way.

One month 📅 from now will be Fathers Day 👨 when the sun will be setting at 8:39 pm with dusk at 9:15 pm. The average high temperature is 71 degrees, with a record high of 86 in 2004.

Mother Goose

November 30, 2020 Morning

Good morning! Final day of November 2020. Happy Cyber Monday 🛍️ and Beaver Moon 🌕! I don’t need any of your shit marketers. Three weeks to First Day of Winter ☃️. Rain and 41 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ Calm wind. Temperatures will drop below freezing at Friday around noontime. ☃️

Kind of a lazy morning. 😴 With the clouds and my general drowsiness from taking the sleeping pill 💊 I skipped my morning walk. I’ll be the first to admit it was kind of a mistake though, as now the rain has set in I don’t think an evening walk 🚶🏻 will be practical without getting soaked. Not sure how busy today will be but projects always seem to pop up. My gear ⚙ is unpacked and I’m ready for the work week ahead. Tomorrow I’ll probably work down at the library. 📚 At some point I want to return beer cans ♻ and refill the propane tank 🏮.

Today will rain. The rain could be heavy at times. 🌧 High of 54 degrees at 6pm. 13 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 29th. Maximum dew point of 53 at 6pm. 🏖️ Warm but not great outdoors weather. Light and variable wind becoming north 5 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New precipitation amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning, which became light snow by afternoon. The high last year was 33 degrees. The record high of 67 was set in 1933. 7.1 inches of snow fell back in 1972.❄

While there is some things I could probably do at the library Wi-Fi today 📶, including a work Zoom Meeting, I want to experiment with doing it from home using my phone. It’s a pretty cold and rainy day and my camera would likely fog up if I used my laptop at the library. I am curious how well the Zoom app will work on my phone 📱 and how much bandwidth it will use. That said, if I upgrade to the Wi-Fi Hotspot plan I will unlimited phone data, with a 10 or 20 gig cap on my hotspot data. But that’s still a shit ton more affordable than a permanent wired connection and it gives me more options for travel so I’m not stuck working from home. As it’s month to month, I can drop the Hotspot plan once things get back to normal and I can just walk down to the library and am working in the office where there is WI-FI. 🏢 The ten or twenty bucks a month can come out of money I ordinarily spend on bus fare when working downtown. 🚍

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:45 am with sun having an altitude of 25.6° from the due south horizon (-45.2° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.5 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:40 pm with the sun in the southwest (233°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (241°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:24 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 20 seconds with dusk around 4:54 pm, which is 21 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waining Gibbous 🌖 Moon in the east-northeast (62°) at an altitude of 3° from the horizon, 248,648 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:31 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 52 degrees. The dew point will be 49 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 9 hours and 18 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 26 seconds over yesterday.

John Wolcott called and canceled the filming 📹 tonight, as they are going into isolation with his advanced age. I totally get it. I’ve gotten through many of his files 📂 and learned a lot about Albany history, and recorded many hours of his history. Maybe we will do more through Zoom in the future although that can be hard without me having internet at home.

Tonight will have showers, mainly before 10pm. 🌧 Low of 51 degrees at 5am. 24 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around September 18th. Maximum dew point of 55 at 8pm. 🏖️ South wind 9 to 16 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 17 degrees. The record low of -5 occurred back in 1875.

Doesn’t look like a super nice weekend. 😕 Saturday, a chance of showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 44. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Sunday, a chance of rain and snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 43. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Typical average high for the weekend is 40 degrees.

I doubt I’ll be going out to my parents house with the impending lock down, 🤷🏻‍♂️ so I’ll have to find other projects to keep me busy this weekend. Maybe I’ll do some walks around town or get some books 📚 out of the library. The drive through pick up is easy for sure. I should work on some electronics projects too. 🔬

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until First Day of Winter ☃️ 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.

I am thinking with things on the likely locked down 🔒 for the holidays, I might plan camping trips for Christmas and New Years as I have both eves off for long weekends and could even potentially tag additional days off if I remote work 💻. I think a Christmas Eve camping trip would be fun. 🎄 Decorate up the campsite, listen to Christmas music 🤶🏻🎶 especially if there is a reasonable amount of snow 🌨 and it’s not too cold.

Four Mile Vista

John Pruyn Library Petition

For about the past six months, I’ve been going to over to Albany Historian and activist John Wolcott’s house a few hours a week to go through his papers.

This 1965 letter/petition in opposition to the tearing down to John Pryun Library is fascinating — there were a dozen pages of signatures that go along with it.

March 3, 2020 Morning

Good morning! Happy Super Tuesday. Pay day for me it makes it super duper for me. 💵 Well at least I’ll have funds to pay the non stop bills. No chance to vote for the democratic nominee in New York until April though. ❎ Two weeks to St. Patrick’s Day 🍀. Partly cloudy and 38 degrees in Delmar, NY. ⛅ There is a south-southwest breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at Thursday around 2 am. ☃️

I was super groggy 😴 when I got up this morning but I made it to the bus on time ⌚. Not a hybrid bus 🚍 today. It is such a nice mild morning I thought about walking down to the express but I don’t like doing that in my suit and tie. 👔Bus ride to work is like every other day

Today will have showers, mainly after 2pm. 🌞 High of 59 degrees at 2pm. 20 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 16th. I like April weather. Maximum dew point of 44 at 5pm. 🏖️ Haven’t thought about the dew point in a while but I’m sure hot and sticky nights can’t be far away. South wind 5 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 39 degrees. The record high of 64 was set in 2002. 10.9 inches of snow fell back in 1994.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:08 pm with sun having an altitude of 40.8° from the due south horizon (-30° vs. 6/21). Now we’re starting to gain a sunlight faster in the morning than in the afternoon. A six foot person will cast a 7 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 5:10 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (256°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (262°) starting at 5:45 pm and lasts for 2 minutes and 56 seconds with dusk around 6:16 pm, which is one minute and 13 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon in the south-southeast (150°) at an altitude of 69° from the horizon, 239,073 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:49 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 53 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 10 mph. Today will have 11 hours and 21 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 51 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have showers, mainly before 11pm. 🌧 Low of 38 degrees at 6am. 16 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 16th. South wind 10 to 16 mph becoming west after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 29 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch 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 17 degrees. The record low of -20 occurred back in 1950.

I’ve been having a lot of trouble with the WordPress app lately 📝 so I haven’t been able to post as much lately. I am also hard at work with the blog revisions, getting the new upload and media engine tested and ready for launch. I also need to keep prepping both the historical images so I have several ready in the can to feature when the time comes.

I am dug around and found the $1,000 I needed to open up an IRA. 👴 I mostly just canceled other planned investments and dipped into my rainy day fund to make it happen. I just got paid so I should be okay. I am going to contribute to the IRA rather than the Roth IRA for the rest of the year to somewhat limit my tax liability. It sucks that I’ll have to pay taxes on withdrawals when I retire but when I have my off grid property it will be in a low tax state so I’m not that worried about it. 🐮

Back in 1972, an airplane crashes in suburban Albany, off Holmesdale Ave in Albany (near Colvin Avenue and Washington Ave). ✈ Regional Carrier, Mohawk Airlines Flight 405 crashes as a result of a control malfunction and insufficient training in emergency procedures. 📙 Also today in 1873, U.S. Congress enacts the Comstock Law, making it illegal to send any “obscene, lewd, or lascivious” books through the mail. And in 1991, an amateur video captures the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers.

A picture perfect early spring weekend on tap. 😎 Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 38. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 49. Typical average high for the weekend is 41 degrees. I bet the ground will be muddy in the woods. My weekend is fairly free but I’m not totally sure what my plans are for the weekend. Money is tight so I might stick around town Saturday, hike at Schodack Island buy groceries at Aldis and then Sunday hike at Partridge Run.

🌹🌻🌼Only 16 days remain until the first day of calendar spring!🌹🌻🌼

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until St. Patrick’s Day 🍀 when the sun will be setting at 7:04 pm with dusk at 7:32 pm (Daylight Savings Time). On that day in 2019, we had mostly cloudy, snow showers and temperatures between 36 and 26 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 45 degrees. We hit a record high of 75 back in 1990.

Typical winter 2016 afternoon