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Back from Grandma Moses Country 👵🏽🎨

You know it was worth an exploration, I tell myself even if it didn’t have the right feel for me. Pointed Rocks on the Batten Kill had been on my bucket list for a long time to hike – it’s a surprisingly long and steep hike outside of Adirondack and Catskill Park and the whole area around the Batten Kill is quite spectacular, full of birds and nature if not a pungent this time of year from the manuring. Shits gotta grow come the summer.

Good morning! Rain and 44 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ There is a south breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 4 am. ☃️

Honest, I wasn’t planning on going to Washington County yesterday 🏞 but I ended up that way after looking at some houses, properties and land in Hoosic, Pittstown and Valley Falls. Rural country out that way but it didn’t have the right feel in my mind. I totally get why that former Research Services director used to live out in White Creek but that’s a bit too far away from work especially having to drive through Troy and all those other little speed traps and hick towns. 🚓 Of course he did move to Pennsylvania as soon as he could retire.

I had wanted to hike Pointed Rocks and explore the area along the Batten Kill for some time now. 🚶 🏞️ but somehow I never got up that way as there isn’t any place right nearby to camp, except maybe for the Green Mountain National Forest on the other side of Bennington. Nice country up along the Batten Kill State Forest and along NY 313, but certainly too far from Albany too commute. 🚦🚙🚗🚚🛻 There was an interesting property along NY 22 that was 20 acres of moutainside and woods, with a steep creek for micro-hydro that looked quite attractive from the road and on paper, if not for all those damn traffic lights, hick towns and NY 7 traffic cluster. Had a nice little mobile-home sized site on a ledge over the road, with a somewhat steep driveway but partially cleared. I think it was a former hunting camp. 🏠️ Looked like the neighbors would have been good, they’re distance away, have horses and a small pre-fab house. Price was good, but it’s all about the location.

And I didn’t have the natural attraction to Grandma Moses country that I have to the Heldebergs, and I don’t know anybody who currently lives out that way. 👨‍🚒 I’m sure if I got involved in the community, maybe became a volunteer firefighter I could make friends, but it’s still tough. Plus, despite all the kitsch Grandma Moses Painting, that area of state is quite poor. 🐐 But I kind of like that, those are probably good friendly people who work hard, not yuppies.

Today will have showers likely, mainly before 8am. Mostly cloudy with some clearing later on 🌦, with a high of 51 degrees at 4pm. Six degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 29th. South wind 7 to 15 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning, which became light rain by afternoon. The high last year was 47 degrees. The record high of 75 was set in 1990. 4.1 inches of snow fell back in 1982.❄

The major plan for today is to go to the grocery store and get more groceries 🛒 fairly early on. I am as shocked as anyone that it’s already Sunday again and my pantry is fairly bare, although not as bad as some weeks in part because I stopped and got a few more things on the way home when driving in on Friday, as that was when I had my dentist appointment with that mean hygienist.🦷 I am not going to put up with her abuse, she was abusive in that dentist chair how she treated me. I am going to cancel my next appointment and see if I can reschedule with my usual dental hygentist Hamid.

I might head out to Coeymans to do some more poking around later on the back roads. 🛻 That said, I’ve checked out many of the listings, and I’m kind of tired after all the driving and exploring yesterday. Hell of it is because I decided to head up to Washington County to hike, 🚶 never made it down to southern Rensselaer County to explore some of the homes and properties around Lebanon Valley that are for sale. The thing is down there, you’re getting into the Taconics ⛰️ which are quite nice, but land prices go up there, and you start mixing with a lot NYC pukey-pukes down that way. Get south of the Berskshire Spur Thruway and there is some shit ton of NYC money that way, thanks to the Taconic Parkway. Not only is land is expensive, you know who is going to be living next door, people closer to Elliot Spitzer who is responsible for the burn ban, then some dirt-farming goat-rising good ol’ boy. 👛

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:04 pm with sun having an altitude of 46.3° from the due south horizon (-24.6° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 5.7 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:28 pm with the sun in the west (263°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (269°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:05 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 54 seconds with dusk around 7:32 pm, which is one minute and 10 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon in the south (172°) at an altitude of 75° from the horizon, 241,964 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:06 pm. At sunset, look for partly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 45 degrees. There will be a west-northwest breeze at 10 mph. Today will have 12 hours and 4 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 54 seconds over yesterday.

Another work week ahead, 👨‍💼 back to being a professional rather then a cowboy-hat wearing good ol’ boy or so I play on the weekends. One more week until the long Easter Weekend when I’m hoping to get to the Adirondacks to camp 🏕️ and have a big ol’ fire 🔥 with flames mostly less then 3 feet high and not too much plastic, because you know the burn ban and stuff. 🤣 Ah, New York State. I should bring my .22 rifle and make some noise too while I’m up in the wilderness. It’s been too long since I’ve spent much time in the woods. 🌲

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌃 , with a low of 31 degrees at 5am. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 30th. West wind around 8 mph. In 2023, we had light rain in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 28 degrees. The record low of -08 occurred back in 1900.

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until 7:30 PM Sunset 🌇 when the sun will be setting at 7:30 pm with dusk at 7:57 pm. On that day in 2023, we had mostly sunny and temperatures between 48 and 34 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 55 degrees. We hit a record high of 87 back in 2010.

Sunny and cold this President’s Day 🌞

After a rough night last including many trips too the bathroom after eating too much red lentil soup and beans, and then the smoke alarm going off at 3 AM, I’m up and going this morning. Started out my day stocking up my pantry with fruits, vegetables and other healthy eats for the week to come. A barely sub-$100 grocery bill, though not by much, but I’ve finally gotten to the point where my pantry had a few things left over from last week, and most of the unhealthy stuff from a year ago is now gone.

Good morning! Sunny and 26 degrees in Delmar, New York. 🌞 I wonder how many more times I’ll be saying that. It’s weird to think it might be coming to an end. Cool and blustery with a northwest breeze at 14 mph. 🍃. There is a dusting of snow on the ground. ☃ Things will start to thaw out at tomorrow around noontime. 🌡️

It’s beautiful out today, but with the wind is fairly cold. 🌬 I’m actually not rushing to get out too soon, as I’m really hoping to speak to my new landlord again, about the questions and concerns I politely raised in an email on Saturday, ✉️ that he has not replied back to. I would feel much better if I had contact information, and if I could pay him via a mailed paper check, where the paper trail is clear in case of dispute of payment. 💵 Maybe I’m too fearful of him, but he reminds me of kid who beat the shit out of me in high school. 👊 You know, the kid who barely made it out of high school, and floats from job to job in the construction industry and on and off the unemployment rolls as his parents a dying from alcoholism and decades of chain of smoking. I feel rather sorry for him, as I think he’s become a really decent person even if he smashed my nose into the locker multiple times back in the day. I also am waiting for calls back from various mortgage loan officers, 📞 and want to talk to some friends out in the country 🐮 who have bought homes in recent years, and want to get their advice and tips.

Washington’s Birthday will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 31 degrees at 4pm. Six degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical Northwest wind around 14 mph. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 47 degrees. The record high of 66 was set in 1981. 11.4 inches of snow fell back in 1972.❄

I do want to get out and do some hiking this afternoon, 🚶‍♀️hiking up Bennett Hill or maybe Wolf Hill. It’s sunny out but cold. But I need some of serenity of the wilderness, even if for only a few hours. 🌲Things are so crazy these days. 🤪 Then head out to the folks for Sunday dinner. 👪 It’s important to talk to as many people and listen to as much advice as possible. 👂 Time isn’t as tight and things aren’t as awful as I imagine them to be in my darker moments, but change is happening, and it’s happening much too fast. ⌛ With the stock market, my portfolio is good, and high interest rates may work in my favor, as I can offset more capital gains taxes from selling stocks in good market by using the mortgage tax exemption. 📜 God, that makes me feel old.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:10 pm with sun having an altitude of 36° from the due south horizon (-34.9° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 8.3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:53 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (249°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (255°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 5:32 pm after setting for 3 minutes with dusk around 6:00 pm, which is one minute and 16 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon in the east (100°) at an altitude of 54° from the horizon, 243,483 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:34 pm. At sunset, look for clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 29 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 10 mph. Today will have 10 hours and 47 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 43 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 15 degrees at 6am. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around February 4th. Maximum wind chill around 17 at 6pm; Northwest wind 6 to 10 mph. In 2023, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 35 degrees. The record low of -16 occurred back in 1966.

Tuesday it’s back to work. 👨‍💼 I may drive in so I can retreat to my truck should bankers call to discuss mortgages, as I don’t have my private office yet, as the retiring director has a few more weeks left, though not much. It will be quite the operation to take over, and while I’ve learned a lot in these past 6 weeks and I have the skills to be an excellent leader, it’s scary, not least to say, as I’m replacing 40 plus years of experience. 🙀 But I have an excellent team I’m working with who will support me, and the reason why they trust me in such a place of high authority, is because I’ve delivered 16 1/2 years of results for my business. Still, it’s a big jump from being Deputy Director to Director, in an agency that doesn’t have deputy to fall back on. My bosses will just be several miles of up the road, and always there to support me, email and phone aren’t the same as sitting down in a room together. 👔 I might wear a suit and tie, but still a redneck inside. But I believe in myself and my future. Things could go terribly wrong, but I have a track record of success, and preponderance of the evidence is that I will do exceptionally well in the new position, especially with my knowledge of the R programming language, Unix shell scripting, C programming and technical aspects of Data Services.

Looking ahead to next weekend, it could be real nice. 😎 Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 31. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 39. It’s early in the week, so I’ll take a wait and see approach. Go camping? 🏕 Who knows how busy I will be with the next steps in my life. 👣 Typical average high for the weekend is 38 degrees. Now we’re in the second half of February, things warm up quickly.

One month 📅 from now will be Last Day of Winter 🏂 when the sun will be setting at 7:08 pm with dusk at 7:35 pm (Daylight Savings Time). The average high temperature is 47 degrees, with a record high of 78 in 2021.

One more nice day before the snow 🌞

Monday, Monday. Riding to work and enjoying it before the snow comes and takes over the land again during this mid-February Valentine’s Day Week. Then a three-day weekend, though it might be cool and snowy so who knows about Madison County come Friday.

Good morning! Monday’s come back around again. Cloudy and at the freezing point in Delmar, NY. ☁ There is a northwest breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. Going to warm up as the day progresses, with the skies clearing around noontime. Not a terrible day ahead, though the morning will be cloudier and tomorrow will snow.

Oatmeal pancakes with shredded orange 🥞 🍊 made for a delicious 😋 start to the morning today. Topped with lots of blueberries I will note. 🫐 I know I’m waiting for the inevitable blood sugar crash 📉 though I’m hopeful that the protein in the egg plus the mixture of oatmeal, shredded orange including the peel and whole 🌾 flour will help slow the crash. Didn’t use any maple 🍁 syrup today, the blueberries were plenty of sugar, lol. 😂

I figure today’s the day to ride to work if any day this week. 🚲 👉 🌨 Tomorrow is going to be quite snowy, so it will be back to busing it back and forth to work. 🚵‍♀️ And after the snow tomorrow, the rail trail will be likely impassable for several days, ⛄ and while I could take Corning’s Hill and South Pearl to work, it’s going to be cold plus the shoulder of the South Pearl near the Port is a muddy rough mess. Not to mention, Wednesday looks like it will be quite cold. ❄️ I do need to call the bike shop and ask about a tune up for the bike 👩‍🔧 and getting those gears really tight and working well before spring comes and appointments with the bike mechanic get really hard to get. As I ride my bike nearly every day, I want to keep it running in top condition.

Today will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 42 degrees at 2pm. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 6th. Northwest wind 5 to 7 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies. The high last year was 47 degrees. The record high of 55 was set in 1932. 13.5 inches of snow fell back in 1988.❄

On the way in, I got to stop at Hannaford ❤️ 🍬 and get some candy to hand out in the office for Valentines’ Day. As the director now, I have to make sure I have little trinkets to give away for holidays and special occasions to reward staff. 🎁 Nice little gestures. I know that’s what they did for years when I was just staff and deputy management, but being I’m now the big man in town, I got to make sure to plan to do such things going forward. 🎂 Also need to look up my staff’s birthdays and make sure to have cake or cookies for each of their birthdays. Figure I should budget about $20 a month for that. Even if I don’t eat cake and sweets anymore, I know a lot of people like that kind of thing. 🍪 It’s a nice gesture and important for a successful office.

Been exploring more of the free resources of the Bethlehem Public Library, 📚 namely E-Books borrowing using the Libby app that let’s you read 📖 and listen to audio books for free on your phone or Kindle if you have such technology. Mom was going to give me her old Kindle but I struggled to understand how the technology works 📲 and after cussing it out 🤬 I think it might be too old of a model. At any rate, I think it easier to read E-Books on my phone with the Libby app which saves them on the phone so I can use it offline in the remote Adirondack country. That said, I’ll probably use the audio books even more 📼 as I can listen while riding my bike 🚲 or by the campfire 🔥. I figure with my taxes so damn high, I best use every free government service out there – be it the state forests, free guided hikes, lectures, nature bus, bike trails etc.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:11 pm with sun having an altitude of 33.6° from the due south horizon (-37.3° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 9 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:43 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (245°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (252°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 5:23 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 3 seconds with dusk around 5:51 pm, which is one minute and 18 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the west-southwest (238°) at an altitude of 30° from the horizon, 226,878 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:25 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 39 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 6 mph. Tomorrow will have 10 hours and 31 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 39 seconds over today.

Groceries were another $120 this week, 🤯 which is more pain on the budget, but I did also buy some more loaf pans and knife sharpener. Eating all those fresh fruit and vegetables really adds up. 🍎 And it’s not like things are going to waste, 🚯 by the end of last week my freezer was mostly empty except for camping ice, but between inflation and everything else it adds up. Sunday night dinner was a really nice tomato 🍅 bean soup with the family 👪, I made some of my onion🧅 and carrot bread 🥕 to share. Took home leftovers, been slowly but surely eating up what’s in the freezer in an effort to cut my grocery costs. 🛒 Inflation sucks and I make good money 💵 these days but it doesn’t go very far anymore. Maybe it’s because I’m so committed to saving and investing in my future, 🔮 but I find it hard to make ends meet during these inflationary times.

I don’t even want to think about my $530 car insurance bill due the end of March or my taxes 🏦 which I haven’t started yet. I’ve been withholding extra out of each paycheck, 📂 which I’m hoping will help ensure I don’t owe a shit ton come April 15th. I got to figure out which service to use — I’ll probably use a Free-file site for my federal taxes, then copy that information onto a state tax form, and mail it in like I did last year. Hopefully not mess it up this time, and get a letter from State Tax Department. I hate filing taxes, especially when the government already knows how much money I make 🔍 as they get copies of my tax documents from my employers, banks, and vendors already. Thanks tax-vendor-software lobbyists and corporations. 🕴Life has gotten so damn expensive these days.

Tonight will have a chance of snow, mainly after 4am. Increasing clouds 🌨, with a low of 30 degrees at 5am. 13 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 27th. North wind 3 to 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. In 2023, 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 -18 occurred back in 1875.

Yeah, I got to turn the heat back on tonight. ♨️ It’s been nice the few days with the heat off and the windows open. No electric blanket use either. I’ve been using the electric blanket a lot more this year, but not he past few nights. My electric bill has come down somewhat, 🔌 as I’ve not made as many soups and beans on the stove top, and have been making sure my oven is fully packed 🍞 when baking bread, to get as many meals as possible out of each time things are cooking in the oven. I like cooking 👨‍🍳 but it can get pricey at times buying those whole-food type ingredients, which really can be a lot more expensive when added up then the packaged processed crap I used to buy a lot more of when I was fat. 🤰

Hopefully now with that cable I bailed out from the post office 🔌 ⌨ I’ll be able to use that USB switch I bought two weeks ago, to switch between my laptop and work PC seemlessly when I get into the office. Otherwise I’m out $17 and a lot of aggravation, but it seems like the switch is working well when I tried it with the one cable it originally came with and the second cable I bailed out due to insufficient postage by the seller seems to be working fine. We’ll see when I get to the office this morning I guess. 🏢 That and tinkering with the gears ⚙ on my bike has been so much aggravation over the past two weeks. At least lately I’ve not been having problems with the smoke alarm 👩‍🚒 repeatably going off. The warm weather over the weekend has allowed me to have the windows open and clear out some of the cooking smoke and moisture from my dumpy apartment.

Cool with times of sun for President’s Day. ⛅ Saturday, a chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 32. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 34. President’s Day, partly cloudy, with a high near 42. Typical average high for the weekend is 36 degrees.

As previously noted, next Monday is Presidents Day 👴 when the sun will be setting at 5:33 pm with dusk at 6:00 pm. On that day in 2023, we had mostly cloudy and temperatures between 47 and 23 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 37 degrees. We hit a record high of 66 back in 1981.

I’d like to get out of town for President’s Day 🏕 but the weather doesn’t look great. I was thinking about taking a half day off on Friday to head out to Brookfield and Charles Baker Horse Camp 🐴 for the long weekend, but now it’s looking like lake effect snow on Friday, and there is now way in hell I’m going to do the hills around Brookfield in the snow. I’ve dealt with those roads in the past, and they’re not well plowed, as Madison County primarily uses just sand and not salt, and some of those hills can be quite icy. That said, things could change before the weekend, so I’ll keep it in mind.

Rain is starting to clear on this start to the Martin Luther King Weekend 🌦

After much of the summer having rainy Sundays, this winter seems to be dominated by rainy Saturdays. And it will get cold come tomorrow, for an extended time period, though that’s somewhat to be expected this time of January. I bet by my birthday at the end of the month things will start to warm up again. Maybe that’s when I take that left-over carrot cake in my freezer and camp then. Who knows!

Good morning! Rain and 48 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌧 There is a south-southeast breeze at 14 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 9 pm. ☃️

I slept in until 5:30 AM this morning ⏰ which was late for me, and I was in bed by 8 PM but I think the net result was I got a good night’s sleep. Probably was the excessive amount of sugar 🍰 I had yesterday. I didn’t want any parties, but they still threw me two different parties for my going away at work. One of them had carrot cake 🥕 and yes it was super sweet, as I no longer normally eat sugar. 🍭 😋 I was pretty wound up for the rest of the day, and I wish I ad been able to ride to work 🚲 to burn calories but that was not to be due to that loose bolt. I did have a nice walk last night. 🚶‍♀️I like yellow foods, note my obsession with turmeric, 💛 only followed by obsession with oranges, e.g. carrots and citrus like oranges and grape fruit. 🥕 But then again, Red is kind of my favorite color, ❤️ witness my big jacked up truck. 🛻 It’s not like I don’t love smoked paprika and red peppers especially when good and sweet too. And then dark orange, which is another word for brown, 💩 which I do poop a lot with my fiber rich diet. 🤣

Breakfast was onions, eggs, some spinach, canned tomato with some milled corn mixed in. 🍳 The result was pretty good, though I wish I had more fiber 💚 but by this morning my pantry was pretty bare. 🥫 I like carbs a bit too much, but at least I always try to include lots of fiber with my carbs, and almost always whole-wheat carbs. First this this morning after showering 🚿 and breakfast I went to Hannaford. I don’t love shopping there, they have a small spice selection, and while their produce selection is higher quality it’s also more expensive. But with coupons 🎫 I was able to knock $35 off of a $121 shopping bill, which got it down to $86. 💸 Still things are more expensive then Walmart and of course I had to settle for regular plain yogurt, as they didn’t have non-fat Greek yogurt. That did not make me happy, and included a few cuss words. 🤬 I probably should have given the full-fat yogurt a try. Some fat isn’t bad, even if it is omega-6 saturated fat, and it fills you up quicker then no-fat, or so I’m told by the dairy farmers, who want to get a better price on their milk fat. 🤰 Shopping is so depressing 🙁 🛒 with inflation these days.

Got home from shopping and decided on an early lunch. 🍌 The banana I had wasn’t satisfying enough, so I decided to fry up one of those wonderful sweet onions from Hannaford along with a bunch of peas, broccoli, and some tofu with lots of turmeric and red-chili spices, plus a dash of salt and black pepper to maximize vitamin up tick. That finally got me filled up. 😋 Now I’m feeling good. Probably still on that glycemic roller coaster 🎢 from all that sweet and wonderful carrot cake yesterday. I actually took home a quarter of that carrot cake, and promptly stuck in the freezer for some time down the road, after licking down the box. The frosting they use at Cookie Factory in Troy is just pure cane sugar and egg whites. Pretty heavenly 😇 especially when you don’t normally eat sugar. Of course now I have a big sweet tooth again, 😬 but I’ll keep it filled apples, bananas, and especially that mango I got. I am so happy to have bananas again this week, last week was sad without them. The carrot cake is locked away in back of the freezer. 🍰

Today will rain likely before noon, then a chance of showers, mainly between noon and 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a temperature rising to near 51 by 11am, then falling to around 39 during the remainder of the day. 🌦 South wind 11 to 16 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 29 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 43 degrees. The record high of 71 was set in 1932. 13.1 inches of snow fell back in 1964.❄

What to do today is the question on my mind. 💭 I intentionally got up and early and to the grocery store a little after 8 AM so I could shop both before the crowds 👩‍👩‍👦‍👦 🛒 and so I could have the balance of my day free. Really I could see today going in three ways. Stay close to home, go to the library, 📚 and maybe a bike ride on the rail trail 🚲. Another option would be to go to the Village of Colonie, check out clothes at the Salvation Army off of Central Avenue 👔, and then ride trail in the Pine Bush. I do get best clothes from Salvation Army, so much of the new stuff is China-made fancy-label crap. For riding trail this afternoon though, even with the sand though, the trails might be soft. But if it clears out later, might be nice to watch the sun set from Albany Pine Bush. 🌲🌲🌲 The third option would be to get my stuff together, do a night or two up in the woods, though I’m sure after all this rain things would be soft. 🌲 🏕 Tomorrow everything will be frozen, and it will be sunny, but it’s going to be cold with the wind. Maybe one night in woods freezing my ass would be refreshing though if the balance of day is sunny. 😎

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:04 pm with sun having an altitude of 25.8° from the due south horizon (-45° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.4 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:00 pm with the sun in the southwest (233°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (241°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:44 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 20 seconds with dusk around 5:15 pm, which is one minute and 7 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the southwest (224°) at an altitude of 18° from the horizon, 226,726 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:51 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 42 degrees. There will be a west breeze at 15 mph with gusts up to 28mph. Today will have 9 hours and 23 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 28 seconds over yesterday.

Tuesday I finally start out my new position in earnest, 👨‍💼 moving up to the office in North Albany. Looking to put my data science experience and knowledge to work at new Director of Data Services. And be the keeper of the LOL book, the list of lists, as they called them when I worked at Higher Education Services Corporation years ago. 👨‍🏫 I won’t how much of the Job Control Language and COBOL I remember from back in those days. 📜 I’m sure it will come back quickly, it’s sort of Unix like, and programming is ultimately just programming. COBOL is just extra verbose. And operators and programmers probably do most of that anyways.. I could drive, but I think I’ll take the express bus in then transfer to the shuttle. 🚌 Everybody says it’s not worth the effort to transfer buses, but it really won’t impact my morning commute much, and maybe I’ll get home later on days I don’t ride my bike in, but it’s a chance to walk laps in the Empire Plaza 👣 or visit with people in the Capitol Complex. 👥 It’s important to be seen at events, and meet up with people. Honestly, in person I’m not as obnoxious as on the blog where my slogan is, “All My Heroes Burn Their Trash and Smell a Little Like Cow Shit”.

I finally learned my new salary, it is a bit less then I hoped, especially these days with inflation, but if I work hard to get the bonuses, it will be find and with next year’s inflation adjustment and step increases, it will be the nice round number I was hoping for. 💵 It’s just tough with inflation, but I’m doing better then a lot of people. And I got paid early this week, so I no longer have $162 in my bank account, though come next week when the auto investing is done, it’s probably be hovering around $1,000 again. 📈 But it’s still a good time in stock market after last year, even if this year is starting off soft. 🏦 I do worry about some damage being caused in economy by pay-now-pay later’s exploding popularity, though I don’t think it’s likely to be as damaging as the housing crisis of 2008.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 28 degrees at 3am. 12 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 21st. Southwest wind 11 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph. In 2023, we had light snow. It got down to 26 degrees. The record low of -24 occurred back in 1957.

I’d loved to spend the night in the woods, 🌲 🌲 and it’s not going to be super cold but that wind will be cold, as will the dampness of things after that inch of rain we got last night. Who knows my urge for camping 🏕 and having a fire up in the woods 🔥 might get the best of me and I’ll be huddled over the propane heater either tonight or tomorrow. At least there is no fire risk, even with the wind. Kind of wish there was some snow and less mud. It’s that wind that’s what will get you. 🌬

Sunday will have a chance of snow showers, mainly after 9am. 🌨 Partly sunny, with a high near 35. Breezy, with a south wind 11 to 20 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 31 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. Then Sunday night, partly cloudy, with a low around 16. West wind 10 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. Going to be ducking cold. 🦆 And for M. L. King Day, mostly sunny, 😎 with a high near 26. West wind 7 to 9 mph. Still rather old.

Looking ahead, there are 4 weeks until Clean Your Computer Day 🧹 when the sun will be setting at 5:21 pm with dusk at 5:49 pm. On that day in 2023, we had mostly cloudy, mild, rain showers and temperatures between 51 and 34 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 35 degrees. We hit a record high of 53 back in 1955.

Cold start to this January morning 🌅

Actually kind of seasonable for National Bird Day, but we have been spoiled by the relatively warm days and especially nights of this winter. El Niño plus climate change has really stuck a fork in this winter. Going to get w good snowstorm come Saturday night into Sunday but it’s not expected to last with it warm enough that the roads should be clear for the Monday commute, and mostly melted away with rain and temperatures in the mid 50s by Wednesday into Thursday.

Good morning! Clear and 18 degrees at the Delmar, NY. There is a north-northwest breeze at 8 mph. 🍃. Things will start to thaw out at tomorrow around 1 pm. 🌡️ Before the snow comes Saturday night into Sunday then is washed away by the rain come Wednesday into Thursday.

Breakfast was eggs with onions, shredded broccoli and corn. 🍳 Reheated coffee with milk and vanilla. Up at five o’clock this morning, I never set an alarm ⏰ as my desire to go to the bathroom 🚽 gets me going in the morning. Continuing my Support Vector Machine Learning course this morning. 🤖 I always find I learn and think best early in the morning.

It’s going to be a cold ride in 🚲 but I’m going to do it because I like the ride and the sun will feel good. The sun angle is starting to increase even while the mercury normally drops this time of year as we approach the coldest on average week of the year – Martin Luther King Day Week. It saves a buck thirty and it’s a good exercise. Next week with session attire, likely moving to the suburban office, rain and snow just means it will be unlikely I ride to work much at all. I’ll keep my eyes 👀 out for birds 🐦 on my ride through the Norman’s Kill Gorge this morning.

Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 32 degrees at 3pm. One degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical Northwest wind around 8 mph. A year ago, we had patches of fog in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 49 degrees. The record high of 64 was set in 1950. 8.0 inches of snow fell back in 1891.❄

Ran to the office 🏢 last night to get my plants 🌿 and hopefully it won’t have been too much of a cold shock 🤯 for the plants. I’m most worried about the wandering jew, that plant struggles enough already with getting rooted. I did make sure my truck was good and warm for the trip home. I also brought home most of the other personal stuff in my office – and I’ll bring home my personal and work laptops 💻 today so I’m ready to move to my new office come Monday if so assigned. I’m certainly ready and excited to be taking on the roll of Director of Data Services as soon as possible. I’ve been working on training my replacement as Deputy Director in Research Services. 🔢 Data Services though is far more up my alley then Research though I found research work to often be quite interesting and benefited from my data science knowledge.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:01 pm with sun having an altitude of 24.7° from the due south horizon (-46.1° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:51 pm with the sun in the southwest (232°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (239°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:36 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 22 seconds with dusk around 5:07 pm, which is 57 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:43 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 32 degrees. There will be a west breeze at 7 mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 14 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 3 seconds over today.

Decided after coming home last night to make a quick pot of homemade chicken soup.🍲 You know just the essentials – water, salt, carrots, celery, spinach, whole wheat noodles, onions, garlic and some pepper and spices. Left over pork roast diced and a can of canned chicken 🐔. No, I don’t use broth. It’s good enough with the spices I have in the cabinet – I’d rather enjoy the natural, simple flavors.

Tonight will have increasing clouds ☁, with a low of 22 degrees at 6am. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 1st. Light and variable wind. Reality check ☑ . In 2023, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became light rain by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 30 degrees. The record low of -19 occurred back in 1996.

Last night was remarkably cold for moving the plants 🌿 but I wanted to get the things out of my office before the snow came and have to deal with it next week. Plan to clean and continue to scrub down my office today. Then when whenver I need to move out, I’m good. Got about $40 in groceries last night, which doesn’t buy much but will keep my pantry somewhat full for a while, though Walmart didn’t have bananas. 🍌

Tomorrow will be cloudy ☁, with a high of 33 degrees at 2pm. Typical for Tomorrow. Calm wind becoming southeast 5 to 9 mph in the morning. A year ago, we had patches of fog in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 44 degrees. The record high of 71 was set in 2007. 12.7 inches of snow fell back in 2002.❄

Looking ahead to Sunday, snow, mainly before 4pm. 🌨 Winter finally arrives but should be cleaned up by the work week. High near 32. Northeast wind 6 to 11 mph becoming light north in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 90%. Typical average high for the weekend is 33 degrees.

Looking ahead, next Friday is Coldest Day Recorded in Albany 🌨 💨 when the sun will be setting at 4:44 pm with dusk at 5:14 pm. It was an unthinkable negative 26 degrees in Albany on January 11, 1968. I know those negative 17 degrees days we had a few years back we’re super cold. I can’t imagine that amount of cold. On that day in 2023, we had mostly cloudy, snow showers and but generally mild temperatures between 38 and 32 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 33 degrees. We hit a record high of 67 back in 2020.

Places I Camped in 2023

While this year was a rainy one, and it rained during many of my trips, I was able to get out for 53 nights in the wilderness — mostly fairly close to home but I also did a trip down to West Virginia in late October with several trips to the Adirondacks, Central New York and summer vacation in the Finger Lakes.

Martin Luther Kings Day – January 14-16 (2 nights)

To start out my camping adventures in 2023, I drove out to Charles Baker State Forest and Brookfield Horse Camp. There wasn’t a lot of snow — just a dusting but it was a fun weekend, topped off by a beautiful sun-full glittery hike up Tassell Hill after a hoar frost. Explored Lost Pond and several of the trails in the middle of state forest.

40th Birthday – January 27-29 (2 nights)

For my fortieth birthday, I took off the Friday leading up to my 40th birthday to cross country ski and winter camp at Rensselaerville State Forest. It was a beautiful weekend with lots of blue skies, sufficient snow for skiing but not so much that was a ton of snowmobiles out on the trails.

Presidents Day – February 17-19 (2 nights)

I decided for Presidents Day Weekend to do another trip out to Charles Baker State Forest and Brookfield Horse Camp. Slightly more snow then last time but again largely a snow-less winter, with some nice days for hikes through the various truck and horse trails. I hiked around much of state forest, especially the more southern part of the forest.

Easter Weekend – April 7-9 (2 nights)

On Good Friday through Easter I camped at at Rensselaerville State Forest. The snow was gone and it was fairly mild though at times it was a bit cool. Spent a fair amount of time walking around and exploring the new OSI Parcel that has been recently added to state forest and is still largely open fields with sweeping views of the Catskill Mountains.

Duck Pond Trip – May 5-7 (2 nights)

The first Friday in May I took a half day from work and headed out to Schoharie County to camp at Duck Pond at Burnt-Rossman Hills State Forest. Originally the plan was to camp two nights at Duck Pond, hiking along the Long Path and exploring the state forest and then on Sunday hiking the Catskill Scenic Trail. That part of the trip changed when driving along Duck Pond Road the low tire pressure light came on I found a pallet nail in my truck tire. I was able to top off the truck tire and then change the tire when I got home and got the nail pulled and plugged. But it wasn’t the best way ever to end a trip early.

Overnight at Cole Hill – May 13-14 (1 night)

After visiting the folks on Mother’s Day Weekend, I decided to do a quick overnight hammock camp on Cole Hill State Forest in Berne. Nothing fancy or formal, it was as much a way to test out sleeping in my hammock with the bug screen. Kind of a chilly night, I took camp down fairly and headed home early in the morning.

Memorial Day Weekend at Cole Hill – May 20-22 (2 nights)

This year I decided to eschew the Adirondacks and Greene Mountains for Memorial Day Weekend due to the black flies, my desire to look at bicycles, and work I had to do on the Saturday morning leading up to the holiday weekend. I decided to hammock camp again Cole Hill State Forest in Berne. This was a three-day two night trip, so it it gave me a chance to bring more gear up the mountain, set up a more formal camp. Cooked on the fire, hiked around the forest. It was a warm weekend, but I enjoy the solitude, along with having good cell service for listening to podcasts and watching videos.

Juneteenth Weekend on Piseco-Powley – June 15-20 (4 nights)

To kick off summer, I did my usual Juneteenth weekend camping trip, tacking on some days on the Juneteenth Holiday Weekend. It was a bit of a cool and rainy weekend to kick off summer, one that would actually be followed by many cool and rainy weekends where I would stay home. Camped at House Pond for the first three nights, spending time down floating in the tube on East Branch while the final night I camped up at Powley Bridge site and kayaked along the East Branch. Really, like often is the case, the best weather was the day I took down camp.

Catskill Scenic Trail Trip – July 22-24 (3 nights)

After several months of researching and visiting various bike shops, I finally got a mountain bike. I decided it would be fun to do as much of the Catskill Scenic Trail as I could before my summer vacation got underway. Actually did quite a bit of riding and hiking that weekend — started out hiking Pratts Rock’s then riding from Grand George to Hobart. Sunday, I rode from Fultonham to Middleburgh on NY 30, doing a quick climb up Vromans Nose, then stopping at the farm market then going to Mine Kill State Park to swim. Monday I rode from Hobart down to Bloomville, getting caught in a major thunderstorm and downpour a few miles north of Bloomville with no shelter in sight. The trail became super boggy, then I went to Mine Kill State Park for one more swim, and then out to folks house for Sunday dinner a day later then usual.

Finger Lakes National Forest – July 28 – August 6 (9 nights)

Every year for nearly a decade and a half I’ve been doing summer vacation out in the Finger Lakes — camping in the National Forest and exploring as much as possible during my days there. The past few years I’ve been driving there on a Friday, to get a better campsite before they’re taken by the weekend campers. This year was no exception. With Blackie, my mountain bike, I did nearly all of the bike trails in the near vicinity, from the Black Diamond Trail to the Cayuta Valley Trail to Dresden – Penn Yan Canal Trail. Kayaked on both Cayuga and Scenic Lakes, swam many days at Watkins Glen State Park and Taughannock State Park, explored the Cornell Campus and Botanical Gardens on my bike. Got some good ice cream at the Spotted Duck, explored the Geneva Waterfront along with the Cayuga-Seneca Canalway. Some rain but compared to the wet summer that was, this was a pretty good week.

Piseco-Powley – House Pond Campsite – August 18-20 (3 nights)

The next few weeks for rainy and by the time I got away for one more long weekend, it promised to be fairly nice weekend but turned out to be fairly cool and cloudy with some rain. Back at the House Pond Campsite, did some swimming in East Branch, but with the mercury in the 60s most of the weekend, I didn’t spend a lot of time in the water. Hardly what I had dreamed when the I planned the weekend. Rode Blackie up to Goldmine Stream Falls and relaxed down by the falls for a bit, also sat down by the swimming hole off of the Old Edick Road Snowmobile Trail, watching the rain fall, bemoaning the wet and cold weather. Still it was good to get away for a bit, and I did do a fair amount of reading in hammock, under the protection of the bug net, as the bugs were bad after such a wet summer.

Labor Day at Perkins Clearing – September 1-4 (3 nights)

I took the Friday off before Labor Day to get a jump on the holiday season travel, and set up camp at the site I really enjoy up at Perkins Clearing overlooking the mountains. Did a fair amount of riding along the various dirt roads of Perkins Clearing, including over to Mason Lake and on Sunday rode most of the way to the Spruce Lake Trailhead, though didn’t make it there in time as I got a bit of a late start as I spent the balance of the day reading and swimming in the Jessup River Bridge swimming hole. Labor Day, I rode around the Spectulator Tree Farm, doing a large loop, through the tree farm, past the north end of Elm Lake, then down to Austin Falls and Old Route 8B. I had hoped to get ice cream, but by the time I got to the ice cream shop they were out of soft-ice cream, and there was a long line. Summer was dragging to a close.

September Trip to Rensselearville State Forest – September 15-17 (2 nights)

With time being fairly tight and the weather only so-so I decided to do a two night trip close to home out in Rennselearville to ride some of the gravel trails, explore the OSI Parcel further and just enjoy an early autumn weekend camping.

Columbus Day at Rensselearville State Forest – October 8-9 (1 night)

Columbus Day Weekend was cold and rainy for the first half of the weekend, but the Sunday heading into Columbus Day was nice, so I decided to head out to Rensselaerville for a quick overnight at the campsite on CCC Road. Leaves were late this year, so not a lot of color, but it still was nice to get away for a night and ride some of the trails around.

West Virginia Trip – October 21-29 (8 nights)

The banner trip of the year was my trip down to West Virigina. While it started and ended in rain, it was a very enjoyable trip with lots of new adventures this year. Camped the balance of the week — 6 nights in Canaan Heights — doing day trips from that area. Overnighted one night driving down at County Bridge Campground in Pennsylvania, and a on the way back camped overnight at Long Pond State Forest in New York. Adventures in West Virginia included hiking at Dolly Sods, mountain biking at night in the sods of Canaan Heights, riding up and hiking to Table Rock, exploring Blackwater Falls State Park on the mountain bike, MonPower Mountain Bike Park, Thomas Rail Grade and the Olson Firetower. Rode part of the Great Allegheny Trail through the Cumberland Passage, and the two sections of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canalway, including the Paw Paw Tunnel.

Stoney Pond – November 4-7 (3 nights)

A little over a week back from West Virginia, I headed out to Madison County to ride the Tassel Hill Mountain Bike Trails at Alfred Woodford, the Chenango Canal Trail in Hamilton and Erie Canalway from Chittenango to Green Lakes State Park and then to Canastota and Wampsville. The first night was cold at Stoney Pond but the subsequent nights were quite pleasant and mild.

Prospect Mountain – East Branch Sacanadaga – Buttermilk Falls/Hudson Special Management Area – November 24-28 (3 nights)

Strangely enough, I had never been up Prospect Mountain. So I decided the day after Thanksgiving (Black Friday) to hike up Prospect Mountain, and then spend the next two nights camping on East Branch of the Sacandaga River. The Saturday and Sunday was fairly cold, so I ended up spending the bulk of day hanging around camp, doing a bit of hiking around Fox Lair. Sunday, evening around 8 PM it started to sleet, then snow, then rain, Monday morning, it turned into a white globby snow, and I ended up taking down camp fairly early after discovering I was out of propane and then spent much of the day exploring the Hudson River Special Management Area – Buttermilk Falls.

Stoney Pond – Charles Baker – December 21-26 (5 nights)

On the days leading up to Christmas I decided to take a second trip to Madison County. I was originally planning to camp two nights at Stoney Pond then two nights at the Charles Baker Horse Camp but my family’s holiday plans were cancelled due to illness in my family, so I ended up staying an extra night at the horse camp, through the day after Christmas. On Friday, I rode the Erie Canalway from Canastota to East Verona, nearly to Rome. On Christmas Day I rode around many of truck trails at Charles Baker with my mountain bike, leaving my face splattered with mud. Many of the days were fairly cold and cloudy, but that’s too be expected in late December. Still it was a special way to spend Christmas.

The day before my Christmas Week Trip 🎅 ⛺

Up at five o’clock, frying onions and eggs and spinach, a good breakfast before sitting down and doing more study of neural networks and machine learning. Early to rise makes a man, healthy, wealthy and wise, or so I tell myself.

Good morning! What day is it? Work from Home Day, of course. Sunny and 25 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌞 There is a north-northwest breeze at 9 mph. 🍃. Things will start to thaw out at around 9 am. 🌡️

Out for a morning bike ride 🚲 to Voorheesville to burn some calories before heading home and settling down to work. 💻 Depending on the projects that come in for review I’ll work down at the library or in my truck. Lunch time I want to get to Tractor Supply to refill my propane tank 🏮 and get a few supplies for camping 🏕 so I can get an early start come Thursday. I’ll set up camp, do some hiking and then Friday I plan to ride more of the Erie Canalway from Canastota to Rome.

Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 40 degrees at 1pm. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 11th. Northwest wind 7 to 10 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 32 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 1957. 8.4 inches of snow fell back in 1975.❄

Should be a nice day though that breeze will make it cold. 🌬 But I’ll bundle up for my morning ride, this time out to Voorheesville, then when I’m working remotely from my truck at the library, I’ll have the solar gain of the windshield to stay warm or I can work from inside the library if it’s quiet enough and I don’t end up taking many calls. ☎️ I’ll see. Then I’m hoping if I have some downtime at work I can run home and do some packing and getting ready for the trip. Should be a nice weekend, but maybe cold a times.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:54 am with sun having an altitude of 24° from the due south horizon (-46.9° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.5 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:39 pm with the sun in the southwest (230°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (238°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:25 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 25 seconds with dusk around 4:56 pm, which is 25 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon in the southeast (139°) at an altitude of 44° from the horizon, 228,182 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:33 pm. At sunset, look for mostly sunny skies 🌃 and temperatures around 38 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 10 mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 6 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 4 seconds over today.

I am very happy with that new photo-electric smoke detector. 👨‍🚒 This morning I accidentally got a frying pan a bit hot when cooking down the onions, and no alarm. 🧅 That made me quite happy and I am sure my neighbor too not having a fire alarm at 5:30 AM. Breakfast still came out quite good, and I cleaned up my kitchen a bit. Soup I’m planning on for lunch.

Tonight will have increasing clouds ☁, with a low of 25 degrees at 6am. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 9th. North wind 9 to 11 mph. In 2022, we had clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 16 degrees. The record low of -18 occurred back in 1942.

Today a train moved very fast in America — that is relatively speaking. 🚉 In 1967, a Pennsylvania Railroad Budd Metroliner exceeds 155 mph on their New York Division, now Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor. It was a test mission, but the high speed rail wasn’t to be due to frequent break downs and bottlenecks along the Northeast Corridor and the soon to be bankrupt Pennsylvania Railroad not long to be kept afloat by government funds and soon to offload passenger service to the government in the form of Amtrak. 🛤️ I don’t think even the latest high speed rail experiments have gotten that fast in recent years in America though slowly but surely the Northeast Corridor between New York City and Washington DC has gotten faster. 🚄

Weekend is starting to look cloudier but mild. 🌥 Thursday – Sunny, with a high near 34. North wind 10 to 13 mph. Friday – Sunny, with a high near 33. North wind 3 to 5 mph. Saturday – Mostly cloudy, with a high near 38. Sunday – Partly sunny, with a high near 41. Christmas Day – Partly sunny, with a high near 44. Still not terrible weather for winter camping, and it doesn’t look like I’ll have much snow to deal with out in Madison County. Typical average high for the weekend is 36 degrees.

Andy Arthur.org

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