Good evening! Partly clear and 36 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a west breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. There is a inch of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Temperatures will drop below freezing around 2 am. ☃️

It’s actually a pretty nice evening, 🌃 and I sat out back for over an hour when it started to cool off a little bit. It wasn’t until quite late that it really started to drop off. Not going to be quite as nice in the Finger Lakes but not that awful either with each day expected to reach the mid 40s. Hard to complain about such weather on Festivus and I got a nice walk 🚶 before dark as I got out of work early today.

After which I came inside and rode the exercise bike 🚲 for a while listening 👂 to more of that trucker country 🚚 that I like from the late 1960s. That music 🎶 is crude and sleazy and sexist, probably gives one a taste of cigarette 🚬 and diesel 💨 on one’s mouth but it’s good for singing along especially if you’re not a real good singer and it has a good back beat. 🎸

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌤, with a low of 28 degrees at 6am. 10 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 29th. Northwest wind 5 to 11 mph. In 2018, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 31 degrees. Even milder last year. The record low of -15 occurred back in 1989.

Tonight will have a Waning Crescent Moon 🌘 with 1% illuminated. The moon will rise at 5:38 am. The New Moon is on Christmas Day with mostly cloudy skies. The sun will rise at 7:22 am with the first light at 6:50 am, which is 28 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 Tonight will have 14 hours and 57 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 7 seconds over last night. We never quite have 15 hours of darkness in Albany but if you go maybe to Warrensburg or there about, you do on the first day of winter. They have slightly longer summer days then more southerly locations but ultimately it balances out.

Tomorrow will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 36 degrees at 1pm. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 16th. North wind around 7 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 40 degrees. The record high of 72 was set in 2015. I remember that day we’ll, rained a fair bit then I went to my parents house – after working until 3pm and they lost power briefly while cooking Christmas dinner. Spent Christmas that year camping at the Cherry Ridge Camping Area in Madison County. 13 inches of snow fell back in 1966.❄

I thought about testing the propane lantern 🏮 after work today but I have no where to test it around home. I normally hang it between trees on a rope at camp but there are no trees around where I live because the landlord cut down all the trees on his property to avoid liability and leaf removal costs, although in the summer neighboring property trees seem to provide enough shade to keep the buildings cool. I feel like the lantern should work now that I cleaned it a few weeks and if it doesn’t I don’t know how I’m going to fix it before heading out to camp on Saturday.

While I haven’t really planned out my whole camping trip yet ⛺ I do have some things in mind and I’m thinking about what I will need for camping and my packing list 📃. I might start doing a little packing on Christmas Day 🎄 as I told John Wolcott I’ll be over to his house on Thursday after work 🔎and then Friday I’ll have to finish packing and getting finished for camp as I don’t want to delay my departure. I hate driving NY 79 through Ithaca with all the aggressive drivers so I’ll probably take US 20 out but that’s a long drive. Alternatively I guess I could take NY 13 down through Cortland but that can be pokey too. Seneca Falls, decorated as Bedford Falls 🌉 is fun to explore during the holiday season, Montezuma Wildlife Refuge will be closed for the winter. 🐦

In four weeks on January 20 the sun will be setting at 4:52 pm,🌄 which is 26 minutes and 47 seconds later then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had snow and temperatures between 21 and 0 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 30 and 14 degrees. The record high of 53 degrees was set back in 2006.

Not sure I’m happy with the current voltage settings on the voltage switch. 🔋 Neither the starting or the accessory batteries were well charged today, but then again I only got like 30 watt hours of power today. It said that the starting battery charged for 3 minutes today, not sure if the switch tripped multiple times. I may have to push the switch up to 14.0 volts again but in the lousey sun angle ☀ of winter not sure if I’m going to ever have enough power to make it ever engage. I might raise the voltage for camping as maximizing the accessory batteries charge us kind of a priority with the long cold winter nights. It easy enough to adjust those settings.

So far I’ve been fairly happy with the red screen both on my laptop and phone 📱 but it’s a pain to get things adjusted just right. But once the settings are good enough I can just turn them on and off and hopefully that will help with sleep 😴. Definitely it’s good to tone down the blue light from my computer monitor 💻.

I really do watch too many farm, hunting, trapping and off grid living videos on YouTube 📹 but it’s a much needed change from my urban life and takes me to worlds far away from Albany. A camera can bring you into a tie stall dairy barn and see the milking and feeding, show how to skin and process a coyote pelt or even many the day to day parts of living off grid with limited electricity generated on site, heating irg wood, etc. 🐻Wisdom shared over a camera. Because I downloaded the videos and watch them offline, I don’t have to watch those stupid ads but I also don’t get to like or comment on people’s channels. But if I had the internet at home, I’d probably be distracted all the other mindless things to do on the internet. 😼

Looking ahead, Bacon Day 🥓 is in 1 weeks, Make Your Dream Come True Day 🏡 is in 3 weeks, National Popcorn Day 🍿 is in 4 weeks, National Cheese Lovers Day 🧀 is a month away, National Pie Day 🍰 is in 4 weeks, Clean Your Computer Day 🧹 is in 7 weeks, Presidents Day 👴 is in 8 weeks, Read Across America Day 📚 is in 10 weeks, Worm Moon 🌕 is in 11 weeks, Arbor Day 🌳 is in 18 weeks, 8 PM Sunset 🌇 is in 19 weeks, Flower Moon 🌕 is in 21 weeks, Memorial Day Weekend Starts 🏕️ is in 5 months, Memorial Day 🇺🇸 is in 22 weeks, June 🍹 is in 23 weeks, Average High is 80 🏖 is in 26 weeks and Primary Day 🗳️ is in 6 months.

Good morning! Happy Days are Getting Longer ☀️! Summer is coming in another six months but winter and black fly season is first! Two weeks to National Bird Day 🐧. Partly sunny and 27 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a south breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. There is a inch of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Things will start to thaw out at around 11 am. 🌡️

This morning started out cloudy ⛅ but it is quickly clearing. Not sure if the voltage switch ⚡ is going to hit the 14.0 volts to turn on, if not I may set it lower at least on an experimental basis. I also think I’ll reduce the anti-retrip mode down from 8 minutes to 60 seconds. It’s worthwhile experimenting to see what produces the maximum charge on both batteries. 🔋

I got to take a shower 🚿 and then head to the store 🏬 before the crowds get there. 🍖 I also have some beer cans to return from my November camping trip 🍻 as last time the machine was full so I didn’t return them all. I want to test the gas lantern 🏮 and get that ready for my camping trip next.

I had waffles for breakfast 🍳 but I’m going to have to get more waffle mix if I want to have more next week. The nice thing is that I only have to work Monday next week and then I have Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off. 🎄 I doubt they’re going to be much snow left for the holidays as we lost a fair amount of snow yesterday and even more should disappear after today’s sun and warmth.

Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 39 degrees at 2pm. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 7th. South wind around 6 mph. Yeah, save on the heat. ♨ A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning, which became light snow by afternoon. The high last year was 59 degrees. The record high of 60 was set in 1990. 12.3 inches of snow fell back in 1969.❄ It looks like this year though we are going to end it snow free. 🚫I’m fine with that as snow can be problematic while camping ⛺ although mud much more so. 🐽

The sun will set at 4:25 pm with dusk around 4:57 pm, which is 30 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for mostly clear skies 🌃 and temperatures around 35 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 6 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 2 minutes of daytime, a decrease of over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 26 degrees at 5am. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 4th. Southwest wind 3 to 6 mph. In 2018, we had light snow in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 31 degrees. The record low of -12 occurred back in 1955.

A week from now I will be having my first camp breakfast 🍳 and splitting firewood. 🔥 I just hope it’s not too cloudy ☁ and damp but there is a lot that could change in the forecast by then. If it’s nice, I’ll enjoy sitting down by Seneca Lake in Clute Park or doing some cross country skiing if a little bit of snow remains, which seems increasingly unlikely now. 🎿

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until National Bird Day 🐧 when the sun will be setting at 4:35 pm with dusk at 5:07 pm. On that day in 2019, we had rain and temperatures between 40 and 29 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 31 degrees. We hit a record high of 64 back in 1950.