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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.

Decided to head out for a night of winter camping 🏕

It’s such a glistening and beautiful winter day here at the State Forest. I wish I had cross country skis after mine got worn out, snapped, then chopped up burnt last winter. So much fiberglass in those skis, and they held up for 20 years, but like all things, they don’t last forever.

Good afternoon! Partly cloudy and 26 degrees at the Rensselaerville State Forest. ⛅ There is a north breeze at 10 mph. 🍃. The trees are still covered with snow and there is something we haven’t seen in a long time — blue skies. There is a 6 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Things will start to thaw out at Wednesday around 1 pm. 🌡️

It is remarkably beautiful out today. 😀 Cold but beautiful. Yet that’s to be expected camping in the winter up in the mountains. The good news is the road is nice and solid this time for camping, so not playing in the mud or getting wet. The snow is frozen fairly solid, but also is light in fluffy. If I had skis, this would be almost ideal weather for skiing. 🚲 After lunch and finishing setting up camp 🏕 and gathering firewood 🪵 I plan to ride some of CCC Road and maybe go down to the OSI Parcel 📸 to look at the snow covered mountains. Then come back to camp and have a good fire. 🔥

This afternoon will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 29 degrees at 2pm. Four degrees below normal. North wind around 11 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 33 degrees. The record high of 57 was set in 2016. 6.1 inches of snow fell back in 2004.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:11 pm with sun having an altitude of 30.8° from the due south horizon (-40.1° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 10 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:31 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (241°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (248°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 5:13 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 8 seconds with dusk around 5:42 pm, which is one minute and 18 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:16 pm. At sunset, look for mostly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 27 degrees. There will be a north-northwest breeze at 11 mph. Today will have 10 hours and 6 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 23 seconds over yesterday.

One thing that’s nice about this time of year 🌆 is we are definitely picking up more daylight in the evening, which makes it not as long at camp. That’s good as the nights can drag on. Going to be fairly cold but not super cold by the campfire for tonight, and I will have a nice fire.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 18 degrees at 4am. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around February 15th. Maximum wind chill around 9 at 1am; Northwest wind 8 to 13 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 13 degrees. The record low of -13 occurred back in 1978.

Looking ahead to next weekend, the following Saturday is Clean Your Computer Day 🧹 when the sun will be setting at 5:23 pm with dusk at 5:50 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.

Hoping for a smoother Tuesday today 🧑‍🚒🧯

I did not appreciate missing the express bus home yesterday or the smoke alarm repeatedly tripping off after cooking dinner. Or repeatedly hitting the wrong keys in VIM at work yesterday, half awake on a Monday. But the salmon and frozen asparagus was good for dinner as was the larger paycheck with my new job.

Good morning! Happy Tuesday. Clouds and 28 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ Calm wind.There are 3 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Things will start to thaw out at around 1 pm. 🌡️

Made it through my birthday 🎂 without anybody saying anything besides my mom= and a few people at work. I keep my birthday locked down on Facebook as I get tired of all the fake happy birthdays you get on Facebook. I really don’t appreciate all the unwarranted attention to myself and my age, I’d rather tell my story but otherwise he ignored. Maybe that’s why I don’t do the social media.

Yesterday was a Monday and kind of a shitty one but it was always silly stuff. 💩 The kind of things that you can hit escape and then u in vim and undo. I just wasn’t feeling Monday, even if was my forty first time around the sun ☀. The smoke detector that kept going off time and time again from cooking smoke and moisture 🧑‍🚒 really set me off as did having to ride the local home. 🏡 Then I had to piss and crap so badly that I barely made the toilet 🚽 and had to clean up the seat but fortunately not my pants 👖 this time. 🤯 All that fiber and water from eating lots of fruits and vegetables can be tough at times. Especially spaghetti squash 🍆 which I find hard not to overeat but can he very lubricating of the gut and everything connected. Gawd, I’m getting old 👴🏼.

I got this enormous glass 🍸 at work as a Christmas gift that I love and when it’s full of water 💦 and ice 🧊 it’s so easy to overdo it and I was busy at the end of the day with work 📄 and didn’t have time to run to the bathroom before catching the shuttle 🚀 back to the Plaza. And then missing the express bus 🚍. Yeap. Forgot my fork 🍽 at lunch yesterday and didn’t have a spare one in my new office 🏢 so the cooked part of lunch with peas, corn, peppers and tofu got skipped for lunch as that ain’t finger 🖕 food. The milk 🥛 I had in the mason jar for my coffee ☕ at work went rancid. That was a Monday, my birthday. 🎂

I’m thinking today won’t be such a shit show 🤔 or so I tell myself. 🥞 Woke up at five o’clock like usual with no alarm ⏰ and made some good oatmeal banana 🍌 pancakes. I’ve finally mastered a good recipe that is absolutely delicious 😋 topped with mango and blueberries with real maple 🍁 syrup. The real stuff is so much better even if it’s slightly more calories. It’s not like I eat much meat or milk high in saturated fats these days or processed foods or added sugars so I figured I can use a little bit of natural sweetness occasionally like honey 🍯 or pure maple syrup.

Went for a five mile bike ride this morning after breakfast before showering and catching the express bus downtown. 🚲 Not so cold this morning for a change. My hands 👐 weren’t cold nor was my face. The cows 🐮 on Meads Road were up and around chewing their cud not all huddled together. 🚜 It was nice for a change. I probably would have gone for a longer ride, but time was tight as it was close to 6:50 AM when I got out riding. One thing is nice is that the mornings are a lot brighter then they were.

Today will have patchy freezing drizzle before 10am. Mostly cloudy 🌥, with a high of 33 degrees at 2pm. Typical for today. Calm wind becoming south 5 to 7 mph in the afternoon. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became light snow by afternoon. The high last year was 41 degrees. The record high of 56 was set in 2013. 11.0 inches of snow fell back in 1966.❄

After all of it, dinner last night was good, 🐟 even if the fire alarm problem was annoying. 👩‍🚒 I am not sure why it’s been such a problem with the smoke detectors this winter. I got a new smoke detector hoping it would stop false alarms, 🔕 without much luck. Fresh asparagus are hard to get this time of year, but the frozen ones weren’t bad. 🎍 Looking forward to spring 🐰 when the fresh ones are more available for a reasonable price, like around Easter. 👣 Evening walk was good too. I need to get back in the habit, if my fingers are cold all of the time, 🧤 I should learn to toughen up and get better gloves. It’s not like I have as much of an opportunity to get steps in working in the suburban office, though come nicer weather when I don’t have to dress up as much, I’ll probably be back to riding back in and home from the office. I figure after President’s Day, there will be enough daylight in the evening to ride home, and that’s where the real calorie burning takes place. 🌧 With the rain and cold, I’ve really gotten out of the habit, and my stomach and face are starting to show it.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:09 pm with sun having an altitude of 29.6° from the due south horizon (-41.2° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 10.6 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:24 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (239°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (247°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 5:06 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 10 seconds with dusk around 5:35 pm, which is one minute and 18 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:10 pm. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies ☁ and temperatures around 32 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 7 mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 59 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 18 seconds over today.

Maybe I’ve been overly cranky, but the smoke detector thing in particularly really set me off yesterday, 👩‍🚒 especially after such a long and difficult birthday. I am so done with winter, ready for nicer weather and longer days. At least the mornings and evenings aren’t as dark we move into February. I have a lot to look forward to once we get over the hump of winter. ⛄ I think what I really need is just more time in the wilderness. 🏕 Maybe this weekend.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 25 degrees at 4am. 10 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 11th. South wind around 7 mph. In 2023, we had light snow in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 18 degrees. The record low of -26 occurred back in 1948.

It’s always nice to see a bit of money in bank account 💰 before the money goes into retirement, investments, and my landlord’s slice. 🏘 My apartment is a dump but it’s affordable.

A picture perfect weekend on tap. 😎 Saturday, sunny, with a high near 35. Sunday, sunny, with a high near 35. Typical average high for the weekend is 33 degrees. I am thinking of doing an overnight in the woods this weekend, though I wish I had skis ⛷ but I should be able to ride roads if the trails have too much which they might. Kind of a birthday weekend camping adventure. ⛺ But a week late. Probably won’t head too far out of town for that. President’s Day Weekend, depending on how much snow there is, I might head up to the Adirondacks or Madison County.

As previously noted, next Tuesday is Save the Pine Bush Turns 43 🦋 when the sun will be setting at 5:16 pm with dusk at 5:44 pm. On that day in 2023, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 41 and 21 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 34 degrees. We hit a record high of 55 back in 1991.

Happy Snowman Day ☃

At least that’s what the internet tells me to be the case. And unlike me, the internet doesn’t just make up shit.

Good morning! Happy Snowman ☃ Day. 15 degrees and partly cloudy this morning as I await the dawn 6:50 🌅 and head out for a morning bike ride. Roughly three inches of snow on the ground ☃, which could probably be turned into a snowman that will last until Monday at 2 pm, the next time it’s likely to be above freezing again.

Last night I was bed 🛏 by 7 pm and asleep shortly thereafter as with the nights so cold and dark I can’t imagine staying up much later. I mean I probably should have gone for an evening walk 🚶 but I was tired. Cooked up some of mom’s lasagna with Butternut squash and the last of the frozen peas and corn I had. Salmon and broccoli 🥦 🐟 for dinner tonight.

Pancakes 🥞 this morning with the remaining fresh blueberries 🫐 and mango that I had. Getting low on fresh fruit but with the snow coming tomorrow I’ll probably wait until Saturday morning to shop. 🛒 Even the veggies are almost out but I have several cans 🥫 of low sodium vegetables I got for camping that I can crack open. I’ll stock up on several large bags when I go Wally World. Bulk frozen vegetables is something I really like. Plus no cans to wash and recycle ♻. The plastic makes a good fire 🔥 starter, lol. 😂

For our snowman ☃ day, slight chance of snow showers after 3pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 29. 🌥 South wind 7 to 10 mph. 3 degrees below the normal high of 33, closer to the typical normal before the climate warmed in Albany. Chance of precipitation is 20%. Kind of a cool day ahead but it is mid January.

I started my morning bike ride 🚲 out to Meads Lane but my face 😔 and hands 👐 were really cold, ❄ so I decided after about 4 miles of riding to head back home, have a warm shower 🚿 and then take the earlier express bus 🚍 in an walk in the Concourse where it will be warm. I prefer the calorie burn of riding but lately I’ve been riding back along Cherry Avenue at 7:30 am and it’s really congested. 🚶 I guess I could have done a walk in Delmar instead this morning but the Concourse will be warm.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:06 pm with sun having an altitude of 26.8° from the due south horizon (-44.1° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 11.9 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:07 pm with the sun in the southwest (235°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (242°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:50 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 17 seconds with dusk around 5:21 pm, which is one minute and 12 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon in the south-southeast (150°) at an altitude of 59° from the horizon, 231,005 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:56 pm. At sunset, look for skies and temperatures around degrees. There will be a calm wind. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 34 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 49 seconds over today.

The shuttle bus to the suburban office 🏢 works well with the 519 schedule though I admit the evening transfer is very tight and there will be times I inevitably will miss the express at the bus turn around but if I hurry to the Capitol I can likely catch it there or the 18 home. Worse comes to worse, I catch the later 18 home and just walk laps in the Plaza. 👣 I’m getting used to the change, though I miss the heart pumping 💓 of climbing all those stairs. When the weather gets nicer out, I’ll be riding to work, that is once the bike path is free of snow 🚲 and can visit the Corning Preserve at lunch time or explore the bike trail, especially the nicer section near Menands. 🏞 Might be nice to sit down by the river and eat lunch and ride. It’s a big change to working out in the suburbs, but it really isn’t that bad but I do miss the sweeping views from the old downtown office, and just the experience, but I’m young and can adapt.

This evening will have a slight chance of snow showers before 8pm. 🌨 Mostly cloudy, with a low around 18. Two degrees above normal. South wind around 6 mph becoming light and variable after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

I have been trying to dial back the calories and big meals this week, 🤰 as I haven’t been riding into work with the weather, and don’t have the stairs to climb in the suburban office building. There are some halls to make laps, but nothing like being connected with Capitol Complex and Concourse. It’s just been cold and icy, and it’s hard to get in as many steps as I would like to do each day. 👣 Plus I’ve been having a lot of carbs lately with all the bread I’ve been baking 🍞. Of course now the challenge is with the pantry getting low, but as noting before, if I dip into the canned vegetable reserve I have I should be able to make it to Saturday.

Then when we finally reach Friday, ☺ we will have snow 🌨️ mainly between 8am and 5pm. Cloudy and cool, with a high near 26, which is six degrees below normal. North wind 6 to 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible. Then really cold for the weekend. Saturday will be cloudy, with a high near 18. Northwest wind 14 to 18 mph. That just sounds cold, even without considering the windchill. Then Sunday it will be sunny, with a high near 23. 😎 Still cold. But then again, the high temperature for this week of the year is typically around 32 degrees, which used to be only 30 before the planet warmed. Probably staying home, except for maybe going out to shop and if we do the filming of the Rezin documentary, I’ll probably head out.

Looking ahead, next Thursday is 5 PM Sunset 🌇 with dusk at 5:29 pm. On that day in 2023, we had snow, mostly cloudy and temperatures between 36 and 28 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 32 degrees. We hit a record high of 61 back in 1938.

Maybe not the coldest Martin Luther King Day ever … ⛄

I could of and probably should have spent another night in the woods last night, but I didn’t. I was put off by the promise of high-winds, heavy snow squalls and my still fairly new camp stove that wasn’t working really well. Going to order a backup regulator and filter so going forward to avoid future problems. I might go back out camping in two weeks, if it warms up for my 41st birthday or maybe I’ll wait until Presidents Day Weekend.

Good morning! Mostly sunny and 18 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a southwest breeze at 5 mph. 🍃.

Up at 5 AM 😀 making some pancakes with oatmeal, wheat flour and shredded carrots 🥕 to get that fiber-rich boost to my morning. Feeling good this morning, I thought I was starting to develop a cough yesterday, but I think I might have breathed into too much campfire smoke 🔥 in the cold on Saturday night. Blueberries, mango, honey and pure maple syrup to top the pancakes. 🥞 Probably have a bit of a sugar high today, and if not that, I definately did do that second pot of coffee. ☕ I’m up and going. Clear but cold this morning.

I do think it wouldn’t have been a bad day in woods, 🏕 but the forecast seemed so bad yesterday, plus I didn’t really pack enough food and I forgot to bring road salt to control the ice at camp. There will be future weekends, or so I tell myself. I do want to make sure I have that stove working well, at full output as I like my pipping hot coffee and eggs cooked quickly 🐣 especially on a cold day today. But it’s easier to get up at 5 AM with a heated apartment and electric stove to quickly heat up coffee on such a winter’s morning. I do wish I could be watching the sun rise at camp again.

M. L. King Day will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 28 degrees at 2pm. Four degrees below normal. Southwest wind 5 to 7 mph. Not terrible for mid-January. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 33 degrees. The record high of 65 was set in 1995. Seems like a good day to be listening to Dion’s Abraham, Martin and John on this cold winter day, though it’s expected to warm up as the day progresses. 13.4 inches of snow fell back in 1983.❄ Maybe an inch or two of snow tomorrow. I could drive into my new office, but I think I’ll figure out a way to bus it was the transfers and or the shuttle as I don’t want to deal with snow or for that matter traffic.

Thinking about going for a bike ride this morning 🚴‍♀️ though the rail trail might be covered with snow. I could just ride the roads, maybe go out to Five Rivers or something. I also want to go to the library for a while, I’ve thought about making some Iowa caucus data from 2016 maps up to share on the blog. 🗺 Then later on this morning, going to head out to the folks house for a visit. 👪 Pork roast for dinner, should be yummy. 😋 Last night, I made some chicken soup up, 👩‍🍳 I was pretty good. I am guessing will be for lunch again too. Then I also want to make some bread up tonight, so I can put that in the oven for the morning. As I want to get in early tomorrow, as it’s the first day with the new position, I do need to be careful about cooking up soup or anything that takes too much time in the morning. Cold enough this morning I heard the heat kick on a few times, especially early on around 5 AM when I first got up to cook breakfast.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:05 pm with sun having an altitude of 26.2° from the due south horizon (-44.6° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.2 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:03 pm with the sun in the southwest (234°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (242°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:47 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 19 seconds with dusk around 5:17 pm, which is one minute and 9 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the First Quarter 🌓 Moon in the south-southwest (206°) at an altitude of 40° from the horizon, 226,535 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:53 pm. At sunset, look for partly sunny skies 🌃 and temperatures around 28 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 6 mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 28 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 40 seconds over today.

At some point I got to wash my truck and mountain bike, 🚿 both which have a lot of salt and mud on them. But right now with the cold that’s probably pointless as the roads are likely completely encrusted with road salt. There were a handful of things I didn’t get at Hannaford like peppers and more sweet potatoes I’ll probably want to get to get when I run out to Glenmont next time. I could drive in mid-week, and do all of those things on my way home after work. It really depends on how cold it is.

Tonight will have a slight chance of snow showers between 2am and 3am, then a chance of snow after 3am. Mostly cloudy 🌨, with a low of 20 degrees at 3am. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around February 23rd. Maximum wind chill around 18 at 7pm; Northeast wind around 5 mph becoming light and variable. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. In 2023, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 19 degrees. The record low of -16 occurred back in 1971.

I am excited about tomorrow with the new position. 👨‍🏫 I have so much to learn in my coming months, though everybody seems to think I will be a good fit for the position, with my knowledge of data science and public datasets. In other words, I am good at typing a lot of %>%, though I probably should brush up on Python and certainly COBOL in the coming months. But a lot of things it’s best to leave up to the actual programmers. It’s a big change, but it’s good to embrace change, and I look forward to doing good work and improving my own life. I’ll need to update my investments and tax deductions, but I first want to to slowly bring up the level in my checking account 💸 which has been so depleted in recent months, mostly due to inflation eating away at everything. I worry a lot, probably way too much, though I’ve had fewer and fewer problems with actual anxiety attacks since I’ve been eating healthier. 🥦 But as I note in one of today’s blog post, there are so many problems and risks in the world, 📉 that most important thing to do is to protect yourself against all the evils of the world today. They really are out to get you.

Cold and blustery weekend on tap. 🧤🧣 ⛄ It’s winter, what I can say. But it’s not expected to last with a warm up expected the following week. Saturday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 17. Blustery. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 23. Probably filming my little part of Reszin documentary that week. Oh, really, as Reszin once said about my bullshitting. Probably too cold to ride over to the filming location, 🎬 which I am not actually sure where it is but it can be combined with a run to the store or Walmart. Always seem to need more food. 🍏 Typical average high for the weekend is 32 degrees.

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until my 41st Birthday 🎉 when the sun will be setting at 5:05 pm with dusk at 5:34 pm. That year of being forty went by like a flash. But it was good day, I mean year especially in the markets. How fast the days come and gone. On that day in 2023, we had partly cloudy and temperatures between 44 and 22 degrees. I had a lot of fun camping that weekend, doing a bunch of cross country skiing. Maybe I should do again. Typically, the high temperature is 33 degrees. We hit a record high of 54 back in 2002.

My urge for camping 🏕 got the best of me ☃

You know I’m happier in the woods than in any city, next to the fire burning things and having a good ol time. I knew last night was gonna be cold but it turned out not that bad though today will be cooler. Worked out good bar some issues with the camp stove last night and forgetting salt for the icy campsite and I’m glad to get away even if it’s just one night.

Good morning! Happy Sunday. Mostly cloudy with some snow flurries and 30 degrees at the Rensselaerville State Forest. ☁ There is a south breeze at 9 mph. 🍃. The current wind chill is 22.

I decided to take option 3 and do a quick overnight trip to Rennselearville State Forest. ⛺ I think I’m going to take down camp soon and then head home before the front comes through and brings snow squals with strong winds and it’s cold enough the roads will ice up. I kind of wanted to do two ✌️ nights but I decided it’s not that far if it ends up being one night. It is probably my best chance to get away a bit, next weekend I’m busy with the Reszin documentary and it looks even colder. ❄ Winter has arrived as we enter the coldest part of the year. Little worried too that I’m starting to get a bit of a chest cough, you know the one that’s been going around. I’m hoping it’s just a breathed in too much smoke last night.

But first a second pot of coffee ☕. Few snow 🌨 flurries around and I shouldn’t procrastinate but the morning turned out nicer than I had expected with blue skies and a fairly slack wind. Enjoyed the last of the Mariaville Farm Bacon 🥓 from local hogs on sale by Farmer Alice at For the Love of Bacon with the eggs 🥚 and veggies this morning. 🌅 It’s a treat with camping. Wasn’t sure if I was going to get the camp stove working, regulator is giving me trouble again. Wasn’t working at all last night. I slept with it to keep it warm last night and fiddled with the connection and dipped in rubbing alcohol and now it’s working again. Going to add a propane line filter and maybe pick up a second regulator to avoid problems in the future 🔮.

Today will snow showers likely, mainly after noon. Partly sunny 🌦, with a high of 35 degrees at 9am. Two degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around February 9th. Breezy, with a south wind 9 to 14 mph becoming southwest 17 to 22 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 45 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Total daytime snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible. A year ago, we had light snow. The high last year was 30 degrees. The record high of 66 was set in 1932. 9.0 inches of snow fell back in 1999.❄

The wind is what concerns me. Some forecasts are talking about windchills especially tonight around 0 degrees. I am not sure I want to be camping out in, plus my camp stove has been acting up in the cold. I’m having issues again with the campstove regulator getting jelled up and plugged with dirt and condensate. I think when I can get home this week, I am going to order a second regulator for the campstove, plus another Big Buddy filter. My other propane stove, whose burners ultimately burnt out a second time, had a few issues with this occassionally but this new stove I got last summer has constant issues now that it’s cold, though oddly not all on the Christmas trip to Madison County, though I stored it in the warmth of my truck. Though if the Big Buddy filter works like it does with the Big Buddy Heater and the lantern, I expect smooth sailing going forward. It’s good to have back ups.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:06 pm with sun having an altitude of 26.1° from the due south horizon (-44.8° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.2 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:03 pm with the sun in the southwest (234°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (241°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:47 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 18 seconds with dusk around 5:18 pm, which is one minute and 9 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the southwest (216°) at an altitude of 29° from the horizon, 226,294 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:53 pm. At sunset, look for snow 🌨 and temperatures around 29 degrees. The wind chill around sunset will be 16. ☃️ Breezy, 22 mph breeze ⛅ from the west with gusts up to 44mph. Today will have 9 hours and 26 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 33 seconds over yesterday.

I am worried enough about the possibility of white out conditions driving home that I want to be on the road by 11 AM. I am going to sip my coffee, then take my campsite down before it gets too late. I could for a walk, and the road is hard enough for a bike ride now, but I think I’d rather just head home and avoid the risk of driving on snow-covered roads. Its not like I am on the other side of the earth — it’s a 21 mile drive that takes roughly a half hour, as most of the road is 55 MPH bar Clarksville and Rensselearville. I’m right on a plowed dirt road, and 1,000 feet from asphalt so I’m not worried about being snowed in, but driving home on those hills in snow and ice, could be kind of miserable.

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌤, with a low of 17 degrees at 4am. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical night around February 11th. Maximum wind chill around 9 at 3am; Breezy, with a southwest wind 17 to 22 mph decreasing to 9 to 14 mph after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 33 mph. Other weather reports are calling for a wind chill closer to 0. I don’t mind such cold when I’m in the truck protected from the wind, but during the evening next to campfire that would be downright cold, I’m afraid. Wind worries me more then cold, as it sucks the heat away from your body. That said, my gear is really good for camping down to about 10-15 degrees, much colder then that at night in my unhreated truck cap it gets cold. In 2023, we had light snow in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 19 degrees. The record low of -20 occurred back in 1957.

Still I’m glad I got away for one day. Just a night in the woods puts a smile on my face. Despite the woods being wet from rain we’ve had, it was cold enough up here in the State Forest that ground was frozen solid and was able to have a good fire. I’ll head home, get unpacked — it’s not that much stuff for one night — and shower. Maybe go for a bike ride this afternoon or down to the library if conditions aren’t too harsh. Or maybe cook up a big pot of chicken soup, especially if I’m not feeling good. I am thinking my next trip will be Presidents Day to Moscow Hill Horse Camp in Madison County, but we’ll see. Get some nice weather, and maybe I’ll head back to the wilderness sooner for a weekend trip, like during my 41st birthday weekend, though winter is tough. Next weekend will be too cold it appears, plus the Reszin documentary.

Looking ahead, next Sunday starts the Coldest Week of the Year 🌬 when the sun will be setting at 4:57 pm with dusk at 5:26 pm. Martin Luther King 👑 weekend is early this year. On that day in 2023, we had snow showers, cloudy and temperatures between 33 and 30 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 32 degrees. We hit a record high of 61 back in 2006.

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.

Andy Arthur.org

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