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Well, I Didn’t Expect that Rain this Morning 🌧

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

Good morning! Mostly cloudy and 41 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ There is a southwest breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 5 am. ☃️

Despite the rain, it’s a super mild day. 😀 I noticed how warm it truly was when I got up during the night to go to the bathroom 🚽 and started cooking a little before 5 AM. Started out by rinsing the peas that had been soaking overnight and cooking them, and then went back to bed for a little more R&R 🛌 after which about 5:20 I got up and got a jump on the day, tossing the bread and acorn squash 🍞 🎃 into the oven to cook, chopping up the carrots 🥕 and onions 🧅 for the soup 🍲, starting up a pot of rice, lentils and beans 🍚 for lunch and frying up onions, spinach, mushrooms and other vegetables 🍳 for breakfast.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I’m back and riding my bike to work 🚲

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

Good morning! Happy Tuesday. Partly sunny and 29 degrees in Albany, NY. There is a west breeze at 10 mph. 🍃. There is a dusting of snow on the ground. ☃ Things will start to thaw out at around 10 am. 🌡️

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

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

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

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

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

Prospect Mountain ⛰ was ho hum, I don’t think it would be worth it to pay to drive the auto road in the summer or for that matter to hike it again. The views of Lake George and surrounding country were rather ordinary compared to other nearby hikes like Buck Mountain, Tongue Mountain or Cat Mountain. 📸 Granted by the time I got to the summit it was fairly cloudy ⛅ and rather bitterly cold. ❄ Just gusty 🌬️ with the mercury dropping.

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

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

Friday night was a cold night in the single digits. ❄ Even with the fire roaring 🔥and my propane heater on it was cold. The night was cold 🛏 in the truck, my toes were chilly by morning. Without the stove working properly, morning was kind of miserable until I got the fire going, the coffee ☕ brewing followed by a delicious 😋 campfire breakfast of eggs 🥚 and all the usual fixings like onions and spinach. 🍳 Mostly hung around camp on Saturday besides a brief walk 🚶 along Old Route 8. Saturday was also a pretty cold day for sure, mostly spent reading, listening to podcasts and hanging out over the heater. ♨️ That’s why despite only being my six night camping, but Monday morning in the cold wet snow, I ran out of propane. It’s fine though, it helped me get an early start on Monday so I had the balance of the day to hike at Hudson River Special Area.

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Thanksgiving 🦃

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

Good morning! Happy Thanksgiving all yeah turkeys. 🦃 Lots of turkey farms in the Sweedlin Valley of West Virginia. Kind of a chilly start this morning with the breeze. Partly cloudy and 37 degrees in Delmar, NY. ⛅ There is a northwest breeze at 10 mph. 🍃 with gusts up to 20 mph 💨💨💨. There is a inch of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 4 pm. ☃️

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The sloppy Wednesday before Thanksgiving 🌨️🌧️ 🦃

I guess it started out as snow but it’s all rain, rapidly killing off the remaining snow. Basically it’s just really cold and damp out. Taking the early bus in this morning to walk laps around the Plaza Concourse before work. Not riding in this morning, lol.

Good morning! What day is it? A sloppy day before Thanksgiving, of course. 🦃 I’m mostly just thinking about the Adirondacks on Friday. Rain and 39 degrees at the Elm Ave Park and Ride. ☔ There is a northeast breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. There is a half inch of slop on the ground. ☃ ️Too wet to call snow and it is rapidly disappearing with the rain. The dire emergency snow storm has been canceled. Temperatures will drop below freezing at Friday around 5 pm. ☃️

The earliest Voorheesville bus 🚍 is absolutely packed with state workers 🧑🏽‍⚖️ which I’m surprised with the holiday being tomorrow and the year rapidly coming to a close in 39 days. 🗓 Next month usually traffic drops a lot both on the buses and city streets as so many people take time off before the close of the year.

Not riding Blackie 🚵 into work today, so I’m walking on the Concourse indoors. 🪙 The bus company got my buck thirty, and I’m indoors walkin today. 👣 Gotta get my steps in. 👣 After all tomorrow is Thanksgiving 🦃 and then Friday it’s off to the Adirondacks.

Got up around 5:45 am which is late for me ⏰ but I was a bit tired as I woke up a few times during the night and got listening 👂 to podcasts. 📻 Pumpkin pancakes 🥞 for breakfast. Swapping the banana 🍌 for an egg 🥚 in the mixture definitely makes it things much more cake like. Less sweet though.

Today will have a chance of rain, mainly before 9am. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a high of 43 degrees at 2pm. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 30th. Northeast wind 6 to 8 mph becoming northwest in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A rather dreary day. 😔 A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 48 degrees. The record high of 70 was set in 1931. 9.1 inches of snow fell back in 1943.❄

I figure they’ll let us go at two o’clock or so 🏢 👉 🏘 but with the dreary weather ☔ there is really no reason to leave before the early express bus 🚍 at four o’clock. If it was nicer and I rode my bike in like yesterday I might take the get out of jail pass 🛂 but alas it’s not free. I don’t have that much time in my time bank left over.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:42 am with sun having an altitude of 27.3° from the due south horizon (-43.5° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 11.6 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:46 pm with the sun in the southwest (236°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (243°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:29 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 15 seconds with dusk around 4:58 pm, which is 41 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon in the east-southeast (123°) at an altitude of 30° from the horizon, 227,556 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:34 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 42 degrees. There will be a north-northwest breeze at 7 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 35 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 53 seconds over yesterday.

Later today, I plan to post the Albany County Election Results 🗳 to my blog in the popular format, you know the kind with turn out and drop off calculated for each election district, 🧮 and make up some maps. 🗺

Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 36 degrees at 6am. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 2nd. Northwest wind 6 to 14 mph. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 24 degrees. The record low of 4 occurred back in 2018.

It seems like all that Greek yogurt, Keifer and saukraut has helped with my upset stomach that I’ve been having lately. 🤮 That and no bean soup, or pea soup. Maybe it was a stomach bug 🐛 that bad garlic powder I dumped down the sink or too much fiber. That said, the chicken 🐔 soup I made up last night to go with the homemade bread 🍞 was good. Also opened up some of the canned pumpkin 🎃 to have with Greek yogurt for dessert.

Cool this weekend with temperatures running 7 degrees below normal but otherwise sunny. 😃 Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 36. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 41. Typical average high for the weekend is 45 degrees.

I didn’t commit to taking off Monday 🗻 yet as I wanted to see how much snow 🌨 they got in the Adirondacks before deciding to go north but I think 🤔 it will be a nice and weekend if not a bit cool. But I can have hot soups, a campfire 🔥 and I’ll have my propane heater ♨ and warm clothes for warmth.

Looking ahead, there are 2 weeks until Saint Nicholas Day 🎅 when the sun will be setting at 4:23 pm with dusk at 4:53 pm. On that day in 2022, we had rain showers, partly cloudy, mild weather with temperatures between 54 and 39 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 41 degrees. We hit a record high of 68 back in 2001.

Trips to End The Year 🏕 ☃ 🎇

Seven weeks remain until New Years Day.

My vacation time is rapidly getting depleted for the year, the nights are long, but I want to do a few more trips, probably tacked onto holiday weekends so to minimize the time burned up of my remaining vacation. Much could change between then in now, the weather is definitely a wildcard with extreme cold, snow and rain potentially requiring changes to the plans. There are other weekends I could tack time onto to take off, but it gets difficult with family celebrations and other things happening during the month of December.

East Branch Sacandaga River – Black Friday through Cyber Monday

I am thinking I will likely head up to the East Branch Sacandaga River come the day after Thanksgiving. By then hunting season will be winding down in the Northern Zone, and being off of NY 8 I won’t have to worry about snow or bad road conditions, though if the snow is deep I might want to reconsider. It’s been a few years since I’ve camped up that way, and while I don’t enjoy the road noise, there is always a lot to explore up that way and it could be pared with a hike in Lake George or Warrensburg-area. I’ve never been up Prospect Mountain, and it might be a fun hike before heading up to camp for the balance of the week through that Monday, which I would have to take off from work.

Charles Baker State Forest – Friday December 22nd through Christmas Day

I am thinking of taking a three-night trip on days leading up to Christmas to Charles Baker State Forest in Brookfield Madison County. While off-road trails are closed to mountain biking during the winter months, I could ride some of the forest roads or hike or ski. Also go down and spend time at the Rogers Nature Center in Sherburne, hike or bike the Chenango Canal Trail and other roads nearby. Probably camp at the Horse Camp as that’s lower elevation and not so cold — and the risk of snowy and icy roads is less compared to Cherry Ridge. While Cherry Ridge is plowed most of the way to campground, that road is only plowed for emergency vehicles and is quite steep unlike that of the Horse Camp which is a blacktop county highway. But certainly plans could change based on the weather.

Rensselaerville State Forest – Friday December 29th through New Years Day

I am going to be sole director in my unit on that final Friday of December, so I can’t take that day off, however I am hoping I can leave the office early at 2 PM for a three-day weekend at Rensselearville State Forest that isn’t too far from my office — only about a half hour and get set up before it’s too dark out. Worse comes to worse, I can set up on Saturday morning.

But the idea is if I camp there it’s not far from home, but I can have some nice winter nights camping, assuming it’s not too cold or wet. If it’s snowy that’s fine, the road is plowed year round and I can dig out the campsite that is unlikely to be in high demand. And it would be fun to wish away the old year, and ring in the new one camping up in the wilderness, with a good fire waiting for mid-night to roll around.

Mountains Don’t Seem So Big Anymore in West Virginia 🗻

This time I was less impressed with the mountains in West Virginia. While certainly bigger than the hills I woke up to this morning camping at Long Pond, they just don’t seem the way they once did in West Virginia.

Maybe it’s because it’s my fifth trip to West Virginia and the scenery isn’t as new and impressive. Visiting Dolly Sods from the much higher base elevation from the West – namely Canaan Valley Wildlife Refuge and Forest Road 80 Freeland Road made the 4,000 summit less impressive. Plus I didn’t get to the real high country – Spruce Knob Mountain area a dozen miles south.

But also looking at Canaan and Backbone Mountain from Olson Firetower made me rethink how impressive the landscape really is. Some of the peaks in that part of West Virginia while maybe high in total elevation are rather flat peaked and modest in elevation gain. I guess if I had been more around the Allegheny Front, North Mountain and Backbone Mountain from Bears Rocks in West Virginia I might have had an alternative take.

I don’t know. But maybe my dreams of the impressive hills and hollows of West Virginia where just that – more myth then reality. The truth is I see a lot of the hilltowns of Albany County or even the hollows of Schoharie County in West Virginia. The people there aren’t much different than the people I grew up knowing. The trailers, junk cars and ramshackle homestead all look familiar. Even much of Dolly Sods and Canaan Mountain remind me of parts of the Taconics and Berkshire Mountains, Canaan Heights, WV has a striking resemblance to Canaan, NY especially if you visit the high point at Harvey Hill State Forest.

Nostgolia on this Election Day 2023 ☕🙈🗳️

This year I’m glad I’m not involved in any elections or doing anything political. Just sipping my coffee watching the sun rise remembering the days gone by but glad I’m not at all rushed this morning.

Good morning! Happy Election Day 2023. Partly cloudy ⛅ and 51 degrees at the Stoney Pond State Forest. ☔ There is a west-southwest breeze at 15 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 47 degrees. I can smell the manure somebody’s spreading this morning 💩 it’s November in Madison County and the field work is soon to be done for the season. 🚜 They might have snow as soon as midweek.

Turned out to be a much nicer morning then expected. ☕ I knew it was going to be a great day when I awoke, saw the clear night skies 🌜and the moon. Had a nice hardy breakfast of eggs 🍳 with lots of vegetables and onions 🧅 that I got at Aldi’a yesterday in Cazenovia. While yesterday was cold, damp and gray at times it was still a good day with lots of riding 🚲 and making the most of my day off. A lot has changed in this world over the past few years but mornings are still quite beautiful and the coffee is good.

Glad I’m not involved in any elections this year 🗳 but there were many hard fought ones out of Bill Magees auction house 🗝️ 🍶🏺just down the road. Been half a decade now, I saw the bridge in Cazenovia they renamed after him. It was sad he lost five years ago, but during that general election cycle wasn’t my race. 🧑‍🌾 Truth is winning these rural districts is almost impossible with the democratic party becoming mostly an urban issues party with gun 🔫 control one of their top priorities. I can understand why people vote the way they do nowadays out in the country. 🚜 It’s not just Trump. Both parties have become more extreme but the Republicans have really locked up the rural areas nowadays. I have a feeling that Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Senator John Tester of Montana are going to loose in 2024, especially if the GOP runs a stronger presidential candidate then felon Donald Trump. ⏳ Time moves on. Democrats though really have locked up the suburbs, especially the older ones and professional class. 🕴🏻

Today will have showers likely, mainly between 10am and 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a temperature falling to around 43 by 5pm. 🌦️ Breezy, with a west wind 15 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 32 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 with sunny skies in the afternoon. The high last year was 69 degrees. The record high of 75 was set in 1938. 4.5 inches of snow fell back in 1886.❄

I’m not sure how long it will be nice, clouds are already pushing in. 🌥 I don’t want to deal with wet camping gear 🏕 so I’m slowly but surely taking things down. I don’t have solid plans for today but I think 🤔 I’ll just go for a walk 🚶 around Stoney Pond then head home and get unpacked. 👪 Planning to go see my family this afternoon it’s been three 3⃣ weeks as I’ve been out of town 🌲 on various trips. Despite yesterday being cold and dreary especially midday it was a great trip.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:47 am with sun having an altitude of 30.9° from the due south horizon (-39.6° 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 4:08 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (241°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (249°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:50 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 8 seconds with dusk around 5:18 pm, which is one minute and 10 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:53 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 44 degrees. Breezy, 20 mph breeze ⛅ from the west-northwest with gusts up to 32mph. Today will have 10 hours and 6 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 26 seconds over yesterday.

Yesterday I rode the South Trail from outside of Cazenovia to New Woodstock. 🚵 Nice ride though best on a mountain bike as some parts of the trail are a bit rough with roots and gravel. Pungent with the cow poop and water slurry 🐮 💩 one of the dairies was applying to a nearby field but that’s to be expected this time of year.

Spent a little bit of time riding around New Woodstock yesterday after taking the South Trail from outside of Cazenovia to New Woodstock. 🚂 Neat little village with a Historical Museum just off the rail trail. They like in Cazenovia also have an old Black Diamond Caboose there. Cute little village.

Unfortunately my bike had developed a really annoying squeak on Sunday afternoon ⚙️ which I couldn’t figure out and started applying grease everywhere, including getting it all over my hands 👐 and jeans 👖 and started to drive me crazy thinking I might have a failing bearing or some problem that could leave me stranded. I thought it was just some stone dust from the Erie Canalway somewhere it shouldn’t be mixed with the grease. Kept stopping, applying grease trying to find the noise. 🔕 Finally, I figured it out, it was the left pedal got some stone dust in it and squeaking. A little spray lubricant, knock off WD 40 on the pedal after my south trail ride 🚲 returned my sanity.

Swung by Critz Farms hoping to get apples 🍏 but it looked like only the brewery was open 🍻 and I wasn’t looking for a drink. So I went to Cazenovia Lake Park. Kind of cold gray afternoon but the geeese didn’t seem to mind the cool gray day on Cazenovia Lake. 🦆

Then I went to the Lorenzo State Historic Site, never been there before. ⛲ Been by it a million times though. It was a Monday so all the buildings were shut up and no visitor services or as I needed a bathroom 🚽 but it was still nice to explore the grounds. Swung by the library 📚 in Cazenovia for a pee.

Then I Canastota – Cazenovia Trailway, it was starting to rain and was cold didn’t spend a lot of time, ☔ wanted get back to camp and start cooking soup plus by then I needed another bathroom 🚽 break. Too much coffee ☕ in the morning. 🌅 Also didn’t feel like carrying my mountain bike over several steps to cross Bingley Road. Visited Aldi’s in Cazenovia 🍏 🥦, such a delightful shopping experience. 🛒 Low prices, simple selection quick in and out and the cashier lines without them bagging is so quick. ☺

Got back to camp around 4 pm accidentally brushed a tree with one of my tires backing into the campsite ⛺ rushing having to pee but didn’t do any body damage to my truck 🛻 as the tires stick out beyond the body. Sun ☀ came out and ghe wind died down. Fried onions and mushrooms, boiled carrots, broccoli, spinach and whole wheat pasta, added some tuna fish 🐠 for an excellent dinner. Soup really warmed me up 🍲, I just wish I had some homemade bread 🍞 to dip in it but I eat all of that the previous three days. Had a nice fire 🔥 didn’t rain until 7:30 pm so it was a good evening at which point I retired to bed 🛏 in my truck for the evening.

Tonight will have a chance of rain and snow showers before 11pm, then a slight chance of snow showers between 11pm and 1am, then a chance of flurries after 1am. Cloudy 🌧, with a low of 26 degrees at 6am. Eight degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 3rd. Northwest wind 14 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Little or no snow accumulation expected. In 2022, we had clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 34 degrees. The record low of 18 occurred back in 1971.

Cool but fairly decent now for Veterans Day Weekend, especially come Saturday. ☀ Friday, clouds then clearing, high may reach 43. Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 37. Sunday, going to be sunny and 39. Typical average high for the weekend is 51 degrees. Probably will stay 🏡 next weekend.

Looking ahead, next Tuesday is Average High is 50 🍂 when the sun will be setting at 4:42 pm with dusk at 5:11 pm. On that day in 2022, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 42 and 27 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 50 degrees. We hit a record high of 70 back in 1973.

Andy Arthur.org

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