Good afternoon! Today is Good Friday ✝️! Four weeks to Pack Rat Day 🐀. Nothing like a good fire to celebrate that. 🔥 Mostly cloudy and 67 degrees at the Five Rivers Environmental Education Center. ☁ There is a south breeze at 13 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 57 degrees. I figured that I had today off from work and it would be a nice thing to walk out here. Tomorrow is going to be rather wet and not much sun is expected until Easter Sunday. The skies will clear Sunday around 4 pm.

Ever since I’ve started walking out to Five Rivers Environmental Education Center I’ve started to appreciate it more. Walking out here you get to see the transitioning landscape from suburbia to a more rural landscape, 🐸 and somehow the nature seems more real than when you fly out here in motorized transportation. 🚙 Plus the walk is free 🚶 The rail trail 🚂is nice but it lacks the benches, bathrooms and solitude of the environmental education center.

Today will have a chance of showers, mainly after 3pm. Mostly cloudy 🌦, with a high of 72 degrees at 2pm. 12 degrees above normal, which is similiar to a typical day around May 23rd. Maximum dew point of 58 at 1pm. South wind around 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had cloudy. The high last year was 44 degrees. The record high of 92 was set in 1976. 8.8 inches of snow fell back in 1983.❄

I have no rush today at Five Rivers for a change, absolutely nothing planned for this afternoon. I can just sit an observe the natural world as long as I want. 🐦 Kind of nice for a change. Everything lately seems rushed or on a schedule.⌛

Ever since I started listening to John Burroughs books on Libre Vox, I’ve started to enjoy more and more nature study. 📙 Not necessarily just looking for one species but observing animal behavior. Maybe hunting and fishing got me started but there is much to learn in the woods and wilderness. 🌲Even just watching cows 🐮 march through rip and munch grass can be pretty fascinating to me. I used to be a much more of a go-go-go type person when I was younger in the woods but now I like to study and observe more.

The sun will set at 7:42 pm with dusk around 8:12 pm, which is one minute and 9 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for rain showers 🌧 and temperatures around 69 degrees. The dew point will be 58 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 10 mph. Today will have 13 hours and 35 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 43 seconds over yesterday.

Once I get back home this afternoon, I’ll have lunch and go down to the library. 📖 Mostly just to use the internet, maybe I’ll get a book out. Probably spend a few hours down there and maybe download some more videos to watch while riding the exercise bike. There is no shortage of videos this time of year on trout fishing, spreading manure or discing fields this time of year on the YouTube. Spring turkey too. Plus it’s interesting to find out what folks are doing on the many homesteading and off grid channels I follow. 🎧 To take it with me when I hike or ride the bus, I’ve written a script to convert the videos into audio files. Some videos really are better just to listen to the audio too.

Tonight will have showers and possibly a thunderstorm. Some of the storms could produce heavy rain. 🌧 Low of 64 degrees at 11pm. 25 degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 62 at 4am. 🏖️ South wind 10 to 14 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible. In 2018, we had mostly clear in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 31 degrees. The record low of 19 occurred back in 1875.

Next weekends forecast is shaping up nicely. Depending if it stays on course I may very well just take off Thursday and Friday to go up to the Adirondacks. ⛺ That will be four nights in the wilderness which means I’ll have to move my site after three nights but I can relocate my campsite the day I head fishing 🎣 or hiking. 🚶 Lots of sun means lots of solar power which is great and hopefully I can rely primarily on the solar to keep the battery 🔋 charged. Looking forward to some nights in the wilderness.

Looking ahead, there are 4 weeks until Pack Rat Day 🐀 when the sun will be setting at 8:13 pm with dusk at 8:45 pm. On that day in 2018, we had mostly cloudy and temperatures between 80 and 59 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 70 degrees. We hit a record high of 92 back in 2017.

Good morning! Today is the Thursday before Good Friday and th Easter Weekend 🐰. Also, the Average High is 60 🌼. Four weeks to Average High is 70 🐮. Spring is coming. Cloudy with some sprinkles of rain and 48 degrees at the Elm Ave Park & Ride – CDTA. ☔ There is a south-southeast breeze at 13 mph. 🍃.

Not a banner day, but the rain and relatively mild weather should lead to things greening up in the city. 🌸 The skies will clear Sunday around 11 pm. Didn’t get particularly wet going down to the park and ride but I did see a close call between two cars on the road. 💥I’m glad I don’t have to drive to work.

Today will have a slight chance of showers before 11am, then a slight chance of showers after noon. Mostly cloudy 🌦, with a high of 57 degrees at 5pm. Three degrees below normal, which is similiar to a typical day around April 13th. Breezy, with a south wind 13 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 34 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had cloudy. The high last year was 47 degrees. The record high of 90 was set in 1976. 2.7 inches of snow fell back in 1887.❄

While today won’t win any awards on the weather front, ☁ it is a work day and I don’t expect it to be super wet. Kind of like my entire vacation last year. But so be it. Tomorrow starts a three day weekend for me, although I’m pretty much focused on the following weekend with hopes for nicer weather. Still need to think about getting some inexpensive muck boots 👢 to use for camping as I’m sure it will still be a muddy and wet mess up north.

Speaking of boots 👢, I need to replace my work boots as they’ve gotten really worn out in the soles and cracked. I’ve put a lot of miles on them walking 🚶 around this winter. But that’s good as walking is so healthy. I’ve tried more expensive boots but with all the miles I put on them, they don’t last any longer.

The sun will set at 7:41 pm with dusk around 8:10 pm, which is one minute and 8 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for rain showers 🌧 and temperatures around 57 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 10 mph. Today will have 13 hours and 32 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 43 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have a chance of showers, mainly before 1am. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 52 degrees at 12am. 13 degrees above normal, which is similiar to a typical night around May 30th. Maximum dew point of 52 at 6am. Fog? 🌁 South wind 9 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2018, we had partly cloudy in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 34 degrees. The record low of 18 occurred back in 1875.

I’m looking forward to the long weekend, 🐰 even if it doesn’t look that great. I did finally get a good night’s sleep but I still like the idea of sleeping in and working on some projects over the weekend. Tomorrow before the rain ☔ I’m might walk out to Five Rivers Environmental Education Center 🐸 and possibly on Sunday heading down to the Catskills for a hike. Maybe also some fishing 🎣. But nothing is set in stone at this point.

Looking ahead, there are 4 weeks until Average High is 70 🐮 when the sun will be setting at 8:12 pm with dusk at 8:44 pm. On that day in 2018, we had partly sunny skies with patches of fog on the city and temperatures between 72 and 51 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 70 degrees. We hit a record high of 89 back in 1991.

Good morning! What day is it? Save the Pine Bush Dinner Day, of course. 😋 Should be a good one with lasagna and the SUNY Albany Protect Your Environment Club 🌎 from the late 1960s and early 1970s. Two weeks to May 🕊. Enjoy it before the black flies are out. Mostly sunny and 44 degrees at Elm Ave Park & Ride – CDTA. Calm wind. It’s warmed up quickly on this certain to be nice spring day. 🐝

It was a pleasant walk down to the express bus. 🚌 Lately the drivers have been parked at the bus stop early which gives me a little more time to work on blog posts as I wait to head downtown✍. Lots of sun, smooth commute downtown, and grass is greening up.🌿

Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 63 degrees at 4pm. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 25th. That’s Arbor Day, a good day to celebrate trees 🌲and all they provide society like wood to burn. Calm wind becoming north around 5 mph in the afternoon. A year ago, we had partly cloudy in the morning, which became mostly sunny by afternoon. The high last year was 45 degrees. The record high of 91 was set in 2002. .3 inches of snow fell back in 1965.❄

The sun will set at 7:39 pm with dusk around 8:09 pm, which is one minute and 8 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for mostly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 60 degrees. There will be a southeast breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 13 hours and 30 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 43 seconds over yesterday.

That Pine Bush dinner should be a good one. 🍛Tastey dinner and a great presentation. I was thinking tonight would be a good time for going down to the park until I realized it was Pine Bush night.

Tonight will rain likely, mainly after 4am. Increasing clouds 🌧, with a low of 43 degrees at 5am. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 1st. South wind 3 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2018, we had mostly clear in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 33 degrees. The record low of 21 occurred back in 1948.

It looks like after tonight through the day after Easter, 🐰 the day they celebrate in Western NY as Dingus Day, it’s going to be rather cloudy and wet. But depending on which forecast you look at the weather for the following weekend in the Adirondacks 🗻 looks pretty good. The snow is rapidly melting in the North Country for sure. It looks like a big warm up is ahead for the end of the month. With the rain we will be getting in Albany over the next few days followed by the heat, things will really be out in bloom. I don’t expect though for things to be very green when I’m up north, but blue skies would certainly be nice for camping, even if not as nice for fishing.⛺

Lately I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts 👂 about both self improvement and studying spreadsheets about compound interest, savings and retirement. I do think going car less for a few years is an option to explore further but not until 2021 — it could save a lot of money. In the meantime, I’m researching different insurers and what I really should have on my policy. Won’t save a lot of money, but a little bit. I also been pricing out hunting camps and other remote off-grid properties, to see what I really need for resources to buy land in 10 years. Obviously, that has to be tied to some kind income going forward,  and probably just as important, some kind of affordable health insurance. But it’s good to have a realistic picture of the numbers and challenges ahead.

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until May 🕊 when the sun will be setting at 7:55 pm with dusk at 8:26 pm. On that day in 2018, we had partly cloudy, rain showers and temperatures between 74 and 43 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 65 degrees. We hit a record high of 86 back in 2001.