Good morning! What day is it? The Hump in the Temperature After the Much Hyped Snow and Ice Storm, of course. Honestly I’m pretty amused about it all. Didn’t really impact me much but I live in the suburbs and landlord does the plowing and I don’t have to drive anywhere. I heard God will remove the snow from my truck later in the week. Four weeks to 7 PM Sunset 🌆. Spring is coming or so I tell myself. Clouds with the sun breaking through and 33 and 1/3rd degrees in Delmar. ☁ There is a southwest breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. There are 6 inches of icy snow on the ground. ☃ Things will start to thaw out at around 9 am. 🌡️

With the snow yesterday, a lot of people left work early. ❄ I didn’t because I didn’t want to get charged the time and I knew more likely than not with most state workers leaving early traffic would be very light at five, even if the roads were bad. It’s wasn’t a bad commute at all and the buses were on time and snow and sleet stopped for a bit while I caught the bus.🚃 I walked down to the express bus today, sidewalks weren’t too bad, although I found myself hurrying down to the bus as it was a bit more of a slog then normal and I didn’t quite get out of the door by 8:08 (BOB time, as I like to call it), which is when I should leave by.🏃

Last night, I got home and made a big pot of macaroni and cheese with lots of veggies and a small amount of mayonnaise and hot sauce. 🍲Cooked it up than worked on some GIS things for the blog and some blog posts. I also fixed some code for my LED driver including adding code to trigger the relay for the 120 volt lamp. I decided to skip my evening walk because there was a lot of snow outside, and it was sleeting for most of the night.🚶

Rode the exercise bike for about a half hour watching some YouTube videos I previously downloaded while listening through my Bluetooth headphones. 🚲 I like being able to watch movies without disturbing my neighbors. I know that most of the videos I like are off grid homesteaders and farmers, hunters and trappers so typically it’s not really loud but I like to make sure the noise isn’t too loud. 🎧I try not to ride the bike much past nine in case he can here that two, and I try to cuss less.

Took another sleeping pill last night and tried to get to bed relatively early although not as early as some nights. 🛌 But I still feel relatively well rested even if I did wake up for a while during the night. I am ready for winter to be over sooner then later.🌬 I’m ready to sleep with the windows open. 🌫️

We got quite a bit of snow in the evening but my apartment was warm as I left the heat turned up yesterday in case I lost power from the storm. ♨ Going to be above freezing today, so I turned it back down before work. Already it seems like the roads are snow free, we are above freezing, and I expect it to be remain fairly warm in my apartment today, even though the heat is turned down a bit.

Today will continue to be mostly cloudy ⛅, with a high of 42 degrees at 12pm. Eight degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 10th. That will kill off the remaining snow and ice off the roads do a number of it even on the ground. Nice easy snow storm. West wind 6 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 34 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. A year ago, we had cloudy in the morning, which became partly cloudy by afternoon. The high last year was 30 degrees. The record high of 58 was set in 1900. 9.0 inches of snow fell back in 1893.❄

The sun will set at 5:25 pm with dusk around 5:54 pm, which is one minute and 19 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌨 and temperatures around 35 degrees. Breezy, 16 mph breeze ⛅ from the west with gusts up to 30mph. Might be cool with the breeze but at least everything will be melting. Today will have 10 hours and 31 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 41 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be scattered snow showers, mainly before 3am. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 27 degrees at 5am. 10 degrees above normal, which is similiar to a typical night around March 19th. Maximum wind chill around 15 at 6am; West wind 13 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 32 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New snow accumulation of less than a half 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 28 degrees. The record low of -13 occurred back in 2016.

Tomorrow will have isolated snow showers before 1pm. Partly sunny 🌦, with a high of 37 degrees at 2pm. Three degrees above normal, which is similiar to a typical day around February 23rd. Breezy, with a west wind 15 to 20 mph decreasing to 7 to 12 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 33 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had cloudy in the morning, which became partly cloudy by afternoon. The high last year was 45 degrees. The record high of 63 was set in 1946. 23.5 inches of snow fell back in 1914.❄

The latest weekend weekend forecast looks nice. 😎 Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 36. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 30. Typical average high for the weekend is 35 degrees. I keep hearing different forecasts for the weekend, but I will have to see how much snow there is and how cold and icy it will be before planning to head out of town or camp. 🏕 It is a three day weekend, but there is still so much snow up north. Rain on Thursday into Friday might melt away a lot of snow locally, but I doubt that much up north.🌧

In four weeks on March 13 the sun will be setting at 7:00 pm (Daylight Savings Time),🌄 which is one hour, 34 minutes and 39 seconds later then today. In 2018 on that day, we had snow and temperatures between 34 and 30 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 43 and 24 degrees. The record high of 70 degrees was set back in 2012.

Looking ahead, 7 PM Sunset 🌆 is a month away, May 🕊 is in 11 weeks, 8:30 PM Sunset ️⛱️ is in 16 weeks, Hottest Time of the Year 😅 is in 5 months and Inauguration Day 2021 👴🏻 is in 101 weeks.

Good morning! Monday’s come back around again. Next Monday is Presidents Day 👴. Light snow and 25 degrees in Delmar. ❄ Kind of a pretty snow, really only impacting parking lots and side roads so far. Big snow tomorrow, again. There is a north-northwest breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. Things will start to thaw out at around 1 pm. 🌡️

Back to work today, taking the local bus downtown. 🚌 Going to be another really busy day at work but I’m getting used to the new routine. I think it makes the days go by faster. At least it’s only a two day session week, although I did pack dinner for tonight. Tomorrow shouldn’t be too long I’m thinking as members are going to want to leave town early with the snow and the President’s Week holiday. ❄

Feeling well rested after the sleeping pill I took last night. 😴 I hate sleeping this time of year although once the time changes and I can leave the windows open at night it should get easier. It also helps that the automatic dimming of the lights got me to bed at a reasonable hour.

Today will have a chance of light snow, mainly before 10am. Mostly cloudy 🌨, with a high of 33 degrees at 2pm. One degrees below normal, which is similiar to a typical day around February 10th. North wind 5 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. A year ago, we had light freezing rain. The high last year was 37 degrees. The record high of 59 was set in 1981. 9.6 inches of snow fell back in 1933.❄

The sun will set at 5:22 pm with dusk around 5:51 pm, which is one minute and 18 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 28 degrees. There will be a north breeze at 7 mph. Today will have 10 hours and 25 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 37 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 8 degrees at 6am. Nine degrees below normal. Maximum wind chill around -1 at 5am; North wind around 7 mph. In 2018, we had mist in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 22 degrees. The record low of -16 occurred back in 1979.

Tomorrow will snow, mainly after 11am. The snow could be heavy at times. 🌨 High of 27 degrees at 6pm. Six degrees below normal. Northeast wind 6 to 9 mph becoming east in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of 3 to 5 inches possible. A year ago, we had light freezing rain. The high last year was 38 degrees. The record high of 55 was set in 1932. 13.5 inches of snow fell back in 1988.❄

While usually I like snow, I’m hardly thrilled about having to dig Big Red out again after the snow. 🚗At least living in the city, I won’t have to drive in it and I can wear my snow boots. Probably will turn the heat up tonight just on case we lose power and because it’s going to be a cold night and I don’t want things to fall too far behind on the heating front, less the hot water pipe freeze and my shower is cold come morning. 🚿 I’m parked in my winter spot and hopefully the landlord will have my normal spot well cleaned after the storm and I can move my truck back there come the weekend.

It was a nice walk up at Partridge Run WMA yesterday afternoon. Not too bad but very icy. Some areas up there were a sheet of ice with the snow melt off the hills sides. I am very glad I wore my micro spikes. 🌲Walked along the Switz Kill then across the gravel pit up to the Gulf. Walked across a frozen lake, I thought I heard a crack as I crossed it.😮 But I guess it was just the ice shifting. It seemed like it was pretty solid. Then I saw a snowy owl fly overhead.🕊 I wanted to get a picture but it was gone too quickly. The lower Partridge Run Road Bridge is really falling apart with even more of the deck rotting away.🏞 I wonder if they will eventually replace it with a pedestrian bridge? Likewise more and more of the road is disappearing – Irene took away a lot of the road, but now its just eroding quicker that the rip rap is gone.

I enjoyed seeing the open country, I miss living in the country. I’ve always liked the Switz Kill Valley and the rural lands around Berne 🐄although I can’t imagine owning land in New York with all the taxes and regulations. 👿

Had a nice dinner at my parents house. They made up meatball riggis. Did my wash came home. It was nice seeing the folks. 👪

For lunch at work, I finally bought some real metal forks, as I got tired of breaking the plastic forks I usually use. 🍴 They were so inexpensive at under a buck for the most basic model, and I figure they will last longer — although most of the plastic forks I’ve used over the years I’ve gotten for free.

Finished working on the lights in my bedroom, although now I have to write the phone app, although I already have an earlier version I can use that I built that I can use as a template. 📃At this point I’m just building non essential features, most of which are simple to implement now that the framework is done. 💡

Last week I bought a IOT enclosed relay. Not a big purchase, it’s basically a surge protector and a relay integrated into one, as an alternative to building my own switched relay for driving one of the 120 volt lamps in my bedroom. 🔌 High voltage scares me a bit, especially the possibility that leads could accidentally get pulled loose on the floor, leading to a fire or deadly current.

I just want a little more light and those commercial LED bulbs are very efficient and have much better color rendition than my LED strip but I want to be able to control them from my micro controller and phone, and make part of the lights when I wake in the morning. 💡 While I’m sure I could build my own by the time I bought the outlet, the relay, junction box and cover plate I figured it was cheaper to buy the $20 pre-assembled unit especially when I want to switch only one outlet to drive a single bulb. I could see buying one of those gang relays and wiring up the plug if I had a lot of lights I wanted to switch, and a way to tie up the cords, but I feel safer getting a UL certified device anytime I’m working with mains voltage, especially if it’s going to be plugged in all the time by my bed.

Fan started working again on my laptop. ⚠ No more error at boot, but still very noisy. I think it’s only one of the fan units that is causing the problem. I will have to get some canned air and see if I can clean the fan out the next time I’m at the store. I keep forgetting to buy the canned air so I can do it, although I was quite happy with only one of the internal fans working, it made things a lot more quiet.

Right now, a split verdict on the weekend. 🤔 Saturday, a chance of rain. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 44. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 30.  Typical average high for the weekend is 35 degrees.

Next Monday is Presidents Day 👴 when the sun will be setting at 5:31 pm with dusk at 6:00 pm. It will be partly cloudy with a chance of snow showers, and a high of 38 degrees.  On that day in 2018, we had partly sunny, snow showers and temperatures between 40 and 23 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 35 degrees. We hit a record high of 63 back in 1981.

In four weeks on March 11 the sun will be setting at 6:57 pm (Daylight Savings Time),🌄 which is one hour, 34 minutes and 54 seconds later then today. In 2018 on that day, we had partly cloudy and temperatures between 36 and 28 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 42 and 24 degrees. The record high of 70 degrees was set back in 1977.

Not sure if I will head out of town but I very well may go camping locally on Sunday night. ⛺ Probably hot tent locally as there is still much to much snow in the Adirondacks to camp especially with the limited parking along NY 8 this time of year. Plus like usual my budget is tight and I’d rather save my miles and gasoline for the summer when it’s really nice. ⛽ Hiding out at the Potholers during the brutal heat of last summer was a lot of fun last year.

Looking ahead, Presidents Day 👴 is in 1 weeks, Average High is 40 ☀️ is in 3 weeks, April Fools Day 🤡 is in 7 weeks, Tax Day 💰 is in 9 weeks, Earth Day 🌎 is in 10 weeks, Memorial Day 🇺🇸 is in 15 weeks, July 🏊🏿 is in 20 weeks and Last Sunset After 8 PM 🌆 is in 26 weeks.

Good afternoon! Yeah, it’s Friday! The sign in my bedroom says three weeks to March 🌨. Clearing skies and 42 degrees in Delmar. ⛅ There is a west breeze at 10 mph. 🍃. There is a just mud and lots of clumbs of snow on ground. ☃ Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 5 pm. ☃️ Hopefully with the wind, it won’t be so icy come through evening.

I am tired today because I didn’t sleep well last night. 😩 I kept waking up during the night and I had trouble sleeping. Not totally sure why, although often in the later part of the winter I have trouble sleeping. I feel much better when I can wake up in the wilderness and few times a month. It can get quite stuffy in my apartment in the winter.

Today will have a chance of showers, mainly before noon. Mostly sunny, with a temperature falling to around 34 by 5pm. ☀Breezy, with a west wind 10 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 33 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny in the morning, which became partly cloudy by afternoon. The high last year was 26 degrees. The record high of 52 was set in 1925. 14.0 inches of snow fell back in 1895.❄

The sun will set at 5:18 pm with dusk around 5:47 pm, which is one minute and 19 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for partly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 34 degrees. The wind chill around sunset will be 23. ☃️ Breezy, 20 mph breeze ⛅ from the west with gusts up to 36mph. Today will have 10 hours and 18 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 33 seconds over yesterday. A month out from now it will be over 11 hours and 33 minutes of daylight each day. Grows fast near spring time.

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌤, with a low of 19 degrees at 6am. Three degrees above normal, which is similiar to a typical night around February 21st. Maximum wind chill around 3 at 6am; Breezy, with a west wind 21 to 24 mph, with gusts as high as 41 mph. In 2018, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 2 degrees. The record low of -20 occurred back in 1934.

So we finally made it to a Friday. That’s a good thing. I had a family thing to attend to this morning🏯 but I’ll be in later today to work and might get some drinks after work depending how I feel. 🍺 I’m just a little tired. This appointment is taking longer than I expected but hopefully I’ll be able to get to work close to 1 pm.

Tomorrow will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 31 degrees at 3pm. Two degrees below normal, which is similiar to a typical day around January 30th. Breezy, with a northwest wind 15 to 24 mph, with gusts as high as 43 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny in the morning, which became partly cloudy by afternoon. The high last year was 30 degrees. The record high of 57 was set in 1925. 13.7 inches of snow fell back in 1906.❄

Looking ahead to Sunday, mostly sunny 🌞, with a high near 30. Calm wind becoming west around 6 mph in the morning. Typical average high for the weekend is 33 degrees.

I don’t have any real plans for the weekend although I’m thinking come Saturday I will probably stay home and if I go anywhere it just will be for a walk along the rail trail. 🚶 I’ve been trying to have a Saturday where I can avoid going anywhere with red. Sunday I’ll probably go up to Partridge Run for a nice walk, I don’t think there will be enough snow left for skiing. I thought about going to the Adirondack Outdoorsman show or even camping but I think this should be a stay in town weekend. I’m trying to drive as little as possible to save for the summer. ⛽

Maybe for the long weekend next week I will head up to the Adirondacks to ski and camp but that is still to be decided. Depends how much snow we get in the mean time and forecast for the long weekend. ⛺ It looks like a warming trend is underway and honestly its now to the point where most days should be close to above freezing or even a bit above. By next week the average high temperature is 34 or 35. I wonder if they will have the ice races up north next week? I should check that out if it’s happening on Lake Algonquin.

In four weeks on March 8 the sun will be setting at 5:53 pm,🌄 which is 35 minutes and 18 seconds later then today. In 2018 on that day, we had snow and temperatures between 35 and 29 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 41 and 23 degrees. The record high of 68 degrees was set back in 2012. Definitely looking forward to nicer weather come March and April.

I was going to go for a walk yesterday but it started to rain. 💦 Instead I stayed home and rode the exercise bike while watching some videos that I downloaded including a whole series on trapping. Then I worked on some code, maps and future blog posts.

I am continuing to work on the code that drives the lights in my bedroom. 💡 After doing some debugging I discovered that the problem with the lamp over my bed is that the code isn’t always listening for the full string coming over the Bluetooth, so I need to write some code that adds a start and end code so it keeps listening until it receives the end code. I also fixed a bug with the timer function which works properly now that I figured out the bug with the pointer not being properly initialized.

I also started doodling out some of the code for another project I’m building – a smart control for the relay that connects the accessory and starting batteries on my truck,🔋 so that when the solar panels has ample power it also will top off the starting battery and not the accessory battery alone. Good for while camping should I open and close the door a lot or should I leave the truck parked and extended period in the winter.

Looking ahead, March 🌨 is in 3 weeks, Ides of March ✝ is in 5 weeks, Memorial Day Weekend Starts 🏕️ is in 15 weeks and Dog Days of Summer 🌻 is in 21 weeks.

Good Monday Morning! Two weeks to Presidents Day 👴. Or as the federal government calls it, Washington’s Birthday. Only New York celebrates president’s day in its laws. Partly cloudy and 40 degrees in Delmar. ⛅ There is a south-southeast breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. There are 4 inches of snow on the ground, melting fast with the warmer weather. ☃ ️Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 8 pm. ☃️ Assuming the unlikely case I get out of work at a reasonable hour, it will be nice for my evening walk.

I was running a bit late this morning, 🚌 but I checked my phone and so was the bus. 🚏Worked out fine. I just fell behind a bit by the time I got out of bed and my shirt ironed. But it wasn’t too bad, and the bus driver made pretty good time, so I wasn’t in that late. All worked out on this increasingly sunny morning — it started out gray but is changing and is expected to be quite nice by afternoon.

Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 52 degrees at 1pm. 20 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 1st. No fooling around about today’s weather, for sure. Hazy though. South wind around 6 mph. A year ago, we had cloudy in the morning, which became snow by afternoon. The high last year was 34 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 1991. 15.5 inches of snow fell back in 1926.❄

The sun will set at 5:13 pm with dusk around 5:42 pm, which is one minute and 19 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for partly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 51 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 6 mph. Today will have 10 hours and 8 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 28 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be scattered showers, mainly after midnight. Increasing clouds 🌧, with a low of 40 degrees at 5am. 25 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 22nd. South wind 5 to 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2018, we had light freezing rain in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 12 degrees. The record low of -15 occurred back in 1918.

Tomorrow will have isolated showers before 10am. Partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 50 degrees at 11am. 18 degrees above normal, which is similiar to a typical day around March 28th. South wind 8 to 15 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 26 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had cloudy in the morning, which became snow by afternoon. The high last year was 34 degrees. The record high of 59 was set in 1890. 10.4 inches of snow fell back in 2014.❄

Another weekend came and went. I’m a bit relaxed and caught up on sleep on Sunday morning but now it’s back to the grind on the Monday morning. 💼 Since it warmed up Big Red has worked well, although I wish I had given him a bath but I figured it would be covered with salt by the time I got home from my parents house after Sunday dinner.🚗

Did a bunch of cleaning yesterday, got the paper and scrap clothing to the recycling center at the park and ride, compacted the recycling and got that outside, bought some ant spray and sprayed down well where they are coming from.🐜 Didn’t see any ants this morning. I’m hoping with the spray, the bait, and my cleaner kitchen the ant problems will be done. It’s unusual that they became a problem mid winter, I must have tracked them in, maybe with a shopping bag or something. That’s were I first found them. I’m sure the spray is pretty toxic but I’m careful where I spray it, I followed the label and believe in science.

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until Presidents Day 👴 when the sun will be setting at 5:31 pm with dusk at 6:00 pm. On that day in 2018, we had partly sunny, snow showers and temperatures between 40 and 23 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 35 degrees. We hit a record high of 63 back in 1981. I am hoping for a nice weekend, as that might be good for getting out and doing some camping and traveling.

Cool but sunny this weekend. 😎 Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 26. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 30. Typical average high for the weekend is 33 degrees. Maybe I will get out and skiing. I might go up to the Adirondacks, although at this point, I am thinking more about doing a trip during the three-day weekend for Presidents Day two weekend out. I will re-evaluate as the weekend approaches.

In four weeks on March 4 the sun will be setting at 5:49 pm,🌄 which is 35 minutes and 45 seconds later then today. In 2018 on that day, we had snow showers, partly cloudy and temperatures between 38 and 32 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 40 and 22 degrees. The record high of 59 degrees was set back in 1919. Looking forward to much warmer weather now that spring is only 45 days away.🌼🌺🌹🌷

Finally muted those obnoxious indicator lights in my bedroom. Painted the LEDs with black paint on the various development boards 🖌 that I have strung in my bedroom powering the various lights I have around.💡 I didn’t find the tiny red LED indicators to be that annoying but the blue LED power indicator on the buck converter was obnoxiously bright. The buck converter saves power but the blue light pollution it created in my bedroom was obnoxious. The black paint I got at the store made it much darker.🔦

I’m continuing to work on the code for my new LED light controller. The sunrise and sunset modes are working well, although I’m still trying to smooth the color transitions. 🌌 The hooks for firing automatically are basically done but I need to do some more debugging as things are not firing always correctly. Things would be much simpler if I had just used my old one source file code but I wanted to make the new system much more modular and object oriented code and make it possible to create many more color and light modes then was possible using an IR remote and the old 8 bit microprocessor of the Arduino Nano.♋

The other day I was thinking how nice it was to have that longer 6 ft micro USB cable to hook up to my development boards that I use for my projects. It means that I can leave my laptop in its normal place and just run a wire. But unfortunately a wire on that cable broke. 🔌 Then I accidentally bought a 6 foot USB C cable rather than a micro USB cable at the store. Before I realized my mistake, I had already disassembled the packaging for recycling, so I don’t think I can return it. But I don’t think it’s a big deal, because I’m sure a phone or some other technology I buy eventually will be USB C, as it’s the future.

Looking ahead, Presidents Day 👴 is in 2 weeks, Average High is 40 ☀️ is a month away, April Fools Day 🤡 is in 8 weeks, Tax Day 💰 is in 10 weeks, Earth Day 🌎 is in 11 weeks, 8 PM Sunset 🌇 is in 3 months, Memorial Day 🇺🇸 is in 16 weeks, July 🏊🏿 is in 21 weeks, Independence Day 🇺🇸 is in 5 months and Last Sunset After 8 PM 🌆 is in 27 weeks.

Good morning! Happy February! Tomorrow is the most important day of the year, Ground Hog Day! 🐻 Four weeks to March 🌨. That’s some news you can use! Partly sunny and negative one degrees in Delmar. Don’t be negative, very positive, warmer weather is in the forecast the next few days. Calm wind.There are 8.5 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Things will start to thaw out at Sunday around 11 am. 🌡️

Definitely a cold morning today although the bright sun was quite pleasant. 😎 But definitely a cold start, I think it was around negative ten and it was clear that the heat downstairs was struggling to keep up.

Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 16 degrees at 3pm. 16 degrees below normal. Maximum wind chill around -9 at 8am; West wind 3 to 6 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy in the morning, which became mostly sunny by afternoon. The high last year was 39 degrees. The record high of 65 was set in 1989. 15.0 inches of snow fell back in 1898.❄

The sun will set at 5:09 pm with dusk around 5:39 pm, which is one minute and 19 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for mostly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 13 degrees. Almost toasty compared to the weather of recent. There will be a west breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 10 hours of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 23 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 1 degrees at 3am. 14 degrees below normal. Maximum wind chill around -6 at 1am; Light and variable wind. In 2018, we had cloudy in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 7 degrees. The record low of -18 occurred back in 1961.

Saturday will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a high of 31 degrees at 4pm. One degrees below normal, which is similiar to a typical day around January 30th. South wind 5 to 8 mph becoming west in the afternoon. A year ago, we had partly cloudy in the morning, which became mostly sunny by afternoon. The high last year was 34 degrees. The record high of 53 was set in 1981. 11.9 inches of snow fell back in 2015.❄

Looking ahead to Sunday, a slight chance of rain after 1pm, mixing with snow after 4pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 36. ⛅ Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 20%. Typical average high for the weekend is 32 degrees.

Woke up around 6 AM, decided that I was cold, so I ended up turning on the electric heat in my bedroom. I normally don’t but I was kind chilly as the gas heat downstairs wasn’t letting enough upstairs.💢 Hot water, while cold at first in the bathroom worked well. I was up early enough I could have taken the express bus downtown but I decided it was too cold to walk down there.

Yesterday’s commute home wasn’t too bad. 🚗🚙🚚🚛🚌Traffic was fairly light, I made it home and heated up some burritos then went over to John Wolcott’s house for a bit in Sheridan Hollow to continue sorting his papers. I ended up watching about an hour of Mary Paly’s film about her husband Bob Paley the Knickerbocker News photographer who captured much of the news photography in Albany during the 1960s.🎥 Definitely a dramatic time in Albany, kind of interesting to be there in the same room with probably the man who did more to preserve Albany’s history during the intervening decades since then.

Big Red despite sitting for five days started right up. With the days sunshine, the solar panel fully recharged the accessory battery giving the starting battery enough kick that the engine started like it was warm at negative two degrees tonight.🔋 The accessory battery was at 12.9 volts on meter in the truck cap at six o’clock. I had minimal problems getting it out of park, it seems to be less problematic when it’s around 0 than around 20. I am definitely glad I cleaned off the panel yesterday morning.

I guess it’s been cold outside but with work, some planning on avoiding the outdoors and buses that have been close to on-time the past few days I’ve not noticed the cold.❄ Granted I’ve worn my sweater in my office and in the days it’s been pretty pleasant with the sun radiating in on the south side windows in my office. Once again my Christmas cactus has been looking a bit sick again but then it perks up. I’m starting to think it got to dried out again or maybe it’s suffering from the root disease again. 🌾I’m really not sure. I guess if it doesn’t make it, I’ll make another pot of the spider plant as that is certainly healthy.

Bought some ant bait and stuck it on the counter and on the floor. The ants previously seemed to be gone, maybe because I’ve been more aggressive at cleaning the counter but I spotted a few last evening. 🐜 None this morning though. I don’t know, hopefully this will help. I also got fabric superglue to fix my ski boots so hopefully I can enjoy some skiing on Sunday. Depends on the weather.

In the mail yesterday I got the replacement board for the headphone jack on my laptop so that should be fully fixed by the weekend so I won’t have to always carry around the external USB audio dongle. 🎧 Shouldn’t be a difficult repair and it only cost me $12 for a tested used board. I also got two more HC – 06 bluetooth modules, one which I plan to use as a dedicated communications channel between the LED lamp above my bed and the color temperature controlled LED lamp across my bedroom for better virtual sunrises and control of the light in my room.♒ I was originally going to use the built-in Bluetooth of the esp32 but I wasn’t sure how was it would be to have multiple Bluetooth connections from that one device.

Made waffles with blueberries this morning and lots of coffee. ☕ Nice and toasty by the time I got out of bed and sat at my desk looking out of the frost covered window. Waffles were good, I probably spent a good half hour just looking out at the cold. Made it in decent time to the bus stop, not too much of a wait which was good as a I left my hat and gloves in the office. 🚏

In four weeks on March 1 the sun will be setting at 5:45 pm,🌄 which is 36 minutes and 2 seconds later then today. In 2018 on that day, we had partly cloudy skies and otherwise mild conditions with some snow showers early and temperatures between 50 and 35 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 39 and 21 degrees. The record high of 66 degrees was set back in 2017.

Looking ahead, March 🌨 is a month away, Ides of March ✝ is in 6 weeks, April Fools Day 🤡 is in 2 months, May 🕊 is in 3 months, Memorial Day Weekend Starts 🏕️ is in 16 weeks, June 🍹 is in 4 months, July 🏊🏿 is in 5 months, Dog Days of Summer 🌻 is in 22 weeks and August 🌻 is in 6 months.