Good evening! Partly clear and 64 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a west breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 46 degrees. Nice evening, sat out back for a while. Not feeling terrible but still a little achy from the Lyme. I still need to take the doxycline I got from the doctor Friday. 💊

Sleeping with the windows open tonight ⬛ which is nice until I heard the sirens from the meat wagon 🚑go roaring by. I wonder if it’s somebody dying of Coronavirus? Hopefully nobody I know. It’s a question one always asks these days.

I thought about staying up north one more night and driving home early tomorrow 🚘 but I decided against that as I broke camp midday to go hiking. 🚶 While hiking the remote section of the abandoned Dunning Pond Snowmobile Trail was quiet I eventually lost the trail as it got into dense woods with lots of trees down and few of the old markers. 🔴 Some nice views of the gorge and then a lot of it was an eroded mountain road until the trail left the road and disappeared into the woods. This wouldn’t have been a big problem if I had the GPS tracks from my Google County Maps part of the blog but of course I managed to somehow delete them off my phone. I got to make sure I have them on the phone along with USGS Topo maps saved. I would have also had a better chance of following the herd path up to Eagle Pond that I had lost on Saturday if I had that data saved. 🌐Well there always is future trips up north.

It was a pretty good weekend up north 😎 with lots of sun and actually quite mild and warm most of the weekend except for brief rain shower around 10 pm Saturday night 💦when I ended up retiring to my truck cap earlier than I had planned. Had a nice big fire 🔥 at the same campsite I’ve been at the past few times I’ve been up north on the East Branch Sacandaga River. ⛺ Some traffic 🚥 noise but pretty nice. Spent a lot of time laying back in the hammock, soaking up the sun. ☀ The sun felt good especially when I felt achy from the Lyme. Warm enough a good portion of the weekend I could just lay out with a t shirt 👚 on.

Left my Bluetooth speaker 🔊 home which was annoying when I wanted to listen to podcasts and music 🎶. I’m going to start leaving that in the truck. Better to charge it there too – I don’t pay for the unused solar power the truck produces while parked with the solar controller in float mode. 🔋 Also forgot ketchup for my hotdogs – ended up topping them with baked beans and cheese. 🍣

Explored more of the Fox Lair remains, I want to do one of those historical aerial photo comparisons, especially if I can find the 1942 aerial photo 📷. Not a lot left of the ruins, but I wonder if I can find more old pictures on the internet. 🏰Did some walking 🚶 along NY 8 just for exercise too and to take in the scenery.

Came back relatively early, I was unpacked by about six. 🏡 Laid back on my bed for a while before showering 🚿 and shaving. Got a nice tan. Those side burns I’ve grown are coming in nicely but I do need a hair cut 💇. I’m going to do some trimming myself in the morning as who knows when the barber 💈 is going to be allowed to reopen. My barber is so elderly, I wonder if he will just hang up his hat 🎩 after the pandemic. I decided to avoid the expressway and cities home so I took NY 30 to Duanesburg Churches Road past the Mariaville Farm to US 20. Pretty drive with things greening up outside Amsterdam but I tell you there are some sharp curves on NY 30 south of Amsterdam. 🔶

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌤, with a low of 49 degrees at 6am. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 21st. West wind 6 to 8 mph. In 2019, we had cloudy skies. It got down to 52 degrees. The record low of 28 occurred back in 1985.

Tonight will have a Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon with 85% illuminated. At 10 PM, the moon was in the south (175°) at an altitude of 52° from the horizon, some 226,511 miles away from where you are looking up from the earth. 🚀 At the state speed limit of 55 mph, you’ll make it there by October 22^nd. Buckle up for safety! 💺 The Flower 🌷 Moon is on Thursday, May 7. The darkest hour is at 12:53 am, followed by dawn at 5:16 am, and sun starting to rise at 5:48 am in the east-northeast (68°) and last for 3 minutes and 8 seconds. Sunrise is one minute and 19 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 6:27 am with sun in the east-northeast (74°). Tonight will have 9 hours and 46 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 2 minutes and 24 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have a slight chance of showers between 11am and 1pm. Partly sunny 🌦, with a high of 57 degrees at 11am. Nine degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 13th. Northwest wind 9 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had light rain in the morning, which became light rain by afternoon. The high last year was 67 degrees. The record high of 91 was set in 1944. There was a dusting of snow in 1986.❄

Tomorrow I probably should go to the laundromat 👖👕 👚 and wash some clothes and probably my sheets too. I can probably bring my laptop there and work from there, uploading pictures from the weekend that was. I’m good on food but the two gallons of milk I bought last week is almost all drunk. I do like my cow 🐮 beverages. Other than that I should be good on food until mid week.

As I noted previously, last weekend I got another tick bite. 🐜I was sore found it on Tuesday. Its been weird – sometimes I feel fine other times terribly stiff and sore. No bulls eye though. Went to the doctor on Friday, she kind of thought I didn’t have Lyme but gave me doxycline. 💊 I held off taking it as I went to the Adirondacks for the weekend and knew doxycline and sun don’t mix due to the risk of severe sunburn. I’m also a little mixed on my concern – it stings from time to time around where I was bit, I’ve been super sleepy at times. 😴 I don’t want to take an antibiotic I don’t need. But I guess the doctor while questioning 🙋 me said I should take it. I don’t know what to think.

It was such a werid experience going to the doctors office during the pandemic. 😫The doors had big signs warning people that if they had cold or flu symptoms they aren’t welcome and that they did not offer Coronavirus testing there. The whole experience was kind of odd and frightening. 👾

While I’m always cautious about social distancing and wearing a mask out in public places but between the limited vision under the banada, the empty doctors office, the hand sanitizer everywhere and all these things like a special Coronavirus questionnaire that I had to do on my phone before the doctor would see me. 📱 I was so creeped out by the experience.

In four weeks on May 31 the sun will be setting in the west-northwest (301°) at 8:26 pm,🌄 which is 27 minutes and 53 seconds later then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had partly cloudy, mist and temperatures between 76 and 55 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 74 and 52 degrees. The record high of 92 degrees was set back in 2013.

It looks like for Mothers Day it’s going to be cold and they might get snow in the Adirondacks. ❄ It does not look like a good weekend to get out of town. I’m still thinking about a mid May trip out to Schoharie County – maybe three nights with me working from my truck on a Monday. ⛺ I’m thinking the last week of May – the one after Memorial Day Weekend – to do a three night trip to Piseco Powley Road starting that Thursday night before the weekend if it is nice. I hope to have the screen house by then to avoid the bugs. Peak black fly season isn’t so bad if I have shelter during the day as black flies aren’t out after dark. Memorial Day Weekend proper I’ll stay home 🏡 most likely to avoid the crowds especially if other developed campgrounds are closed forcing people into the back country taking up all the good sites. I’m also seriously thinking about planning my summer vacation up at Piseco Powley Road – and a week at the House Pond Swimming Hole could make up for all the state park pools being closed. 🏊 I’d have to see about getting a camping permit.

Looking ahead, Mothers Day 👩‍ is in 1 week, Pack Rat Day 🐀 is in 2 weeks, Strawberry Moon 🌕 is in 5 weeks, Fathers Day 👨 is in 6 weeks, Election Day 2020 🗳️ is in 6 months and Election Day 2020 🗳️ is in 6 months.

🇺🇸🦅Only 19 days remain until the start of Memorial Day Weekend!🦅🇺🇸