Good morning! Happy Tuesday. Definitely a dark morning with the time change and the clouds. Next Tuesday is St. Patrick’s Day 🍀. Better watch out for the drunk drivers then, much more dangerous then the time change. It’s quite cloudy and 50 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ There is a south breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at Thursday around 3 am. ☃️

I woke up this morning a bit congested 👃 but after a few cups of coffee ☕I feel pretty good. I know all they ever tell you on the radio 📻 these days is if you feel the least bit sick to stay home. 😷 But if I did that I’d never make it to work as sinus congestion is pretty much the norm for me in the winter. I tell you can smell on the buses how much more aggressively they are cleaning them. I guess that forty million the governor wanted is getting put to good use.

One thing I can say, it’s nice waking up and having the windows open 🐦 and hearing the birds chirp in the morning and the fresh air. And the rumble of the passing cars and trucks. 🚛 I think this will be the last morning in a while for open windows, but I am sure we will have enough warm up in a few weeks. And certainly April weather will be upon us before you know it. That will really help with the sinuses.

Sat out back for a while last night, 🌃 which was nice but it was cloudy out, and it wasn’t that quiet because my neighbors had a big fire going. I probably should have gone over, introduced myself and joined in some fun. Too bad I don’t have any alcohol to think.

Today will have a chance of showers, mainly after noon. Cloudy 🌦, with a high of 62 degrees at 3pm. 20 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 23rd. Another real mild day! Spring is coming. Maximum dew point of 47 at 6pm. South wind 7 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 38 degrees. The record high of 72 was set in 1977. 5.7 inches of snow fell back in 1964.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:06 pm with sun having an altitude of 43.5° from the due south horizon (-27.3° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 6.3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:19 pm with the sun in the west (259°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (266°) starting at 6:54 pm and lasts for 2 minutes and 54 seconds with dusk around 7:24 pm, which is one minute and 12 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 7:58 pm. At sunset, look for rain showers 🌧 and temperatures around 58 degrees. The dew point will be 47 degrees. There will be a south-southwest breeze at 10 mph. Today will have 11 hours and 41 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 55 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have a chance of showers, mainly before midnight. Cloudy during the early evening, then gradual clearing 🌧, with a low of 33 degrees at 6am. Nine degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 3rd. Southwest wind 9 to 15 mph becoming northwest after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2019, we had light rain in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 34 degrees. The record low of -10 occurred back in 1939.

People ask if I was smart to put $1,000 in that IRA last week to avoid taxes but I look at it as I still have 15 plus years to retirement and closer to 20 before I can touch the IRA. 💵 Any blip in the market is only on paper and I had to contribute a full $1k to open the account. Next week I’ll return to contributing to the IRA as I did previously with the Roth IRA. There will be ups and downs in the market but when contribute every two weeks it smooths out gyrations of the markets. 📊

Today in 1969, in Memphis, Tennessee, James Earl Ray pleads guilty to assassinating Martin Luther King, Jr. He later unsuccessfully attempts to recant. While he may not have been a CIA agent he certainly had the tacit support of the government.

A picture perfect weekend on tap. 😎 Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 45. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 44. Typical average high for the weekend is 43 degrees. Saturday I’m doing some door 🚪 knocking for Save the Pine Bush. Still not sure if I’m going to Schoharie this weekend. Probably not though.

🌹🌻🌼Only 9 days remain until the first day of calendar spring!🌹🌻🌼 Next weekend is the last weekend before calendar spring.

As previously noted, next Tuesday is St. Patrick’s Day 🍀 when the sun will be setting at 7:04 pm with dusk at 7:32 pm. On that day in 2019, we had mostly cloudy, snow showers and temperatures between 36 and 26 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 45 degrees. We hit a record high of 75 back in 1990.

Good evening! Mostly clear and 44 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a south breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at Thursday around 3 am. ☃️

Mild evening 🌃, enjoyed my evening walk. 🚶 I ended up walking quite a few miles today, visiting a number of preserves and it was a nice day. Always try to spend a lot of time looking at the trees, observing birds 🐦 and wildlife, trying to go through life not too blind to the world around me. Spent a lot of time in the woods this weekend for sure. Even if I don’t travel far there is a lot of nature locally.

Driving 🚘 back through Berne got me thinking how much the hill towns are not unlike small rural towns everywhere. 🐮 Looking at Sauk County Wisconsin over the past week on the YouTube, and thinking back to my trips to West Virginia and Pennsylvania got me thinking how many nice small towns outside of New York I could ultimately settle down in and have a lot more freedom 🆓 than in New York State. Maybe the pasture isn’t greener everywhere but I see the plastic bag ban and these massive but low output solar farms as a sign of what’s to come and it’s not good. The same with the wilderness activists and anti frackers locking 🔒 all our land. To say nothing of more and more suburban track housing and apartment complexes going up everywhere. I miss the small town life I grew up in but I can’t see buying property in New York at this point. Once I don’t have family in New York, I’m towing everything I can out of the state for greener pastures.

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌤, with a low of 34 degrees at 5am. 11 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 6th. Going to be cool at night but it’s only the second week of March. At least my heat is off. ♨ South wind 5 to 7 mph. In 2019, we had clear skies in the evening, which became clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 12 degrees. The record low of -14 occurred back in 1943.

Tonight will have the Worm Full 🀼/strong>󗐠Moon. At 10 PM, the moon was in the east-southeast (119°) at an altitude of 44° from the horizon, some 227,258 miles away from where you are looking up from the earth. 🚀It’s a pretty big moon with a lot of moonlight. Didn’t need the brights on much driving home from the parents house. At the state speed limit of 55 mph, you’ll make it there by August 28^th. Buckle up for safety! 💺 The darkest hour is at 12:07 am, followed by dawn at 6:51 am, and sun starting to rise at 7:20 am in the east (96°) and last for 2 minutes and 54 seconds. Sunrise is one minute and 42 seconds earlier than today. 🌄 Still dark morning ahead. The golden hour ends at 7:57 am with sun in the east-southeast (102°). Tonight will have 12 hours and 22 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 2 minutes and 54 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 68 degrees at 4pm. 27 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around May 10th. Outstanding. South wind 6 to 9 mph. But red flag 🚩 conditions so tomorrow is a day you shouldn’t be burning stuff you shouldn’t be 🔥 but my neighbors was having a nice fire out back. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 42 degrees. The record high of 81 was set in 2016. 6.9 inches of snow fell back in 1961.❄

In four weeks on April 5 the sun will be setting in the west (279°) at 7:26 pm,🌄 which is 32 minutes and 25 seconds later then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had partly cloudy skies, rain showers and chilly temperatures between 42 and 25 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 54 and 33 degrees. Yes, you can still have winter in April. The record high of 82 degrees was set back in 1928.

Looking ahead, Ides of March ✝ is in 1 week, Pink Moon 🌕 is a month away, Palm Sunday 🌴 is in 4 weeks, Easter 🐰 is in 5 weeks, Mothers Day 👩‍ is in 9 weeks, Pack Rat Day 🐀 is in 10 weeks, Strawberry Moon 🌕 is in 13 weeks and Fathers Day 👨 is in 14 weeks.

🇺🇸🦅Only 74 days remain until the start of Memorial Day Weekend!🦅🇺🇸

Good morning! Happy Thursday. Partly sunny and 37 degrees at the Elm Ave Park & Ride – CDTA. There is a west-northwest breeze at 10 mph. 🍃. A pretty decent day for mid-March, didn’t mind my walk down to the Park and Ride at all. Crazy, fast driver again today, no waiting around today. 🚃 Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 11 pm. ☃️

Feeling better this morning, 👃 my nose isn’t as plugged as it was and I’m not as achy. Maybe it’s just the better weather. 😎 If it’s Coronavirus, it’s pretty mild and not impacting me much. More likely it’s just an a ordinary rhinovirus. I should wash my hands better — after reading that book about butchering small livestock 🔪 I’ve learned how hard it is to clean one’s hands really well. 🙌 I don’t know or maybe I just like the fact it’s not a session day so I can go for my walk, and the fresh air makes me feel heathy. The past few nights I’ve not been doing my evening walking or riding the bike, which means my jeans feel a bit tight with the extra calories I’m consuming at work. 👖 It’s just tempting to have danish 🍩 with my coffee when I’m at work or finish off the pot of whatever I’ve cooked at home.

Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 46 degrees at 1pm. Six degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 19th. Further evidence that the weather is only going to improve from here on out. Northwest wind 8 to 10 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 28 degrees. The record high of 71 was set in 1964. 8.6 inches of snow fell back in 1917.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:08 pm with sun having an altitude of 41.6° from the due south horizon (-29.3° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 6.8 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. Your shadow is getting sholder. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 5:13 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (257°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (263°) starting at 5:48 pm and lasts for 2 minutes and 55 seconds with dusk around 6:18 pm, which is one minute and 13 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon in the east-southeast (109°) at an altitude of 53° from the horizon, 233,369 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:52 pm. At sunset, look for mostly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 43 degrees. There will be a north-northwest breeze at 6 mph. Today will have 11 hours and 27 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 53 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌤, with a low of 28 degrees at 3am. Six degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 22nd. Calm wind. In 2019, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 9 degrees. The record low of -21 occurred back in 1948.

Never got to the store last night, 🚽 but I found enough toilet paper for now and I opened up some cans for veggies. I think if I play around I can find enough things in the pantry so I won’t need to go to the store before Saturday. 😋 If I had been responsible I would have gone shopping yesterday, but I was lazy and got busy working on the updating the blog code.💻

Blog renovations continue, and I think I’ve discovered another reason why my blog is slow at times — the redirects for the images and maps are written in a way that is slow. 🔀 I thought I had fixed that issue years ago, but I discovered another issue that is requiring the PHP interprator when it should be a simple redirect. That said, the new content uploader is almost done, as is the comparison mapper code. I am hoping to launch the updated code this weekend.

Today in 1970, Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty goes into effect after ratification by 43 nations. 💥 In 1933, during the height of the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declares a “bank holiday”, closing all U.S. banks and freezing all financial transactions.🏦

A picture perfect weekend on tap. 😎 Saturday, sunny, with a high near 40. Northwest wind 11 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 53. Typical average high for the weekend is 41 degrees. Sounds like a nice weekend but the wind on Saturday might make it feel chilly. Still planning on staying in town this weekend, unpacking my camping gear from my truck — prepping for the upcoming camping season, and loading up a load of bottle and cans to take to the recycling center later in the month. ♻ Once the cans, glass, and accumulated plastic bottles are to the recycling center, I should be ready for camping for the year with plenty of cold beer, fire, and nights in wilderness. 🏕

🌹🌻🌼Only 14 days remain until the first day of calendar spring!🌹🌻🌼

One month 📅 from now will be Palm Sunday 🌴 when the sun will be setting at 7:26 pm with dusk at 7:55 pm (Daylight Savings Time). The average high temperature is 32 degrees, with a record high of 61 in 1895.

Good morning! Happy Read Across America Day 📚! Nothing beats a good old fashion book, especially on a nice evening down at the park or up in the woods. Great way to pass time, especially on a rainy day at camp. Last night was the first quarter moon. Next Monday is Worm Moon 🌕. Cloudy and 31 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ There is a south breeze at 9 mph. 🍃. The skies will clear around 1 pm.

Kind of a gray and cloudy morning ☁ today. Going to be mild for sure. The heat on the bus 🚍 is ridiculous but I’m a bit hot because I had to run home and grab my lunch which I left on the kitchen table. Feeling better this morning, although this roaring hot bus makes my throat feel sticky and cough a bit. But I am not sick, or so I tell myself.

This afternoon I’m going over to John Wolcott house 🏡 as long as I feel okay 👌. I was feeling better last night but I took a sleeping pill 💊 to make sure I got a good night’s sleep before the work week but this dry and hot air on the bus is no good for my throat.

Today will have a slight chance of rain or freezing rain before 11am, then a slight chance of rain after 5pm. Partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 53 degrees at 4pm. 14 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 3rd. South wind 9 to 16 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, which became light snow by afternoon. The high last year was 37 degrees. The record high of 65 was set in 1991. 11.9 inches of snow fell back in 2018.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:08 pm with sun having an altitude of 40.4° from the due south horizon (-30.4° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 7 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. Sun angle is getting higher, which means fewer real cold days, and even if we do get snow, it won’t stick around super long, at least in the valley. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 5:09 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (255°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (262°) starting at 5:44 pm and lasts for 2 minutes and 56 seconds with dusk around 6:14 pm, which is one minute and 14 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the First Quarter 🌓 Moon in the south (183°) at an altitude of 69° from the horizon, 242,018 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:48 pm. At sunset, look out for possible rain showers 🌧  (but I hope not) and temperatures around 51 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 15 mph. Today will have 11 hours and 18 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 53 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have a chance of rain before 7pm, then a chance of showers, mainly between 7pm and midnight. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 37 degrees at 6am. 16 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 13th. South wind 8 to 13 mph becoming light southwest after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2019, we had light snow in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 29 degrees. The record low of -10 occurred back in 1950.

Today in 1989, Twelve European Community nations agree to ban the production of all chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by the end of the century. 💭 It turned out not to be a big deal, because HCFCs were already common by then, and newer refrigerants were well on their way to coming on the market. Now, they are phasing out refrigerants that have a high global warming potential for more climate friendly ones.🌍 Certainly it was an easy enough fix for consumers, with minimal cost or inconvenience, most of the hard-work — engineering — had to be done by the manufacturers. Not sure if the other climate goals can be done just by engineering, despite the fact that people want to drive their electric cars to Wally World 🚗 generated by massive solar facilities not in their backyards.

I am continuing to work on the blog code ⌨ to re-write the uploader to handle multiple images to allow the before and after images to be saved under the same page ID. It’s actually a bigger re-write then that, but it will make uploading imaging much faster and reliable for me, making it easier for me to design content for the blog. I am really fascinated by what I can put together with those old aerial photos in comparison to modern ones. It’s going to give a lot of content to blog about.🖼

I decided to grow back my sideburns a bit, 💇 after cutting them shorter and shorter. They’re kind of long now, I haven’t decided how long I am going to keep them. Maybe a bit too long now, but that’s to be decided. We’ll see as things get warmer out.

This week I need to rearrange my finances to find the $1,000 I need to open an IRA account. 🤑 I have had a Roth IRA account for years, and I enjoy the fact that I’ll never have to pay taxes on it, but now that I’m working in the private sector and don’t have the advantage of a 457(b) Deferred Compensation, I am getting killed by taxes despite maximizing my 401k.👫So I am doing the IRA thing. Actually, this my make sense if I eventually move out west to a state without income tax on retirement savings — or at least a high threshold — New York is $18k tax exempt. My only concern is that I might have a big tax bill in the future, if I cash out a big chunk in my later years to buy a tractor or implement 🚜 or a new truck. 🚗 I don’t make that money, but it’s obnoxious that I pay more in income tax each month then rent. ⚖ Thank you government for spending all of my money.

A picture perfect weekend on tap. 😎 Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 36. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 44. Typical average high for the weekend is 41 degrees. Might be a nice weekend to get out of town. But where? A lot of places are still closed off due to the snow and mud. I could possibly use a sled and drag back gear for tent camping in the back country, but the snow might be kind of soft and melty. Maybe it’s just best at this point to save money 💸 and wait for the spring time, which ain’t that far away. 💐

🌹🌻🌼Only 17 days remain until the first day of calendar spring!🌹🌻🌼

Going past the Elbow Room I noticed that they have a giant Corona Beer neon sign on their window. 🍻 I’m sure that’s good for business today. Myself I’m just looking forward to warmer weather and having a cold one up in the woods next tot he fire. I don’t normally drink but I do like a cold Corona on a hot day next to a fire, as gross as the bottles get before you return them. Summer road trips and camping up on Piseco-Powley Road can’t be too far away. I really like laying out back on the hammock.

As previously noted, next Monday is Worm Moon 🌕 when the sun will be setting at 6:55 pm with dusk at 7:23 pm (Daylight Savings Time). On that day in 2019, we had sunny and temperatures between 42 and 12 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 41 degrees. We hit a record high of 81 back in 2016.