Good evening! Cloudy and 33 degrees in Delmar. ☁ There is a west breeze at 10 mph. 🍃. There is a dusting of snow on the ground. The slop melted off the roads but still some if left on the ground. Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 2 am. ☃️

Tonight will have a chance of rain and snow showers before midnight, then a chance of snow showers. Cloudy 🌧, with a low of 32 degrees at 3am. Four degrees above normal, which is similiar to a typical night around November 16th. West wind 8 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Total nighttime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. In 2017, we had clear skies with more clouds in the early hours of the next day. It got down to 18 degrees. The record low of 6 occurred back in 1951.

Tonight will have a Waning Gibbous Moon 🌖 with 70% illuminated. The moon will set at 11:58 am. The Last Quarter Moon will be tomorrow with a slight chance of snow showers then mostly cloudy skies. The Cold Moon 🌝 is on Friday, December 21st. The sun will rise at 7:02 am with the first light at 6:30 am, which is one minute and 8 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 Tonight will have 14 hours and 38 minutes of darkness, an increase of one minute and 34 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have a chance of snow showers before 4pm, then a slight chance of rain and snow showers. Cloudy 🌦, with a high of 38 degrees at 11am. Five degrees below normal, which is similiar to a typical day around December 8th. Northwest wind 10 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly cloudy skies, clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 45 degrees. The record high of 68 was set in 1990. 6 inches of snow fell back in 1985.❄

Tomorrow Big Red gets his state inspection while I’m at work. I’m hopeful it will go well, but you never know. If something needs to get fixed it will get fixed. 🚗 I don’t have any bulbs out and everything seems fine but you never know.

As you can see, I finish my Bluetooth controlled light over my bed. It’s plenty bright with the thicker wire if I turn it up all the way. :idea:Everything works perfectly. My next step is to write a custom Android app to use with it. I have the Android Studio and a template app but I apparently have to update something where I have internet access to actually load the app in the IDE. I also have to upgrade the other lamp driver I built last winter to the esp32 chip so it has Bluetooth and they can talk. Winter project. I like coding and working with the soldering iron, especially now that I’m getting better at soldering and laying out components.

Thursday is the bright and early day 😁 with my 7:55 am dentist appointment. I should have nice clean teeth after that. I was surprised that the dentist didn’t send me a text reminder but I confirmed it on my phone.

They still haven’t fixed the 277 volt feed in my office so there are no overhead lights which makes the afternoons and evenings very dark 💡even with the desk lamp. I’m sure it will get fixed soon.

I tried to catch the express bus down at the concourse but it had already left by the time I got there. 🚌 Then I ran back to Eagle and State but the bus didn’t stop and ended up catching it at the comptroller’s building. Annoying but now I know with the slow elevators it’s not worthwhile to try to get the bus anywhere but South Swan. Too dark and dangerous to walk down to the old railroad station to catch the bus this time of year. 🌌

Right now, a split verdict on the weekend. 😕 Saturday, a chance of rain after 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 40. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Sunday, rain likely, mainly after 1pm. Cloudy, with a high near 47. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Typical average high for the weekend is 41 degrees. Warmer but not a banner weekend.

In four weeks on December 25 the sun will be setting at 4:27 pm,🌄 which is 3 minutes and 19 seconds later then tonight. In 2017 on that day, we had snow, heavy fog, freezing fog, mist, squalls, partly cloudy skies and temperatures between 33 and 17 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 33 and 18 degrees. The record high of 66 degrees was set back in 1889.

Looking ahead, Christmas 🎅 is in 4 weeks, New Years Day 2019 🎉 is in 5 weeks, National Bird Day 🐦 is in 7 weeks, 36th Birthday 🎂 is in 9 weeks, Arbor Day 🌳 is in 5 months, Memorial Day 🇺🇸 is in 6 months, Last Sunset After 8:30 PM 🌆 is in 33 weeks and Election Day 2020 🗳️ is in 101 weeks.

Good morning! Happy Tuesday. Four weeks to Christmas 🎅. Snow, slop and 35 degrees in Delmar. ❄ There is a northwest breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. It’s snowing fairly hard but it’s warm enough that it’s mostly slop on the roads, especially the secondaries. The roads are a bit greasy, but maybe not icy. What do I know I’m not driving, although I had to walk out in the slop to catch the bus. I brought a second set of socks, I’ll need them my work boots leak. Going to warm farther today so I don’t expect much accumulation.

Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow briefly around 4 am. ☃️ But I don’t expect much snow or problems getting my truck up to DeNooyer for the state inspection. I am hoping that will go well — the lights look good, and I’ve not noticed any problems while driving, except the rare time I crank the wheel really hard in a parking under very occasional conditions. I guess if something needs to be fixed, it will get fixed, and they shouldn’t have to wait for parts to be delivered, being the dealer, even if it costs a little more.🔧 I concede at some point there is a balljoint or something else that will need replacing but i don’t think it’s bad enough to warrant repair at this point as there is no handling problems in ordinary driving.

I was hoping to walk down to the express bus this morning but it didn’t happen because I was a minute or two too late. 🚉I was a bit hesitant with all the snow and then I saw the town plow come through. But I still didn’t want to rush and accidentally fall in the snow. Plus with all the slop everywhere hiking in this stuff isn’t fun even if I had leak proof boots. The local will get me where I need to go even if it’s slightly longer and less scenic. Interestingly enough, the streets are cleaner of snow slop in Albany then the burbs. Must be a little warmer in the city from the urban heat island effect.

Today will rain showers and snow likely before 11am, then a chance of rain showers between 11am and 4pm, then a chance of rain and snow showers after 4pm. Cloudy 🌧, with a high of 40 degrees at 11am. Three degrees below normal, which is similiar to a typical day around December 4th. West wind 6 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than one inch possible. It’s going to snow a fair bit but accumulations will be light locally as it’s much too warm. A year ago, we had mostly cloudy skies, clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 43 degrees. The record high of 66 was set in 1896. 4.8 inches of snow fell back in 1940.❄

The sun will set at 4:24 pm with dusk around 4:55 pm, which is 28 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for rain and snow showers 🌧 and temperatures around 37 degrees. There will be a west breeze at 14 mph with gusts up to 25mph. Today will have 9 hours and 22 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 36 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have a chance of rain and snow showers before 10pm, then a chance of snow showers. Cloudy 🌧, with a low of 32 degrees at 5am. Four degrees above normal, which is similiar to a typical night around November 16th. West wind 8 to 11 mph, with gusts as high as 21 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. In 2017, we had clear skies with more clouds in the early hours of the next day. It got down to 18 degrees. The record low of 6 occurred back in 1951.

So I found replacement screws for my laptop and once they come I will put them in so the case isn’t flexing and the mother board isn’t loose. 🔩 I am holding off on the SSD drive for now, as while it seems they’ve come down in prices, now the issue is most of the sales are seriously back-ordered, and I don’t want to be stuck for weeks with my money tied up in something that isn’t going to arrive. 💾 Even if it only takes a few minutes to install, I probably wouldn’t have the time to get the full operating system installed on it and everything heavy disk-IO like applications and certain GIS files moved over to it until the long Christmas or New Years weekends. They’re giving me both New Years Eve and Christmas Eve off this year, which is nice for a change.🎄 Lucky me.

I also did order the various little parts for the winter electronics projects from AliExpress I’m working on, including the additional LOLIN32 microprocessors, so I can upgrade the colored lighting controller later in the month, when we have shitty weather and I’m stuck at home. 🔬Getting much better at soldering too. Soldering and coding is a break from so much of the shitiness that is social media and the news nowadays. 💩 

The latest forecast 🏔 suggests this isn’t going to be a great weekend for getting out of town, with the north country getting pounded with more snow today, and the forecast looking increasingly cloudy for the weekend. 🏕 Next week I might take off some time though to travel or hike. I would like to spend some more time in the wilderness. Maybe I will do a mid-week evening hike up Overlook Mountain, that’s always a fun December hike to see the sunset. It’s tough to plan on getting out, with the snow coming so early this year, and being so cold and gray.

Looking ahead, there are 4 weeks until Christmas 🎅 when the sun will be setting at 4:27 pm with dusk at 4:59 pm. By that time of year you can start to notice the days getting a little longer. On that day in 2017, we had snow, heavy fog, freezing fog, mist, squalls, partly cloudy skies and temperatures between 33 and 17 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 33 degrees. We hit a record high of 66 back in 1889.

Good evening! Pretty heavy and 40 degrees here in Delmar. ☔ There is a east-southeast breeze at 11 mph. 🍃. The snow locally has bit the bucket or something like that. ️Temperatures will drop below freezing at Wednesday around 4 am. ☃️

Dark day at office because apparently a breaker tripped or a mouse chewed through the wires for the overhead lights. 🐭 I had a light for my desk but with the rain and clouds, and early setting sun it felt like I was working in a creepy office workers office, usually sought out by obscure power brokers. I can assure my day was less exciting than that, just lots of spreadsheets and a hour long lunch break walking in the Empire Plaza. 🏃

Tonight will rain before 3am, then rain and snow likely. 🌧 Low of 35 degrees at 5am. Seven degrees above normal, which is similiar to a typical night around November 3rd. East wind 7 to 11 mph becoming west after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. In 2017, we had cloudy skies with some clearing in the early hours of the next day. It got down to 23 degrees. The record low of 8 occurred back in 1957.

Dark commute home tonight on the expressway. It’s always so dark looking out from the lit up bus out to the very dark world outside. 🚍 Bus was a bit late which is a change with the new routing through the plaza, but maybe the driver got held up with traffic. Just drizzle at the bus stop, picked up in Delmar. Looks like their is a crash on the end of the old 787 but that’s pretty common during wet weather. At any rate we moving, and I’m not driving. I expect only to be home a few minutes later.

I’m a bit tired. 💤It wasn’t a terribly long day but it’s a five day week and it’s only Monday. I do have some more vacation time to take off before the end of the year but I want to reserve that for nice weather.

I am going to work on some soldering projects and then do some reading when I get home. 📕 Looking forward to the quiet evening. Probably too wet for the evening walk or the library.💦 But I don’t care, I got my steps in today. At six thirty, I’ll probably listen to Marketplace, as the financial news really is all I care about news wise this year. The rest is either just stupid or depressing.

It turns out that Reszin had some help earlier in the evening, and they are now paying for the folding service, 📬 so they didn’t need extra help with folding the newsletter. Once I get the PDF of the newsletter from Lynne, I’ll post it to Facebook. It’s saving postage that in 2018 Save the Pine Bush is now sending more and more of their newsletter out electronically.

Tonight will have a Waning Gibbous Moon 🌖 with 80% illuminated with the moon rising at 8:00 pm. The moon will set at 11:13 am. The Last Quarter Moon is on Wednesday night with a slight chance of snow showers. The Cold Moon 🌝 is on Friday, December 21st. The sun will rise at 7:01 am with the first light at 6:29 am, which is one minute and 9 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 Tonight will have 14 hours and 37 minutes of darkness, an increase of one minute and 38 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will rain and snow showers likely before 11am, then a chance of rain showers. Cloudy 🌦, with a high of 40 degrees at 1pm. Three degrees below normal, which is similiar to a typical day around December 4th. West wind 6 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 43 degrees. The record high of 66 was set in 1896. 4.8 inches of snow fell back in 1940.❄ All I can say about tomorrow’s forecast is that it’s not going to be a big snow event here in the city. Wednesday also doesn’t look half bad for getting my truck to the dealer to get state inspected.

I’m actually quite satisfied with the current weekend forecast. Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 41. Sunday, a chance of rain. Cloudy, with a high near 45. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Typical average high for the weekend is 41 degrees.😺 Maybe not perfect for starting off the month of December but it’s an improvement from the weather lately. You have to take the hand delt to you from God.

In four weeks on December 24 the sun will be setting at 4:27 pm,🌄 which is 2 minutes and 12 seconds later then tonight. In 2017 on that day, we had snow, mostly cloudy skies and temperatures between 36 and 26 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 33 and 18 degrees. The record high of 72 degrees was set back in 2015.

Looking ahead, 7:15 AM Sunrise ⌛️ is in 2 weeks, Boxing Day 🥊 is a month away, New Years Eve 🎆 is in 5 weeks, Coldest Week of the Year 🌬 is in 7 weeks, Martin Luther King Day 🖤 is in 8 weeks, 5:30 PM Dusk 🌆 is in 2 months, Presidents Day 👴 is in 12 weeks, Average High is 40 ☀️ is in 14 weeks, April Fools Day 🤡 is in 18 weeks, Tax Day 💰 is in 20 weeks, Earth Day 🌎 is in 21 weeks, Memorial Day 🇺🇸 is in 26 weeks, July 🏊🏿 is in 31 weeks and Last Sunset After 8 PM 🌆 is in 37 weeks.

Good morning! Happy Cyber Monday 🛍️! Two weeks to 7:15 AM Sunrise ⌛️. Foggy and 35 degrees in Delmar. ☁ Calm wind. At this point most of the snow is gone. Temperatures will drop below freezing at Wednesday around 5 am. ☃️

Walked down to the express bus stop, on this very foggy morning. 🚏🚌 Bus was running right on time, and the while it was a hybrid, it was fine going through the Empire Plaza Concourse bus station. I didn’t think it would fit, and they’ve have to go through Madison Avenue. Regardless, it’s much quicker this way. I’m happy with the change. 😃 It was pretty neat seeing the holiday train

Today will have a slight chance of rain and snow before 10am, then rain. I was smart and I brought my rain coat. If it’s really pouring this afternoon I’ll just catch the bus in the portico of the Capitol or the plaza. High of 42 degrees at 1pm. Two degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 29th. Light southeast wind increasing to 8 to 13 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 90%. Little or no snow accumulation expected. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 46 degrees. The record high of 67 was set in 1979. 9.6 inches of snow fell back in 2014.❄

The sun will set at 4:24 pm with dusk around 4:55 pm, which is 30 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 42 degrees. There will be a southeast breeze at 13 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 23 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 39 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will rain before 4am, then rain and snow likely. 🌧 Low of 36 degrees at 5am. Eight degrees above normal, which is similiar to a typical night around October 30th. East wind 7 to 14 mph becoming northwest after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. Little or no snow accumulation expected. In 2017, we had cloudy skies with some clearing in the early hours of the next day. It got down to 23 degrees. The record low of 8 occurred back in 1957.

The plan for today after work is to locate the screws I need to fix my laptop. I don’t think it will be a big deal, but I don’t like the idea that the mother board is not properly screwed into the case. 💻 I wasn’t happy to discover the missing screws when I went to open the case last night, but I think I found the problem before anything was permanently damaged. It’s certainly not the first time I’ve lost screws in my laptop.

I will look at CyberMonday sales to consider getting an SSD drive for my laptop, now that I’ve figured out how to get into there and do the upgrade. I am just so low on disk space. 💾 I don’t know how space ran out so quickly on my laptop but it did. The speed boost will be nice. But for now I’ll just delete files. Also looking at a few random small electronic components from AliExpress like more perfboard, LOLIN microprocessors, and some other things to get me through the winter with my electronics projects. Most of the stuff I need I already have, so it’s just a matter of me getting out my soldering iron and doing some soldering and writing code.⌨

This evening, I am going to help stuff the newsletter for Save the Pine Bush, 📰 and get that ready to go out in the mail. As I expect a fairly wet evening, ☔ I don’t think I will go down to the library or for a walk, but I have some different projects I can work on at home. Nothing too major, just a lot of things that could be done and should be done. Ironically, based on the current forecast, I doubt I’ll need to turn on the electric baseboard heat anytime soon, now that it’s been all cleaned up. I was in my closet yesterday, and was thinking that’s really the next thing I should tackle. It’s not terrible, but it’s a bit disorganized. 👔

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until 7:15 AM Sunrise ⌛️ when the sun will be setting at 4:21 pm with dusk at 4:53 pm. On that day in 2017, we had snow, patches of fog, mist, mostly cloudy skies and temperatures between 36 and 18 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 38 degrees. We hit a record high of 64 back in 1966.

Good evening! I hope you had a good Buy Nothing Day. I enjoyed my 10 plus mile walk around town, didn’t drive anywhere.🏃 Mostly clear and 25 degrees in Delmar. There is a south breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. There is about an inch of of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Things will start to thaw out at tomorrow around 10 am. 🌡️

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌤, with a low of 19 degrees at 9pm. 10 degrees below normal, which is similiar to a typical night around December 21st. Maximum wind chill around 13 at 6pm; South wind 3 to 8 mph. In 2017, we had mostly cloudy skies with some clearing in the early hours of the next day. It got down to 29 degrees. The record low of 7 occurred back in 2000.

Tonight will have a Waning Gibbous Moon 🌖 with 99% illuminated with the moon rising at 5:12 pm. The moon will set at 8:14 am. The Last Quarter Moon is on Wednesday night with mostly cloudy skies. The Cold Moon 🌝 is in 4 weeks. The sun will rise at 6:57 am with the first light at 6:26 am, which is one minute and 11 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 Tonight will have 14 hours and 32 minutes of darkness, an increase of one minute and 47 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have a chance of rain, mainly after 4pm. Increasing clouds ⛅, with a high of 39 degrees at 1pm. Five degrees below normal, which is similiar to a typical day around December 6th. South wind 5 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly cloudy skies with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 48 degrees. The record high of 70 was set in 2014. 8.8 inches of snow fell back in 1898.❄

Looking ahead to Sunday, a chance of rain, mainly before 10am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 45.☁ West wind around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Typical average high for the weekend is 44 degrees.

I had a nice Thanksgiving Dinner last night. My parents cooked it up nicely like they do every year.🍗 Turkey and all the fixings. Then they had apple pie. Nice evening but I kept feeling cool. I don’t know if I got chilled through while I was walking at Five Rivers earlier in the day. I spent 45 minutes hiking, nearly alone at Five Rivers on Thanksgiving, 🏃it was clear that not many people were willing to brave the sub-zero windchills on Thanksgiving despite people’s desire for a pre-turkey trot. While I was at my parents house, I was able to plug my laptop directly into their router, which helped me update the kernel on the laptop so it’s back online.📡

Even had a glass of wine with dinner, which it’s the first in the long time since I stopped drinking alcohol a while back.🍷 Maybe come camping season again I’ll have a beer or two in the wilderness but alcohol is so expensive these days, and my budget. 🍺Plus I am increasingly concerned about the health risks with drinking alcohol, such as cancer but also including addiction and injury from intoxication. I can go to bar after work and take public transit home, but I still I don’t like drinking with all the risks and costs.

Last night was a nice drive home. Lots of moonlight with the full moon, salt on the roads, and white snow made the landscape very bright for driving, making the headlights of oncoming cars not so bright or obnoxious. 🌝Plus ever since adjusting my headlights so they point at the road, I find that I am not looking as much at the headlights of oncoming cars, as my lane is plenty bright with the lows pointed where they can be useful. I wouldn’t mind driving on rural roads nearly as much if all evenings where like last night. Urban roads don’t bother me much but rural driving at night is hard.

The upstairs baseboard electric heat remains turned off because last night checking it for hazards out I noticed a paper wasps nest in it. 🐝 When I got back from North Syracuse, I noticed a bunch of dead wasps around and a handful of live ones. Nothing the vacuum couldn’t fix. But I have to move my dresser tomorrow and get in there with a vacuum. Without the bedroom electric heat boosting the gas heat downstairs, my bedroom drops to the low fifties at night. That’s fine for sleeping but I like how fast the electric can make my bedroom warm when waking up or getting home on a cold night. I try to bundle up and conserve heat but sometimes it’s nice to not be cold all of the time.

I went for a nice walk of over 10 miles around town today. I started out walking from my place near the Bethlehem High School down to the Port of Albany, via Delaware Avenue then the Albany County Rail Trail. 🏃This time I walked all the way down through the gorge to the parking lot next to the Center for Disabilities Services. From there, I hiked 5 ½ miles west to the Slingerlands Railroad bridge over New Scotland Avenue then back home via Cherry and Elm. Nice walk. Didn’t have to burn a drop of gasoline either,⛽ just some shoe leather going for the walk. Helped burn off some calories from turkey day, and is helping to build up more muscle and energy after those long weeks in North Syracuse. A little bit stiff and sore now. 💪When I’m back to work downtown, I am going to make it a priority, at least on non-session days, to do laps in the concourse and state museum to burn calories and increase strength.

I thought about heading out of town, but I never really made a decision last night/yesterday about heading out of town. ⛺ I really didn’t feel like driving anywhere if I wasn’t going to spend the night up in the wilderness. Kind of cool day for camping, but I’ve certainly done it on colder nights. I thought about it but locally it’s Big Game Season and I didn’t want to interrupt hunters dragging gear back, and up north there is still a lot of snow. ❄Plus, I’m trying to save money, as I still am thinking of buying the SSD drive, and that’s going to be a $150 when figure in tax and shipping – maybe a little less with holiday sales but I am not hopeful. Money is tight, and staying home saves money and miles on the truck.

I don’t plan to drive more then about 1,000 miles over the next four months. I did less then 1,000 miles last winter. 🚘 I am quite happy walking around the neighborhood and taking public transit to my destination. Most of the winter I expect to do no more most weeks then a Sunday trip to the grocery store, and then out to my parents house, maybe stopping along the way for a brief hiking or ski.🏂 Once or twice hot tent in the wilderness. Or truck cap camp if we have some snow free days. 🌇 My truck is going on 80,000 miles at this point, and I really want to try get at least three more years out of it – through 2022 – so I am trying to save miles on it whenever possible. Plus I am sure things will need expensive repairs in the coming years, especially once my truck crosses the 100,000 mile mark. I think rust and suspension wear with the big tires will wear things out before the miles.

I ordered a 12 VDC 5 amp power supply for the warm white LED strip I am going to mount over my bed. I went for a more expensive, UL laboratory certified, quality power supply🔌 as I didn’t want something that would pose a fire risk, especially so close to my bed. The difference between a cheap 5 amp supply and a quality one was like $5, and the more expensive one is certified to be more energy efficient.

Once I get the power adapter, I will put together an Arduino Nano board with Bluetooth board and a transistor to drive the warm white LED strip over my bed. :idea:For now I will control it with my phone📱 but the plan is eventually to have it talking to the colored LEDs on the other side of the room, which will be eventually upgraded and controlled by a ESP32 board which will have better PWM for mixing light and the Bluetooth to talk across the room with. It’s a good winter project.

In four weeks on December 21 the sun will be setting at 4:25 pm,🌄 which is one minute and 6 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2017 on that day, we had snow, mostly sunny skies and temperatures between 32 and 21 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 34 and 19 degrees. The record high of 59 degrees was set back in 1957.

Looking ahead, First Day of Winter ☃️ is in 4 weeks, Festivus 🍖 is a month away, 4:30 PM Sunset 🌆 is in 5 weeks, Winnie the Pooh Day 🍯 is in 8 weeks, National Cheese Lovers Day 🧀 is in 2 months, National Pie Day 🍰 is in 2 months, 5 PM Sunset 🌆 is in 9 weeks, March 🌨 is in 14 weeks, Ides of March ✝ is in 16 weeks, Memorial Day Weekend Starts 🏕️ is in 26 weeks and Dog Days of Summer 🌻 is in 32 weeks.

Good morning! Happy Tuesday. Five weeks to Christmas 🎅. Wet sloppy snow, one degree above freezing in our favorite socialist Delmar. ❄ There is a north-northwest breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. There is a dusting of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Frosty is having a melt down with the warmer temperatures. At least the roads aren’t super shitty this morning but every driveway is a slushy wet mess. It’s climate change, stupid. And I’m blaming Trump.

Today will rain showers and snow likely before 11am, then a chance of rain showers between 11am and 4pm. Cloudy 🌦, with a high of 39 degrees at 1pm. Seven degrees below normal, which is similiar to a typical day around December 6th. Northwest wind around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Total daytime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. Yuck. When we will get nice weather? Maybe in six months with the hundreds of black flies. A year ago, we had light snow in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 42 degrees. The record high of 72 was set in 1991. 3.4 inches of snow fell back in 1961.❄

Yeap, today is a pretty cold, wet and gray day. ☁ Only going to get worse come Thanksgiving although we will have lots of sun come those days. But very cold. At least the roads are fine locally.

The sun will set at 4:28 pm with dusk around 4:59 pm, which is 43 seconds earlier than yesterday. Not even losing a minute at this point. 🌇 Remember the latest sunset of the year is around December 9th I believe. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies ☁ and temperatures around 38 degrees. There will be a west-northwest breeze at 6 mph. Melty, melt snow. Today will have 9 hours and 34 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 56 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌤, with a low of 24 degrees at 6am. Six degrees below normal, which is similiar to a typical night around December 8th. West wind 6 to 9 mph. Shits going to freeze up tonight. In 2017, we had cloudy skies, clearing in the early hours of the next day. It got down to 33 degrees. The record low of 7 occurred back in 1879.

This morning I want to call about getting my truck state inspected on Saturday or maybe Friday morning. I figure I would drop it off and then get breakfast with my parents. 🍳 That’s all that is needed for now, I did the oil change and tire rotation in a September. It’s horse shit that New York requires inspections when relatively few states do anymore. Smog inspections yes in smog areas but safety inspections are rare because modern cars are rarely unsafe ✔ and things like broken tail lights are generally enforced by police.

I need to go to the store after work today, 🍞and buy a handful of supplies before the big rush of Thanksgiving grocery shoppers and Black Friday shoppers are underway. Not a lot of things I need but I’m missing certain ingredients that I need for cooking. I don’t plan to shop again until next week as I’m trying to use whatever I have at home right now to save money.

Today I’m going to look at getting a 12 volt power supply for the smart light over my bed that I’m building. I’m going to get a good quality power supply that is UL or Intertek certified because if it’s going to be plugged in all of the time I want something safe that’s unlikely to cause a fire, waste power or fail. 🔌 It’s really not that much more expensive to buy a safe model compared to a cheap one.

I’m also continuing to experiment with Bluetooth and the Arduino Nano. I’ve built a working model now at least I think, I just need to download the software I need for my laptop and phone to control it. 📺 Once I do that I will work on the code and eventually building the board that will control the lamp over my bed. I don’t expect it to be complicated, it will basically be a slave to the other LED strip across the room, and just be able to accept Bluetooth commands to turn on and off (with a nice fade or course) and dim to a certain value. As it’s a warm white, it is only one channel so the PWM commands are simple. The colored led strips across the room will manage timing and reading the remote, sending over Bluetooth to turn on and off.

Looking ahead, there are 5 weeks until Christmas 🎅 when the sun will be setting at 4:27 pm with dusk at 4:59 pm. Fat man comes down the chimney and leaves all that pretty wrapping paper to burn. On that day in 2017, we had snow, heavy fog, freezing fog, mist, squalls, partly cloudy skies and temperatures between 33 and 17 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 33 degrees. We hit a record high of 66 back in 1889. Well before my time.

Good evening! Light snow and 33 degrees in Delmar. ❄ Calm wind.There is around 2 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 1 am. ☃️

Tonight will snow. 🌨 Low of 31 degrees at 4am. Typical for tonight. It really has to get a bit cooler before the snow will accumulate. Calm wind becoming north around 5 mph after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 80%. Total nighttime snow accumulation of 1 to 3 inches possible. In 2017, we had mostly cloudy skies, clearing in the early hours of the next day. It got down to 30 degrees. The record low of 6 occurred back in 1986.

Tonight will have a Waxing Gibbous Moon 🌔 with 89% illuminated. The moon will set at 3:39 am. The Beaver Moon🌕 is on Thursday night with a slight chance of snow showers and breezy. The sun will rise at 6:52 am with the first light at 6:22 am, which is one minute and 13 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 Tonight will have 14 hours and 24 minutes of darkness, an increase of one minute and 58 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will snow likely before noon, then a chance of rain showers. Cloudy 🌦, with a high of 39 degrees at 3pm. Seven degrees below normal, which is similiar to a typical day around December 6th. Northwest wind 5 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New snow accumulation of 1 to 2 inches possible. A year ago, we had cloudy skies with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 42 degrees. The record high of 72 was set in 1991. 3.4 inches of snow fell back in 1961.❄

Right now, a split verdict on the weekend. 😕 Saturday, a chance of rain after 1pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 39. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Sunday, a chance of rain. Cloudy, with a high near 41. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Typical average high for the weekend is 44 degrees.

Kind of a busy day with a lot of different things going on. I was hoping to get to Cynthia Poolers fundraiser for the Reszin Adams documentary but I got stuck with work and it would have been pretty late by the time🎬 I got there, and it was all the way up in Colonie. Maybe I can mail a check. I probably should have gone.

This evening I continued to work on several electronics projects, including upgrading my VMS ticker display to a lolin32 board from an Arduino. The extra memory means I’m not always so crushed for space,📱 I can do some graphics now and eventually will add updates via Bluetooth. The computing power, low energy consumption and low cost of the small development boards is nothing short of amazing. Remember, it wasn’t that long ago that everybody still used mechanical devices like cam timers. 🔗

I also started to work on a new reading lamp / light for over my bed to make getting up on dark winter mornings easier. The blue light from the colored strips helped that I built last winter but they have poor color rendition so I adding a warm white strip over my bed. I do need to get another 12 volt power supply, I’m going to order that next week.:idea: The idea is it will eventually talk to the other strip using Bluetooth. Just because I don’t have internet at home, doesn’t mean I can’t build nice low power, smart devices that can make my life better.

Many of the devices I’m building aren’t perfect, but I am learning a lot about electricity, microprocessors, and communication buses. 🔬 It’s useful knowledge that I can use going forward.

In four weeks on December 17 the sun will be setting at 4:23 pm,🌄 which is 5 minutes and 33 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2017 on that day, we had partly cloudy skies and temperatures between 27 and 8 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 35 and 21 degrees. The record high of 59 degrees was set back in 1984.

Looking ahead, Cyber Monday 🛍️ is in 1 weeks, New Years Eve 🎆 is in 6 weeks, Martin Luther King Day 🖤 is in 9 weeks, Average High is 40 ☀️ is in 15 weeks, Daylight Savings Time 🌆 is in 16 weeks and Last Sunset After 8:30 PM 🌆 is in 34 weeks. That’s a ways out.