Good evening! Made it to the New Years Day, 2023. 🎇 I mean I assume it’s 2023, but I was well asleep by the time the ball dropped. I was tired yesterday, went to bed at 8 pm 🛏 and was up before five 5⃣ this morning.
A new year to climb, 🪜to save invest and grow. I don’t know if there will be as much growth in the markets this year as last or if I will be able to invest as much as last year but I’ll do the best I can in the world I live in. Even if I can’t get as close to owning my own land 🚜 as I want this coming year I can grow in other ways like continuing to learn new skills, expand my mind and keep up with my steps. 🧑🏫 Another year, a new mountain ⛰ to climb. 🧗♂️
19,500 steps today 👣 which could have done better if I got an earlier start walking 🚶 but the morning was cold ❄ and gray. Once we get more snow 🌨 and it’s colder I really want to see more of Bender Mellon Preserve with the skis 🎿 on.
Partly cloudy and 38 degrees in Delmar. 🌃 Not bad for 9 pm on New Year’s Day. Heats been off for a few days now, haven’t used the heated blanket either. Somebody is having a campfire in the neighborhood, I could smell the smoke out walking. There is a west breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at Thursday around 5 am. ☃️
Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 35 degrees at 12am. 17 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 10th. West wind around 5 mph becoming light and variable. In 2022, we had light snow in the evening, which became mist by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 23 degrees. The record low of -20 occurred back in 1970.
Tonight will have a Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon with 79% illuminated. At 8 PM, the moon was in the south (176°) at an altitude of 64° from the horizon, some 241,769 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 July 4th. Buckle up for safety! 💺 The Wolf 🐺 Moon is on Friday, January 6.
Maybe it would have been fine out in Madison County ⛺ and fun to get away but last night was pretty wet even if it was mild. Plus it’s a long drive out there and I’m not sure this would have been banner weather for hiking and camping today. Probably cold damp and gray. ☁️ Plus with inflation I’ve been trying to stay closer to home. Maybe in two weeks I’ll camp up in Rennselearville again. That would be fun.
The darkest hour is at 12:00 am, followed by dawn at 6:54 am, and sun starting to rise at 7:26 am in the east-southeast (121°) and last for 3 minutes and 24 seconds. Sunrise is 7 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 8:12 am with sun in the southeast (129°).Tonight will have 14 hours and 49 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 48 seconds over last night.
Tomorrow will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 46 degrees at 1pm. 12 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 18th. West wind 5 to 10 mph becoming light northwest in the afternoon. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 49 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 1890. 7.1 inches of snow fell back in 2014.❄
I’m thinking a Bennett Hill Hike 🚶 in the morning on my way out to the folks house for a New Years Day fondue. 🫕 Ain’t that neat their is a fondue emoji, probably paid for by the Swiss Cheese cartel 🧀 or more likely the Dairy Farmers of America cooperative 🐮 these days.
Today marks four 4⃣ weeks until my big fortieth birthday 🎂. I know wow, I guess. It’s just another milestone and a round number but I’ve noticed a lot changing in my life as the years drag on with other things not changing as fast as I’d like. But I think my forties offer a lot of possibilities especially once the economy recovers.
In four weeks on January 29 the sun will be setting in the west-southwest (246°) at 5:06 pm,🌄 which is 31 minutes and 56 seconds later then tonight. In 2021 on that day, we had cold, partly sunny and temperatures between 14 and 0 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 33 and 15 degrees. The record high of 54 degrees was set back in 2002.
Looking ahead, Bubble Bath Day 🧼 is Next Sunday, Coldest Week of the Year 🌬 is Next Sunday, 38th Birthday 🎉 is in 4 weeks, February 🌧 is a month away, March 🌨 is in 2 months, Daylight Savings Time 🌆 is in 10 weeks.
The FBI annualized collection of data from law enforcement agencies saw 7,262 crimes motivated by race, religion, gender or other factors last year. That's a decrease from 8,263 incidents in 2020. But those numbers offer misleading conclusions as they are drawn from a pool of 3,255 fewer law enforcement agencies.
Only 11,883 agencies out of 18,812 city, state, municipal and tribal law enforcement agencies around the county sent data to the FBI, down from 15,138 in 2020.
I think my 2022 was good relatively speaking but it was just a bad year for me as everyone else.
Inflation, high gas prices had me cutting expenses wherever I could. It meant fewer trips, more trips closer to home, more setting up camp and staying for 3 or more nights. I ended up spending 33 nights in the wilderness in 2022 which isn’t bad – nothing like the pandemic year but close to average.
More frustrating on a short term view is just watching how much things declined in our country and how negatively it effected my future.
While I was able to probably get things at a discount this year in the markets, everything from bonds to stocks are down and inflation is just chewing away faster than interest rates rise. Inflation makes going to the grocery store or gas pump painful. It seems like the city where I work is more dirty and dangerous than it was before the pandemic. Even the local library has gotten dingy and the book collection isn’t what it once was. And I don’t listen to the news anymore because of the partisan bickering. Despite the pontificating the politicians aren’t doing shit on the climate crisis.
But I’m not too focused on the year that was.
I built into my plans for instability, a recession. And I’m not focused on today but what I can do today to contribute to better tomorrow and protect myself from societal decline. Nothing is built in a day but day by adds up to a year and a decade. Ask not what you can do today but what you can do to better tomorrow. Today doesn’t matter except for what it can contribute to tomorrow. Pruning things today will allow for more growth tomorrow.
