Sand mining: the global environmental crisis you’ve never heard of
Delmar, NY at 3/1/17 9:54 pm
March 1, 2017. Sitting in a lawn chair out back under starry skies. 63 degrees. Come Saturday, the high will only be 22.
Taking the corner
March 1, 2017 Evening
Good evening! Mostly cloudy and 63 degrees in City of Albany. There is a southwest breeze at 15 mph. The dew point is 56 degrees. The skies will clear tomorrow around 11 am. It definitely is mild outside this evening — not bad for the first day of March — or as they say, in like a lamb, out like a lion. I’m sure by April 1st, it will be freezing out like last month.
A bit crazy today at work for a while then it got rather quiet. I almost took a dinner break but I got out at a reasonable hour. So I’m not complaining.
This weather wasn’t too bad, standing out waiting for the old 18 which was running about 15 minutes late. I was almost going to abandon hope and go to the city library to download podcasts or maybe get a beer as CSP. I’m kind of hungry so I’m hoping we make time up on the bus, especially because it’s the driver’s last trip of the night. I think I’ll be home by 7:30.
Tonight will be scattered showers, mainly between 11pm and 5am. Mostly cloudy, with a low of 39 degrees at 6am. 15 degrees above normal. Breezy, with a southwest wind 15 to 24 mph, with gusts as high as 39 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2016, it got down to 20 degrees with periods of rain and snow. The record low of -4 occurred back in 1940.
Waxing Crescent Moon tonight with 26% illuminated. The moon will set around 10:46 pm. The First Quarter Moon is on Sunday night with mostly cloudy expected. The Full “Worm” Moon is on Sunday, March 12th. The sun will rise at 6:28 am with the first light at 6:00 am, which is 1 minutes and 38 seconds earlier then yesterday. Tonight will have 12 hours and 41 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 2 minutes and 53 seconds over last night.
Tomorrow will have a slight chance of rain and snow showers between 9am and noon. Partly sunny, with a high of 39 degrees at 6am. Much colder, but really it’s typical weather for March 2nd in Albany. Windy, with a west wind 24 to 33 mph, with gusts as high as 55 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had rain, snow and a high of 48 degrees. The record high of 65 was set in 1991. 6.2 inches of snow fell back in 1948.
After the Christmas season, I bought some high-potassium fertilizer to spread on the dirt of my Christmas cactus. The leaves were getting quite purple from deficient potassium. Slowly after applying the fertilizer, the leaves have gotten more green, although parts of them are still purple. But it looks healthier and perking up. Today when I was watering it, I noticed that there are buds again, and I might get another few bloom before Easter. Or maybe a bit before that, because Easter is so late. I’m kind of excited about that.
A nice weekend coming up with seasonable temperatures. Saturday, sunny, with a high near 26. It will be cold but it’s the first week of March. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 38. Typical average high for the weekend is 40 degrees.
In four weeks on March 29 the sun will be setting at 7:18 pm (Daylight Savings Time), which is 1 hour and 32 minutes later then tonight. In 2016 on that day, we had partly cloudy skies and temperatures between 46 and 34 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 50 and 31 degrees. The record high of 85 degrees was set back in 1946.
Looking ahead, Ides of March is in 2 weeks, April Fools Day is in 2 months, Average High is 60 is in 7 weeks, May Day is in 2 months, Start of June is in 4 months, Flag Day is in 15 weeks and Summer is in 16 weeks.
Economics and Donald Trump
One observation I have about President Donald Trump, is the need for more High Schools to teach basic economics. I didn’t learn much about economics, until I studied them in college. There should be a mandatory course on both macro and micro economics. It’s obvious that many in our country have a poor understanding of how the global economy works, why some communities and occupations struggle, and the pros and cons of each policy choice our society makes.
An English Sheep Farmer’s View of Rural America
"Economists say that when the world changes people will adapt, move and change to fit the new world. But of course, real human beings often don’t do that. They cling to the places they love, and their identity remains tied to the outdated or inefficient things they used to do, like being steel workers or farmers. Often, their skills are not transferable anyway, and they have no interest in the new opportunities. So, these people get left behind."
The Hairy Women of Klipnocky
"Klipnocky is a 2,600-acre hinterland of state forest that stretches through a rural community and borders our New York farm. The Hairy Women have been known to be a mischievous presence in the woods since the ’60s, when Archie Miller, allegedly the first one to encounter them, first hurried breathlessly into town to describe the animal-like females he had seen."
"There are various theories on how they came about, depending on what coffee machine in Canaseraga you were leaning on and what old-timer you were talking to. Some would say they’re hippies who had moved into the woods and gone native. Others think they’re offspring of Bigfoot."
"One tale has it that there were six sisters whose parents died in a car crash the same night their house burned down. Knowing not what else to do, they ran into the forest to stay. Nonetheless, for those of us who are younger, the Hairy Women of Klipnocky have just always been there."