It’s not pouring out this morning, but hardly a beautiful morning. Dark for sure, but then I get up early and the sun rises late. Up again at 5 AM, but I was asleep before 8 PM and I enjoy getting up early and having a good breakfast, and getting a jump on my day. Too dark to walk this morning so far, but I might go out in a bit.

Good morning! Happy Sunday. Rain showers around and 54 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ There is a north-northwest breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 51 degrees. The skies will clear tomorrow around 3 pm.

No big meals cooking up in the kitchen this morning, 🥞 but I tried unsuccessfully to turn quinoa into pancakes like I do with oatmeal and bananas. I mean it was tasty on the griddle fried up, but even with mashed bananas and apples, I could not get it to bind together. It doesn’t have the gluten that oatmeal or flour has. It was worth a try. I’ve tried cleaning the quinoa better to get rid of more of that bitter taste, and it was better but after refrigerating it and washing again, still not great. It supposed to be a wonderful grain, but my results with it have been mixed. Almost too fussy for my bother, I’d rather stick with old fashioned oatmeal, whole wheat flour or traditional cream of wheat, the later which I fully admit isn’t whole-grain but I usually pair it with chia seeds, greek yogurt, fruit — and cream of wheat is “fortified” with some vitamins, so it’s hardly junk food.

Today will have a chance of showers. Cloudy 🌦, with a high of 63 degrees at 4pm. Eight degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 12th. Maximum dew point of 57 at 3pm. North wind 6 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 68 degrees. The record high of 90 was set in 2017.

I was thinking about heading up to Keehler Preserve some time this morning 🚵‍♀️ and do some riding after a fun day at Thacher Park riding about 20 miles, mostly trail riding. Getting better and more comfortable mountain biking. It’s not like urban or bike path riding. Totally different set of skills, to get comfortable dealing with rocks and roots and rough trails. I am less fearful of bumps and destroying my bike, though I don’t abuse it too much. I do loose my tail light on my bike, bumping over the rough trail, but it was an old one at this point and I should replace it with a brighter one. I am going to have to do some Internet research on what good lights are 💡 especially now the mornings and evenings are getting shadowy and dark, and it’s important to be seen, especially when commuting. Come the time change in six weeks, I’ll probably still ride in many mornings, but I’ll have to load my bike on the bus and ride home in the evening.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:48 pm with sun having an altitude of 47° from the due south horizon (-23.8° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 5.6 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:14 pm with the sun in the west (264°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (270°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 6:51 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 54 seconds with dusk around 7:18 pm, which is one minute and 47 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon in the south-southeast (155°) at an altitude of 19° from the horizon, 227,464 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 7:52 pm. At sunset, look for more rain 🌧 and temperatures around 61 degrees. The dew point will be 55 degrees. There will be a north breeze at 7 mph. Tomorrow will have 12 hours and 5 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 52 seconds over today.

I probably should go to Walmart and buy more groceries and supplies. 🛒 I should go fairly early to avoid the crowds, though honestly I could wait until tomorrow after work. I would like to get more oatmeal and I’m out of frozen fruit. 🍐 🍓 I could go to the car wash and power wash Blackie 🚵 and Big Red. 🛻 Not planning on heading camping next weekend but if it’s nice next weekend I might rattle can some of the rust on my truck before the salt spreaders are back on road. 🚶 I might walk first though.

Tonight will have a chance of more rain, mainly before 4am. Cloudy 🌧, with a low of 55 degrees at 5am. Six degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around September 11th. Maximum dew point of 55 at 6pm. North wind around 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. In 2022, we had clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 49 degrees. The record low of 29 occurred back in 1963.

Looking ahead, next Sunday is October 🎃 when the sun will be setting at 6:38 pm with dusk at 7:05 pm. On that day in 2022, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 69 and 46 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 68 degrees. I can’t believe how quickly the average temperature drops as we get past the equinox and autumn is well underway. Plus how short days are now. But that’s to be expected.. We hit a record high of 90 back in 1927.