After a rough night last including many trips too the bathroom after eating too much red lentil soup and beans, and then the smoke alarm going off at 3 AM, I’m up and going this morning. Started out my day stocking up my pantry with fruits, vegetables and other healthy eats for the week to come. A barely sub-$100 grocery bill, though not by much, but I’ve finally gotten to the point where my pantry had a few things left over from last week, and most of the unhealthy stuff from a year ago is now gone.

Good morning! Sunny and 26 degrees in Delmar, New York. 🌞 I wonder how many more times I’ll be saying that. It’s weird to think it might be coming to an end. Cool and blustery with a northwest breeze at 14 mph. 🍃. There is a dusting of snow on the ground. ☃ Things will start to thaw out at tomorrow around noontime. 🌡️

It’s beautiful out today, but with the wind is fairly cold. 🌬 I’m actually not rushing to get out too soon, as I’m really hoping to speak to my new landlord again, about the questions and concerns I politely raised in an email on Saturday, ✉️ that he has not replied back to. I would feel much better if I had contact information, and if I could pay him via a mailed paper check, where the paper trail is clear in case of dispute of payment. 💵 Maybe I’m too fearful of him, but he reminds me of kid who beat the shit out of me in high school. 👊 You know, the kid who barely made it out of high school, and floats from job to job in the construction industry and on and off the unemployment rolls as his parents a dying from alcoholism and decades of chain of smoking. I feel rather sorry for him, as I think he’s become a really decent person even if he smashed my nose into the locker multiple times back in the day. I also am waiting for calls back from various mortgage loan officers, 📞 and want to talk to some friends out in the country 🐮 who have bought homes in recent years, and want to get their advice and tips.

Washington’s Birthday will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 31 degrees at 4pm. Six degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical Northwest wind around 14 mph. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 47 degrees. The record high of 66 was set in 1981. 11.4 inches of snow fell back in 1972.❄

I do want to get out and do some hiking this afternoon, 🚶‍♀️hiking up Bennett Hill or maybe Wolf Hill. It’s sunny out but cold. But I need some of serenity of the wilderness, even if for only a few hours. 🌲Things are so crazy these days. 🤪 Then head out to the folks for Sunday dinner. 👪 It’s important to talk to as many people and listen to as much advice as possible. 👂 Time isn’t as tight and things aren’t as awful as I imagine them to be in my darker moments, but change is happening, and it’s happening much too fast. ⌛ With the stock market, my portfolio is good, and high interest rates may work in my favor, as I can offset more capital gains taxes from selling stocks in good market by using the mortgage tax exemption. 📜 God, that makes me feel old.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:10 pm with sun having an altitude of 36° from the due south horizon (-34.9° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 8.3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:53 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (249°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (255°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 5:32 pm after setting for 3 minutes with dusk around 6:00 pm, which is one minute and 16 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon in the east (100°) at an altitude of 54° from the horizon, 243,483 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:34 pm. At sunset, look for clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 29 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 10 mph. Today will have 10 hours and 47 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 43 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 15 degrees at 6am. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around February 4th. Maximum wind chill around 17 at 6pm; Northwest wind 6 to 10 mph. In 2023, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 35 degrees. The record low of -16 occurred back in 1966.

Tuesday it’s back to work. 👨‍💼 I may drive in so I can retreat to my truck should bankers call to discuss mortgages, as I don’t have my private office yet, as the retiring director has a few more weeks left, though not much. It will be quite the operation to take over, and while I’ve learned a lot in these past 6 weeks and I have the skills to be an excellent leader, it’s scary, not least to say, as I’m replacing 40 plus years of experience. 🙀 But I have an excellent team I’m working with who will support me, and the reason why they trust me in such a place of high authority, is because I’ve delivered 16 1/2 years of results for my business. Still, it’s a big jump from being Deputy Director to Director, in an agency that doesn’t have deputy to fall back on. My bosses will just be several miles of up the road, and always there to support me, email and phone aren’t the same as sitting down in a room together. 👔 I might wear a suit and tie, but still a redneck inside. But I believe in myself and my future. Things could go terribly wrong, but I have a track record of success, and preponderance of the evidence is that I will do exceptionally well in the new position, especially with my knowledge of the R programming language, Unix shell scripting, C programming and technical aspects of Data Services.

Looking ahead to next weekend, it could be real nice. 😎 Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 31. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 39. It’s early in the week, so I’ll take a wait and see approach. Go camping? 🏕 Who knows how busy I will be with the next steps in my life. 👣 Typical average high for the weekend is 38 degrees. Now we’re in the second half of February, things warm up quickly.

One month 📅 from now will be Last Day of Winter 🏂 when the sun will be setting at 7:08 pm with dusk at 7:35 pm (Daylight Savings Time). The average high temperature is 47 degrees, with a record high of 78 in 2021.