Mom picked me up some rye flower and dill weed and adding some wheat flour, yeast, water, salt and some vital wheat gluten made some good bread. Wish I had more rise though, I could try more yeast next time or a higher portion of vital wheat gluten and less wheat flour. Wheat flour is difficult as it is very low in gluten and is heavy with all that healthy protein and fiber.

Good morning! Happy Thursday. Mostly sunny and 30 degrees in Albany, NY. There is a west breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. There are 0.3 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Cold start to the morning, though warming up quickly, it will be above freezing by 9 AM.

Rode my bike in again to work today. 🚲 Like I do most days, while the weather is decent. Today is share cookies day in the office 🍪 so I had to be careful riding in with my bike box full with my laptop, lunch, snacks, and a large glass pyrex container full of cookies I baked. 📦 🍪 💻 🎒 But with careful ride in on the somewhat snowy and icy bike trail I made it in safely. I did make sure my basket was good and tight to the panier rack, and things bungeed down, and easy on the bumps.

Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 37 degrees at 1pm. Two degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 18th. West wind 5 to 7 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 31 degrees. The record high of 63 was set in 1901. 12.5 inches of snow fell back in 1956.❄

Working back downtown again today. 📃 I wouldn’t want to miss the exchange cookies day this afternoon, 🍪 plus I like the

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:50 am with sun having an altitude of 24.1° from the due south horizon (-46.6° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.4 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:37 pm with the sun in the southwest (231°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (239°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:23 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 24 seconds with dusk around 4:53 pm, which is 11 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the southwest (223°) at an altitude of 6° from the horizon, 230,431 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:30 pm. At sunset, look for mostly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 36 degrees. There will be a south-southwest breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 7 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 34 seconds over yesterday.

Big Red passed his inspection with no issues, 🔎🛻 the oil changed and tires rotated. Prices have gone up a bit in the shop, I think it was about $94 bucks for all three things but I should be good until next summer except should random things break or need repair before then. Makes me want to go back to changing my own oil, lol. 🛢 I want to get another year out of Big Red if at all possible, so I’ll feed it parts beyond engine or transmission tear-down type repairs. 👩‍🔧 Rust continues to be an issue but I’ve been painting it with red primer, and some point maybe in the spring I’ll cover with duplicate color match. 👨‍🎨 I haven’t put the hub caps back on, will do this weekend after I do a quick check of the torque of the wheel nuts, lest the shop mess that up. 🔧 Can’t happen twice, right?

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 28 degrees at 3am. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 29th. South wind around 8 mph. In 2022, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 16 degrees. The record low of -8 occurred back in 1874.

Today in 1994, started construction begins on the Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze river. The Three Gorges Dam has been the world’s largest power station in terms of installed capacity (22,500 MW) since 2012. In 2014, the dam generated 98.8 terawatt-hours (TWh) and had the world record, but was surpassed by the Itaipú Dam, which set the new world record in 2016, producing 103.1 TWh. 🏞 Also, today was a notable date in civil rights history, with the release of the Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States, 379 U.S. 241 (1964), a landmark United States Supreme Court case holding that the Commerce Clause gave the U.S. Congress power to force private businesses to abide by Title II of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination in public accommodations.

Mild and pretty nice for the weekend. 😀 Friday is going to be in the fifties. And Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 45. North wind around 6 mph. Sunday, more clouds push in especially late, with a high near 47. Typical average high for the weekend is 38 degrees.

Looking ahead, next Thursday is First Day of Winter ☃️ when the sun will be setting at 4:26 pm with dusk at 4:56 pm. On that day in 2022, we had mostly sunny and temperatures between 34 and 16 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 37 degrees. We hit a record high of 62 back in 2018.