May 20, 2019 Night

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Good evening! Partly cloudy and 66 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌟 There is a west-northwest breeze at 11 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 51 degrees.

A week from now Memorial Day Weekend 2019 will be mostly over and then it will be the unofficial start to summer. 😎 I’m sitting out back watching the fake lightening bugs from the laser light, which is pretty but it’s fairly cool with the wind. Earlier in the day it was quite humid but now the dew point has dropped. I went for my evening 🌃 walk a despite feeling a bit achy again.

Today was another busy day at work, 💼 which didn’t help that I went to the Haitian Day at the LOB and managed to spill food on my jacket and pants. Fortunately, I wasn’t wearing my good jacket. I’m going to have to drop it off at the dry cleaner. Not tomorrow though as I have to vote ❎ in the school 🚸 election and I don’t want to leave my truck at the Park and Ride as it’s Brewers Association night at the LOB and it would be nice to have a few drinks 🍻 and not have to drive at all.

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌤, with a low of 50 degrees at 5am. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 24th. Northwest wind 11 to 13 mph. In 2018, we had mostly clear skies. It got down to 47 degrees. The record low of 32 occurred back in 1949.

Tonight will have a Waning Gibbous Moon 🌖 with 88% illuminated. The moon will set at 7:40 am. The Last Quarter Moon is on Saturday night with a partly cloudy then slight chance of rain skies. The Strawberry Moon 🌝 is on Sunday, June 16th. The sun will rise at 5:27 am with the first light at 4:54 am, which is 52 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌄 Tonight will have 9 hours and 10 minutes of darkness, a decrease of one minute and 50 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 65 degrees at 2pm. Six degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around May 2nd. Breezy, with a northwest wind 15 to 23 mph, with gusts as high as 34 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with a few breaks of sun the afternoon. It was somewhat humid. The high last year was 78 degrees. The record high of 92 was set in 1941. There was a dusting of snow in 1895.❄

Memorial Day Weekend is trending warmer. ☁ Saturday, a chance of showers after 8am. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 73. Chance of precipitation is 40%. Maximum dew point of 56 at 4pm. ☀ Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 78. Maximum dew point of 58 at 7am. Typical average high for the weekend is 72 degrees. Still not totally sure where I will go but it would be nice to get away for the long weekend that might be quite rain free for a change.

In four weeks on June 17 the sun will be setting at 8:35 pm,🌄 which is 19 minutes and 38 seconds later then tonight. In 2018 on that day, we had hot, mostly sunny and temperatures between 90 and 53 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 79 and 57 degrees. The record high of 94 degrees was set back in 1994.

Looking ahead, Memorial Day 🇺🇸 is in 1 week, Summer ️⛱️ is a month away, Latest Sunset 🌆 is in 5 weeks, July 🏊🏿 is in 6 weeks, Cow Appreciation Day 🐂 is in 8 weeks, Ugly Truck Day 🚚 is in 2 months, Last Sunset After 8 PM 🌆 is in 12 weeks, Labor Day 👨‍🏭 is in 15 weeks, Columbus Day 🛥️ is in 20 weeks and Inauguration Day 2021 👴🏻 is in 20 months.

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Images of America in Crisis in the 1970s — In Focus — The Atlantic

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DOCUMERICA: Images of America in Crisis in the 1970s — In Focus — The Atlantic

As the 1960s came to an end, the rapid development of the American postwar decades began to take a noticeable toll on the environment, and the public called for action. In November 1971, the newly created Environmental Protection Agency announced a massive photo documentary project, called DOCUMERICA, to record the adverse effects of modern life on the environment. More than 100 photographers were hired not only to document specific issues, but to capture images showing how we interacted with the environment. By 1974, more than 80,000 photographs had been produced. The National Archives recently made 15,000 of these images available, and I've spent much of the past week combing through those to bring you these 46 glimpses of America in the early 1970s, with an eye toward our then-ailing environmen

Advantages to Kicking the Motoring Habit

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Last week, I posted an article about some of the disadvantages of going car less. Here are some of advantages to kicking the motoring habit.

  1. Save over $10,000 a year in automobile expenses — insurance, fuel, purchase of a vehicle, repairs, etc. This would mean I could grow my savings quicker, be closer to being able to afford to move out of New York and buy my own land.
  2. Avoid spending money on a new automobile that within 15 years is going to be crushed, with all but the steel going to the landfill as automobile fluff — over a ton of waste for many vehicles.
  3. Dramatically reduce my carbon footprint, make a vote with my pocketbook against new wider roads, especially in our our urban areas.
  4. Not have the worries surrounding motoring — expensive breakdowns and crashes, getting stranded somewhere far in the wilderness — what’s that mystery noise or that wobble I feel? I spend too much time worrying about breaking down, even if that’s not fully rational.
  5. Protect myself from the risks of motoring — serious crashes, injuries, fines, arrests, jail and even prison for the increasing violations and criminal penalties surrounding owning a car and choosing to motor in modern day New York.
  6. Not having to find time out of my busy schedule to find a shop to repair and preform routine maintenance on my truck.
  7. More physical exercise biking and walking. Right now, I walk a lot, but I haven’t bothered to fix my bicycle as between walking and public transit, along with an occasional trip in my truck, I can get around just fine.
  8. Learn more about my community, see more local parks, find more things to take in and enjoy locally, while getting there by healthy means — bicycling or walking. Imagine how nice going down to the river after work to fish would be if I bicycled there? When your not motoring, place has more meaning.

Packed Parking Lot at Noontime

The Dollar Store Backlash Has Begun – CityLab

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The Dollar Store Backlash Has Begun – CityLab

I am always quite fascinated by the rise of dollar stores, especially in the small towns I often visit while traveling the state. I only stopped at one once, in Cattaragus to pick up a supply, and it seemed rather dingy, dark, and not even all that great of value. But I guess when the nearest "big box" or grocery store is 15 minutes away, it probably makes a lot of sense to go there then travel out of town.

Vermont for Memorial Day?

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I’m increasingly thinking about doing a Vermont trip again for Memorial Day Weekend. Here are some reasons why:

  1. I’ve already camped up on the East Branch once this year.
  2. It’s so noisy camping up on the East Branch with the traffic from NY 8.
  3. Grout Pond might be fun to do a little swimming in.
  4. There are more hikes I could do in Vermont that I haven’t done before.
  5. I don’t have to drive on the expressway, with all the traffic if I go up to Vermont.
  6. There are lots of dirt roads to drive and explore in that area.

Asphalt Ends On Kelley Stand Road

Beaver breeding season is no spring picnic! — Furbearer Conservation

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Beaver breeding season is no spring picnic! — Furbearer Conservation

For the beaver (castor canadensis), spring announces the height of breeding season - when the cold nights give way to warmer days and courtship sounds the beginnings of a new baby beaver litter arriving by the month of June. While established mated pairs of beavers are busy solidifying the “next generation”, the pair’s two-year-old offspring are also commencing in new beginnings - like a new place to live at the behest of mom and dad. After getting “the boot” from the breeding pair to make room for a new litter, two-year-olds are driven out of the colony in late spring to establish new territories of their own. As this brings “new beginnings” for the beavers, it also inevitably brings new beginnings for mankind - in the form of heightened complaint calls for roaming beavers who’ve now inconveniently “set up shop” in the wrong parts of civilization.