I really didn’t think I would get out walking today outside but it turned out to just be a drizzle if that. Not sure if it will be this light all day but probably because when they warn of heavy rain it always gets scared off and leaves two drops of rain.

Good morning! Monday’s come back around again. Rain drops 💧 and cloudy and 67 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ Calm wind. The dew point is 66 degrees. The rain will stop tonight and skies will clear tomorrow around 5 am. Might be a good day to take delivery of Blackie, the name I gave my new mountain bike if it’s ready.

This morning out walking 🚶. I’m happy about that. The black coffee ☕ – already had a half cup and breakfast will be original cream of wheat with frozen blueberries and a good glop of plain non fat Greek yogurt mixed in for protein and taste. 🥣 At first I struggled to adopt the Greek yogurt craze 🤪, as it’s rather tart and when I started eating healthy I zeroed in on the calories and saturated fats in dairy but I came around getting to like the somewhat bitter taste, noting the excellent ratio of protein to calories and how it’s a way to support dairy 🐮 without as much of the unhealthy crap as cheese 🧀 and ice cream 🍦.

Today will rain and possibly a thunderstorm. Some of the storms could produce heavy rain. 🌧 High of 75 degrees at 5pm. Eight degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around June 4th. Maximum dew point of 69 at 10am. 🏖️ Light north wind becoming northwest 5 to 10 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New rainfall amounts between a half and three quarters of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 81 degrees. The record high of 100 was set in 1936.

I am hoping it stays dry enough to walk this evening 👣 but realistically I see the forecast. I will do the best I can do at lunch time, walking in the Concourse or maybe in the walkway. But it might be a good evening to continue reading either the Boggleheads Guide to Investing or Beginner’s Guide to D3.js. I am trying to learn more about D3.js. 📚 I took a FreeCodeCamp class on D3.js last fall but I’ve never used it but it’s a powerful tool for creating visualizations in Javascript. I also need to retire the debt on my credit card today, 💳 as I need more room under my credit limit so I can actually purchase the bike this week. 🚵‍♀️ Also want to get my FreeCreditReport and make sure all my credit accounts are still locked and clear, like they should be — and super boring.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 1:01 pm with sun having an altitude of 69.6° from the due south horizon (-1.2° vs. 6/21). The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:53 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (295°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (302°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:35 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 24 seconds with dusk around 9:08 pm, which is 27 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:53 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and thunderstorms 🌩 and temperatures around 71 degrees. The dew point will be 65 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 9 mph. Today will have 15 hours and 10 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 11 seconds over yesterday.

Last night I got reading 📖 the Boggleheads Guide to Investing. Truth be told not much I didn’t already know but it’s good to expand your knowledge. I’ve done a lot of things right though I fully admit in some cases I leave money 💵 on the table. Automatic investing with low cost index funds remains key to sustainable wealth growth. I probably could live without my big jacked up truck 🛻 or my new mountain bike 🚵 or my guns I don’t use enough 🔫 but I also don’t take flamboyant vacations in fancy hotels, I don’t have internet, cable or air conditioning at my run down apartment in the city and I use public transport to get work. I’m really putting away a good chunk of money for retirement – federal maximums for my Roth IRA, Deferred Comp and plus I got my pension and also buy $415 weekly of a variety of index and bond funds. The hell of it is my credit score is complete crap, below 800, because I have never borrowed money outside of my credit card — no student or auto loans ever, and I refused to allow the bank to set a credit limit above $5,000 — which means my credit utilization is relatively high at 10-15% each month. 💳 But hopefully if I ever need to use credit to buy land or something else, I can put the majority down in cash, so I don’t get bit through the nose 🐽 for refusing to use credit through the years.

And reading this book, truth is though that I feel more then a little guilty spending so much money on a fancy new bike, though my old clunker would still be that even if I did finish the rebuild project. 🚲 I’m hoping to get a lot of use out of the bicycle to sure — already been thinking about some remote-country hammock camping, only reachable by bicycle trail come August. 🤯 Spent some time pondering what to do with my old bicycle — I’ll possibly continue the rebuild as I now have the back wheel back together, but I honestly don’t want to spend much more time or money on parts that now that I will soon have the Blackie. 👩‍🔧 I think it’s in too rough of shape to be traded in with the fork a little rough and still some of the parts not reinstalled, but I’m kind of hoping that Albany Bicycle Rescue will take it as a donation. I have too much clutter, but I’d rather it get more use then take it to a scrap yard. 🍇 I probably eat some grapes and chickpeas for stress eating last night, but I did follow it by a walk, 👣 as the rain let up last night. Overall, despite eating a large dinner — I mostly eat too much fruit and vegetables, and some rather unhealthy small portion of chicken and rice, I did still walk 9 1/2 miles yesterday and plan to do hopefully 10 miles today, and 40 flights of stairs. I do worry about getting obese 🤰 though in the future should I fall off my rocker.

Tonight will rain likely and possibly a thunderstorm before 8pm, then a chance of rain and thunderstorm then a chance of of the storms could produce heavy rain. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 62 degrees at 6am. One degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around July 9th. Maximum dew point of 67 at 6pm. Northwest wind 6 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies. It got down to 55 degrees. The record low of 48 occurred back in 1986.

On this day in 1890, Wyoming is admitted to the United States as the 44th US State. 🤠Many liberals regard that as a mistake, although it has some beautiful country out in Yellowstone and lots of oil and coal. 🛢️And in 1962, Telstar, the world’s first communication satellite is launched.📡 It would be destroyed within a year or so due to above ground nuclear testing. People think it was radiation and human sickness 🤮 that lead to the above ground test ban 💣 when it was really concerns about damage to military satellites. 🛰

A very typical summer weekend ahead. Hot and humid, thunderstorm ⛈ threat all weekend. Saturday, a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 84. Chance of precipitation is 50%. ☀ Maximum dew point of 70 at 11am. Sunday, a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly sunny, with a high near 85. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Maximum dew point of 70 at 11am. Typical average high for the weekend is 84 degrees.

Looks like a decent weekend. ⛺ I’m still thinking about heading out to Schoharie this weekend for riding the Catskill Scenic Trail, swimming 🏊, the auto show at NY Power Authority. 🚙 I might take off Monday if it’s nice. I kind of don’t like driving back to Betty Brook due to the tight campsite and rough roads with my big jacked up truck but I’m thinking Sunday night there is a good chance I could get the campsite either on West Kill Road or Cole Hollow. The prior would mean you could get an early start, head down to Stamford and Monday morning and do the leg of the trail from Stamford down to Bloomville. 🚲 Monday’s are usually easier to get off plus then it’s a four day week the next two weeks as I’m leaving for vacation on a Friday. Then the week after vacation is my dentist appointment 🦷 not this week as I originally thought.

A lot of my weekend plans depends on when I take delivery of Blackie, 🚲 and when I get the kick stand, rack and crate on it. I decided I’ll add yellow reflective DOT tape to the rear and sides of the black crate and the rack to improve visibility when riding on the road. I found my old front and back lights, though I’m missing the mount for the rear one or more like I think it broke when I took it off the old bike a few weeks back when I was restoring it. Supposedly from the online inventory the bike store has the kick stand, the MIK rack and MIK connector plate as I’d like to have that all installed before I head out for the weekend, along with the bicycle registered and licensed with the town, photos and other information sent to my insurer.

Looking ahead, there are 6 weeks until World Mosquito Day 🐞 when the sun will be setting at 7:50 pm with dusk at 8:18 pm. My gawd have they been bad at times lately in the woods, especially for the evening walk at Elm Ave Town Park. On that day in 2022, we had hot and muggy weather 😰 , partly sunny and temperatures between 88 and 70 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 82 degrees. The mosquitoes loved that. We hit a record high of 98 back in 1916.