Through the haze I think I can see the weekend though for a while walking yesterday I could feel my throat burning. Again the smoke alarm went off in the office from the wildfire smoke, the fire department came and switched off the alarm. I reviewed votes on calender 58B at one AM in the morning, flipped a Rules Report number got up at 5:50 am and started walking. A day in the life.

Good morning! Yeah, it’s Friday! On a clear day you can still see the weekend. Summer is still coming despite the smoke which started to part yesterday. Mostly cloudy with some smoke and fog around 47 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌁 Calm wind. The air quality index is 54. You can sort of start to breathe again this morning.

That cold cup of coffee ☕ helps a lot as died the cold air. My throat feels a lot better this morning, it really started to burn yesterday when I was walking in the mid afternoon after the smoke had appeared to lift but the air quality levels still were around 175. 🫁Walked 6 ¼ miles yesterday and 7 ½ miles yesterday which ain’t bad despite the busy schedule and noxious air. Reheating the eggs, spinach and vegetables from yesterday 🍳. A rich source of protein and energy for the coming day.

It seems like only a day more of wearing my oversized dress pants 🕴️which apparently the pair I had saved for today seems particularly oversized. In many ways I can’t believe how much weight I have lost. Now I kind of wish I had a working scale and weighted myself before I started this journey into healthy eating 🍏. I concede probably a lot of it was the two pounds of cheese 🧀 I was eating most weeks, which for as much as I love all things dairy 🐮, that’s a lot of saturated fat. I do like my new sense of taste and all interesting foods. I guess session could extend after midnight again but I don’t think I’ll be likely driving downtown to work a full day on Saturday though anything is possible. I just want things to wrap up so so I can get onto summer.

Today will have a chance of showers, with thunderstorms also possible after 11am. Some of the storms could produce small hail. Partly sunny 🌦, with a high of 67 degrees at 2pm. 11 degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around May 3rd. Maximum dew point of 52 at 9am. Northwest wind 3 to 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. A year ago, we had light rain in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. It was somewhat humid. The high last year was 75 degrees. The record high of 100 was set in 1933.

Last night when I was working from home 💻 I made up another pound of rice 🍚 and lentils for the upcoming week. A mixture of red and green lentils in the rice as it was a red lentil week but I didn’t have enough. After lunch today the pound of black beans I cooked up on Sunday evening will be done. They were good especially cold with red onions. 🧅 I need to get to the store 🛒 soon as my fresh and frozen fruit supply has been mostly eaten at this point as I only have a single apple 🍏 left in my office 🏢 although I can finish off the red grapes 🍇 today at work. Yesterday’s dinner was the last of the rice with a thawed shrimp 🦐 and lots of kale. But I’m even getting low on frozen kale and spinach, so you know a real crisis in the pantry is ahead.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:56 pm with sun having an altitude of 70.3° from the due south horizon (-0.5° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 2.1 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:50 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (296°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (303°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:32 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 26 seconds with dusk around 9:06 pm, which is 36 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:52 pm. At sunset, look out for rain 🌧 and thunderstorms 🌩 and temperatures around 63 degrees. The dew point will be 53 degrees. There will be a north-northwest breeze at 5 mph. Today will have 15 hours and 17 minutes of daytime, an increase of 49 seconds over yesterday.

In an ideal world session would wrap up fairly early today, 🏡 I could get home early, take a nap 😴 and then get to Walmart around 8 pm when freshly stocked but that’s living in a fantasy world. 🧛 I think realistically the best I can do is try to get my steps 👣 in today, keep my eyes 👀 mostly open at work and celebrate 🎉 come tomorrow when the legislative session is done if it is done before then which I concede may be unlikely.

Tonight will have a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Some of the storms could produce small hail. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 48 degrees at 6am. Eight degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 16th. North wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies. It got down to 53 degrees. The record low of 36 occurred back in 1975.

I double checked to make sure my stove was off 🍲 and that the refrigerator was off and the iron unplugged before leaving home because I’m sure memory is bad at this point. 💁🏻‍♂️I’ll be glad for a more normal week next week though I have a busy one planned. Got to get my summer on. ☔ I forgot my umbrella again but at this point I don’t care if I get a bit wet heading home.🌧️ I’ll dry out my suit jacket, probably will need to be dried cleaned by January at any rate and I’ll throw the rest in the wash. Probably going to end up getting at least some new dress shirts and pants should I keep off the weight if not loose more through the end of the year.

On this day in 1972, severe rainfall causes a dam in the Black Hills of South Dakota to burst, 🌊creating a flood that kills 238 people and causes $160 million in damage. This one wasn’t blown up by the Russians. I have always been fascinated about some day maybe living in the Black Hills of South Dakota. 🌲🌲🌲 Very wooded and remote, low taxes, good gun laws. If I was a Republican I would probably vote for their Governor in the Republican presidential primary as she is pretty damn sexy and has that flame thrower on her ranch. 🔥

Tomorrow will have a slight chance of showers, with thunderstorms also possible after 2pm. Partly sunny 🌦, with a high of 74 degrees at 4pm. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around May 27th. Maximum dew point of 53 at 8am. Northwest wind 6 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had light rain in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. It was somewhat humid. The high last year was 76 degrees. The record high of 96 was set in 2008.

I’m hoping to do the Gas Up 🚜 with dad on Saturday assuming that I’m not working. Then an overnight hammock camping 🏕 in the woods somewhere. I heard Stanton’s has fresh strawberries 🍓 which might be good as a snack at camp and breakfast the next morning, especially if I don’t have time to shop in the mean time.

Looking ahead to Sunday, a slight chance of showers after 2pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 80. ☀ Calm wind becoming southwest around 6 mph in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 20%. Maximum dew point of 59 at 7pm.  I might do the Gas Up again on Sunday to explore more of it and get some ice cream 🍧 made with the antique churn and the Blackstone engine assuming I’m not too tired. Plus hike at Thacher Park. 🚶 Typical average high for the weekend is 78 degrees.

Next week, I have a busy week ahead. 🚲 I am hoping to get some advice on my bicycle from the Albany Bicycle Rescue clinic on Tuesday, which will hopefully get me on the right track. Then come Wednesday, I need to go to the store and get my propane tank filled 🏮 and food for the long weekend. I plan to take Friday off to head up to the Adirondacks, so I will be driving north on Thursday evening, hopefully to get the House Pond Campsite and the swimming hole. ⛺ And the Potholers Monday is Juneteenth and I’m planning to take off Tuesday, so I will probably camp somewhere different for the second half of the weekend. Maybe Stewart Landing and paddle Lily Lake 🌼 in hope that there will still be the lilies out on the lake. They come pretty early in my experience and are a easy to miss.

Looking ahead, there are 5 weeks until National Nude Day 👱 when the sun will be setting at 8:33 pm with dusk at 9:06 pm. On that day in 2022, we had partly cloudy and temperatures between 85 and 65 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 84 degrees. We hit a record high of 99 back in 1995.