Day: December 23, 2019

Good evening! Partly clear and 36 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a west breeze at 5 mph. . There is a inch of snow on the ground. ️Temperatures will drop below freezing around 2 am.

It’s actually a pretty nice evening, and I sat out back for over an hour when it started to cool off a little bit. It wasn’t until quite late that it really started to drop off. Not going to be quite as nice in the Finger Lakes but not that awful either with each day expected to reach the mid 40s. Hard to complain about such weather on Festivus and I got a nice walk before dark as I got out of work early today.

After which I came inside and rode the exercise bike for a while listening to more of that trucker country that I like from the late 1960s. That music is crude and sleazy and sexist, probably gives one a taste of cigarette and diesel on one’s mouth but it’s good for singing along especially if you’re not a real good singer and it has a good back beat.

Tonight will be partly cloudy , with a low of 28 degrees at 6am. 10 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 29th. Northwest wind 5 to 11 mph. In 2018, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 31 degrees. Even milder last year. The record low of -15 occurred back in 1989.

Tonight will have a Waning Crescent Moon with 1% illuminated. The moon will rise at 5:38 am. The New Moon is on Christmas Day with mostly cloudy skies. The sun will rise at 7:22 am with the first light at 6:50 am, which is 28 seconds later than yesterday. Tonight will have 14 hours and 57 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 7 seconds over last night. We never quite have 15 hours of darkness in Albany but if you go maybe to Warrensburg or there about, you do on the first day of winter. They have slightly longer summer days then more southerly locations but ultimately it balances out.

Tomorrow will be sunny , with a high of 36 degrees at 1pm. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 16th. North wind around 7 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 40 degrees. The record high of 72 was set in 2015. I remember that day we’ll, rained a fair bit then I went to my parents house – after working until 3pm and they lost power briefly while cooking Christmas dinner. Spent Christmas that year camping at the Cherry Ridge Camping Area in Madison County. 13 inches of snow fell back in 1966.

I thought about testing the propane lantern after work today but I have no where to test it around home. I normally hang it between trees on a rope at camp but there are no trees around where I live because the landlord cut down all the trees on his property to avoid liability and leaf removal costs, although in the summer neighboring property trees seem to provide enough shade to keep the buildings cool. I feel like the lantern should work now that I cleaned it a few weeks and if it doesn’t I don’t know how I’m going to fix it before heading out to camp on Saturday.

While I haven’t really planned out my whole camping trip yet I do have some things in mind and I’m thinking about what I will need for camping and my packing list . I might start doing a little packing on Christmas Day as I told John Wolcott I’ll be over to his house on Thursday after work and then Friday I’ll have to finish packing and getting finished for camp as I don’t want to delay my departure. I hate driving NY 79 through Ithaca with all the aggressive drivers so I’ll probably take US 20 out but that’s a long drive. Alternatively I guess I could take NY 13 down through Cortland but that can be pokey too. Seneca Falls, decorated as Bedford Falls is fun to explore during the holiday season, Montezuma Wildlife Refuge will be closed for the winter.

In four weeks on January 20 the sun will be setting at 4:52 pm, which is 26 minutes and 47 seconds later then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had snow and temperatures between 21 and 0 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 30 and 14 degrees. The record high of 53 degrees was set back in 2006.

Not sure I’m happy with the current voltage settings on the voltage switch. Neither the starting or the accessory batteries were well charged today, but then again I only got like 30 watt hours of power today. It said that the starting battery charged for 3 minutes today, not sure if the switch tripped multiple times. I may have to push the switch up to 14.0 volts again but in the lousey sun angle of winter not sure if I’m going to ever have enough power to make it ever engage. I might raise the voltage for camping as maximizing the accessory batteries charge us kind of a priority with the long cold winter nights. It easy enough to adjust those settings.

So far I’ve been fairly happy with the red screen both on my laptop and phone but it’s a pain to get things adjusted just right. But once the settings are good enough I can just turn them on and off and hopefully that will help with sleep . Definitely it’s good to tone down the blue light from my computer monitor .

I really do watch too many farm, hunting, trapping and off grid living videos on YouTube but it’s a much needed change from my urban life and takes me to worlds far away from Albany. A camera can bring you into a tie stall dairy barn and see the milking and feeding, show how to skin and process a coyote pelt or even many the day to day parts of living off grid with limited electricity generated on site, heating irg wood, etc. Wisdom shared over a camera. Because I downloaded the videos and watch them offline, I don’t have to watch those stupid ads but I also don’t get to like or comment on people’s channels. But if I had the internet at home, I’d probably be distracted all the other mindless things to do on the internet.

Looking ahead, Bacon Day is in 1 weeks, Make Your Dream Come True Day is in 3 weeks, National Popcorn Day is in 4 weeks, National Cheese Lovers Day is a month away, National Pie Day is in 4 weeks, Clean Your Computer Day is in 7 weeks, Presidents Day is in 8 weeks, Read Across America Day is in 10 weeks, Worm Moon is in 11 weeks, Arbor Day is in 18 weeks, 8 PM Sunset is in 19 weeks, Flower Moon is in 21 weeks, Memorial Day Weekend Starts is in 5 months, Memorial Day is in 22 weeks, June is in 23 weeks, Average High is 80 is in 26 weeks and Primary Day is in 6 months.