August 8, 2018 | Andy Arthur.org

Good evening! Light drizzle and 75 degrees in Delmar. 💦 Calm wind. The dew point is 71 degrees. Kind of a sundry night home a bit damp too boot walking down from the library. 📚 The skies will clear tomorrow around 7 am.

I went down to the library for a while and uploaded some more pictures from my vacation last week. 📚Stayed until six again at work but things are getting caught up from my absence at work during vacation. 📄💻Sure gets dark early now that I’m back in Albany and August is underway. 🌆

Tonight will have a chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy ☁, with a low of 70 degrees at 4am. Eight degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 71 at 9pm. Light south wind. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New rainfall amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. In 2017, we had mostly clear skies. It got down to 53 degrees. The record low of 46 occurred back in 1989.

Tonight will have a Waning Crescent Moon 🌘 with 7% illuminated. The moon will rise at 3:37 am. The New Moon is on Friday night. The Strugeon Moon 🌝 is on Saturday, August 25th. The sun will rise at 5:55 am with the first light at 5:24 am, which is one minute and 4 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 Tonight will have 9 hours and 50 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 24 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have isolated showers, with thunderstorms also possible after noon. Mostly sunny ☀ , with a high of 83 degrees at 2pm. Two degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 69 at 7am. Northwest wind 5 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had mostly cloudy skies with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 84 degrees. The record high of 96 was set in 2001.

Tomorrow I have my eye exam, 👀 so I can get more contacts. The exam is not until eleven so I don’t have to get a really early start but I think I will take the bus so they can dilate my pupils. I’ve not had that done in years and honestly if I can’t see at work later on then too bad. 😎I’ll have an excuse to take it easy later on which is fine because I got my big project in today.

The weekend forecast is improving again. ☀Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 81. Maximum dew point of 65 at 1pm. Sunday, scattered showers. Partly sunny, with a high near 83. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Maximum dew point of 67 at 1pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 81 degrees.

Going to be fairly hot and humid this weekend. This forecast seems better than earlier in the week,🌞 but if I go anywhere this weekend I doubt it will be any farther than Schoharie at the most. I’m leaning towards just going to a local state forest on Saturday and hanging up a hammock and building a fire in the woods but I guess I could change my mind. ⛺ Or maybe if the original forecast returns, which was trending cloudy, just stay home. I’m tired after this week of work and are hardly enthusiastic about some big adventure after spending nine nights camping last week. That said, summer is rapidly fading away but I’m looking forward to autumn adventures.

In four weeks on September 5 the sun will be setting at 7:22 pm,🌄 which is 44 minutes and 11 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2017 on that day, we had thunderstorm, rain, drizzle, cloudy skies and temperatures between 77 and 62 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 76 and 56 degrees. The record high of 91 degrees was set back in 1973.

Looking ahead, Altamont Fair Opens 🎡 is in 1 weeks, State Fair Opens 🎡 is in 2 weeks, Last Sunset After 7 PM 🌆 is in 8 weeks, Columbus Day 🛥️ is in 2 months, Halloween 🛥️ is in 12 weeks, Day After Election Day 🛀 is in 13 weeks, Boxing Day 🥊 is in 20 weeks and Inauguration Day 2021 👴🏻 is in 128 weeks.

A lot of off grid folk build their own homes. Which I guess is good in the sense that you have total control over the structure and if you are experienced in the construction industry you can save a lot of money.

But I think when I eventually buy land I would rather buy land eventually with a cabin or small house already on it. Just because I’m not really experienced at building things and I don’t want to go through the hoops of necessary permits and inspections. I also don’t want to cut down even more of the wilderness to have a place to live.

I don’t mind making upgrades to an existing cabin or off grid house. I doubt I would go for a big 200 amp system hooked through an large inverter like some people do. I would rather have a smaller system and only use an inverter for stepping up the voltage where absolutely necessary, running most of my loads on low voltage, low amperage connections.

If the structure lacked hot water and a shower I would probably add that using an instant hot-water tank running on propane. While I don’t mind an outhouse or composting toilet and a bucket shitter for cold weather, hot water is essential for showering and getting clean. Instant on propane water heaters are relatively inexpensive this day of age, and there are 12 volt pumps that can create water pressure. Waste water from washing can be saved and used for gardens.

At any rate, buying an existing structure may be more expensive but it’s easier and more sustainable. It seems like even in rural areas that the countryside is getting more built up and the woods fragmented. Why contribute further to that problem? Why use up more resources than necessary? Even though I do recognize that today with the decline of farming and homesteading, the woods is much more intact in many parts of the country than even 50 or 100 years ago.

I like the idea of having a place I could move into directly and build on that. A place that requires less work, less new material, less tweaking. A decade from now, especially with more off-grid places and hunting camps coming onto the market as people pass or move on, I think there will be a lot more options.