September 1, 2020 Night

Good evening! Mostly cloudy and 68 degrees in Delmar, NY. โ˜ There is a south-southeast breeze at 9 mph. ๐Ÿƒ. The dew point is 62 degrees. The skies will clear tomorrow around 6 pm.

I’ve been staying up too late the past few nights ๐Ÿ›, so after walking I decided to retire to bed. It’s been a fairly quiet work from home day but quite busy at the same time. I was surprised, despite staying up late yesterday, I got a pretty good night’s sleep yesterday. ๐Ÿ’ค

That gas leak at the plastics plant down the road was interesting. ๐Ÿ’ฅโ˜ ๏ธNever smelled any of the polystyrene that supposedly leaked out of the tanker train car. ๐Ÿš‚ Definitely can smell polystyrene, I know when you don’t have a hot fire it can be pungent. I thought about evacuating but I figured I’d just keep my bag handy because I didn’t want to leave for the Adirondacks or the Green Mountains in the rain. I always do wonder if I’ll ever need to evacuate – probably not as south breezes are pretty rare and the plant is a few miles away – but ABS plastic is pretty noxious even if it is common in a lot of electronics and automobiles. ๐Ÿค–

Tonight will be cloudy โ˜, with a low of 64 degrees at 3am. Seven degrees above normal. Maximum dew point of 62 at 10pm. Southeast wind 6 to 10 mph. In 2019, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became light rain by the early hours of the morning. It became somewhat humid as the night progressed. It got down to 62 degrees. The record low of 38 occurred back in 2017.

Tonight will have a Full ๐ŸŒ Moon with 99% illuminated. Too many clouds for good viewing. At 10 PM, the moon was in the southeast (132ยฐ) at an altitude of 21ยฐ from the horizon, some 247,669 miles away from where you are looking up from the earth. ๐Ÿš€ At the state speed limit of 55 mph, you’ll make it there by March 8th. Buckle up for safety! ๐Ÿ’บ The darkest hour is at 12:56 am, followed by dawn at 5:53 am, and sun starting to rise at 6:22 am in the east-northeast (78ยฐ) and last for 2 minutes and 58 seconds. Sunrise is one minute and 4 seconds later than yesterday. ๐ŸŒ„ The golden hour ends at 6:59 am with sun in the east (85ยฐ). Tonight will have 10 hours and 52 minutes of darkness, an increase of 2 minutes and 46 seconds over last night.

Tomorrow will have a chance of showers, with thunderstorms also possible after 2pm. Mostly cloudy ๐ŸŒฆ, with a high of 76 degrees at 4pm. One degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around September 5th. Maximum dew point of 70 at 5pm. South wind 8 to 10 mph, with gusts as high as 22 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 mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 76 degrees. The record high of 100 was set in 1953.

I am thinking now off going out to the Green Mountains โ›ฐ for the foreseeable future ๐Ÿ”ฎ starting on Thursday after work and doing the remote work thing from Vermont during the long weekend and thereafter. Not sure how long I will stay, depends a lot on the weather – I need sun โ˜€ for the solar to work and how many Zoom Meetings I end up having. I was going to stay in town this weekend but the weather seems too nice to stay home. Later in September I’ll spend a few days up north, working from Spectulator I’m thinking. โ›บ

In four weeks on September 29 the sun will be setting in the west (267ยฐ) at 6:39 pm,๐ŸŒ„ which is 49 minutes and 28 seconds earlier then tonight. In 2019 on that day, we had partly cloudy and temperatures between 69 and 51 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 67 and 46 degrees. The record high of 86 degrees was set back in 1921.

Looking ahead, Autumn ๐Ÿ‚ is in 3 weeks, October ๐Ÿ›ฅ and Harvest Moon ๐ŸŒ• is a month away, November ๐Ÿฅง is in 2 months, Election Day 2019 ๐Ÿ—ณ๏ธ is in 9 weeks, Average High is 50 ๐Ÿ‚ is in 10 weeks, December ๐ŸŽ„ is in 3 months, Bill of Rights Day ๐Ÿ“œ is in 15 weeks, Days are Getting Longer โ˜€๏ธ is in 16 weeks, Cold Moon ๐ŸŒ• is in 17 weeks, New Years Day 2020 ๐ŸŽ‰ is in 4 months, National Bird Day ๐Ÿง is in 18 weeks, 5:30 PM Dusk ๐ŸŒ† is in 21 weeks, February ๐ŸŒง is in 5 months and Ground Hog Day ๐Ÿป is in 22 weeks.

Steenberg Mountain

White-Nose Syndrome ๐Ÿฆ‡

White-Nose Syndrome ๐Ÿฆ‡

White-nose syndrome (WNS) is a disease that affects hibernating bats and is caused by a fungus, Pseudogymnoascus destructans, or Pd for short. Sometimes Pd looks like a white fuzz on bats’ faces, which is how the disease got its name. Pd grows in cold, dark and damp places. It attacks the bare skin of bats while they’re hibernating in a relatively inactive state. As it grows, Pd causes changes in bats that make them become active more than usual and burn up fat they need to survive the winter. Bats with white-nose syndrome may do strange things like fly outside in the daytime in the winter.

Next Time – Tuesday September 1

Today’s sunrise was at 6:21 am. The next time the sun will rise earlier then today ๐ŸŒ„ is in 187 days on Sunday, March 7, 2021.

The average high for today is 77 degrees. ๐ŸŒก The next time it will be on average warmer then today is in 286 days on Monday, June 14, 2021 when the average temperature will be 78 degrees.

Today has 13 hours and 16 minutes of daylight. โณ The next time the day will be longer then today is in 221 days on Saturday, April 10.

Today’s sunset was at 7:29 pm. The next time the sun will set later then today ๐ŸŒ† is in 220 days on Friday, April 9, 2021.

The average low for today is 57 degrees. ๐ŸŒก The next night it will be on average warmer then tonight is in 291 days on Saturday, June 19, 2021 when the average temperature will be 58 degrees.

Hints of Fall ?

Don’t riot.

Don’t riot.

The NYS Department of Transportation hates competition at destruction of perfectly good buildings, wildlife habitats and historic sites.

Still Happy With No Internet at Home

It seemed after about seven or eight years that the Time Warner Cable and Verizon had given up on trying to get me to sign up for Cable Television and Internet. And then I got another advertisement in the mail just this week. I chucked it in the paper recycling bin. And sighed. I am quite happy not having Internet at home, especially because with my new 4G Smartphone that can do about 90% of the stuff I need to do on the Internet. When I need larger files or something I can only do on my laptop, I walk down to the library or the park, which both have fast, free Internet which I can use. I also bring my laptop to work, and can connect to the wireless guest network they have there.

Roadway at Glimmerglass

I donโ€™t plan on ever having Internet at home. It just seems like an unnecessary expense, not to mention an unnecessary distraction. By walking or driving down to the library, it is a good way to limit your time on the ethers of the World Wide Web, although, honestly, most of that same stuff can be done with a modern smartphone. I donโ€™t want a connected home or the ability of hackers to enter my living space, Iโ€™m quite happy building my own dream cabin with 12 volt power, LED lighting, controlled by automotive relays and maybe an Andruino. Donโ€™t get me wrong, I like technology. I blog, I like the Internet. It would be cool to have the LED lights come on in my home at 6:30 with a bright blue colors to wake me up on a cold winter morning. With cellphone service in more and more places, and the StraightTalk data service cap ever growing, it seems like I have all the connection I need to our modern society, without the wires tying everything on in.

Cow Feed?

Probably smells a heck of lot better too …

Coronavirus and Schools

I was thinking. If all classes in public schools and colleges involved students using welding equipment and cutting torches, it would really slow down on the transmission of COVID-19.

Welding and oxyacetylene torches produce a lot of sparks which are intense UV-C light that kills the Corona.