During that very cold and rainy Memorial Day Weekend I spent up at Moose River Plains. While the black flies weren't bad, things were super wet and muddy until the last day with such beautiful skies. That was quite the year back in 2013.
Taken on Sunday May 26, 2013 at Moose River Plains.Why are the weekends such complete shit lately I have to ask myself? It’s kind of lame. Yesterday wasn’t bad and Friday was pretty nice, but if I had gone out of town this weekend, it would have been a pretty wet morning taking down gear and driving home in the rain.
Good morning! Rain and 54 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌧️ 15 mph southernly breeze. Not only is it wet, the wind is now whipping around. As they say, the sun ain’t going to shine anymore, at least not for two days straight on weekend.
This morning was eggs and hashbrowns 🍳 with lots of onions, garlic, and broccoli. Not a half bad breakfast. Last night was red lentil soup with loads of shredded carrot and spices, and a little bit of cornmeal just for that rich taste of cornmeal. Amazing how quickly a big pot of that can disappear. 🍲 Super tasty. Pantry is getting bare but I’ll go shopping soon after I shower. :🚿
Today will have showers before noon, then rain after noon. 🌦 High of 55 degrees at 9am. 14 degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 5th. Maximum dew point of at 9am. 🏖️ South wind around 16 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 64 degrees. The record high of 91 was set in 1944. There was a dusting of snow in 1900.❄
I honestly didn’t have high hopes for today, and the weather didn’t disappoint. 😔 I am putting off shopping for a bit 🛒 as I want to visit Steiner’s and get bike tires this morning and a spare tube, 🚲 so I can be back on road by Monday hopefully and be good if the weather isn’t as shitty as predicted for next weekend to ride the Catskill Scenic Trail without fear of getting a flat. I could probably get away with replacing just one tire but I think I’ll spring for two so they’re matching tires, plus even the one that isn’t totally shot is pretty worn. ⚫
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:53 pm with sun having an altitude of 63.8° from the due south horizon (-7° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:21 pm with the sun in the west-northwest (287°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (294°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 8:01 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 9 seconds with dusk around 8:31 pm, which is one minute and 7 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 9:11 pm. At sunset, look for clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 48 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 14 hours and 19 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 24 seconds over yesterday.
Going out to see the folks this afternoon, 👪 but probably won’t stay that late as I want to get the new tires mounted on the bike and the tube re-installed – – and the old tube patched if possible. Hopefully with the new tires I won’t have so many problems, but it’s been bad with the amount of broken glass there has been on the roads lately. Apparently spring comes, and everybody is tossing their beer bottles 🍾 out their car windows.
Tonight will have showers, mainly before midnight. 🌧 Low of 41 degrees at 9am. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around May 20th. South wind 7 to 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. In 2023, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 49 degrees. The record low of 29 occurred back in 1969.
I’ve just been doing a lot of reading 📚 and learning lately. A lot of it is as a distraction to pass time, but it’s also been as I’ve been trying to learn as much as possible about land and building a cabin. 📖 It was remarkably quiet 🤫 around here, no construction 🚧 on the unit next door yesterday at least while I was home – – I was at Five Rivers 🐦 from 8 AM through 4 PM – – and no sports games 🏈 being played at the school 🚸 next door. I was surprised how truly quiet it was yesterday around here. Even the evening was nice, took a nap 🛏 and enjoyed that red Lentil soup.
Still a bit bummed out about that cabin I saw go on sale on May 1st, it would have been perfect if not for the access issues. I’m not saying something like that wouldn’t need improvement, but it would have been a great start, but I would want the parcel connected to a public roadway, 🏡 so I wouldn’t have to ever worry about access or improving the road.
Looking ahead, next Sunday is Mothers Day 👩 when the sun will be setting at 8:09 pm with dusk at 8:40 pm. On that day in 2023, we had a pretty hot day for May, with mostly sunny skies and temperatures between 87 and 44 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 70 degrees. I bet the black flies liked that. We hit a record high of 91 back in 1881.
I am still hoping to take off next Friday and spend a long weekend in the woods, 🌲but the forecast can’t be as shitty as it currently looks for next weekend. I guess there is still five days for it to change but so far I’m not impressed.
Seems like this week is following the exact same pattern as last week, rain Wednesday evening, rain Thursday and Friday with showers and clouds and cool come Saturday. Kind of obnoxious in my book as I like riding into work and I would like to head out of town for the weekend at least the overnight.
Good morning! Happy Rainy Thursday. I know, again, really? Rain and 45 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌧️ There is a south-southeast breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. I can’t control the weather but I can my attitude. 🤬 It would definitely would be a cold and wet day if I was out camping.
Started the morning with shredded oatmeal and some canned pumpkin 🎃 with a bunch of fried yellow onions🧅 with cornmeal, broccoli 🥦 and eggs 🥚and some garlic. A few cups of coffee ☕ and I’m up and off early to walk laps on the Concourse. 🚶 If it’s going to rain ☔ best to get my steps in early.
Today will have showers before noon, then showers likely with a chance of drizzle, mainly between noon and 1pm. 🌦 High of 46 degrees at 8am. 15 degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 19th. Southeast wind 5 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 51 degrees. The record high of 90 was set in 1976. 2.7 inches of snow fell back in 1887.❄
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:55 pm with sun having an altitude of 58.4° from the due south horizon (-12.4° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 3.7 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 7:03 pm with the sun in the west (280°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (286°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:41 pm after setting for 3 minutes with dusk around 8:10 pm, which is one minute and 9 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon in the southeast (141°) at an altitude of 55° from the horizon, 251,515 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:47 pm. At sunset, look for rain showers 🌧 and temperatures around 46 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Tomorrow will have 13 hours and 38 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 42 seconds over today.
Last night I took the bus 🚍 home, made up Johnny cakes 🥞 and oatmeal with pumpkin 🎃 and then went upstairs to do some reading 📖. Ended up stumbling upon a very well narrated video series on statistics and spatial analysis using R by Great Courses on Kanopy from my local library for free 🆓. While I’m fairly experienced in R there is always more to learn. Spatial correlation is something I’m quite interested in but I find it’s a bit of a complicated theory to understand.
Tonight will have a chance of drizzle with a slight chance of showers before 1am. Mostly cloudy 🌧️ , with a low of 41 degrees at 3am. Three degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 25th. Light south wind. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2023, we had light rain in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 35 degrees. The record low of 18 occurred back in 1875.
Blustery and cool this weekend but not so wet. ☀️🌬️Saturday, a slight chance of showers before 8am, then scattered showers after 2pm. Partly sunny, with a high near 60. West wind 9 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 24 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 56. Typical average high for the weekend is 62 degrees.
I am thinking about camping 🏕 locally this weekend if Saturday is half decent so I don’t have to listen to them working on construction 🚧 at the unit next door, even though the new landlord has been good about not running the jack hammer or loud equipment in the weekend and evenings. Still it’s annoying as often they have a lot of equipment on the driveway and I have to ask for them to move it to get our so it might be nice to do a quick overnight. I’m thinking the first or second week of May to do trip out to Schoharie 🚲 and ride the Catskill Scenic Trail once things green up, especially the greener farm section down in Delaware County assuming that it’s not so wet the trail is completely bogged down.
I guess I won’t be heading in early this morning to walk laps on the Concourse though I should still be in on time to work which ultimately is what’s important. Kind of a dreary day but it’s nice that it’s warm enough to have my windows open.
Good morning! Happy Thursday. Rain and 50 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ There is a southeast breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. The skies will clear tomorrow around 4 pm.
I really wanted to get an earlier start but it was not to be. 🤷♂️ My stomach was grumbling this morning and then I ended up going back to bed for some extra 💤 sleep and then it just seemed like everything took longer than expected this morning. 😦 Blueberry pancakes this morning. 🥞
Today will have showers likely, mainly before 11am. Cloudy 🌦, with a high of 62 degrees at 4pm. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 20th. Maximum dew point of 54 at 1pm. South wind 7 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 70%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with a few breaks of sun the afternoon. The high last year was 74 degrees. The record high of 87 was set in 2017. 1.7 inches of snow fell back in 1942.❄
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:57 pm with sun having an altitude of 55.9° from the due south horizon (-14.9° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 4.1 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:56 pm with the sun in the west (276°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-northwest (283°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 7:33 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 58 seconds with dusk around 8:02 pm, which is one minute and 8 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the west (273°) at an altitude of 35° from the horizon, 234,584 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 8:37 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 61 degrees. The dew point will be 55 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 14 mph. Today will have 13 hours and 16 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 48 seconds over yesterday.
Last night with the rain I came home on the bus 🚍 and read for several hours. Similar to what’s going to happen today. Sucks that I won’t get a chance to get out walking but so be it.
Tonight will have showers, mainly after 8pm. 🌧 Low of 59 degrees at 4am. 22 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around June 16th. Maximum dew point of 58 at 5am. 🏖️ Breezy, with a southeast wind 15 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. In 2023, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 56 degrees. The record low of 13 occurred back in 1874.
Still looking cold and wet for the weekend. ☔ Might be best for just doing more reading 📖. Saturday, a chance of showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 49. Breezy, with a west wind 16 to 24 mph, with gusts as high as 37 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 59. Typical average high for the weekend is 58 degrees.
Looking ahead, there are 12 weeks until Independence Day 🇺🇸 when the sun will be setting at 8:37 pm with dusk at 9:10 pm. On that day in 2023, we had mostly sunny and temperatures between 84 and 54 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 83 degrees. We hit a record high of 104 back in 1911.
Good afternoon! Rain and 44 degrees in Delmar. ☔ There is a south-southeast breeze at 9 mph. 🍃. The skies will clear tomorrow around 9 am.
I’m feeling somewhat better today due to a fairly good night’s sleep 🛏 , it was tough last week I’ve had my very severe sleeping disorder coming back. Figuring out my housing situation and how I want to live when I grow up is increasingly frustrating 😤. I really don’t like what is out there on the market for homes 🏡 and really want to do the simple, off grid thing.
This afternoon will rain. 🌧 High of 45 degrees at 4pm. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 15th. South wind around 9 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 41 degrees. The record high of 65 was set in 1991. 11.9 inches of snow fell back in 2018.❄
No big plans for today, books planning on going to the library to get more books out on owner home building and sustainable design. 📚 Plus I’m interested in learning CAD – computer aidedto design – so I can better put my dream house down on paper which will help me present my ideas 💭 to contractors and builders. I’m really thinking radically simple. With a plan in hand 👷 it’s so much easier to get what I want rather than vague notions of land out in the country 🚜 maybe with livestock and some green features. 🌲I don’t want to box myself in but I also don’t want to be flopping around with no idea 💡 what I want or much worse know what I want but lack words to describe it.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:08 pm with sun having an altitude of 40.4° from the due south horizon (-30.4° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 7 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 5:09 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (255°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (262°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 5:47 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 56 seconds with dusk around 6:14 pm, which is one minute and 13 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:48 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 45 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 8 mph. Today will have 11 hours and 21 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 51 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will rain, mainly before 10pm. Patchy fog between midnight and 2am. 🌧 Low of 42 degrees at 4am. 20 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 27th. East wind around 7 mph becoming northwest after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2023, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 27 degrees. The record low of -10 occurred back in 1950.
Today in 1989, Twelve European Community nations agree to ban the production of all chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) 🥫❌ by the end of the century.
Looking ahead, there are 8 weeks until Arbor Day 🌳 when the sun will be setting at 7:52 pm with dusk at 8:21 pm (Daylight Savings Time). On that day in 2023, we had partly cloudy, patches of fog and temperatures between 62 and 40 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 65 degrees. We hit a record high of 91 back in 1962.
While this year was a rainy one, and it rained during many of my trips, I was able to get out for 53 nights in the wilderness — mostly fairly close to home but I also did a trip down to West Virginia in late October with several trips to the Adirondacks, Central New York and summer vacation in the Finger Lakes.
To start out my camping adventures in 2023, I drove out to Charles Baker State Forest and Brookfield Horse Camp. There wasn’t a lot of snow — just a dusting but it was a fun weekend, topped off by a beautiful sun-full glittery hike up Tassell Hill after a hoar frost. Explored Lost Pond and several of the trails in the middle of state forest.
For my fortieth birthday, I took off the Friday leading up to my 40th birthday to cross country ski and winter camp at Rensselaerville State Forest. It was a beautiful weekend with lots of blue skies, sufficient snow for skiing but not so much that was a ton of snowmobiles out on the trails.
I decided for Presidents Day Weekend to do another trip out to Charles Baker State Forest and Brookfield Horse Camp. Slightly more snow then last time but again largely a snow-less winter, with some nice days for hikes through the various truck and horse trails. I hiked around much of state forest, especially the more southern part of the forest.
On Good Friday through Easter I camped at at Rensselaerville State Forest. The snow was gone and it was fairly mild though at times it was a bit cool. Spent a fair amount of time walking around and exploring the new OSI Parcel that has been recently added to state forest and is still largely open fields with sweeping views of the Catskill Mountains.
The first Friday in May I took a half day from work and headed out to Schoharie County to camp at Duck Pond at Burnt-Rossman Hills State Forest. Originally the plan was to camp two nights at Duck Pond, hiking along the Long Path and exploring the state forest and then on Sunday hiking the Catskill Scenic Trail. That part of the trip changed when driving along Duck Pond Road the low tire pressure light came on I found a pallet nail in my truck tire. I was able to top off the truck tire and then change the tire when I got home and got the nail pulled and plugged. But it wasn’t the best way ever to end a trip early.
After visiting the folks on Mother’s Day Weekend, I decided to do a quick overnight hammock camp on Cole Hill State Forest in Berne. Nothing fancy or formal, it was as much a way to test out sleeping in my hammock with the bug screen. Kind of a chilly night, I took camp down fairly and headed home early in the morning.
This year I decided to eschew the Adirondacks and Greene Mountains for Memorial Day Weekend due to the black flies, my desire to look at bicycles, and work I had to do on the Saturday morning leading up to the holiday weekend. I decided to hammock camp again Cole Hill State Forest in Berne. This was a three-day two night trip, so it it gave me a chance to bring more gear up the mountain, set up a more formal camp. Cooked on the fire, hiked around the forest. It was a warm weekend, but I enjoy the solitude, along with having good cell service for listening to podcasts and watching videos.
To kick off summer, I did my usual Juneteenth weekend camping trip, tacking on some days on the Juneteenth Holiday Weekend. It was a bit of a cool and rainy weekend to kick off summer, one that would actually be followed by many cool and rainy weekends where I would stay home. Camped at House Pond for the first three nights, spending time down floating in the tube on East Branch while the final night I camped up at Powley Bridge site and kayaked along the East Branch. Really, like often is the case, the best weather was the day I took down camp.
After several months of researching and visiting various bike shops, I finally got a mountain bike. I decided it would be fun to do as much of the Catskill Scenic Trail as I could before my summer vacation got underway. Actually did quite a bit of riding and hiking that weekend — started out hiking Pratts Rock’s then riding from Grand George to Hobart. Sunday, I rode from Fultonham to Middleburgh on NY 30, doing a quick climb up Vromans Nose, then stopping at the farm market then going to Mine Kill State Park to swim. Monday I rode from Hobart down to Bloomville, getting caught in a major thunderstorm and downpour a few miles north of Bloomville with no shelter in sight. The trail became super boggy, then I went to Mine Kill State Park for one more swim, and then out to folks house for Sunday dinner a day later then usual.
Every year for nearly a decade and a half I’ve been doing summer vacation out in the Finger Lakes — camping in the National Forest and exploring as much as possible during my days there. The past few years I’ve been driving there on a Friday, to get a better campsite before they’re taken by the weekend campers. This year was no exception. With Blackie, my mountain bike, I did nearly all of the bike trails in the near vicinity, from the Black Diamond Trail to the Cayuta Valley Trail to Dresden – Penn Yan Canal Trail. Kayaked on both Cayuga and Scenic Lakes, swam many days at Watkins Glen State Park and Taughannock State Park, explored the Cornell Campus and Botanical Gardens on my bike. Got some good ice cream at the Spotted Duck, explored the Geneva Waterfront along with the Cayuga-Seneca Canalway. Some rain but compared to the wet summer that was, this was a pretty good week.
The next few weeks for rainy and by the time I got away for one more long weekend, it promised to be fairly nice weekend but turned out to be fairly cool and cloudy with some rain. Back at the House Pond Campsite, did some swimming in East Branch, but with the mercury in the 60s most of the weekend, I didn’t spend a lot of time in the water. Hardly what I had dreamed when the I planned the weekend. Rode Blackie up to Goldmine Stream Falls and relaxed down by the falls for a bit, also sat down by the swimming hole off of the Old Edick Road Snowmobile Trail, watching the rain fall, bemoaning the wet and cold weather. Still it was good to get away for a bit, and I did do a fair amount of reading in hammock, under the protection of the bug net, as the bugs were bad after such a wet summer.
I took the Friday off before Labor Day to get a jump on the holiday season travel, and set up camp at the site I really enjoy up at Perkins Clearing overlooking the mountains. Did a fair amount of riding along the various dirt roads of Perkins Clearing, including over to Mason Lake and on Sunday rode most of the way to the Spruce Lake Trailhead, though didn’t make it there in time as I got a bit of a late start as I spent the balance of the day reading and swimming in the Jessup River Bridge swimming hole. Labor Day, I rode around the Spectulator Tree Farm, doing a large loop, through the tree farm, past the north end of Elm Lake, then down to Austin Falls and Old Route 8B. I had hoped to get ice cream, but by the time I got to the ice cream shop they were out of soft-ice cream, and there was a long line. Summer was dragging to a close.
With time being fairly tight and the weather only so-so I decided to do a two night trip close to home out in Rennselearville to ride some of the gravel trails, explore the OSI Parcel further and just enjoy an early autumn weekend camping.
Columbus Day Weekend was cold and rainy for the first half of the weekend, but the Sunday heading into Columbus Day was nice, so I decided to head out to Rensselaerville for a quick overnight at the campsite on CCC Road. Leaves were late this year, so not a lot of color, but it still was nice to get away for a night and ride some of the trails around.
The banner trip of the year was my trip down to West Virigina. While it started and ended in rain, it was a very enjoyable trip with lots of new adventures this year. Camped the balance of the week — 6 nights in Canaan Heights — doing day trips from that area. Overnighted one night driving down at County Bridge Campground in Pennsylvania, and a on the way back camped overnight at Long Pond State Forest in New York. Adventures in West Virginia included hiking at Dolly Sods, mountain biking at night in the sods of Canaan Heights, riding up and hiking to Table Rock, exploring Blackwater Falls State Park on the mountain bike, MonPower Mountain Bike Park, Thomas Rail Grade and the Olson Firetower. Rode part of the Great Allegheny Trail through the Cumberland Passage, and the two sections of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canalway, including the Paw Paw Tunnel.
A little over a week back from West Virginia, I headed out to Madison County to ride the Tassel Hill Mountain Bike Trails at Alfred Woodford, the Chenango Canal Trail in Hamilton and Erie Canalway from Chittenango to Green Lakes State Park and then to Canastota and Wampsville. The first night was cold at Stoney Pond but the subsequent nights were quite pleasant and mild.
![Old Canal Warehouse in Chittenango [Expires November 19 2023]](https://andyarthur.org//data/photo_005914_large.jpg)
Strangely enough, I had never been up Prospect Mountain. So I decided the day after Thanksgiving (Black Friday) to hike up Prospect Mountain, and then spend the next two nights camping on East Branch of the Sacandaga River. The Saturday and Sunday was fairly cold, so I ended up spending the bulk of day hanging around camp, doing a bit of hiking around Fox Lair. Sunday, evening around 8 PM it started to sleet, then snow, then rain, Monday morning, it turned into a white globby snow, and I ended up taking down camp fairly early after discovering I was out of propane and then spent much of the day exploring the Hudson River Special Management Area – Buttermilk Falls.
On the days leading up to Christmas I decided to take a second trip to Madison County. I was originally planning to camp two nights at Stoney Pond then two nights at the Charles Baker Horse Camp but my family’s holiday plans were cancelled due to illness in my family, so I ended up staying an extra night at the horse camp, through the day after Christmas. On Friday, I rode the Erie Canalway from Canastota to East Verona, nearly to Rome. On Christmas Day I rode around many of truck trails at Charles Baker with my mountain bike, leaving my face splattered with mud. Many of the days were fairly cold and cloudy, but that’s too be expected in late December. Still it was a special way to spend Christmas.
I saw that the new legislative session calendar was released for next year. Heavy weighted for January and February but that’s to be expected with the early primaries.
Good morning! Partly cloudy and 33 degrees at the Delmar, NY. ⛅ There is a northwest breeze at 11 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 6 pm. ☃️ Much cooler than yesterday.
Decided to do cream of wheat topped with shredded apples 🍏 and homemade this morning cranberry sauce. Coffee ☕ with lots of ginger and cinnamon. Plus some water with apple cider vinegar and ginger to smooth digestion, had a bit of an upset stomach 😲 after the pea soup last night. I really now understand why people add ham to pea soup – it’s for the fats which ease digestion by buffering the highly basic peas. 🍲 Not the taste per se, despite what folks claim. It would help too if I added more water to the soup to make it liquid before reheating for buffering plus adding more aciditic balsamic vinegar when serving and possibly adding a healthy fat like maybe mashed avocado 🥑 or some olive oil to the mix. Ham isn’t required especially if you are adding salt to the pea soup for taste. 🐷
I think it will be nice enough to ride to work. 🚲 Wear gloves 🧤 and embrace the cold it won’t be much longer for riding to work until spring or at least a February thaw. ☃ I figure with the new office 🏢 I’ll be able to ride in when there is enough daylight to ride back to the express bus in the evening. 🚍 Which isn’t the case in January.
Today will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a high of 37 degrees at 11am. Five degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 18th. Northwest wind 5 to 11 mph becoming northeast in the afternoon. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 44 degrees. The record high of 65 was set in 2001. 9.0 inches of snow fell back in 1902.❄
Stayed in the office late last night to watch the fireworks 🎆. Honestly I would have gotten a better view from the Plaza as the agency buildings blocked the view of lower firing fireworks. I figured view the fireworks from my office before I move on. It wasn’t that late and I just caught the 6:45 bus home. 🚌 Already had dinner in the office, and I thought about going for a walk but my stomach was kind of upset after the pea soup.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:47 am with sun having an altitude of 25° from the due south horizon (-45.8° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.8 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:38 pm with the sun in the southwest (232°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (240°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:23 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 21 seconds with dusk around 4:53 pm, which is 10 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:30 pm. At sunset, look for mostly cloudy skies ☁ and temperatures around 36 degrees. There will be a north-northeast breeze at 5 mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 14 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 7 seconds over today.
I got home 🏡 last night and with my upset stomach 🤰🏼 decided it best not to do an evening walk 🚶 plus I was tired 😴 and lazy being a Monday. Heated up a glass of milk 🥛 with lots of cinnamon and ginger and that was good, retired to bed 🛏 and watched some more of that class on machine learning 🤖. I think even more than a so called smoothie which adds natural sugars in the form of fruit and or yogurt I’m just as good with plain fat free milk loaded up with cinnamon and ginger nice and warm. Supposed to help with sleep 😴 besides warming you up.
Tonight will be cloudy ☁, with a low of 27 degrees at 5am. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 2nd. North wind around 6 mph. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became light rain by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 39 degrees. The record low of -5 occurred back in 1901.
Another rainy but mild weekend ahead. 🌧️ Saturday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 49. Sunday, showers likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 56. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 70%. Typical average high for the weekend is 40 degrees. No snow in the immediate future 🔮 but definitely cloudy and gray. And rain for the weekends, which seems like we are stuck on the pattern of rainy weekends.
Looking ahead, there are 3 weeks until Boxing Day 🥊 when the sun will be setting at 4:29 pm with dusk at 4:59 pm. A good day for burning up all those boxes and wrapping paper from Christmas. 📦 🔥 On that day in 2022, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 30 and 16 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 35 degrees. We hit a record high of 59 back in 1895.
