Some things seem totally bad, as in the pine beetle epidemic that wiped out a huge percentage of the pine trees in the South over the last five years. The carcasses have mostly fallen over and are beginning to return to the earth, though some still stand, making it important to locate your tent in the daylight. The woodpeckers have been doing well but their bounty of wood boring insects may be coming to an end, as dead soldiers fall and the woods open up to winter daylight.
For me, the removal of the evergreeens on the eastern edge of the gorge has given me a direct view of the rising sun. I watched it rise above the horizon at 7:46 by my stove top clock, painting the hill tops red for a few minutes. The red dot on the other side of the gorge was actually a bald eagle. He's gone white with the risen sun...And the clouds have moved in, so I guess it's gonna rain soon.
I started wondering what actually counted as the moment of sunrise? After a little checking I found this US Naval Observatory site, which has a calculator for anywhere in the world. It officially calculated my sunrise at 7:48...I'll go set my clock.
Have fun.
Sun and Moon Calculator
Steve
Nice! Did you happen to see Saturn last night? I missed it because of the clouds but assume it will stick around for a while in the moon's neighborhood.
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PW
I pointed Saturn out to a friend as we were walking through a parking lot. Clouds got it later on.
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