How are you spending the summer solstice?

[Jeff Wrangler]

Yes, but we gain an hour of delightful nighttime!

Not a fan. I prefer longer daylight hours.

From Martin Luther's prayer for morning:

"We give thanks to you, heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ your dear Son, that you have protected us through the night from all danger and harm."

I subscribe to a small devotional booklet published quarterly by the ELCA. The cover on the issue for the next quarter has a picture of trees clad in lovely fall foliage.

[serious crayons]

Friday we lose an hour of daylight.

I'm with you on preferring daylight, but what does this mean? We won't lose an hour of daylight two days from now. Am I reading it wrong or misunderstanding some fundamental aspect of seasonal change?

I'm looking at Minneapolis numbers, where sunset remains at 9:03 p.m. through the end of the month and sunrise is only three minutes later on June 30 (from 5:26 a.m. now to 5:29 a.m.).

[Jeff Wrangler]

I'm with you on preferring daylight, but what does this mean? We won't lose an hour of daylight two days from now. Am I reading it wrong or misunderstanding some fundamental aspect of seasonal change?

No, what you're reading is my somehow typing hour when I meant minute.     

I'm going back and fixing that idiotic mistake.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I'm looking at Minneapolis numbers, where sunset remains at 9:03 p.m. through the end of the month and sunrise is only three minutes later on June 30 (from 5:26 a.m. now to 5:29 a.m.).

This is really so stupid. We've had this discussion before. I know all about the tilt of the earth's axis. I know all about "the land of the midnight sun," and all. I even just looked at a graphic of the movement of the earth around the sun. Today summer begins in the northern hemisphere; the sun at noon is over the tropic of Cancer. Yet when I visualize the apparent motion of the sun against the earth, I cannot visualize why it doesn't get darker sooner the farther north you go. I wish I could. 

The streets of Philadelphia are said to run east and west. In reality, they're tilted a bit, so the streets actually run a bit east northeast to a bit south southwest. My building is on the south side of an east-west street, so it runs parallel to the street. There is a window at the east end of the hallway.

When I went into the office each morning, it was neat that I could see the apparent motion of the sun through the window. At the vernal and autumnal equinoxes, the morning sun would be shining directly into the window and down the hall. At the summer solstice, the sun would appear to be so far north that it would be shining against the south wall of the hallway. At the winter solstice, the sun would appear to be so far south that it would be shining against the north wall of the hallway. I could watch the change of the seasons by the apparent motion of the sun through the window. It was fun, and it gave me a feeling of being connected to our very ancient past. 

[CellarDweller]

Somebody go bang on the lid of Chuck's coffin.

Ahhhhh....the end of Longerdays, and the start of Shorterdays!   

[Front-Ranger]

The longest day of the year really did feel like it for me. I got up early, thanks to my feline alarm clock, and did some bill paying and other computer work until 8 am, then worked outside until it was too hot to, about 10 am. Coming in, I realized I had forgotten to have breakfast. After I'd fixed that, I did my Wordle game and sent some emails; then I went over to daughter's house to help her with child sitting. Really there's very little sitting involved. Child-running?

I did that until 3:30 pm. Midway through, I started to get light headed when getting up from the floor or a chair. The morning's work outside was catching up to me. Drinking copious amounts of water helped, but I wished I had brought over some vitamin water or tea to make it more palatable. Leaving daughter's, I ran errands until about 6 pm. When I got home, there were phone calls and emails to return. I then headed outside to do more yard work. I bundled up a large load of sticks and brush that I had cut over the spring and put them out for pick-up on Friday. I de-algaed the pond and refilled it as the heat had caused evaporation. I set out potted plants for the coming rain to water them. I tried to dump out buckets of standing water that were all over. I whacked some weeds and hand pulled some others. Checked the roses for Japanese beetles...not there yet. Added to the compost. And on and on. Somewhere in there, hopefully, I had some dinner. Collapsed around 9 pm as the sun finally went down. During the night, there was a heavy rain and everything is soaked this morning.

[Jeff Wrangler]

The longest day of the year really did feel like it for me. I got up early, thanks to my feline alarm clock, and did some bill paying and other computer work until 8 am, then worked outside until it was too hot to, about 10 am. Coming in, I realized I had forgotten to have breakfast. After I'd fixed that, I did my Wordle game and sent some emails; then I went over to daughter's house to help her with child sitting. Really there's very little sitting involved. Child-running?

I did that until 3:30 pm. Midway through, I started to get light headed when getting up from the floor or a chair. The morning's work outside was catching up to me. Drinking copious amounts of water helped, but I wished I had brought over some vitamin water or tea to make it more palatable. Leaving daughter's, I ran errands until about 6 pm. When I got home, there were phone calls and emails to return. I then headed outside to do more yard work. I bundled up a large load of sticks and brush that I had cut over the spring and put them out for pick-up on Friday. I de-algaed the pond and refilled it as the heat had caused evaporation. I set out potted plants for the coming rain to water them. I tried to dump out buckets of standing water that were all over. I whacked some weeds and hand pulled some others. Checked the roses for Japanese beetles...not there yet. Added to the compost. And on and on. Somewhere in there, hopefully, I had some dinner. Collapsed around 9 pm as the sun finally went down. During the night, there was a heavy rain and everything is soaked this morning.

One summer when I was a kid, my grandparents were traveling, and my father was expected to take care of the house (of course he was). That summer there was a plague of Japanese beetles, and my dad and I were expected to de-beetle Grandma's rose bushes. We were to pick them off the bushes and kill them by dropping them in tin cans with lighter fluid in the bottom. It was gross.

FRiend you must be very efficient to accomplish all that in one day. Maybe you should write a book on time management.

[Jeff Wrangler]

During the night, there was a heavy rain and everything is soaked this morning.

According to CNN almost 100 people were injured by hail at Red Rocks last night. You were probably fortunate if all you got was heavy rain.

[serious crayons]

This is really so stupid. We've had this discussion before. I know all about the tilt of the earth's axis. I know all about "the land of the midnight sun," and all. I even just looked at a graphic of the movement of the earth around the sun. Today summer begins in the northern hemisphere; the sun at noon is over the tropic of Cancer. Yet when I visualize the apparent motion of the sun against the earth, I cannot visualize why it doesn't get darker sooner the farther north you go. I wish I could. 

I have trouble visualizing it, too. I guess it's because the northern part of the northern hemisphere is closer to the sun than the southern part of the northern hemisphere? I'm not sure if that sufficiently explains it.

I also think it's weird that we call June 21 the first day of summer. In my job I've often had to write about snowstorms or other weather events, so I call the local National Weather Service office and talk to one of the meteorologists for info. They always seem happy to chat and to appreciate the attention, so I'll ask them about records, averages, whether something is related to climate change, etc. Anyway, apparently in the meteorology community they call June, July and August "meteorological summer." In other words, they use a term that conforms to the way every normal person thinks of summer (just as the meteorologists and normal people think of fall as September, October and November, and so on) So why are we stuck with less intuitive, harder-to-remember dates for seasonal change?

I did finally solve one mystery, though. I've always wondered why they're called "meteorologists." Apparently (thanks, Google) the word derives from the Greek met?ōros, which means a study of things high in the air.

[Jeff Wrangler]

I have trouble visualizing it, too.

I'm glad it's not just me. 

I also think it's weird that we call June 21 the first day of summer. In my job I've often had to write about snowstorms or other weather events, so I call the local National Weather Service office and talk to one of the meteorologists for info. They always seem happy to chat and to appreciate the attention, so I'll ask them about records, averages, whether something is related to climate change, etc. Anyway, apparently in the meteorology community they call June, July and August "meteorological summer." In other words, they use a term that conforms to the way every normal person thinks of summer (just as the meteorologists and normal people think of fall as September, October and November, and so on)

We had a local TV meteorologist, now retired, who used to talk about that. Add to it, and maybe it just confuses things, in these parts anyway, it can still be stinkin' hot in September. I remember one September when I was in junior high, I came home from school one afternoon essentially suffering from heat exhaustion (of course no air conditioning in a school). My mother had me sit in a bathtub full of tepid water till I cooled down.

So why are we stuck with less intuitive, harder-to-remember dates for seasonal change?

I guess somebody somewhere some time decided to base it on the solstices and the equinoxes. I have no idea who or where or when. Maybe it was the astronomers in the time of Julius Caesar, the guys who misjudged the days/dates of the solstices and quinoxes. (I don't find these dates hard to remember, but I'm a geek about such things.    )