sillouette

heroic pose at sunrise

Dawn

My work started just as soon as the sun cleared the tops of the trees.

The pole

I dug a hole deep enough to make sure my blue sundial staff would remain sturdy and straight.

shadows

Now I could use the blue pole's shadow to tell the time for my sundial.

6 am

At 6 in the morning I used another stick to measure a certain distance away from the center, and placed a marker where the shadow lay.

7 am

An hour later I measured and set down another marker. I also used bits of tape to label each marker.

8 am

I did the same thing at 8 am.

9 am

and again at 9 am.

10 am

And did the same thing each hour until the sun set.

11 am

12 pm

high noon.

1 pm

I was surprised to find that the shadow moved quite a ways from twelve to one pm.

2 pm

the shadows distance was also greater from one to two pm.

3 pm

At three the shadows movement slowed back down to normal.

4 pm

And so time, and the sun continued marching on

5 pm

6 pm

When six pm rolled around, I could definatly tell that the sun was getting lower. I was wondering if the sun would be high enough for another marker at seven pm.

7 pm

And lo! The sun was still high enough to cast a shadow.

The trees

However, the tree line in the west was starting to cover up the sun...

8 pm

And by eight pm it was not high enough to reach my sundial.

The circle of markers

So from 6 am until 7 pm, I was able to put down a marker for every hour.

Sundial

I came back a few days later, and the shadows still align up accurately every hour,

Sundial

From dawn to dusk.