Archive for September, 2010

Parallel Forest

I love the Parallel Forest; I especially love it when I’m by myself!  The equal spacing and parallel plantings present a picture of calm, silence, and peace.  Planted in the the spring of 1912, the cedars are nearing 100 years old.  They’ve stood witness to many things now history and long forgotten.  They’ve stood and flourished through years of plenty and have withstood times of hardship, too.  The ice storm of January 28, 2010, was one that hit hard and left its mark.  Living in Lawton and seeing the destruction left in the wake of that storm kept me away from the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge for months.  It was April before I made my first trip there since the storm and I was heartbroken by the scene.  However, even then I avoided going by the Parallel Forest for fear of what I might see there.  Even though I have made numerous trips back since then, it was only this past Thursday that I was able to pull off Hwy 115, and into the small black-topped parking lot belonging to this grove of native red cedar trees.  I think the reason that brought me here now, was the reality of an approaching surgery and the desire to experience the peace and calm I always found here.  I needed that and I needed to slow down, be still, and know GOD.  This is a good place for that.

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The Sun Rises Early!

I never know what I’m going to get with a sunrise.  I’ve enjoyed countless sunrises over the years:  the majority from getting up early, not coming in late, although there’s been a few of those, too.  For the past decade, or so, the sun risings I’ve witnessed follow on the heels of simple planning.  But in spite of the planning there’s no way I can know what scene will unfold in the eastern sky.  I’m always in the dark on that and leaving home at dark-thirty doesn’t help, either!  Sunsets are different and I can anticipate and see the event unfold;  I’m waiting on it to happen.  Sunrises are so different!

Best Made Plans?

It’s an easy matter to catch the nightly weather forecasts to get an idea of what the weather is predicted to be five to seven days in advance.  But gee whiz, I live in Southwest Oklahoma where moist warm air rising from the Gulf and dry arctic air sweeping down the Plains from Canada can ruin the best meteorologist’s forecast in a matter of hours.   Experience has taught me to check the forecast late the night before and then don’t bet any money on what it’s going to do.  It’s also easy to get the forecast for things like the times for Nautical Twilight, Civil Twilight, and actual time of sunrise, percent of cloud cover, probability of precipitation, direction and velocity of wind, and temperature at any given hour.  There are also plenty of simple software programs that will tell you the precise degree from North that the sun will actually rise on the horizon based on your geographical location.  I use a free one called “Ephemeris.  I plug in the angle of declination for Lawton, or any other location, and then every time I open it I have the time and angles for the rising and setting of the sun and moon on that particular day.  It’s very handy.  Now, with all that in hand a reasonable person would think it’s just a matter of getting out of bed.  “Not so Sherlock!” Read the rest of this entry »