Posts Tagged ‘sunset clouds’
Fading Light
Not all sunsets are spectacular scenes, but that one looks like there is some symbolism occurring. Cyndie captured the weird sky on her last walk of the day with Asher. We are home from the lake! The drought continues to wither most of our grass to within a slim margin of its life, so there’s not much urgency to mow.
My partner in ranch operations has requested I mow the hay field to knock down the weeds since we were informed the neighbor won’t be attempting a second cut of hay. I guess now is as good a time as any. Diesel fuel probably won’t get cheaper any time soon.
Today is Wisconsin’s primary election to determine candidates for November’s general election. I don’t usually vote in primary elections because I am unaffiliated with any political parties. Cyndie has volunteered to be a poll worker and will be putting in a long shift from noon until after the polls close this evening. She wants me to vote since Wisconsin primary elections are open and I can choose any party, as long as I stick to just one.
I’m more inclined to let each party hash it out among themselves, and then I’ll weigh in after they show me which candidate they have to offer for November.
I will not deny that the pessimist in me fears our democracy is a fading light. I wish I could believe that our elections will get us out of the mess the current administration has created, but both main parties are responsible because none of the people in office with a lick of sense has figured out a way to curtail the insanity. Merely saying they object without doing anything about the daily malfeasance has gotten nowhere.
It would be great if any campaign promises to fix what is broken by getting elected in the midterm election actually came true, but there isn’t a great track record throughout our country’s history to inspire hope from the usual rhetoric.
Getting to rub our dog and the horses again after four days away was a welcome portion of my otherwise uneventful day. Asher’s coat smells like he rolled in something stinky, and the mares were all business at feeding time, but seemed happy to see us bringing a return to the usual routine.
Our health and safety feel all the more precious after viewing videos of Colombia’s powerful earthquake as it was happening. That’s something that cell phones with quality camera features have made a powerful impact on for newsworthy events. I have never been in an earthquake, but seeing videos recorded during quakes that were happening in Venezuela in June and now the one in Colombia yesterday has given me a more intense sense of what it must be like.
The ever-increasing prevalence of surveillance cameras has also recorded as-it-happens depictions of the shaking that have been very informative for me.
I suppose people living through major earthquakes are equally impacted by watching the increasing numbers of tornado videos getting posted these days.
The drought we are suffering in our region isn’t nearly as dramatic. You won’t find many videos of grass slowly getting burned to a crisp by the sun.
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Dazzling Display
In the middle of being distracted by how much Asher was fixating on the scent he was manically following along our North Loop trail’s pathway, I noticed the sunset was ablaze in this spectacular deer-hunter orange glow. I wanted to see if I could get a picture of the scene but would need to redirect Asher somehow to allow me to move beyond pine trees that were obscuring the view.
With time of the essence, I resorted to my tried and true obedience technique of yanking him unceremoniously by the leash to break the spell of the (I assume cat) smell he was following and drag him in a 90-degree direction past the trees.
Asher is so sweet to accept the rude disruption and allow himself to be reluctantly forced to follow me against his will. We must look like such a smooth-functioning team.
Bam!
Got it.
I struggle to comprehend the angles involved in illuminating the clouds overhead that look so low in the sky and so far from the horizon, especially with Earth already turned past the point of being able to see the sun. I assume it is that the clouds are higher in the sky than I perceive.
It seems like an optical illusion because so much of the rest of the cloudy sky lacks any sunny color. How are the sun’s rays missing the rest of the cloud deck but hitting clouds below?
One minute later, the show is over and the color disappears. The evening becomes a dull gray that soon fades to black.
It’s such a treat to witness dazzling displays like this that happen for such a brief period. I didn’t wish to be walking Asher at that hour but look at the reward I got for doing so.
I’m going to need to ruminate on the lessons available for me in that experience.
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Same Night
I am so lucky that Cyndie offers me pictures she took and allows me to post them here. She created some wonderful art out of two very different sky views on Wednesday night. I’m jealous. Her percentages for photographic success are much higher than mine lately.
It was a beautiful evening, but she has taken it to the next level with this combination. They look like paintings.
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We are so blessed to have access to such incredible views every night.
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Relative Something 