It's About Time

The computer-generated digital voice on my weather radio says, "The current time is--"  Is that as opposed to the time an hour and twenty-seven minutes ago? Apparently, computers don't know when they have made themselves redundant.

Since retiring four years ago, my involvement with clocks has weakened considerably.

When I'm outside, the position of the sun gives me an idea of whether I can get projects done by sundown, which is now around five.  Yesterday, I cut  loads of big maple logs to to haul some distance through the woods to where I left Rosie.  My little wagon could carry five pieces at a time.  The ground is level but the wood, although it died from natural causes, was still wet and very heavy. Great stuff.  Pulling the wagon over the woodsy litter, I quickly reached my target heart rate.  By sundown, I had completed the hauling of five wagon loads, which became three Rosie carts to unload for splitting.  Adding gas and chain bar oil to my cute little chain saw, I finished by sundown.

Yes, I could wear a watch, but what's the fun in that?

It always seems to be later than I think.  In summer, when the days go on forever, I guess the time before looking at the clock when I come back inside.  Frequently, I ask, "How did that happen?"

However, time is relative, as they say.  One rainy summer afternoon, I was knitting in the living room.  I surely must have glanced at the clock occasionally. Finally, I felt hungry and went to rustle up a snack.  Looking at the kitchen clock, I was amazed to see it was three hours later than the clock in the living room, which had stopped.

                                                    Universal Time

Universal Time is used for astronomy, having replaced Greenwich Mean Time, which I believe was somewhat cruel.  What with our Daylight Savings Time, UT varies here.  Sometimes, we save daylight and during the dark months we squander it. No one likes getting off DST; we'd rather have it year 'round.

Being unable to wrap my largely right-brained thinking about Universal Time, I made this low-tech solution.UT is a twenty-four hour clock, but it never is 2400, because then it turns to zero hour.  So, using this fabulous system, I no longer have to count back however many hours, then convert that from 24-hour time.  At 6 p.m. here, it is tomorrow UT.  The wee hours of the night are all the same as this clock, but at 7 Central Standard Time in the morning, I read the outer numbers, 1300 and so on.


This is very helpful in knowing when Jupiter's Great Red Spot will be crossing the face of that big gas giant.

Since retirement, the real challenge is to know what day it is.  Last Wednesday, I was surprised to see the weekly weather radio test being conducted, since I thought it was Tuesday. Here is the solution to that problem. However, sometimes I forget to flip the card, in which case I have to look at the date on my cell phone and then check the calendar.
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Such is life without TV reception, peaceful and timeless.