Today is the first day of spring!
At least according to the calendar … it’s been spring weather here for a good little while already. I did a little research and discovered that the equinox does not mean that the day and night are of equal length. I am sure that’s what I was taught in grade school … at least it was my belief all these years.
An equinox occurs twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun, the center of the Sun being in the same plane as the Earth's equator. The term equinox can also be used in a broader sense, meaning the date when such a passage happens. Although the word equinox is often understood to mean "equal [day and] night", this is not strictly true. For most locations on earth, there are two distinct identifiable days per year when the length of day and night are closest to being equal; those days are referred to as the "equiluxes" to distinguish them from the equinoxes. Equinoxes are points in time, but equiluxes are days. By convention, equiluxes are the days where sunrise and sunset are closest to being exactly 12 hours apart.
The vernal equilux here was Saturday, March 17 when sunrise was 7:08 AM and sunset was 7:08 PM.
I spent the last day of winter working in DD’s landscaping. The previous owners liked their landscaping full overfull of all kinds of stuff, a lot of which isn’t to DD and DSIL’s taste. DD and I dug up a lot of stuff, setting aside spring-flowering bulbs, in hopes that they can be transplanted. I brought home a bag of bulbs … I need to google to see if they need to be transplanted now, or if I can to wait until the typical spring-flowering bulb planting time of fall. My muscles are definitely feeling the effects of the work we did yesterday.
There’s nothing planned … so far … for today. I think it’ll be a quiet, relaxing day … resting my muscles, watching some Cardinal baseball on TV, getting a little quilting done, and enjoying this gorgeous weather.
Good Morning, Kathy!
ReplyDeleteWorking in the yard will definitely give you sore muscles. I raked some leaves in our front flower beds a few days ago and I couldn't move for a day or two after that. So glad to know that your beautiful weather is continuing...that's how it is here, too! In fact, I'm heading out in a few for another long walk at the park. I can't be inside on a day like today!
Learned something new. But in the end I am glad that the days are getting nicer. Have a good day.
ReplyDeleteThis was quite interesting, thanks for sharing. Yeah, working in the yard will do that every time. Relax those muscles today! HUGS
ReplyDeleteHow nice to get all of that work accomplished. We had so much rain this weekend, my flowerbeds are sopping wet. I would love to finish getting mine cleaned. I made a start before the rain.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad you are having nice weather.
Gosh I learn something new every day! sandie
ReplyDeleteThank you for the Equinox information. Very interesting. Sounds like your doing a lot of yard work!
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