Shorter Days

I admit that I am not a cold weather person, but what bothers me more about winter are the shortened hours of daylight. I find waking up in the dark and then leaving work after dusk to be depressing. This is why when the temperatures dip below freezing and the daylight hours diminish, I find myself looking forward to the winter solstice and the gradual increasing daylight that follows. However, there is already good news that for most of us in the United States, that is that the earliest sunset (by the minute) has already occurred. For central New Hampshire, the sun set at approximately 4:11 PM on December 3rd and will remain at that time until December 16 when it will set a minute later. Of course the days will continue to shorten with the sun rising later in the mornings until December 28th, but I will appreciate and savor the extra seconds and then minutes at the end of the day, giving me hope for the arrival of spring. If you would like to track the sun or moon rise for your location go to http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/RS_OneYear.php.