Friday, November 9, 2007

I seem to be having a tougher time adjusting to the time change this year. I haven't fallen back very gracefully.

Winters are long here in Laramie. We usually have our first snow in September and by Halloween winter has come to stay. Not so this year. Our first snow wasn't until October and it is still warming into the 50's during the day, though the temperature drops like a rock when the sun goes down. Maybe that's part of the problem. Winter was coming slowly this year. Fall was going down like a tire with a slow leak. It was warmer than usual and it was still light when I walked home after work. There was even time to go up to Pole Mountain for a hike some evenings.
Then the time changed. Now, the sun has already set by the time I leave work. In a couple of weeks I will be walking home in the dark.

The dark is the problem. The dark seems darker in the winter. At least it does when there is no snow and no moon. The winter dark is confining. It closes down like a thick, heavy blanket. I avoid going out again once I get home. The older I get the less I like to go back out.

This dark will last for almost four months. The days will continue to shorten until the winter solstice when they will be only 9 hours and 11 minutes long.
Then slowly the light will return.

We have talked about living in Alaska. I don't know that I could deal with the dark there when the sun is up for only 5 hours and 27 minutes in Anchorage.