I took the first photo below as we were walking to the east, away from home. The sun is just below that minor peak in shadow. The sky is lit up brightly because technically it's after dawn. The official dawn starts when the sun peeks above the theoretical horizon – where the horizon would be if there were no mountains. This almost never occurs in the real world on land, but on the sea it happens all the time.
The second photo was taken about 10 minutes later, as we were headed downhill and west, toward home. The sun is at our back, but we're deep in the shadow of that silhouetted peak. To the right of the dirt road you can (barely) make out the alfalfa field that was mowed 11 days ago. It's now around 15" high, so that alfalfa is growing at just over 1" per day. In the distance you can see the Wellsville Mountains all lit up, and below them the nearby foothills – they're about a mile and a half from where I was standing. They're all lit up as well, and you can see very nicely how all the fields with their different kinds of grass, forage, or grain have changed in appearance from the similar photo I took about a month ago. Many of the fields have been mowed now, and a few have even been plowed and replanted.
The rainstorm yesterday delivered 0.55" of rain, according to my rain gauge. That's a bit more that forecast, and very welcome. We have three more days with roughly a 50% chance of rain in the forecast, so we might get even more. That sound you hear is all the local farmers cheering. Except, of course, for those who just mowed their fields. They've now got soppy windrows that will have to dry for several days before they can bale...
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