Orienting: What? Where? How's Come?


To visualize the "Lay of the Land" (see Lay of the Land: Mapping & Sketching, March 3, 2020), I needed visuals.





The start page: The "cross" at the top is the "register"; all overlays will also have one; aligning these crosses ensures I don't get "lost" and alignment is accurate.


During each visit to the land, I note wind direction, the sun's path, plus any other important observations: location of ankle spraining gopher holes, the deer path, the praying mantis tree, for examples. On January 3, 2020 the engineer plotted the location of the alternative septic system (the wavy lines in right middle); only grasses are permitted there. Anything else will destroy the filtering process. Each overlay is coded: W1 is the first winter tracked (I wish I had coded it 20W1, so I remembered that the first winter was 2020) OL is for overlay, and the number following is the number of the overlay, this one if the 4th overlay created on the first winter).

On this day, and every day visited in December and January, the wind blew from west to east. The path of the sun, east of the west and at winter's low height, moved across what will be the front porch--bring winter sun to warm the cabin. In summer, however, the sun should be high in the sky--and not adding to cooling costs.












The deer path, shown in small circles. I hope to see them from the front porch, which is on the right side of the cabin in this sketch.









And the "winter" summary (SUMOL=Summary Overlay; again I wish I had labeled it 2020SUMOL). I had hoped to visit the land once a month. Daytime work hours and short days didn't allow any February visits. That will change soon! My theory regarding The Phantom is noted; I look forward to seeing if my theory applies, AND I hope I am right.

My neighbor has watched a barn owl (line moving left to top), and even caught a photo of it. It seems it may "sing" me to sleep!

It is now meteorological spring, so overlays will be labeled 20SP OL##; meaning 20 Spring Overlay #01, etc. Things will change immensely now. The base gravel for the drive is laid, and the sod removed from the cabin's footprint. Logs are scheduled to arrive on Friday, 2020 March 13. And with longer days, it should be easier to track the changes. 










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