Calibrating the Noon Shadow

The overhead sun reached its apex directly above the post, shortening all forward shadows. I stepped up to the upright brass gear, checking its alignment with the dried cherry pit. A tiny dried twig from an overhead birch had fallen across the two-millimeter metric teeth, interrupting the projected pattern. Planting my boots firmly in the cedar fissure, I gripped the brittle stem with both gloved hands and snapped off the excess length. Wedging the remaining straight section into the gear's top groove created a precise vertical gnomon. The midday shadow now marks a crisp zero-degree reference line directly across the wood grain.#X-Men'97 #cyclops #buddies @americansamurai