Leap Day Odds and Ends

Leap day occurs, I have learned today, because the seasonal or astronomical year (the naturally occuring year) is 5 hours, 49 minutes and some odd seconds longer than the calendar year.  So, every fourth year, an extra day is inserted into the calendar year to compensate for the extra 5 hours and 49 minutes, etc. in each seasonal or astronomical year.  Otherwise, the seasons would go awry after so many years.  However, given the winter we've experienced here in southern Ohio, I think the seasons have already gone awry, but that's a whole other subject.

So what did you do today to commemorate the day?

I padded across the sodden back yard in my bare feet to the patio where I watched the sunset, enjoyed the warm air, and listened to the robins go to sleep in the huge oak trees that surround the north forty.      

After scampering back across the yard to the house, because my feet were absolutely freezing, I asked Better Half what he had done to celebrate Leap Day.  He gave me one of those looks and replied that he had celebrated by going to Big Lots to buy a new water bowl for Mama, the cat.  Hmmmm.

Have you noticed the two really bright stars in the middle of the sky that begin to shine just as darkness falls?  The other night the moon was smack dab in the middle of them, but it has moved off to the side now.  The brighter star is Venus and the other is Jupiter.  They are just gorgeous.  Venus sparkles.  Have a look, especially before the other stars begin to crowd the sky.