"Desert Solitaire" not quite

CDONA

Home of Vortex tuning
Been raining out here, wet creosote bushes, very aromatic.
Firming up the dry washes, and hopefully (joke) smoothing out the washboarded washes to near paved smoothness.
I got time for this today, going out to the Howling site for some detail & smoothing, more rain thru Tuesday.
Sorry to hear about the lack of available dirt riding parks, got way more room than I need out here, but I have to share with the dirt cage crowd.
 

CDONA

Home of Vortex tuning
No flow in the washes yet, so the washboard and ruts are still there. About the top inch and a half are dry now, but you can still feel the wet base. Way more rain coming into next week.

The Howling site, celebrating full moons out in the real desert.

Moon shadow gambling site, bets placed in the outer rock circle, 1 hour after complete moon rise over the mountain, winner will have his bet shadowed from the pipe, winner takes all.
 

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CDONA

Home of Vortex tuning
Settling in, some placing bets, various steaks in tube shape readied for the flame.
The clouds got thicker, and the moon did appear as a slight fuzzy backlight, not enough to throw shadow.
No matter how much HOWLING took place.

Yes there is my one bike, mirror and bars visible in front of most left dirt cage.
 

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WoodsChick

I Don't Do GPS
I like that rock circle moon shadow gambling business! :party
Although I do prefer solitude when in the desert.
 

CDONA

Home of Vortex tuning
After the last gathering lost shadow for a bit, and tossed in the monkey wrench, I tweeked the rules to handle clouds with shaky skies
I'll share them here,


Moon Dial gambling, these rules are from the original Howling creators, Dick & Yvonne Patrick.
I have added some to handle the lack of shadow from clouds, and clarity of intent. M. Jessee

CONCEPT

A gathering to celebrate the full moon upon its’ rising, with the cacophony of ragged HOWLING.
To observe a shadow cast from the center pipe over the rock ring dial and the winners bet.
The timing of this has to have but one dominate light source, the moon. Too early, and twilight is too bright, over shadowing the moon early in it’s arc.

PLACING A BET

$1.00 bill with your name on it for winner's id.
Roll up and place in the rock dial, in line with the post and where you think the moon will show itself, at the time of observation, to determine the winner.
Upon completion of the bet, , , HOWL.
Bet must take place before the sunset turns from orange to grey.

OFFICIAL OBSERVER

This post is what you make of it, you can have a fancy title like, High Priestess of the Wolf Clan with outfit/costume, down to HMFWBIC.

“Observer" will do here in the rules.

Main job is timing, need some kind of timepiece, countdown timer a +, and the ability to see
An official spot is needed to help minimize the variables as to the viewing, & the hight of the observer remains constant.
Observation point will now be just to the west side of the pile of rocks @ the north end of the rock dial.
The moon will have to be the width of the observers thumb above the ridge line, at arms length to start the timer.
Upon starting , , , HOWL.
The observation, with a HOWL, will take place after rising (party) time has passed, providing a shadow has appeared thru the cloud cover, if any.
Shadow passes over the rock ring and the winners bet, winner identified from the bet, winner takes all.
HOWL

TIMING

Rising time will give the twilight, time to to dim gracefully out, this has been tested.
Half hour may barely provide a shadow for results, one hour, there is no question, one hour it is.
Depending on how long the party lasts, the shadow will still be on the move around the dial.
Giving enough time another observation could happen, for a fair amount of movement two hours might be the call.


CLOUDS

Observer will asses the conditions for the HOWLING the day of to confirm the moon's ability to cast shadow
Partly cloudy could involve timers along the lines of overtime in sports.

Just like applause regenerates Tinkerbell, HOWLING encourages the moon to overcome cloud shadow.

15 minutes of rising time has to pass from the previous observation before another observation.
If the moon is still a no show/no shadow it will go to instant death + 1 minute for the observer to get into position @ the dial upon any sign of shadow.
If for any reason the shadow disappears, with the observer in place, before a call is made, repeat if necessary, or if physically spent from the proceedings, , , call it.
 

CDONA

Home of Vortex tuning
Back out to the Howling site, invested in a fire suppression tool from Dollar General for the cause. $8. for a shovel, plenty of sand,
water needs to be hauled in, so not always available.

Started writing the "rules" on the wall for future reference.
The sun heating up the metal, tends to dry out the sharpie, then the glare, hard to see squinting.

Had BB King on the stereo, to bury road noise, mile away.

I am reading Ed Abbey, monkey wrench stuff, first time.
He wasn't much for motos, likes bicycles and horses, but I don't think he ever spent time with one.

I did watch the stack drop @ Laughlin, and the coal burning power plant @ Black Mesa recently went to salvage.

Then the Marines blow thru here, ripping the sky open, couple hundred off the deck @ 300 knots.
 
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