Dedication for this article goes to SOFREP writer Luke Ryan.

Part 1 of 2.

Dusk.

Aw yeah, dusk all ahead full. There’s that big ol’ weepy saggin’ eyelid of a sun, a bright and confused melee of crimson and orange and swollen four times its noontime size. That sun gets to pouting long after dinner. He gets his belly full and gets too cranky, then takes a dive for a long evening nap, at least until morning.

Sleepy sun.

So long ago as a boy it only ever meant beddy-bye time and end o’ day. Now as a man it more so often meant stand to; to make ready to own the night. The enemy might know we’re a-comin’ but it’s not to fear because we own the night!

You’ve heard of the Blood Moon; the Cajuns talk about the Blood Sun, oh yeah you talk about … I like of the Blood Sun once in a blue moon. This evening was a Blood Sun sure enough, as bloody as it comes. But when the Blood Sun comes, often times it portends of stormy weather; heavy weather as the Coast Guards typically called it in the day.

There were rhymes and ditties that help a sea hand straight on the signs of heavy weather: