At 4:31pm the sun gracefully dipped behind the hills in western New Britain, Plainville and Southington. A peaceful and tranquil sight as our great orb said goodnight on the first day of 2017. Hopefully this will be a positive sign that our new year is getting off to a good start. We have already gained 12 minutes of true sunlight in the afternoon as the days stretch out further heading toward the summer months. The days continue to get longer now, but the temperatures will continue to get colder through the end of January, then a slow migration as we enter February.