I haven't used a watch for near 10 years, also. I do have a cell phone, though. I checked it today as it was getting dark, we pushed it to 5:00, I squeezed in a french snap around 4:50, I will have to check it in better light in the morning, it looked good in the dimming light.
As for dry timber in a frame, I just don't see the need to know exactly what the moisture is. Some special cases, log buildings, cabinets, finish work and so forth. But the frame, I just enjoy working green wood, why would I wait for it to get uncomfortable to work? There is always exceptions.
Of interest, sun spot activity shows up in trees, in the form of carbon deposits, leaving a record.
From this article:
http://scienceweek.com/2004/sb041217-4.htm4) Each model used in the reconstruction makes a step in connecting the tree-ring 14C record(2) to sunspot number using parameters that were fixed by independent measurements (direct or indirect). Carbon-14, and some other isotopes such as the beryllium isotope 10Be, are formed from the bombardment of the atmosphere by cosmic-ray particles. The 14C in the atmosphere is converted to 14CO2 and incorporated into the tree rings as they form; the year of growth can be precisely determined from dendrochronology. Production of cosmogenic isotopes is high during periods of low solar magnetic activity. But during the Sun's active phase (with high sunspot number), the more intense solar wind -- the ions streaming out from the Sun -- deflects charged particles so that fewer of them enter Earth's atmosphere.
Sun spot activity has been well known far before the 17th century. The Mayan culture documented it, in one way they used the jaguar with it's spots to represent their sun god, that was not by chance.
Sun spot activity has been low, it is going to pick up soon.
http://www.spaceweather.com/
