Totality

Totality:   Astronomy term - the moment or duration of total obscuration of the sun (or moon) during an eclipse.  This week, Monday actually, millions of Americans got to experience totality.

A total eclipse happens where you live, on average, once every 375 years (video).  Here and there, a few places will enjoy two totalities in a single decade: Carbondale, Illinois1, for example, sits at the intersection of both eclipse tracks—2017’s and 2024’s.

We were so lucky here in the Glade, to be in the path of totality.  And I think it was cool that so many people were totally into this event of the total eclipse.


I was lulled awake Friday morning by a moderately heavy rain at 4:30.  I got up, not wanting to wake the dog, knowing she would have to wait for her walk.  Once my tea was good and strong, and there was a break in the precipitation, I took Maggie out.

I spent longer at my computer than I would like to admit, but I got last week's blog finished and posted.

Mid morning I went to the barn.  I straighten a few things up in the trailer and then got Amiga.  Her scratches (Also called pastern dermatitis, dew poisoning, or mud fever) were not getting better, but at least they were no worse.  I was also glad to see she didn't appear stiff, sore, or lame from all the work she had done on Wednesday.

I tried practicing, with Amiga out in the round pen, the five ground exercises Christie had taught me.  There was so much grass under foot, it was hard to keep Amiga from dropping her head and grabbing a bite.



My other problem was that I couldn't totally remember the way to do each of the exercises.  Ugh.  After ground work, Amiga and I ventured out on the trail for an hour.

I had planned to run into town on the way home, but aborted that idea for several reasons.  I grabbed a late lunch and then went to the CC to sit in the hot tub, lie in the sun, swim, read, and nap.  The experience, in its totality, was very relaxing.

Joe was off playing poker when I got home at 4:30.  I did dog duty, some household chores, and then got ready to go out.




Michele and a new friend, Sherri, both arrived and parked at the house, and I drove us three to R Place Pub, a bar and grill in Lake Tansi.  We had a great time dancing to the fun band, who ended up playing an extra hour (till 11 pm).  We made some new friends and planned to return the following week for more good dancing music.  I won't go into detail, but with Sherri's help we safely got Michele home (reminded me of college days, well actually nights) and it was almost 1 am by the time I crawled into bed.

I was up early Saturday to see Joe off to a poker tournament in Indiana and then get to the pool by 8:30 for the morning shift.  These three doves made me think of us three girls, peaceful ladies, enjoying life.









These three fawn were down by the pond, and the doe wasn't too far off.  They also reminded me of us girls - playful, goofy, fun loving.

It was a gorgeous day and the pool was hopping from the get-go.  I got in the pool several times to cool off.  The shift went quickly.

Once home, it was dog duties, shower, nap and then make spaghetti, to use up a bunch of my tomatoes.

After dinner, Maggie and I took a two mile walk.

I had troubles cooling off and getting dressed into nice clothes, but managed.  Shirley picked me up before seven and we were off to the Play House.  We totally enjoyed the theatrical production of Beauty and The Beast.  It was very well done.  I got home around 11 pm and basically went straight to bed.

I must have needed to catch up on sleep, and didn't wake up Sunday until 7 am.  I guess I also felt I needed to catch up here on e-mails, Facebook, and blogging, so skipped Church (also because Shirley wasn't going to be there).  I did do a load of laundry, but otherwise didn't get moving until 11am.














I drove with Maggie to a cul-de-sac and set off walking down a dirt road.  Then I saw a trail into the woods and took that.  There were many beautiful rock formations along the way and we hiked for an hour.

Unfortunately, I also got into a nest of chigger larvae, and had little red specks all over my socks (like this internet photo).  I still had almost another hour of hiking left, including ten minutes of trying to get Maggie back, who had run off in hot pursuit of a deer.  I removed my socks when I got to the car and as soon as I got home, I jumped in the shower and completely scrubbed down with a brush. 



Carol's boys, Chris and Travis (seen with me in this photo) were expected at dinner time, so I spent over an hour cleaning house.










Once our guests arrived and got settled in, we went to Spikes.  There was an entertaining two man band playing.
 




The Bishko boys, Brian, Andy, and Tom (with his wife Julie) joined us and a bit later Joe rolled in from his poker trip to Evansville IN.  Dinner, brewskis, lively conversation, and music were enjoyed.

Once home, we watched a movie, 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy' that I found a bit confusing.  It didn't help that I kept dozing off because it was way past my bedtime.

Monday morning I was up at my usual time, and completely afflicted by itchy chigger bites all around my ankles (like this internet photo).  There were tons of other areas where they managed to crawl and bite me also.


Stevie supervised Chris who worked at this puzzle for quite awhile.









Well before eclipse time approached, former astronomy teacher (and umbraphile) Ralph got his telescope set up on Brian's drive.


There were so many things going on here in the Glade, I really had a tough decision as to where to go to watch this
astronomical event.


I walked up to the 4-way stop where one Eclipse party was getting started (video).  Callen was face painting and I had this put on my arm.  Memory Road soon started playing, and you could feel the excitement building as the eclipse started at 12:07.  I watched, listened and took it all in until 12:30, when I then caught the shuttle bus to Druid where I was meeting Michele.

Walking from the club house to the pool, I snapped the photo seen below.  You can see Donna and DJ playing music, people dancing, Michele with her hula hoop, and guys looking at the eclipse.










Michele and I enjoyed the music, dancing, and clowning around, while also taking looks on a regular basis at the sun (with our appropriate eye protection).  That is Michele seen above, and Donna and I seen left.

Yep, I was being crazy, but admit it was kind of fun.  Playing the plastic saxophone actually brought back fond memories of playing alto sax in a jazz band back in high school and then with the University of Iowa marching band.  Oh those were the days.

Time was getting close to totality and I wanted to get back home where I could experience it with family and the astronomy expert.  I took off jogging down the Lakeview hill towards home and then got flagged over halfway there.  A group of sky gazers wanted to show me this, the shadow of a tree on their driveway which contained innumerable strange crescent shapes.  These are called Crescent Shadows, created by pin hole light getting through the leaves, like a handmade eclipse viewer.  Totally cool.  This cite (Solar Eclipse Phenomena) tells about several of the things we experienced.

I got home with plenty of time (9 minutes) to spare before totality.  Joe took the lower photo as he came out of our house and over to Brian's to watch the magical moment.  I was surprised at how light it stayed until the moon was completely in front of the sun.

A minute or two before totality, shimmering dark lines were suddenly wiggling over Brian's white driveway.  These are called Shadow Bands.  These thin, wavy, parallel lines are created by the Earth’s atmospheric winds.  You really can't photograph them, but we saw them.

A few seconds before and just after totality, the Diamond Ring image was seen.  It only lasts for an instant, and I was only able to see it at the end.  It is difficult to capture on camera.  This is a NASA photo.


Nephew Chris Baker took this photo during Totality, when the sun was completely blocked and you could look at it without protective glasses.  It lasted two and a half minutes.  Only at this point can you see the outer atmosphere of the sun called the Corona.  During this time, as one website explained - observers experience the exquisitely odd and wondrous sensation of solar emissions, both visible and invisible, vanishing right in the middle of the day.  You’ll often hear that some kind of “feeling” accompanies the visual spectacle.  Perhaps this has to do with the fact that this event is accompanied by large changes in the amount of incoming electromagnetic radiation. 
It was so strange.

Shirley took this photo of the surrounding skies, seen from Wildwood stables.  You could see what looked like a sunset to the west and a sunrise to the east.  The color in our distant sky was similar, but couldn't be fully seen because of all the trees.  The corner street light lit up and all my solar landscape lights came on.  Near the end of totality, we recorded a temperature drop of just over 10 degrees.  We could kind of notice nocturnal animals making noise, while most of the birds fell silent.




This incredible picture was taken in Crossville, by Chris Kline, my favorite Fairfield Glade bartender.  You can see the Prominences & Chromosphere or what I called solar flares.  His telescope was more powerful than the one we had, so we didn't see this.

We didn't specifically see the Moon Shadow, but the darkness we experienced was caused by the shadow of the moon as it moved across the sun. 




This image, projected on the screen from Ralph's telescope, shows three sun spots (the black dots) we were able to see.  This was nearing the end of the eclipse.

Once the eclipse was over, I ran our chairs to Mirror Lake for the night's concert.  Chris and Travis soon packed up and hit the road for home.  I latter heard that they got caught in traffic and took almost three hours longer than usual to get home.

I ran to the gym for a quick workout and needed shower.  Joe and I got to Mirror Lake by 5:30.  Michele later joined us but Shirley was too tired from her day working at Wildwood.  As I had recalled from last year, the Trent James band wasn't all that great.  It was all country, only a couple of dancing tunes, and he played some of his own songs that nobody recognized.  Joe left at intermission and Michele took me home once it was over.

Notice Joe's eclipse shirt sports the name of this blog. 😁

Tuesday  morning my bug bites were either itchier or I had gotten more of them.  I think the totality of the chigger infestation was still coming to its full manifestation.  On our first walk of the day I noticed the stray cat sunning in our front flower bed.








The cat held very still, making no effort to run.  Once back to the house, I got my camera and took these two photos of it.





Some days just have to be catch up days, so I had slept in, sat at my computer extra long, and started on laundry, especially guest sheets and towels.

I got to the barn before noon, and went for a nice 90 minute ride.  I ended up going down to the swimming hole (video) to see where the four wheelers had been.  Thankfully they hadn't left much trash behind.

Home mid afternoon, I had a big lunch and packed a small dinner and got to the pool before 4:00.  I was working a party, so was able to start my afternoon shift later than usual.









It was a nice party.  I really enjoyed the singer and the guests seemed to enjoy themselves.  I was home at 10:15 and in bed by 10:30.

Wednesday morning all was wet from the overnight rain, and the clouds lingered well into the morning, causing me to sit around here at my computer.

The clouds eventually broke up and it was a day of mostly sunshine, even though the forecast had been for rain much of the day.  I went out to work in the yard, getting Joe's help with trimming some trees while Maggie looked on.




Then I spent a great deal of time watering, with fertilizer, all of my plantings around the house and in the front and back yard.

I went to the gym for a quick weight workout and shower, had leftover spaghetti for dinner, and then drove to the CC with the dog.




Parking there, we headed out on foot for a long walk, and watched the sky change colors as we went.








Once at Stonehenge Bar and Grill, night was upon us.  The fire pit caught my eye and we moved in closer to get a better look.


What a wonderful place to hang out at, on a cool 70 degree evening.

Driving home from the Conference Center I got pulled over for a sloppy stop.  Luckily I had a clean record and the police officer let me go without even writing a warning.  I always try to keep to the slow 30 mph speed limit, but must admit, I don't always come to a dead stop, but will roll through some 'abandoned' intersections.  Shoot.  I need to be on better behavior. 

I was up and moving from my desk and out the door fairly early Thursday morning.  I went to Walmart to get some much needed household supplies and a few groceries.  Then I headed into the country, SW of Crossville, on 127.  I was perusing getting a kitten.  I met Paulette, the lady who had them, when she was out at the barn.  I had tried calling her the last two weeks but she never answered.  So I decided to just drop in since she had also given me her address.    

I have prayed about getting a kitten and thought if it wasn't meant to be I would know.  I had also seen an ad in the paper from our local animal shelter and they had a 2 year old Russian Blue (like Maya was) and I had also been thinking about going there.  Well, I was traveling rather slow down the road looking for my turn off and a big truck was tailgating me, so I turned out of its way, into a parking lot.  It just happened to be Rescuing Training, a center for working with dogs.  I asked the trainer if they had any cats or kittens and she said no, but that there were a bunch of nice adoptable ones at the County Shelter.  I got her card so that I could later pursue training Maggie.  I felt God had placed me here as a nudge to go to the shelter.  Paulette was not home, so I left a note on her door, again thinking a trip to the shelter was necessary.  I had to then rush to get home, grab a quick lunch, and get to the pool for work.

Friday morning I was at the barn before 8 am.  Joe was also soon out the door, headed for Iowa and the Villhauer reunion.  I brought Amiga out to graze while we waited for the farrier, but she immediately got wound up, maybe thinking I was going to trailer her.  She ended up being bad (not holding still) for Tom while he trimmed her.  I then took her for a ride.  Her one leg muscle had been twitching and I wondered if it was nerves or something else.  She was a little jumpy and hyper out on the trail, but we had a good ride and the muscle spasm had stopped by the time we got back to the barn.

Next I was off to the County Animal shelter.  I took a wrong turn and got kind of lost, but had a nice drive in the country SE of Fairfield Glade.  I finally found my way to the shelter and quickly recalled why I had never wanted to go back there after my experience two years ago.  It was heart breaking to see so many abandoned cats and dogs.  There were a few cats I would consider adopting, but Paulette had called me while I was driving to the shelter and we made plans to meet back at her place, in about 90 minutes.

It was a good 40 minute drive to her little trailer out in the country, in the opposite direction.  Once I got there and met Itty Bitty, I faltered for a minute, undecided about taking her because she was obviously sick and in pretty rough shape.  I knew her chances of survival were reduced as an outdoor, un-vetted cat, and that Paulette was considering taking her along with the most recent batch of kittens, to the shelter.  So, with reservations, I decided to take her home.

On the way home, I stopped in at our vet, Dr. Dan.  He treated 'Itty' for fleas, ear mites and put her on medicine for a viral infection and pneumonia preventative.  She has worms, but Paulette said she treated her for that, but another de-worming may be necessary.  I was told she was two months old, but she only weighed 1.1 pounds, so Dr. Dan said she is six weeks old at the most... we designated her birthday on the 5th of July, our anniversary.  I need to keep her quarantined for two weeks so I put her on the back porch in the dog crate, above photo.  This will also help with litter training.  She soon fell asleep.

My evening of fun was the sock hop at R Place.  We sat with rowdy dancing friends Donna, Patty, Debbie, Flo, Lucy, and Carol, along with their hubbies.

We enjoyed a great dinner and getting better acquainted with our new friends.

And yes, we had a blast dancing, almost every song, except for a few slow ones.

It was late when I got home.  The new kitten was sleeping so I didn't disrupt her to check on her, but I did fall asleep worrying about her health, how she would fit in, if she would get Stevie sick, and if a new kitten was a good idea.  The totality of this decision to rescue her was weighing on me.