Skip to main content

The Great 2017 Eclipse.

The Great Eclipse!
While the 70-mile wide band of "Totality" was way south of here, way up near Canada, we were still in an area of about 88 % coverage, which is the most eclipse Stacy and I have ever been through.
So, while it would have been nice to have been in an area of totality, it was still an 'event' here too!

Yes, with all the coverage available on the Internet it was quite something to see it 'live' and a total eclipse even if it wasn't one here.
But we did experience, for the first time for us, the stark temperature drop at our 'almost totality'.

At our new offices, we all were watching as the moon progressed along the right edge and arched to the lower left of the sun from our angle.
As the timers ticked down to what would be the most coverage for us we all stepped out side at the back of the building and watched through our various protective devices, Jessica had an official pair of approved Eclipse glasses, April brought her husbands welding helmet, Carol tried various things that didn't work, so she used my and Stacy's welder's glass as we had a large square of it at home and brought that for the event.
In a real "DOH" moment for me, I didn't bring any of my cameras except my phone! I could have gotten some good time lapse or some better photos of the eclipse with my Nikon's, But no, I didn't think about it that morning!


Above: Stacy, April, and Jessica. Stacy holding our welder's glass, April looking through her helmet. I tried to get a photo with April wearing the helmet but she was on to me and was careful NOT to wear it! Jessica was trying to get her "eclipse selfie".


Above: I actually needed to include a 'before' or  'after' photo for comparison, but this is the back property of the building in the subdued light of the eclipse. 
Below: The best shot I was able to get with my phone, the almost peak eclipse through my sunglasses and the welder's glass. I cropped it in but it's not in good enough focus for anything bigger. :(



Above: Actually, the 'old school' method of the pin hole on a piece of paper turned out to be a better way to see the eclipse with cell phone cameras, here about peak eclipse for us. 

As I mentioned above, it actually got cold at the eclipse peak. It had been cool at low 50s that morning but before the eclipse, it was in the mid-60s. It dropped back into the 50s at the peak. 

So, we really liked it! We talked about the partial eclipses we have seen over the years while living in California. I recalled the last one I really remember happening, and it was a partial eclipse in the 1990s I think. I have VHS video showing that eclipse on the white hood of my work truck with the pinhole camera method to the family. 
Stacy and I are now planning to be in Texas on the morning of  April 8th, 2024, to see the next Total Eclipse here in the US! 
I read a lot about how being there in person makes the difference. In watching the various videos, especially from the people I follow on YouTube like Morton's on the Move, Keep Your Daydream, and, Less Junk More Journey, those videos made us both want to be there, if possible and we're still around, so it's in the books so to speak as a destination. We should be about 4 years into our retirement so getting there shouldn't be a problem! 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2021, the long hot summer of our discontent!

 Yes, it was one long HOT summer!  In addition to the record-breaking heat along the coastal ranges in Oregon, Washington, and into Canada, we saw temperatures in this Northern Idaho area I NEVER thought we would see again after moving away from the high desert of Southern California in 2006! The hottest temp was an afternoon high of 112 degrees (44.44 C) on June 30th. But, hot, hot days, too warm evenings, no rain so dusty and dry.  Record heat, the hottest weather ever recorded in Idaho, and, according to the stories, only the beginning of the heat that will probably be the "new normal" from this point on. Seems that the same "high-pressure bubble" that causes the cold and snow of winter weather to almost completely bypass our region of the pacific northwest in winter causes record heat in our same region of the pacific northwest in the summer! Since my last post, mainly, we have just been living and trying to avoid getting Covid. Stacy and I got our vaccinations...
Post a Comment
Read more

I can't say I'm on a roll just yet, but here's a new post!

So, to continue with last weeks story. In August, Stacy finally got the trailer she's been wanting all along. Yes, while I like the larger, around 28 to 30 foot or so, RVs, Stacy has kept the idea that smaller is better. Smaller can go pretty much anyplace you'd want to camp and our 5th wheel, at 34-feet long, while it can go most places, it can't go 'anyplace' due to the length. When we got the 5th wheel in July 2017, I was surprised Stacy was willing and even suggested, we go for it trading in our 33-foot travel trailer to get the Jayco. Again, the "Wildcat Maxx" was a nice travel trailer. It had made several short and two long trips in the almost two years we'd owned it. We lucked out as in an era of the rapid assembly to make the crazy sales numbers the RV industry has been having, the Wildcat was "completed on a Wednesday by happy Amish at the factory" as we didn't have any of the build issues I still read about from the appar...
Post a Comment
Read more

Spring, and warmer weather is in the air!

  I had started this post on April 15th, now it's the 23rd so this is now history! Warmer temps, for a few days anyway. After the last few weeks of more like winter than spring temps, it is pushing 70-degrees (21.1 C) today! It's been clear, not windy like the last three days, and generally nice weather. We can only hope it will continue to be good weather with it not too dry for the late summer since it has been a dry winter and spring so far. The last time it was particularly dry it was a very bad summer for Hornets. Most places in the region have many of those yellow and greenish hanging hornet traps set all over the place. We do too!  Time to get the traps out, cleaned, and set out for the season. You have to get the traps baited and up soon as with the warm weather the hibernating queens come to and start looking for places to set up new nests. That one year though, hornets were everywhere! The forest was alive with the buzzing of thousands (millions?) of hornets. Dozens ...
Post a Comment
Read more