I was excited about the eclipse when I first heard about it a couple of years back. There was another total eclipse here back in 1979 and they kept kids home from school so that we wouldn't blind ourselves. My husband says he saw it and that it was no big deal.
I want to see an eclipse, darnit!
Our backyard is in the path of totality. We've all got our eclipse glasses. The boys and I went and listened to lectures at the public library about how to safely view and photograph the big event. (Don't expect blog pictures from me because the methods for doing it without frying the camera are all way beyond my skill level.)
I'm still a little excited about the minute of total darkness. What I'm exhausted by are the rumors and predictions of doom and gloom. I've heard that the interstate would be closed during the eclipse...and that it won't. I've heard that the highway to Sisters would be closed...then that that was just a rumor...but now there's a fire and some of the mountain passes are closed.
That's the view of the fire we had when we were driving home on Tuesday afternoon,
through one of those passes that's now closed.
I really feel for the people who invested a lot of time and money into getting here for the eclipse. And the people who've been evacuated from their homes -- where are they going to go while the area is so crowded with tourists?
I'm still hearing that we're going to run out of gas and groceries...and that's the least of the doom and gloom they're predicting. Honestly, it's Y2K all over again.
Hubby and I drove over towards the coast for lunch on Friday and were entertained by the signs. $25 eclipse parking... $125 to spend the night in a restaurant parking lot. The local mall is renting RV sites in their parking lot... That part is entertaining, but I'll be glad when the whole thing is over.
Is there eclipse drama in your corner of the world?
8 comments:
Yep, Nashville is prime eclipse country, hearing the same predictioons. Our biggest fear here is idiots stopping on the interstate. Like you, I'm ready for it to be over. The Smores retreat starts tomorrow; I'm going to wait till totality passes before leaving home. At least I'll be going west.
No doom and gloom here. I find all the hub-bub a bit silly. We had a partial here in Indiana in the 90's. It was like an overcast day for a few minutes. The kids made a cardboard box thingy for safe viewing. Really it was disappointing. The world continued to spin. However this morning at 6am my sewing machine started acting up. Looping threads on the back. It would sew fine for a few stitches and start the looping nonsense again. I cleaned it, re-threaded it and finally came to the conclusion it must be this sun and moon thingy causing the issue. You know they say there's more crime on a full moon, and crazy people get crazier. Anyway, knowing that was a ridiculous idea I started taking apart the bobbin area of the machine. Low and behold there was a loose screw causing the issue. I'm thinking that this just might be the problem you will be facing in your area...a lot of loose screws.
Money, Money, Money
I'm in Jackson Hole, WY, supposedly one of the (if not THE) most desirable places in the country to watch the eclipse. It is nuts here. We have to have special passes to get into our condo complex. They've had to close the airport to the private pilots because there are already too many planes parked there. Fortunately we can walk out the front door in order to view the eclipse, and it should be spectacular!
Yes we have a hot commodity of people renting out extra bedrooms to tourists who are coming into the city. Many libraries and other businesses gave out free glasses to view it by, but then on the news last night, one of our premier eye centers (who gave out glasses) said that those they gave were not guaranteed to be safe. To please return them. My question is how do we know the ones we got are safe. Is there a way to test them first? I plan to go outside our house on an upper deck and watch the show. I'm not expecting it to be spectacular, but it will be a once in 'my' lifetime experience. We are also expecting some clouds, so maybe we won't see anything! lol Hope that doesn't happen.
We are on our way to Missouri to witness the eclipse in its totality. It's only a five hour drive, so it seemed silly to miss it. If it were farther away, we would watch it on TV. I confess, we are very excited! We are staying in a small town to avoid large crowds. I hope that it works out that way!!
I am not in the total eclipse path but on the main route to Salem. We are about an hour north of Salem. The predictions of horrific traffic on Monday morning has me taking PTO. I should be at about 99% totality, I am thinking I can live with that. I have a friend whose husband has filled their gas tanks. Made extra ice in case they lose power. Has cash on hand. I fell for the traffic nightmare. Yep, Y2K all over again, just not in the middle of winter.
The total eclipse in 1979 was a bust because of clouds in Portland. No danger to our vision because we could not even see the sun.
We were in the path of totality, and there didn't seem to be a lot of drama about it around here. I had 99.9 % in my backyard, but we drove over to 100% a few miles away. =) It was great, but I didn't do a single thing to my camera, and it doesn't seem to have taken any harm from that. It's a 35 mm Nikon D50 from 2005, so maybe it didn't know it was supposed to get hurt. =) I remember the '79 eclipse, too. We were driving through a blizzard in PA!
Post a Comment