Monday, September 04, 2017

Lost and found

Found camera

Because today was a holiday, I do what all Americans do on Labor Day. I cleaned the bathroom drawers. You know, the ones where razor blades and cotton balls and the toothpaste samples from the dentist go, and never come out again.

When I got to the back of the bottom drawer, I found a little zipper bag. I expected to find a electric shaver, but when I opened it, I found a camera. I think it belonged to my parents - both of whom have been gone.

The batteries were corroded, so I removed them and cleaned the contacts. T found some new batteries, I installed them, and I figured out how to take a picture. The shutter, film advance, and display all worked. The flash did not. After the photo I took, there are still 14 frames left - if the display can be trusted.

So I guess I'm going to take some outdoor photos and then get the film developed. T said, "The film is probably already ruined."

"I know," I said, "but I have to try."

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

Eclipse adventure

So, the eclipse.

Seeing a total solar eclipse is one of the few achievable items on my bucket list, and I've known for awhile that there would be one just a couple of hours away on August 21, 2017.

We purchased a camping spot in Lathrop, Missouri, a couple of hours from home, and very near the center line of totality. Lathrop is a small town, and we thought we might enjoy that more than the huge event that was planned in St. Joseph. Also, we were able to get a camping spot with electricity, which is always a plus.

In the days before the eclipse, we watched the weather forecast - maybe clouds and rain, maybe not. Over the weekend, we mentioned our concerns to someone at the astronomy club. "You already have a spot?" he said. "Then go. You will still have fun."

Even on the drive down Sunday afternoon, watching heavy clouds, we pondered switching and heading towards Saint Louis, where my aunt's backyard was also in the path of totality. But we had left the cat home alone, and STL would be a longer drive home for us. We decided to stick with Lathrop, reminding ourselves of our friend's admonition - "You will still have fun."

We camped at the Antique Show Grounds, which appeared to be a cross between a normal county fairground, and one of those old town reconstructions. It wasn't too crowded where we camped, and we had a nice southern view.

Monday morning, we got up, found the coffee truck, drove into town for a couple of errands, and came back to the camper. Then it started rain. Thunderstorm, actually - for an hour and a half. I dared to hope that it would clear things out for later in the day. After the rain stopped, we walked around and looked at some of the antique doodads. My favorite was an honest-to-goodness Burma Shave sign.



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Our friend Kim drove down from Des Moines and arrived in time to watch the eclipse with us. The clouds were still thick, but occasionally there would be a "sucker hole" where we could see the sun. I used my straw hat as a pinhole viewer. We could see the growing eclipse until just before totality. We could definitely feel it getting cooler, and darker, although that didn't seem much different than when thick storm clouds roll in.

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I am fairly sure I saw the "diamond ring" just before totality. Then, suddenly, it got dramatically darker. There were enough clouds that we could not see the corona, but we definitely knew that something different had happened. It was much darker than could be explained by clouds. There were still lots of ooh and ahs from folks nearby. We could see the 360 degrees of dusk, but never did see the eclipsed sun.

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After a couple of minutes, it lightened up again, and totality was over. I told Terry and Kim, "Even though we didn't SEE the total eclipse, we can absolutely say we EXPERIENCED it."

We found out later that, had we hopped in the car and driven five or ten miles to the south, we could have seen totality. But who knew?

The good news is, the next eclipse in the US in only seven years away - April 8, 2024 - and my niece and sister-in-law both live in the path of totality. Clear a spot, ladies, because we plan to be there.

But in 2017? We DID have fun.