I am curious what everyone thought of the lunar eclipse Sunday night. I don’t know what it is about celestial events, but I fall
for them every time. For example, I hear something like this is the only time this will happen in the next 430 years, so I go watch it. Even if it is just one star brighter than another. I don’t want to be that guy that 20 years from now says, “Yeah, that blah-blah- blah happened back in ’22, but I didn’t see it. If only someone had said how great it would have been.”
So, I have gotten up in the middle of the night to see lunar eclipses, meteor showers and even a comet or two. But as hyped up
as these things become, so often I walk away thinking “well, that happened, let’s get back in bed.” In fact, there are only two events that I think I genuinely was impressed: the Hale-Bopp Comet a few years back and the full solar eclipse a couple of years ago.
Hale-Bopp was so cool because it was a full-blown comet, showing its tail and streaking steadily across the sky. I think I have seen other comets, but they weren’t nearly as pronounced, so it was pretty cool. The full solar eclipse was one of the most remarkable events I can remember. I was on the Harrisonville football field during the event, watching students observe. Hanging with a science teacher, I got a great indirect view, plus learned all of the scientific jibber-jabber that went with it.
What I remember though, was how when the eclipse neared totality, the temperature on the field dipped about 20 degrees and a breeze kicked in. After totality, it immediately started warming up again.
Sunday night I was excited about the full lunar eclipse. It was labeled a Blood Moon, Flower Moon, Full Corn Planting Moon and Super Moon. Some element of it was so rare, it won’t happen again for 430 years, but I don’t know for sure what that was. I do know it was the longest totality we will see until 2029. So, it was a super event.
Unfortunately, despite all of the hype, I forgot all about the eclipse until I saw pictures posted Monday morning. But I don’t want you to think I missed it for frivolous reasons, I actually had a very good reason, we were in the process of binge-watching reruns of “Two and One-Half Men” on Nick at Night. I have to watch when I can because I think the shows are only on like 23 hours a day, six days a week. And there were some really good episodes, like the one where Alan does something stupid, Charlie gets drunk and Jake tells fart jokes. That’s a really good episode.
Oddly, after the storms moved through Sunday morning, I really wondered if it would clear up enough to see the lunar light show Sunday night. The storm certainly changed the weather, from mid-July heat to a more spring-like feel.
While I made it all of the way to mid-May, I was not able to survive the season without the allergies kicking in. It seems like about everyone I talk to is sharing the agony of watery eyes, sniffles and scratchy throat. Yeah, spring.
Another great joy of spring is cleaning. Although with my fiancé, Leslie, cleaning is not so much removing dirt as it is replacing things around the house. For example, last week she bought a new, big wall clock for the dining room. After it had hung for a couple days, she came in and thanked me for putting the battery in the new clock.
She said she looked at it and it said 10:12, which was the same time on the microwave, so she appreciated it running. She was less thrilled when she checked it a couple hours later and it still said 10:12.
As you may have guessed, I hadn’t put a battery in the clock. She said at least a stopped clock is right twice a day. I said it must be a “female” clock, because a “male” would never be right.
I immediately put a new battery in the clock.