Eclipse

[catherine]

Has anyone weighed in on this yet? I'm immersed in it because I am directly in the path of totality. My NJ son is coming up with his family and staying in the camper. We have a nice bit of lawn on the lake with a great view of the sun. I'm so hoping the forecast of clear skies sticks. I am so psyched. I've anticipated this since the last eclipse. I am very, very excited about this. But some (my DD and DSIL) don't get the excitement. No matter. I think it's going to be a great event.

I know at least some of you are in the path. Are you excited?

[iris lilies]

I’m not very interested. The last one in 2017 was pretty much a non-event for me after a lot of buildup.

For this year I had relatives saying they were coming from Iowa to a place about two hours south of me, but both of them have since pulled out, saying the weather isn’t going to be decent anyway. in my own house we have 90% coverage of the sun.

we can only imagine what ancient peoples thought about this phenomena. it must’ve freaked them right out.

[sweetana3]

Schools, businesses of all kinds, social events, etc. are all closed on Monday. Warnings to stay off the roads due to crazies. Not my idea of fun. But then I have lived thru so many things that it just does not cause the great impression anymore. Neighbors let us know that they have a houseful of relatives that came for the event and will be partying all weekend.

We are directly in the path of the full eclipse.

[Alan]

We're not in the path of totality but pretty close, 99.5%. We ordered eclipse glasses several months ago and plan on spending Monday afternoon sitting on the deck with a cold drink and watching.

We're having several sections of fencing replaced and new gates installed and we just found out a few days ago that they'll be here on Monday as well. Thankfully we have enough glasses on hand to lend them to the workers if they wish, well, as long as there's less than four of them, if not they'll have to share.

[Tradd]

95% or so here in the Chicago area. I’ll watch it online. Supposed to be cloudy anyway. I’m not all hyped up about it, but interesting hearing about all the hoo hah around it.

[ToomuchStuff]

I don't even know if I am in the path. We were the last time and everyone kept trying to get me outside to view it, however I watched the ovens, so peoples food didn't burn (and it was a good thing).
If it is Monday, I don't know what time, so I could be in Chemo, or back on the way to work. Last week was around 74 hours, so easier then the 100+ I was worried about, however this week, with Chemo, will be tougher.

[rosarugosa]

We're not in the path of totality, but close enough. I bought eclipse glasses online several months ago. I plan to pretty much go about my business but I can take a look now and again without burning holes in my retinas. There's no way I could sit and watch the sun and the moon for 2 hours; I have stuff to do and I would find that pretty tedious. It's actually kind of funny that we've been so happy to have more daylight this time of year, but we are so excited that it's going to get fully dark in the late afternoon. It sounds like it's going to be such a beautiful day too; I'm planning to get out and plant my new hellebores (yellow flowers!) I will need to make sure I get out there before it gets dark! But I do definitely want to check it out. I remember the last one when I was a kid. I was visiting Orton Plantation in NC with my family and it made an impression on me.

[nswef]

We have schools closing early. I don't know what percent we are, but it will get dark. I'm giving blood at 1:30 so will be leaving there right around the time it is in totality. Not sure what to do...just not look!!!! My husband will be at the dentist. I think I'll give him the glasses we got free at the library for his drive home which is a west drive. More anxious than excited. But that is typical of my reactions to many "exciting" things.

[kib]

we can only imagine what ancient peoples thought about this phenomena. it must’ve freaked them right out.

I've wondered about that too. Did they think the world was ending? Or did they have some sort of explanation or philosophy for the things they didn't understand, that made it ok. Stuff That Happens, like thunder and lightning. It would have been shocking, but here and gone really fast, and with no lasting consequences. Huh. Remember the day the sun turned off? How weird.

[kib]

We're in the path of totality, with yes, a whole lot of hoo hah being made about it. I'm more in the ho-hum camp, myself. Sorry Catherine! I do intend to be out in the yard with glasses looking at it, but I don't have that sense of awe some people seem to feel.

[catherine]

We're in the path of totality, with yes, a whole lot of hoo hah being made about it. I'm more in the ho-hum camp, myself. Sorry Catherine!

My DD and DSIL and to some extent my DS feel the same way, but I feel that the universe is such a strange and magical entity and perhaps one of the many, many things (I would say "blessings" instead of "things" but that might turn some people off) that we are privileged to enjoy, that I can't help but feel grateful for this occasion see it as an opportunity to marvel at the mysteries of our world.

[Tybee]

We just got our power back after 4 days without so it's funny to be excited about it getting dark again, but we are really psyched here as we are about 99%. We ordered the glasses a couple of months ago and were thinking of going to be down with the kids but they have changed school pickups so that the kids won't be traveling at that time, so they've got complicated plans but everyone is going to watch it here on our end. Hear lots of people talking about it and there is a road sign up about watching for eclipse traffic so I think we are getting lots of visitors to the area. But they may have cancelled their trip with the storm and all the power outages, so who knows? Closer to totality than we were in the last one in Michigan so excited about that.

[happystuff]

Very excited about it! To the point of my best friend and I booked a room in a totality city for Sunday to today. The drive would have taken most of yesterday and we wouldn't have been home until late tonight, but we were set to do it anyway. Both of us took today off from work.

Unfortunately, her "baby" - 14 year old dog - is in decline and hasn't been well the last couple of days, so we cancelled the trip. I am, however, driving to see her and we will find a spot to see what we might see.

Enjoy, everyone! And don't forget your eclipse glasses!!

PS - apparently wearing red and green is supposed to somehow enhance the experience. What the heck! I'll grab a green t-shirt and my red windbreaker. :D

[KayLR]

I saw the eclipse of 2017. I remember the one from 1997. They weren't really lifechanging. It gets dark every day. I clearly do not understand the mania over it. Especially when I read of the price gouging going on with B&Bs, hotels, motels and such. Good grief. FOMO.

[Tybee]

Kay, I really liked seeing the eerie changes in the light in 2017. It wasn't just dark, everything was different. So this year, when we are closer to the path, I'm really psyched. Want to take photos of the light for my album--I remember showing my dad the pictures in 2017 and he was really into them--I had good luck with the photos.

[iris lilies]

I just saw images from Missouri Department of transportation WebCam of Highway 55 cars Headed down to Cape Girardeau. It’s bumper-to-bumper. Those folks are not going to see much more than what I’m going to see because they didn’t get up yesterday and go to the Cape and sleep overnight as they should have.

[Tybee]

Am doing every fifteen minutes--just a small slice is covered right now. So glad we got the glasses!

[Tradd]

I can’t even pop my head out the back door at work as the sun is right there!!

[Tradd]

A coworker had glasses so I got to see it. I looked at the ground behind a tree and saw lots of crescents on the ground. Very cool.

[Tybee]

Wow, at 3:30 just a tiny sliver of the sun through the glasses, and the slice moved down to the bottom.

[iris lilies]

I didn’t look at the sun. I was outside weeding the entire time. It got slightly dark, like a cloud cover.

[jp1]

We’re in Dallas and got to see it. Drove north to Oklahoma because it was really cloudy here. It ended up clearing in Dallas but oh well.

I was absolutely mesmerized in 2017 by how different totality is from near totality that I’d seen before so I really wanted to see it again. It’s amazing how all the birds go to bed and the crickets wake up for like just five minutes. Totally worth it for me. Especially since the next one that covers most of the US isn’t for another 21 years. I’ll post pics when I get home Wednesday.

[kib]

5797

[kib]

Unfortunately I couldn't reduce the size without losing the clarity. "Been there, done that.". ;)

[kib]

5798

[Tybee]

5799

[ToomuchStuff]

5798

The cat didn't need sunglasses, the mug did?:laff:

[littlebittybobby]

okay----anybody that lets their catt outside to look at an eclipse without eye pertection is guilty of cruelty to anamuls. yup.

[rosarugosa]

Pretty rainbow, Tybee. Was that during the eclipse?

It was a really warm, beautiful spring day here, so we spent time working out in the garden. We put on our eclipse glasses every 10 -15 mins or so to check the progress. Interesting, but not earth-shattering. I had purchased a 10-pack of glasses online, so I was able to gift a lot of last-minute people who were scrambling for glasses.

[rosarugosa]

5798

Kitty does not look impressed!

[Tybee]

Yes, the rainbow was while I was snapping pictures at the apex. Maybe it's just lens flare? I was wrong about the fence, it has faded into blue, was just out in the yard and had not noticed..

[catherine]

Cool picture, Tybee!

I didn't bother taking pictures because my camera is not very good. But we had wonderful clear skies, and it couldn't have been a better experience--especially because we didn't have to go anywhere except for relocating our chairs to the other side of the house. I will never have this opportunity again. It was moving and spectacular. You can see the pictures, but you can feel the eeriness in the atmosphere. The sky gets a luminous, smokey hue, and the interesting thing is, even when the moon has covered almost all of the sun, it doesn't get dark until the sun is covered in totality. Then it's cold, and dark and no birds are chirping.. It's a really interesting couple of minutes,

[happystuff]

Nice pictures, everyone. I had gone to my friend's house and we set up chairs in her yard. Got to see most of it. Lost a bit behind the clouds just after mid-way, but clouds cleared for the end. My pictures didn't turn out very well, but what an amazing experience!

[nswef]

I braved looking at it. We were at the blood drive and one of the volunteers had glasses from the high school. We all took turns going out the door to look with the glasses on. It was so nice that everyone was talking about the eclipse and nothing else. Even when we got home and kept going out to the porch the TV only had eclipse stuff on. It was GREAT. We had 93% and the house got dark for a bit. It was well worth looking...don't know that it would be worth driving and being in a huge crowd (I don't think much is worth doing that for!) I'm very glad I saw it and thankful for the library's glasses.