August 31, 2017

We're working on finishing a wall in the basement so I can have a craft/sewing room, and move all the requisite stuff down there.

August 30, 2017

My pears are ready, but this is the problem with the ones that fall to the ground.  The yellow jackets really love pears.

August 29, 2017

We got an outdoor carpet for our deck.

August 28, 2017

I ended up with 19 quarts of sauce. Today I pressure cooked them so they don't go bad.

August 27, 2017

I worked on spaghetti sauce today.  The paste tomatoes are much bigger than they have been the last couple years.  I like that- it makes it faster to clean and slice them for the juicer.  I filled all three of my stock pots, plus the middle size a second time.

August 26, 2017

My mother-in-law passed away this week.  Today was calling hours.  Afterward, we had a gathering of family and friends at my house, with lots of food and chatting.  RIP

August 25, 2017

The cats go nuts over this twig, which is the center stalk from some garlic I pulled from my herb garden.  Who would have thought garlic could grow a cat toy.

August 24, 2017

My husband went out and bought these two spin casters.  You make molds, put them inside, and start spinning while pouring metal or resin into the mold.  It can be used to make miniatures and jewelry and other small metal parts.

August 23, 2017

We went to the county fair today.  We ate, saw animals, and played skee ball.  These fold out from a semi trailer.  I asked how long it takes to fold back up, and the guy said it only takes about 15 minutes. 

August 22, 2017

Traffic on the way back home was just as bad as it was on the way south.  There were about 4 times as many cars heading north, away from the eclipse, as there were heading south.  We continued to see license plates from several states and Canada.

August 21, 2017

I am going to break my one picture a day rule today.  These are some of my photos from the eclipse.  We did not drive down to totality.  We heard of the the expected traffic and crowds, worried about finding a place to park, and the thought of standing on an asphalt lot in 90+ degree heat and high humidity for 5 hours or so did not appeal to us.  We remained at the camper, relaxed, and enjoyed a quiet family experience in a deserted campground.

12:22 PM  I don't know if it will show up, but there are several sunspots visible.

12:55  Our deserted campground.  There may have been one other family still there, on another level.  The previous night, the place was booked solid.

1:21  A big dark cloud blocked the sun for a few minutes, which turned out quite interesting, as we could see the sun without the dark protective glasses.

1:23  The decrease in light was so gradual, our eyes adjusted.  My camera did not.  This picture has the same settings as the one above showing the campground, but came out a lot darker.  I could see a difference in light, but didn't know how drastic it was until my camera wanted to use flash in what I perceived as broad daylight.

1:26  My son turned on the awning lights, which glowed much more than they should have in the middle of the day.  He was also excited to note the lights for the interstate came on as well.

1:29  This is about as small as the sun got for us, so I guess this is approximately 1% of the sun's light.  The sky was not dark, the filter makes it appear black.  It was still very blue, as the next photos of us show.

1:30  I took the filter off for a few photos at the peak.

1:30  This one is also without a filter, but with different settings on the camera.

1:32  Here is the family near the peak of the eclipse.  This approximates how much light we had.  My eyes didn't see the shadows that dark, however, but it was dark enough to need a flash.

1:35  The moon's shadow is now on the other side of the sun.

1:37  The family photo.While it appears fairly bright out, it is dark enough for the awning lights to glow.

August 20, 2017

We drove around to do some sightseeing in Bowling Green, Kentucky.  One of our stops was a historic train station with an engine and several cars to explore.  This is a mail car, where they sorted mail while on the move.

August 19, 2017

We drove southwest to get closer to the solar eclipse.  Our campground is about an hour away from totality, with 99% coverage of the sun.  The roads were busy, as a lot of other people have the same idea.  We heard one man on the radio say it's the biggest migration of people for a natural event.  It was interesting to see how much more traffic was heading south compared to northbound.  The campground was full.

August 18, 2017

My 22 year old washer broke, so I had to get a new one.  This is one of those energy-efficient ones that doesn't have an agitator in the middle.  So far, it seems to be getting clothes clean.

August 17, 2017

We went out school supply shopping.  We got folders, paper, pencils- all kinds of stuff.

August 16, 2017

My nephews came over for a swim today.

August 15, 2017

August 14, 2017

This kitty likes to get involved.  Here she is hanging out behind my son's monitor, though it was only for a few minutes before running off to get involved with something else.

August 13, 2017

We were finally able to swim in our new pool today.  It feels so much larger, even though it's only 2 feet bigger than our previous pool.  We like it very much.

August 12, 2017

We dumped 300 pounds of salt into the pool this morning.  The directions say to run the pump for 24 hours, so it looks like we'll finally be able to swim tomorrow.

August 11, 2017

We had to replace a part because of leakage.  It seems to be working now, so now we need to finish filling it up.

August 10, 2017

My daughter has been drawing quite a bit this summer, both on the computer and on paper.  One of the kittens likes to sleep near her, either on the blanket on a cart, or more recently behind her computer.

August 9, 2017

I'm making a little patio section for the filter, heater, and such.

August 8, 2017

August 7, 2017

We put the intake/outflow parts on today.

August 6, 2017

The pear was taken down today.  The front yard looks a bit barren without those trees.

August 5, 2017

August 4, 2017

We had a storm blow through this afternoon, taking out some limbs on our remaining bradford pear.  These trees have a serious design flaw and are susceptible to wind damage like this.  Two limbs were broken off, and those limbs are about 1/3 of the tree.  The same storm knocked down 1/2 of a bradford pear two houses down from us.

August 3, 2017

I went out to the garden and this little bird just sat in the tree and chirped angrily until I stepped over to look at it.  Then it just stared angrily at me, flew off after a bit to a nearby tree, and started chirping again.

August 2, 2017

We crawled around inside the pool to get the wrinkles worked out of the bottom of the liner.  Time to start filling it up.

August 1, 2017

We got the pad, liner, and top rails on the pool today.