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.