FAIR WEATHER

It’s August and time for the annual Madison County Fair which takes place just two blocks from our house.

This year the weather was perfect, low 80’s with a light breeze.  We went in the morning while the crowds were still small and the food was fresh.

 

No carnival rides--with safety standards open to interpretation and sketchy operators--this year.  Almost everything was bouncy.

 The grandson was in competition with a young lady in the next lane to run against a bungee to slam balls into a hoop.

 She was a serious challenger!

 My favorite is always the barns with the 4-H animals.

 There were cages and cages of champion chickens of every kind.

 There were bunnies and goats…

 …and ponies and donkeys, all under the watchful care of junior owners.

 Granddaughter was making friends with a shaggy baby yak.

 My very favorites are the dairy cows.  I entered prize-winning heifers from my mom and dad’s herd when I was a youngster.  One year our pickup truck was unavailable when it came time to take my girl to town.  So mom and I took the back seat out of our car, covered the floor with spud sacks and loaded the calf in.  She loved putting her nose out the window to sniff the fields of alfalfa and wheat as we drove.

 In the small indoor arena an auction was going on to sell the show animals.  After months of work and grooming the young farmers were cashing in.  This sheep went for almost $300.

 This champion steer brought enough money to pay for a new car.  After his owner subtracts his investment of purchase, supplies, feed and time he may have enough to buy another calf and a new pair of boots.

 Our next stop was the pig barn.

 They were also getting groomed for their turn in the auction ring.

 Just don’t say “bacon” or “sausage.”  It’s difficult enough for some of these young people to give up their animals after months of care and concern.

 From there we went through the home crafts,

The art and photo entries,

 Checked out the antique tractors…

 …and the vintage cars.

 After all that we had to go back to the food booths and get some nourishment.  Nothing like deep fried scones with honey-butter to finish off a visit to the fair.

SUPER BLUE BLOOD MOON

After being right in the path of the total solar eclipse in August of last year it was a bonus to learn there would be another show put on by the moon at the end of January.

 Astronomers were saying this kind of lunar event hasn’t been seen since 1866---or 1982. 

So I got up before dawn to see the second full moon in a month (blue moon) happening when the moon is supposed to be larger and brighter because it is closer in its orbit (super moon) which ALSO coincided with a total lunar eclipse (blood moon)—BUT the sky was cloudy.

Since I was already up I decided to put on my warm clothes and go for a walk.

 I walked out into the street just as the clouds were beginning to break up so I got a good view of the moon coming out of the earth’s shadow.

  

By the time I’d crossed Main Street and made my way to the park…

…the day was beginning and the big full moon was returning to its normal brightness.

In other news…

 This neighborhood which was leveled in the spring of 2016…

 …now looks like this.  It is with mixed feelings that I watch our little town turn into a big town.  More stores mean more convenience.

More businesses, services and schools mean more opportunities.

 But more people also brings more traffic and more crowds.   We try to hang on to the small town friendliness but it seems to be leaving with our open views of the skies.

TOTALITY

I finally put together the story of The 2017 Eclipse from our house.  Thanks to Cindy and Ann for sharing photos.

There were twenty people in our back yard -- give or take five or six – on the morning of August 21, 2017.

Gordon had a Dutch oven full of riblets he was barbecuing for lunch.

Bob had his smoker ready for another rack of ribs.

I was working on getting a once-in-a-lifetime photo or two.

And everybody had their stare-at-the-sun glasses.

EVERYBODY. Some even had more than one pair.

Then at around ten a.m. we could see the shadow of the moon cut a notch out of the sun.

It was super exciting.

The neighbors brought over a shamrock plant to see if it would fold up like it does when evening comes.

Time passed.

And the moon and sun moved more.

We continued to watch.

However, it was difficult to tell if everyone was truly focused on the event.

We put paper down on the grass so we could watch for the eclipse shadow bands https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_bands

and also use it to show up the effect of our pinhole cameras.

We began to notice a weird darkness and there was a marked cooling of temperature.

The light shining through openings such as tree leaves turned from round to crescent.

Bob and Gordon kept one eye on the sky and the other on the barbecue.

Some tried looking through Gordon’s welder helmet to see what that was like.

Most were glad to pose for a “look amazed” photograph. Some, not so much.

The sky got darker and the air got cooler.

Almost totality!

Darker, colder. The shamrock started to fold up. The street light came on.

Cindy yelled, “shadow bands!” and then,

The Diamond Ring! We could see stars!

I was so excited I took two photos of total darkness before I remembered to take off the filter.

Corona

Solar flares

And in less than two minutes the sun began to reappear.

Then the sun and moon began to part ways.

The ribs were ready and so was the Dutch oven cobbler.

Warm sunshine returned.

The table was spread.

Everyone helped themselves to the picnic.

Nobody went hungry.

John and his friend stopped by. They’d chosen the rim of the Menan Butte to see the show. They’d also seen the shadow rushing across the land toward them.

After totality most out-of-towners hurried to leave hoping to beat the crowds so the highways turned into parking lots.

John, and Ann and her family tried to get to Utah but traffic south was bottle-necked into a crawl. The Simiskeys gave up and went back to stay overnight with Cindy in Idaho Falls. They made the trip to Logan the next morning just fine. 

John and his friend hung in for the duration and didn’t get to Salt Lake City until after midnight.