As you may have heard from what seemed like every news source on the planet (and maybe even beyond), the U.S. had itself a little solar eclipse last Monday (we won’t go into the total societal/scientific/political eclipse that’s been happening since a certain oompa loompa got sworn in as president).

Oregon

Oregon was the first state the eclipse (the solar one) hit and you would have thought we were back in the Middle Ages with the way the local news was going on. Seriously, a crazy villager with a “The End is Nigh” sign could really take a lesson or two from the local newscasters.

Crazy villager? Close enough.

First, the traffic fears: Don’t leave your house! Don’t drive anywhere! Then the food supply paranoia: Stock up, you won’t be able to get to the grocery store! Stores will be out of stock for days afterward! Add in the worries of how communities in the totality zone were going to handle the waste, how fire crews were going to control wildfires, how the grid was going to explode with so many people needing electricity! Give me a crazy villager any day.

FOXNews’s version of the eclipse.

Portland wasn’t in the totality zone, but we were at the 99.2% of totality mark. So Mr. Husband and I decided the driveway was a good enough spot to view the eclipse. And of course, a certain purple Beastie didn’t want to miss out on the event.

Finn, not wanting to make an emergency trip to the optomologist, snagged my eclipse glasses and gave them a test run.

Hmmm, those are a bit big for you. Maybe we should fashion something a bit more monster-sized.

-How do I look?

-Oh, um, quite stylish. I mean as far as aluminum chic goes, you’ve nailed it.

With his new bit of bling on, Finn and I went to pick out a good spot on the driveway for eclipse viewing. Finn, possibly looking for more wine ingredients, parked himself next to the strawberry plants.

Oh look, a couple other eclipse fans stopped by.

Boys, where are your eclipse glasses?

Spots picked out and tea in hand (well, in cup, in hand would be messy, and painful), we waited for the moon to eat the sun. Not only was it quite warm sitting on the pavement, but it was also a little boring. So, I experimented a bit with the eclipse glasses over my iPod’s camera. Yep, looks like a big yellow spot.

I tried this again as the eclipse was about a quarter of the way into the show, but when I looked at the photo I’d taken, it looked the same as the pre-eclipse photo above. Mr. Husband said the people on the news said taking a photo that way wouldn’t work, so I gave up trying. Later, with a little editing of the light conditions, I could actually see the moon starting to nibble it’s way through the giant sun cookie (mmm…..sun cookie). This proves you can’t trust the news.

munch, munch, munch

Anyway, did I say I was feeling toasty warm earlier? Well, that changed. Dramatically. By the time of the full eclipse, I was shivering and begging the sun to come back. Speaking of, I better check on Finn and make sure his wool is keeping him warm.

-Finn? Finn? Where are you? Finn, what are you doing in there?

-The sun went away! We’re all going to die! Ra hates us!

-Finn, it’s okay. If you listened to StarTalk like I told you to, you’d understand how this worked. See, because of the moon’s size and the sun’s distance from us, astrophysicists can calculate the—-

-You sure it’s coming back?

-Pretty sure. Look it’s already bright again.

-Well, okay. If you say so.

-Want to go watch the rest?

-Um, I lost my glasses in the hostas.

-It’s okay, you can use mine. Now, go get comfy on your beach towel and watch out for the cats, they might think it’s breakfast time again.

While the eclipse was pretty cool (literally and figuratively), that 0.8% really did make a difference and I was surprised at how light it still was (although it was dark enough to trigger the street light to come on). Also, after being used to the skies being ominously darkened by wildfires in British Columbia and Central Oregon recently, the light change during the eclipse didn’t seem much different.

Still, we all survived the eclipse. The grid didn’t explode, stores actually ended up overstocked with food, and the only truth the media soothsayers uttered was the four hours of immobile traffic people sat in trying to get home from the totality areas.

How about you? Any eclipse stories to share? Any monsters hiding in your hostas? I’ll be back next Wednesday with a little work update (sorry, I was too busy to post this Wednesday) and next Saturday Finn will be back with another summertime adventure. See you then!!

 

 

 

17 thoughts on “Total Eclipse of the Finn”

  1. Whimsy!! Yay!! Huny and I spent the eclipse on the couch, watching our house become increasingly dim (like twilight) and then return to ‘normal.’ It was like a cloudy day actually. In Utah (well up here any how) we got the same warnings of doom and destruction plus one your guys didn’t include maybe…we were told to fill up our gas tanks because there would be a run on the stations around and during the eclipse. Given that it was 80-90% here only, nothing near that dire occurred, but I did hear the warnings about staying off I-15 were merited. The weekend before and at least the day after (Tuesday), it was parking lot city on the freeway. So much traffic that those of us who did stay home felt a teensy bit smug about not contributing. But I also know I missed something really magical that won’t come around again while I’m alive….glad you could see and experience it! 😀

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    1. Oh, I totally forgot about the gas shortage we were supposed to have. Yes, us less-than-100-percenters may have missed out on the full show, but I think the 0.8% I missed was well worth not sitting in endless hours of traffic. Glad to hear you survived the Eclipse-pocalypse!

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  2. Mr. Husband here….The eclipse was pretty cool to see. I don’t think I’ve ever been in that much of a solar eclipse before. However, I wish I had braved the traffic and gone to the totality zone. The maximum darkness seemed to last only a second then it got bright very quickly. And we did not get to see the corona. Next time…

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  3. I wondered if the dire predictions of food shortages came true, it’s amusing that the stores were overstocked. Very much enjoyed this account, especially Finn’s special eclipse glasses & his hiding in the hostas.
    Always entertaining.

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    1. As far as dire predictions go, I think the news failed in all aspects but the traffic…which I think was actually worse than they predicted. And I’m glad Finn chose the hostas. If he had tried to hide out in the beehive, that could have been a tricky (and sticky) situation to get him out of!

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  4. Aaaaah, Finn! Poor little guy, he was always stronger in arts than in science. Well done for talking him down, and making him some Beastie-sized glasses so his eyes didn’t get burned… But I’m hardly surprised he freaked out. When the news tells you the apocalypse is nigh, it takes a strong constitution to resist the impulse to start stockpiling food and reinforcing your basement with concrete! Glad you all survived the eclipse! 😂

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    1. Given that Finn never blinks, I wanted to be sure he had some good (and stylish) eye protection! Wait, I was supposed to reinforce my basement with concrete? Damn, missed that one. Aw well, maybe during the next “disaster”. After all, I’m sure there’ll be an ice storm this winter to revamp the news’s dire apocalyptic warnings.

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      1. I can’t believe that your news teams forgot to tell you to build an apocalypse bunker! That’s just irresponsible. At least you’ll now have the jump on them before the winter ice storms… Better get to the hardware store immediately before they run out of concrete!

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  5. We went to China to see the total eclipse in 2009. It was wonderful. Chinese legend is that the eclipse is cased by a dragon (or dog, depending on who you listen to) eating the sun. So, when the sun disappears, the Chinese set off fireworks to frighten the dragon and make it spit out the sun. This means that, as you watch the darkness approaching, you also see and hear a wave of fireworks.

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    1. What a fun legend/tradition. There were some fireworks going off around here when the eclipse was at its fullest point, but that’s probably just the American tendency to find any excuse to blow things up more than following a tradition.

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