Clouds, Old Dogs and Eclipses

 Today, August 21, 2017 was the day of the "Great American Eclipse".  It boggles the mind.  The eclipse, itself, is not so mind boggling as it is just a happenstance as the moon's orbit takes it between the earth and the sun.  When the moon gets right in front of the sun, it blocks out the light beaming down to the earth.  So, basically, anything that passes in front of a light "eclipses" it.  Duh.  Not that difficult to understand. What does flabbergast me is the over hype that this thing has received.  It all boils down to media hype and sales promotion.  If you tell people something wild enough for long enough, they fall into the trap. While I have no problem with folks viewing the eclipse, I am amused at those who claim it is a life-altering event...a near religious phenomenon...an earth-shaking affair!  Huh?  Wow!  I must be missing something here.

  I have heard all sorts of wild tales and even made up a few myself.  In the past, I had no problem relating to gullible folks that we are a sun ruled planet and that when the moon blocks out the sun, it rules.  The moon is also known as "Luna" which is where we get the word lunatic.  (Which, by the way, is NOT a technical term.)  Relating that fact, you can see where this was going.  Tie this in with a healthy fear of zombies and all sorts of wild tales can be conjured.  I actually scared the bejeebies out of a former sister-in-law with such a tale.  I was visiting her and my little niece during a past eclipse and made up a wild tale.  She was ready and willing to fall for anything so it was easy.  Needless to say, she and the baby stayed locked in the bathroom until I told her the danger had passed.  Geez!

  Today, by all other standards, was a normal day here on the Bayou.  Son and I tackled the rebuilding of the bookshelves in the dining room.  We were both inside and out as we cut boards and nailed them in place.  Neither of us thought much about the so called epic event except to appreciate the bit of shade that it produced.  During the midst of the ordeal, a rogue cloud decided to cover most of the sky so viewing the eclipse would have been disappointing regardless of how we felt.  While discussing this fact, we had to laugh at the old dog, PJ.  He was sound asleep.  Both of us decided that he was pretty smart.  He did not have to buy some fancy-schmancy eyewear to protect his peepers.  Take a snooze and all is well!  Smart dog!

  Now that the grand event is over, folks everywhere are all the richer for the occurrence or maybe poorer depending on how much they spent to stare at the sun.  The merchants are happy that they sold out of their "solar glasses", everyday folks are still in wonderment of a natural phenomenon and the news media's hype was a success. Now...what is next?  Since this is in the past, what next will garner the media sensationalism and throw the country into a frenzy?  Personally, I think I will go take a nap.