Total Solar Eclipse of the Sun 1999 by luc.viatour

Set your calendar. August 21, 2017 is the next “Total” solar eclipse on American soil.

I realize that it may be a little far in the future for some of you; however, things like this have a tendency to get away from people. The next thing you’ll be saying is, “Hey, the paper says that there was a solar eclipse yesterday. It says that the next ‘total’ solar eclipse on US soil one wont be until April 8, 2024.”

Why is it so important to see a total eclipse from the line? Our moon, by a stroke of luck is 400 times smaller in diameter than the sun, but the sun is 400 times further away. So for a very narrow slice of Earth… Totality. The solar disc of our star will be completely occluded by the moon. For that brief moment, the sun’s corona will be the only thing that is visible. The stars will come out in the middle of the day. It is a moment of awe that will come over you as you realize that this world is part of something bigger. In that instant your normal circadian rhythm is interrupted for up to two and a half minutes of darkness that puts such a large contrast difference in the sky that it is hard to capture with any other device but your mind. (Take your cameras, but the experience is what you’ll take home). You know that you live in a solar system, but this is a way to experience it like no other way.

Solar Eclipse of 2017

How wide is the line? Well, its pretty narrow, astronomically speaking. It’ll be about 70 miles. The closer to the center of the line, the longer of an eclipse you will witness. How long is the line? For this eclipse, it will start in the Pacific and end in the Atlantic. It will go through Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina. (See the map compliments of the predictive power of Fred Espenak at NASA)

You should plan to enjoy this rare occurrence while you can. Not only are total eclipses rare (try to think about all the planets that we know of that have a moon the size of ours) but ours is disappearing. Every year our moon is moving away from the earth about one and a half inches, thanks to the lag of the earth’s movement in response to the gravity pull of the moon.

Our squash plant has gone climbing crazy. It has decided to climb the tree it is planted next to. Who will win? My money is on the tree.

The squash plant climbs the tree

21Dec2010 Eclipse by Fred Harris

Here comes another total lunar eclipse; however, North America will not be able to see it this time.  It is supposed to be a darker eclipse at totality due to the ash cloud and gaseous fumes put out by the erupting Chilean Puyehue-Cordón Caulle volcano. For more information about the eclipse visit here. For more information about the volcano and how it will affect the eclipse, visit spaceweather.com.

There was a fantastic Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) from the sun at about 6:30 universal time today. I have never seen anything like this. At the eruption site, I measure it to be approximately 9 Earth diameters wide, and it “rains” back on the sun in that peculiar way that coronal material falls back to a star. Check it out in the embedded video.

Slicing in two pieces

So, I found out that my wife hates cutting watermelon. The reason? I can eat it about as fast as she can cut it.  So when I offered to start cutting the watermelon. She let me.  I stepped up to the watermelon with my knives and cutting board in hand and had an immediate revelation.  I had absolutely no idea how to cut a watermelon.

Now, my Shun knives are pretty sharp, and I have no desire to make a trip to the emergency room. So, I had to stop and think about this.  Here is the method that I came up with. (If someone knows a better way, please share)

1. Wash the watermelon to get off any gunk on the outside
2. Dry the melon so that it isn’t slippery
3. Slice the melon in half. Careful with this one. I use a 8″ Chef’s knife, but wish I had a 10″ Chef’s knife.  This is just an awkward cut. Moving the melon as well as the knife causes the knife to work at its best.
4. Once you have 2 halves, it gets a little easier.  Now that the melon is not as tall, you can section it with a slicing motion. Start by putting the tip of the knife on the board, and pull right through the melon.
5. Once there are sections, it is time to remove the rind. I use a modified slice.  I put the section of watermelon on the board and I carefully slice in two separate arcs.
6. Once the rind is removed, the meat can be sliced into pieces. (Be sure to use good technique. This part is easy, but good slicing practice)
7. At the end there are those pesky end pieces. I slice triangular pieces, and then I grab my favorite spoon and finish them off. Yum.
   

   Sectioning the Watermelon: I use a slicing motion

   

   Removing th Rind: A modified slice

   

   Slicing the Meat: Remember to use your slicing skills

   

   Cutting Corners: A slice again

My Old Plasticware

As a man who uses dishes (as well as wash them), I have been frustrated by the food storage containers that we have been using in our house for a while. Over the last thirteen years, we have been collecting different plasticware. Now, for those first years of marriage, money was tight. So, when cheap Gladware sets became available, I was elated. But that didn’t stop me from keeping the occasional butter container. Nor could I possibly part with the plastic container that comes with my lunchmeat. Forget the fact that the shape is almost the same as the Gladware, but the lid doesn’t fit anything but itself. Having a mix-and-match set leads to confusion and delay when actually trying to use the containers for storage. There is a slow down when:

1. Trying to find a lid for a container
2. Trying to put the containers back to where they live – (nothing stacks correctly)
3. Choosing the appropriately sized container – (not really understanding how much volume each container holds)

So, I have decided to standardize. This led me to the question of which containers I should buy. Thanks to all who answered on the Facebook shout-out. It really gave us some things to ponder. There are a few choices. BPA (aka, Bisphenol A) has been deemed toxic. So, make sure that your plasticware is BPA free. Good news. I didn’t find any plasticware out there that had any BPA. In fact, most of the companies are going out of there way to let you know that their products are BPA free. Regardless, the thoughts are that one should still not heat things up in plasticware. Only use it for ambient temperature needs. The recommendation we received overwhelmingly was to use glass for things that need to be reheated. This led us to a difficult choice – plastic or glass?

The New Plastic and Glassware

We decided to go with both. The idea is to use the glassware when we know something will need reheating, and plasticware when it will not. The real question is which brands did we end up buying? (Drum-roll please)

For the plastic, we went with the Rubbermaid Premier, and the glass we went with Snapware Glasslock. We found the prices to be very competitive at Costco, so I bought three boxes of the plastic, and two boxes of the glass. For a total of:

• Plastic

1. 12 x 1.25 cup containers
2. 12 x 2 cup containers
3. 6 x 3 cup containers
4. 9 x 5 cup containers
5. 3 x 9 cup containers

• Glass

1. 4 x 1.4 cup rectangle
2. 4 x 3.2 cup rectangle
3. 2 x 5.9 cup rectangle
4. 4 x 1.3 cup round
5. 4 x 2.3 cup round

Just take a look at how well it fits in the cabinet.

-Along the 5S way