Personal Total Eclipse

So many people said they really didn't care to watch the eclipse.  It's so confusing since these same people are the kind of person that would spend thousands of dollars on other events that might be considered once in a lifetime events.

Considering where we are and how much effort it really took most people you'd think that at least they would bother to look up.

I don't know how many pictures I've seen of the eclipse.  Most of them are similar to this one I took where it's exactly as you'd expect and have been told by thousands of media outlets that you'd see.

Whereas the image itself is really nothing special, and frankly I've seen so many better pictures, the event was something I'm glad I took off work to experience.  I was able to spend hours with friends chatting about the eclipse as well as anything but the eclipse.  For the most part it was an excuse to have an off day.

What I didn't expect was the speed at which the sky darkened and got lighter afterwards.  Also the chill in the air as the sun was slowly dimming.  I guess I should have thought of that but to experience it was akin to being a small child and having an airplane fly overhead and cast its shadow on you.  But this was the moon.  It put into perspective the massive size of everything and how I'm just one person on this huge planet.

I also found it interesting that everyone experienced the eclipse differently.  Different clouds, different duration, different mood.  Although we were looking at the same thing, we didn't experience the same thing.

In conclusion, yeah, I'd do it again.

The Great American Solar Eclipse 2024

This is a picture of the partial solar eclipse back in 2017.  At that time the total eclipse was a band more northerly than we are here in the Dallas area.  We still got this much coverage though.  This was taken about the height of the eclipse in Richardson, Texas.  We had a grill out and ate burgers, cupcakes and swam in the pool.

This coming Monday we will get to experience a total eclipse, probably for a little less than two minutes where we'll be in McKinney having another cookout with friends.

I've always liked viewing all stages of eclipse.  Back a few years even earlier than this I stayed up to view the lunar eclipse.  It was a clear night with no cloud cover and the moon was nearly overhead making the viewing awesome!  My wife didn't want to bother with it and said to wake her up when it was at its peak.  She was less impressed but though it was interesting.

My first eclipse I can remember I was probably 4 or 5 years old in my grandmother's backyard.  She told me how rare it is to be living in the path of a total eclipse and that most people have to travel to ever see one.  So we're fortunate for this one to be passing over so many people. 

Cacao Tree Sizing

When sizing a tree you don't actually care quite as much about the height of the tree as compared to the caliper, or diameter of the trunk of the tree.

So whereas the height of this tree is now just at four feet high, the caliper of the tree is up to a half an inch. Compare to the little shoot it started out as, this is quite an accomplishment.  Each time a tree adds to the leaves it has to put in more tubing and thus trunk to supply nutrients to the foliage. The plan is to keep the tree to just under seven feet tall, but the trunk needs to get to at least 2 inches so it can support the fruit. I'm hoping for at least 3 inches though before I allow fruit to form just to make sure the tree is healthy.

Currently it is in it's second year of growth and will probably take at least 2 more years before it starts flowering, maybe a year and a half since it was started in the fall.  I expect the first harvest to possibly be in 2023 or 2024 which would be just in time for the total solar eclipse over Dallas in October 2024.