TCC for 2/20/08

The Caretaker's Concern 2/20/08
Ghetto temp. 41 F. and rising.
Island tmp. 18 F. Yesterday's L/H: 19/ 26.
Current conditions: Crystal clear night, no wind.

The Caretaker went to the mainland this afternoon to run a few errands. Upon arriving at his car he reconnected the battery hoping it would not be dead, thankfully it wasn't and the car started right up and so he motored on down the road. He really had only one important errand and that was to drop off some photo-cards at a retailer. After doing that, and forgetting about the eclipse of the moon the Caretaker went on to do a few other errands. One of which was to try and locate a particular food thermos. So off he went a "hunting". His prey proved elusive. He knew he would probably stand a good chance of finding what he wanted at any of the box stores, but what if he didn't want to support them? Where would he go to find such an item? He thought about it for a while and other than the Hardware store he could think of no other stores outside of the box stores. This prompted the Caretaker to think about the time when there was no TargDeath, or WalMonster, etc. the Caretaker can remember a time when that was the case, at least where he grew up. Sporting goods stores perhaps? Not that it matters now, and not that the Caretaker has anything in particular against the box stores, however, if he can give his business to a local business owner he will. In the end, the Hardware store did not have the model he was looking for. This was mildly surprising because it is an excellent Hardware store, in most ways it is far superior to HomeDespot, etc. Anyway, the Caretaker went on to the local box stores, no luck there either. So the Caretaker gave up.

While walking to his car the Moon had come up over the Green Mountains in Vermont, it was a glorious Moonrise. The conditions were such that the Moon appeared to be some 5 times larger than it normally does. Dusk was just beginning to rise causing a three color pastel rainbow on the East horizon. Broad swaths of purple, pink, and blue, and rising through it was the huge face of the Moon in cool white, almost chrome. The Caretaker had wished he had his camera with him. However, his lack of camera did not prevent him from enjoying the Moonrise, he hopped in his car and drove down to the lower parking lot to get a better view. After a while it occurred to the Caretaker that tonight was the Eclipse. Not wasting any more time he headed back to the Island.

The Caretaker made it back in time to take a few photos of the Moon before the Eclipse began. It was a crystal clear night with little to no wind. The Moon was so bright that a flashlight was not needed to see one's way in the night, the light of the stars was mostly drowned out by the Moonlight leaving them barely visible. The ice was doing quite a bit of singing, keeping its own rhythm in pops and pings, booms and bangs, squeals and sighs. And then the Moon began to fade from view, certainly not a quick process but definitely a wondrous one. As Earth's shadow blocked out more and more of the Moonlight the stars became brighter and brighter. At total Eclipse the stars punched out of the sky.

The last time the Caretaker had seen a total eclipse of the moon was some 8 or 9 years ago while he was living on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Hopefully it won't be another 8 years or so for him to see his next eclipse. He tried photographing the Eclipse, but he was not too successful, the lack of light poses a bit of a problem. Duh.

--The Caretaker