The Total Solar Eclipse - Part 2

When I realized that I was going to be staying in town for the solar eclipse, I decided I would go out to the barn and spend it with the horses. I wanted to see how the horses reacted to it. 

I'd already witnessed some behavior changes among animals.***  Tammo did not eat all his breakfast, and neither did Nash. My sisters both reported that none of their cats or dogs would eat that morning, either. Full-blooded Labrador Retrievers Pepper and Molly polished off all of theirs and then offered to finish everyone else's. You know. Labs. 

There had been some cautions on social media about not being in the saddle when the eclipse happened (no problem there!) and to expect some changes in the horses' usual behavior so I was curious. How would Abby and the herd react?

I arrived well before the eclipse began. The herd spied my car and came up without being called. That's normal.

They ate their treats and enjoyed saying hello. Again, totally normal.

I got my camp chair out of the trunk, some snacks, and settled in to watch both the sky and the horses.

With some time to prepare, I tried on my eclipse glasses and looked at the sun. All I could see was a blurry blob - that wasn't going to work for a solar eclipse!

Not glamorous, but hey, I could see! That sun sharpened into a circle and I began watching the moon slowly begin to cover it.

An eclipse is a slow process, so I had time to experiment and see if I could get some pictures of it. I slid the eclipse glasses over my camera lens and began snapping. 

Not sure what happened here but you can see the crescent of the sun in the center.

This one is a little better. And it looks like my thumb is superimposed underneath it. Kind of cool, but I kept experimenting. I wanted better photos than that.

Another oddity but you can see the eclipse below - that bright crescent shape under the larger circle. Another "how did this happen??" picture for me that I nearly deleted until I discovered that little eclipse.

I finally got it right. Soon the light around me dimmed and things got quieter. The winds kicked up and the temperature dropped ten degrees!

Suddenly, I was very chilly and was wishing I'd brought a sweater.

The horses were quite unfazed by the changes but I wasn't. While I knew what was happening, the change in the light was unsettling. I can't describe what the light looked like nor did it show up on pictures, but it was not normal and quite strange. (When I saw the pics of Lukie in yesterday's blog entry, I totally understood how he felt!)

Craig watched the eclipse from our driveway.

He was able to get some of the light changes in his pictures, but really only a suggestion of how it was in actuality. (Another reason to go watch a total eclipse if you ever get the opportunity.)

Craig mentioned later that he, too, felt the unsettling eeriness that the change in light produced. 

Surprisingly, despite our town being in 99.2% of moon coverage, it did not go pitch black here.

Although the streetlight a few homes down from ours popped on.

Just as I was getting photos from my kids in Nashville, Indiana, other family members were checking in. 

My youngest sister, Jennifer, who lives south of us in Indianapolis, got to see a total eclipse from her back yard.

Rick and Leslie (north of us in Brookston, Indiana) drove their truck out into the pasture to watch. 

The red lights on those wind turbines came on during the eclipse. 

Hawkeye Sarah and Todd in Iowa City saw a partial eclipse from their front lawn.

And Mountain Mama Jessica showed her kids how the shadows change by using a colander during their partial eclipse. (See those crescents?)

It was a really neat experience, and through it all the horses stayed chill and went about their business.

All in all, the eclipse took almost an hour and a half. 

*** Animals can be sensitive to disturbances in nature like eclipses, earthquakes, etc. and it is not unusual to see them acting oddly before or during one. 

About an hour before a tornado swept through our town in Illinois, our Springer Spaniel came and found me. He pushed himself under my legs and then squirmed between them as I was sitting. Duffy had never done that before (and never did again.) He was clearly upset so I petted him to reassure him that all was okay, not realizing what his behavior indicated. 

An hour later we were sheltering in our basement experiencing the closest tornado I have ever been through. It missed us by only a few blocks, hit my school, my kids' school, took out two neighborhoods, and then continued on and damaged 90% of a small town west of us and killing one person.

Duffy knew something was amiss. And I have watched my animals ever since when the weather is dicey.