There is something mystical about a full moon: some say it's romantic, others say it brings out the craziness in people. Wolves, coyotes and dogs are known to howl at the moon.
And, with it being eclipsed last night, I can certainly say it brought out my 'crazies'. In the hope I could capture a video of the event to show all of you who were under cloudy skies, I decided to stay awake and set my laptop outside, pointing skywards, to record the event.
I also grabbed my camera to take a few stills however I do not have a tripod and I knew the pics wouldn't be great, but I took some anyway. With the laptop recording, I snapped a few shots and, suddenly, the camera's battery was about to die. This was about 2:15 a.m EST. I grabbed my extra battery and plugged it in hoping to charge it up enough to catch a shot or two of the total eclipse that was supposed to occur around 2:45 a.m.
Since the moon was so high in the sky and, in order to steady the camera, I had to lie (lay? - I still can't get that one right) down on the bench that surrounds the pool.
Click, click, click. Battery dies. It's 2:40 a.m. I run into the house to grab the other battery and head back outside. Apparently my dogs - four in all - heard me in the backyard and came running. I didn't have time to click another photo since all of them were mugging me, whining and wondering why I was still awake and lying on my back outside, in the cold.
I quickly secured my laptop from becoming the latest of dog toys and headed back into the house with the mutts in tow. I tried to go back and grab a few more photos but Chase (my youngest dog) was stuck to my ass like Velcro (also one of her nicknames) and I knew that there was no way I was going to be able to lie (lay?) down and take any more shots.
Wait. It gets worse.
After pouring myself a nightcap, I sit down to take a quick look at the video. Suddenly, I hear a key turn the lock in our front door. WTF? It's just after 3 a.m. In walks Josie, our Haitian gardener who works for us on Sundays. Josie is also a loyal and dear friend. Since my stepfather passed and we are two "vite vimen living alone", he looks in on us almost every morning - usually at around 6 a.m. - starts the coffee and takes the trash out to the curb on collection days.
I ask why he is here at 3 a.m. and he said it isn't 3.a.m. (we argue a lot, by the way). I assured him that it was. He checked his cell phone. Oh, no! he groans and then laughs at himself. He thought it was 5 a.m. It was pointless to drive him home at that time of day/night and since it was rather chilly and he'd only have to start walking back as soon as I dropped him off, I stuck him in my car to catch a couple of hours of sleep and, of course, to keep warm. It would appear that the time on his clock at home was incorrectly set.
So, back to the laptop I go. By this time I was sooooo tired, all I wanted was to go to sleep. When I went to turn off my computer, it asked me to save the video. Fine. As I am changing the folder location for the file, the video disappears! There it is - gone!
Crap.
So, as not to disappoint, here are a few of the 'best' pics I got with my camera, sans nose prints from my dogs. They are not great, but hey, I gave it a shot.
The ghost reflections from the lens gives them a bit of an omnious appearance.
The bottom left shot was taken just before the total eclipse (when my battery died).
The bottom left shot was taken just before the total eclipse (when my battery died).
Murphy leaves on Thursday.
