Eclipse and an Earthquake

Posted on January 20, 2019 by vanbraman

I did not have too much luck watching the eclipse tonight as the weather did not cooperate.

However, there was a short window when I did get to see the moon while it was eclipsed.

When I first looked outside it had just rained and the sky was mostly cloudy. I searched around and couldn’t find the moon. I need to know exactly where to look, so I did a quick search.

Eclipse animation, Time and Date dot com, eclipse, blood red moonI found an animation of the eclipse at timeandate.com and was able to select my location so that I would have accurate information as to where to look.

At this point I went outside and the clouds had moved out of the way and I could see just a sliver of white left.

Eclipse animation, Time and Date dot com, eclipse, blood red moonA few minutes later the moon had totally slipped within the umbra of the Earth.

Eclipse animation, Time and Date dot com, eclipse, blood red moonThe red color of the moon started to deepen as it further went inside the umbra.

Eclipse animation, Time and Date dot com, eclipse, blood red moonThis is the location of the moon at the maximum eclipse. You can see that it is not centered in the umbra, but since the umbra is quite large there was still quite a bit of time when it was in total eclipse.

I went outside at this time and the moon was behind a bank of clouds.

Eclipse animation, Time and Date dot com, eclipse, blood red moonAbout 20 minutes later I went back outside to look again to see if I could see the moon.

Blood Red Moon, EclipseThe sky was clear again and I quickly took a picture with my iPhone. It is not the best, but you can see that the moon is red.

Cloudy Sky, Eclipse, MoonI popped outside again just a few minutes later to see if the moon was starting to move out of the umbra. Unfortunately the moon had again slipped behind the clouds and it started to sprinkle. The rain was soon steady and that ended the show for the night.

Eclipse animation, Time and Date dot com, eclipse, blood red moonI did not get to see the moon start to come out of the umbra and start turning white again.

Eclipse, Earthquake, Same time eventsOh, and the earthquake that I mentioned in the title? While watching the eclipse I received an earthquake notification. It was just a small little 3.3 and quite far away, but it did happen during the partial eclipse. I am sure if someone was close to Lake Almanor Peninsula and felt the earth move while watching the eclipse that they would have been a bit concerned.

So, not the best viewing experience tonight but always nice to observe another eclipse.

Steven

For some old eclipse pictures see:

The Blood Red Moon

The Blood Red Moon II

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Even More Tree Trimming

Posted on January 19, 2019 by vanbraman

Today I did even More Tree Trimming.

January Rose, Last roses, pruning time, winter yard careI had planned on pruning my roses today, but I just could not prune my roses while I still had some nice blooms on them. I will give them another week and then most of the blooms should be gone.

So, instead I turned my attention to my trees.

Pole saw, trees, fast growing trees, small yardWhen you have fast growing trees on a small lot you have to keep up with the trimming. I made the mistake of letting a few volunteer trees grow in my back yard that are fast growers.

Here you see me using my pole saw to take down a limb that is starting to reach out too far toward the neighbors yard.

tree branch, tree trimming, yard workIt took a bit of work as the limb was a bit thick and the teeth on the blade of the pole saw are not too big, but finally the limb was hanging down to the ground. The smallest branches on the end just cleared the fence as it came down.

Hand saw, tree trimming, small saw, tree work, yard workIt was then time to get to work with my smaller hand saw. It cuts through the branches pretty quick as long as they are not too thick.

tree limbs, tree cutting, tree trimming, limb pile, yard workI soon had the big limb cut down into manageable sized pieces. However, I may still need to cut a few of the branches in half to fit in the yard waste container later. For now they are stacked along the side of the house.

I also cut a few more limbs off of this tree and also the other one in my back yard, but I am definitely not done yet. I only have so much space in the yard waste container and I also want to space out the effort so I am less sore the next day. Trimming the trees takes some muscles that I don’t use as often 🙂

I did get a nice walk in tonight so it has been a good day for exercise.

Steven

 

 

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