84.5% of an Eclipse

   In the interest of giving you all the news that's fit to print here we are an hour removed from the Eclipse Of The Century and I'm already posting a new episode just for you, loyal readers.

  Yes, we're in Tidewater Virginia, so not in the Path of Totality, but we did manage to spend the time outside in hopes of seeing something dramatic. Nope. Apparently, 84.5% totality doesn't have much effect. Crickets disagreed with me as they started chirping when things started happening, as if it was dusk. Some dogs started howling. Otherwise, it wasn't much. It did get cooler though, so we knew something was going on.

  On the other hand, the kids back in Toronto were in the aforementioned Path Of Totality or, at least, 95% of it, so they managed to see a mostly total eclipse as the clouds started to part. Here's a cellphone shot my grandson, Lucas, captured:

  David tried to get a shot from Bradford but it was cloudy and so he offered this memorable pic:

  Too many damn comedians in this family.

  Eclipse aside, things have improved here in our little isolated piece of Virginia. The weather warmed up and Penny got over her cold. She's been having a grand time trying to identify all the birds that hang around the water beyond our backyard. I'd been waiting for warmer weather to get out in the kayak and today finally delivered:

  The cats have even warmed up to us. Well, one of them. Here's Midnight, who lets us pet her when she appears at night or early morning.

  She's very nocturnal, only appearing between the hours of 7 pm and 7 am. The rest of the time she can be found sleeping on the floor behind the beer fridge. If I've been drinking I can be found sleeping on the floor in front of the beer fridge. I think that's why she likes me. A kindred spirit.

  The other cat, Maisey, is still a head case.

  She's only friendly when she's hungry or when it's treat time, which is any time she's awake. I say friendly in that she doesn't run away or hiss at you... until after you've fed her. You can see the evil in her eyes. This is a cat that would be at home on the lap of an evil genius. I think one of her ancestors can be seen with Blofeld in a bunch of James Bond movies. Also, she  eats A LOT. Consequently, she poops A LOT. Like, enough for any two other cats. To quote Richard Dreyfuss in Jaws, she's an "eating machine". I'm thinking of feeding her license plates.

  Even though Maisey may be the most unfriendly cat I've ever encountered (she makes Lucy in Cyprus look positively wonderful in comparison) I can't say the same for the local residents. I went for a walk a couple of days ago and spent much of the time returning waves from every driver that passed me by. I think I may have developed carpal tunnel as a result. How do the royals do it? I should note that I'm white in an overwhelmingly white, middle to upper class part of the country that will likely vote for Trump in November. If I were Latino I'll bet the local constabulary would have shown up and waved me over, rather than waved at me. Maybe I'm overreacting but I've only seen white faces everywhere we've been around here. Not too many BIPOC's buying waterfront property in Tidewater Virginia.

  We haven't yet done much here other than shop for groceries but I think that's about to change. We're planning on hitting the local golf course tomorrow and we'll likely head down to Norfolk and Newport News/Virginia Beach later in the week. There's a lot of history in that neck of the woods as well some major naval installations and museums. Also, the Norfolk Tides, the Triple-A team of the Baltimore Orioles, are there and we all know how Mikey loves a ball game. I think Tuesday is $2 Beer night. Hopefully I don't end up on the floor in front of the beer fridge.

Cheers.