Chat Spot

[Steve Plonk]

We drove about thirty miles north to Dayton, TN to see the totality of the solar eclipse closest to us.
The total solar eclipse was amazing. None of us had seen a total eclipse before. We'd just seen a couple
of partial solar eclipses. The phenomena was something we'll remember the rest of our lives. Everyone
was friendly & was getting along. There was a diverse crowd at the Farmer's Market Park in Dayton, TN,
with people as far away as from Mississippi & Pennsylvania. (Monday, August 21, 2017)

The streetlights came on, birds roosted in the trees, in the brief approximately three minutes of darkness...
Just before the dusk of a crescent sun, a butterfly landed on my hand and stayed there for five minutes.
My wife & daughter were amazed by that butterfly as much as I was...Crescent suns filtered though the tree
leaves in the shade we were sitting in, between viewings. We were there most of the morning and into the
late afternoon... The solar eclipse began at around one o'clock sharp. Totality was reached at or around 2:30 pm.(EST)

The canada geese in a pond nearby stood on one foot & tucked in their heads, when totality was reached.
Then when the sun came back, the geese started honking again & took turns taking off in formation
in groups of around seven until all of them had gone elsewhere. Then the solar eclipse went into reverse
we gradually got to see the sun come most of the way back. There was plenty of traffic, so we thought
we'd better leave a little bit before the sun was full again. We left at around 3:45 pm.

[Steve Plonk]

My prayers go out to the victims & families of victims in the recent Las Vegas mass shootings & the New York City
truck terrorist murders.

[stilltrucking]

Dayton, TN . The last time I was in dayton was around 1976. I was trying to get there in a big old truck and I tried to take a short cut and wound up on the wrong side of the river. There was no bridge, just a small little ferry which was nothing more than a barge with a motor. The truck was around 60 foot long and the ferry was about sixty five foot long. He asked me if the truck was loaded? I told him i only had a couple thousand pounds on. I could not believe we got that truck on the ferry with little room to spare. It was a beautiful day to be on the water. Never forget how I felt chugging across that river. thanks for reminding me of a happy time that I had not thought about in a long long time.

[Steve Plonk]

My daughter & I rode both ferries, in Dayton, TN, while my wife was at work, back in the day.
Really a wonderful trip across the river like you said... Now, both ferries are gone except memorial signs & there are bridges in their places. The bridges are really great short cuts, too, but it's not the same as floating across. Glad I reminded you of pleasant journeys. You are a good on-line friend, Still Trucking.

On a sad note, my heart goes out to those poor Sunday shooting victims & families in Sutherland Springs, Texas, not too far from San Antonio.

[Steve Plonk]

Thank you, Alabama, for electing Doug Jones, U.S. Senator!

[sasha]

I'm a stranger to these parts, though I've been dabbling here at Studio 8 for about a year now. May I join you?

My name's Roy, I live in the southwestern corner of New Hampshire (USA), I'm a retired engineer (sort of, my degree was in physics, not engineering), I dig photography, writing, audio recording/editing, maps, recreational math & programming. My dad was a musician (piano, trombone), as are my brother (piano, banjo) and my sister (piano) and her kids (saxophone, piano). So the gene is in the family. I love music, but couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. Some say that the same gene that codes for music also codes skill with mathematics, so I guess it just expressed itself differently with me. Same aquifer, different well.

Politically I'm moderately left of center. I was raised Roman Catholic, but no longer believe in God, at least not a personal god who gives a rat-fuck about me - but it's hard not to be awed by the sky on a dark winter night, or the sight of the sun rising after a pre-dawn hike to the summit of a local peak.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I'm closing in on my 68th orbit around the little class G star we call our own, and am the proud employee of a high-energy dog I adopted a year or so ago, a young lab of unknown provenance who keeps me fit - lost 25 lb since taking him in, I'm wearing pants I haven't been able to button in years.

I'm divorced, but have been so for so long that I always check the Single box instead. Got a 36 yr old daughter who's a free-lance architect in the Bay Area. I like cooking, and always prepare my meals from scratch - none of those petrochemical transfats for me, thanks. Besides, I enjoy playing with my food.

I, too, was heartened by the Doug Jones victory in Alabama, and naively hope that it's the second round fired in support of decency, common sense, and professionalism in our governing bodies. (Ha ha, I crack me up....)

[Steve Plonk]

God bless New Hampshire, God bless Tennessee, & God bless America. We need all the help we can get.
I am so tired of Humpty Trumpty & all his ilk. We shall fight 'em tooth & nail, as the saying goes.
I await "a new rebirth of thunder" from the Democratic party. Hey, & there's lightning to go with it.
May the congregation say Amen. May history be on our side again. Thanks for reading, Sasha.

[sasha]

I was merely appalled by Trump's nomination - how could anyone not see through the naked venality, the boon ignorance, the sixth-grader vocabulary of that awful, awful man? But I was in a state of shock when he actually won the electoral college in the main election. I thought - hoped - for a second that I was reading the Onion or some other satirical website. "Trump wins the election - haha, good one!" I don't know if the Dems are ready to take back the Congress next year - they need more Liz Warrens - but whoever they put up against the red menace has my vote already.

Thanks for the welcome!

[Steve Plonk]

Happy Groundhog's/Candlemass Day! (Feb. 2nd) Six more weeks of winter weather is predicted.
It's cold down here, but we have had only one snowfall. Hope that those of you with heavy snows
are able to shovel it out. Back in the winter of 1993, we got 22 inches on or around March 12th!
That was a record for us in the Chattanooga, TN area.

[still.trucking]

My heart was always in my throat when I headed down south from Nashville to Chattanooga .

Monteagle Mountain is the local name given to a stretch of Interstate 24 near Monteagle, Tennessee that passes over the Cumberland Plateau. Being part of the plateau, it is not technically a mountain, but appears that way to motorists crossing over it. It is frequently referenced as one of the most treacherous stretches of . . . wicki

Weather here has been strange even for Texas, three weeks ago we had snow, two weeks ago it was down in the low twenties
tommorow going to be 78

I have that the Grounds Hogs Day tradition started about five thousand years ago in Ireland

Imbolc is mentioned in some of the earliest Irish literature and there is evidence it has been an important date since ancient times. It is believed that it was originally a pagan festival associated with the goddess Brigid (goddess of fertility) and that it was Christianized as a festival of Saint Brigid,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imbolc

Ground Hogs Day one of my all time favorite movies.
What kills me about Tennessee is the number of times I have seen the state flag displayed upside down. A lot of confusion about which way it goes.

[Steve Plonk]

Monteagle Mountain gets the most snow around here... I, too, like the movie "Groundhog Day". I must've seen
it ten times with my wife & daughter. Still Trucking, Hope you are having a good month.

[stilltrucking]

Not a good month for me so far as bicycle riding, but lucrative. I am in the dead of winter in the midst of the tax season, five days a week I live in dread and take peoples lives in my trembling hands. February always a spooky month for me, always associated with suicide for some reason. I wonder what the statistics are for the most popular months for that?

I read somewhere that movie is . . .,' the Buddhist lifehacker movie'
https://www.cnn.com/2016/02/01/health/g ... index.html

I hope all is well with you and yours

[Steve Plonk]

Still Trucking, hope the month of March has been better for you. We've had some
weird weather here lately. Not too long ago it broke heat records, then it went down to freezing again.
Weather around here seems almost tempermental(sic). ha!

[stilltrucking]

Thank you, Steve, I appreciate the sentiments.
Oh yes March is better, way better
we are well into spring consistent seventies daytime but also a couple of 90 degree days
nighttimes perfect open window sleeping weather, coldest its been in the high forties

ride my bike every chance I get
cause we all know about time and chance


Easter can't keep track of those lunar holidays, next week?

not sure when Passover is either?

Happy holidays amigo

[Steve Plonk]

Yep, Easter fell on April 1, this year. We had a good one. Hope you did, too. Easter coincided with Passover for several
days as it usually does. We have had some cold weather & are getting some showers per usual. The weather has been
quite unpredictable for the weather persons. These things happen. Looking forward to more seasonable spring weather
with a lack of storms. Spring still hasn't come to the northeastern states & to parts of the mid-west. Much more snow
has fallen.