No Mooning in Selle

What's with all these moons these days?  It's beginning to remind me of the lantern district and the granary district in Sandpoint.

For a while we suddenly had the "lantern district" in downtown Sandpoint.  The "lantern district" had not been known to very many locals for most of their lives until one day when someone decided that naming the area where a bunch of restaurants operate might make a nice marketing tool.

They also threw in a little lore on the side. Of course, this would lure more customers to enjoy their fine food. 

I saw that marketing tool in action for a year or so but haven't heard much about it lately. Personally, I never did need the ambiance of a trumped up historical name to point me in the direction of any of those restaurants.  

I simply patronized them and enjoyed their offerings whenever opportunities arose---both before and after the "Lantern district." 

Now, I'm noticing that we have the "Granary District" west of 5th Avenue where we used to carefully drive our rigs up to the platform and one of the Johnson boys, usually sporting a brow of granary dust, would write up our order for rolled oats or a sweet feed combo.

Then, he'd walk from his office cubicle, grab the dolly and go load up whatever sacks we'd ordered, stack them on the dolly, direct them to the dock and dump them in the pickup bed.  If we drove a car, he'd go down the stairs and load them into the back of the car. 

Actually, I kinda like the term "granary district" because the area is pretty recognizable by the old mill where farmers used to go on a regular basis, not only to get their grain or mineral blocks but also to read the advertisements for horses, dogs or services tacked to the bulletin board. 

I'd better get back to moons.  Most of my life I've been tuned in to quarter, half and full moons. And, I've heard the song "Blue Moon" a time or two. 

This year, though, it seems that the outer-space aficionados are thinking like those folks in the lantern district in south Sandpoint.  

Gotta have an angle every time the moon shows up on a full-time basis.

Seems like this year we've had "harvest moons," "super moons," "blue moons" and, overnight a "blood moon." 

Is next month's version gonna be a "cold moon?"

Maybe I'm sounding a little cynical cuz I missed the whole "blood moon" eclipse show this morning. 

Oh, I was up in time, and I even announced the big event to Bill before coming upstairs with my cup of coffee.  Occasionally between 5-6 a.m., I left the computer and went to our upstairs bathroom window on the west side to see what the moon was doing.

Well, the moon didn't appear to be doing anything---just kinda sitting there with a bunch of cloud cover blocking it in places that no eclipse in its right mind would be doing. 

I could see no definitive lines of the moon being blocked by whatever star was supposed to be blocking it besides those pesky clouds. 

"Maybe when I take the horses to pasture," I reasoned.  "Maybe then, the clouds will leave and I can say I saw the eclipse----as opposed to those 1,800 photos sure to be posted on Facebook."  

By the way, Terry Gray, conditions must have been great down there in Moscow cuz your photos are really nice, even if you did call it a "red moon."  

The two walks down the lane with horses by my side did nothing to encourage a better performance out of that "bloody" moon.

When I returned to the house, I reported to Bill, this time noting that the morning moon show was pretty disappointing.  

"Maybe it's taking a while," I suggested.

So, when the usual morning walk time came, I plotted my route directly to Selle Road where, by the time I got there, I could stand in the road and surely see some heavenly action off to the west.  

When I left the driveway, the moon was completely covered with clouds.

When I got to Selle Road, I could see a hint of bright lights BEHIND the mountain.  

"Hmmm, I wonder if it's putting on the show, and I've been intentionally blocked from getting to enjoy it," I thought. 

Still filled with a glimmer of hope, I walked a ways to the west on Selle Road, thinking that something might give me a clue that an eclipse was actually going on.  

Well, as Bill pointed out to me back at the house, it was.  

The moon was eclipsed by the clouds and later eclipsed by the Selkirk Mountains.

"Maybe out on the Great Plains, they're getting a good show," I suggested, "definitely not here in Selle. 

And, so it goes:  an eclipse of a "blood moon," and I missed it.  

Guess I'll go to the granary district, have a cup of Evan's Bros. coffee and contemplate.  

Then, I can move on down to the lantern district, sip on a glass of Pend Oreille wine and think about strategy for successfully viewing next month's moon action. 

Is there anything planned for the "cold moon"?  

Happy Wednesday. 

Postscript:  So, Lenny Hess tells me it all happened at 3.  I read two news accounts that said it would be happening just after 5 a.m. in the Pacific Time zone.  I hope they print a correction!  :)