Some people are saying today’s solar eclipse will bring the Rapture. While that’s always a possibility, I predict that it will develop like every other eclipse that has taken place since earth’s beginning. I just don’t think the time is right for the faithful to ascend to heaven.
A Facebook post provided an appropriate response: Let’s hide out for the day and leave some clothes scattered about.
Of course, no one wants to hide out when there is an opportunity to observe a total solar eclipse when such opportunities are so rare.
We’re fortunate to have a piece of property in northern New Hampshire that falls along the path of totality. Driving up on Friday afternoon, we were surprised to see how few vehicles were on the highway, with even fewer cars once we passed Berlin. We were expecting the see clogged highways after hearing all of the predictions about tourists flocking to the Granite State for the big event.
By Saturday, there were a few cars passing by, but it was not an unusually large number, and we began to doubt the hype that prompted businesses and even a few homes to bring in large quantities of porta-potties to handle the anticipated crowds. The Woodstock Music Festival it was not.
Sunday, it all began to change. There was an almost steady flow of traffic on Route 16, and LL Cote’s parking lot in Errol was as crowded as it is during ATV festivals. Some of the vehicles were carrying snowmobiles, as die-hards were anxious to get in one more trek before the latest snowfall is all gone. (Except for the snowbanks from earlier plowing, a mere four inches of snow covered most areas, and in some cases, even that amount had become slush or mud holes.)
So perhaps by the time of the eclipse, the predictions will have proven true — at least the ones about the eclipse-watchers; I can’t say how the Rapture will pan out.
What is apparent is that the birds are back. We spotted wood ducks on the river and heard the geese raising a ruckus. As I walked our Leonberger, Lemon Magnolia, through the woods on Sunday, a large shadow passed over the ground, indicating that an eagle had flown by overhead. Even now, as I type this column while parked at the Errol Public Library — the one place up here where there is reliable internet — I hear the robins singing their happy spring song.
I even had a call from my boat storage facility, checking in on when I’d like to pick up the pontoon boat for the season. I’m not likely to put it in the water very soon — I can’t even get down the snow-covered steps to the dock right now — but this is a time of optimism, so I told them to go ahead and get it ready for summer, and I’d pick it up as soon as it is clear that winter is over.
The Magalloway and Ammonoosuc rivers are surprisingly low right now, and I can only surmise that it is because the damkeepers have lowered the levels in anticipation of more rain and snow runoff to come. It certainly would be difficult to navigate the river with these levels, and there are tree branches and logs that will have to be removed before a river journey is safe. I suppose I could put in a kayak, but I like the water to be a little warmer before I do that. I’m not one of those who enjoys the New Year’s Day River Run in Franklin, and even gliding through calm waters here lacks appeal right now.
I might be persuaded to go for a bike ride on a blue-sky day like this, but the e-bike I’d like to buy is out of my price range, and I’m not physically prepared for a regular bike at this point. The most exercise I got this winter was shoveling snow, and I didn’t even have to do much of that until after spring arrived.
It just occurred to me this weekend that perhaps delaying my spring haircut was responsible for winter’s continued hold on the weather, so I allowed my wife to give me a summer haircut, in hopes of hastening summer’s arrival.
That is, of course, unless the Rapture occurs during today’s eclipse.