Category: Uncategorized-A Bit of This-A Dab of That

ECONOGAL > Uncategorized-A Bit of This-A Dab of That

Hurricane Harvey Relief Efforts

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Disaster Relief Efforts

Many of us are watching the news from the Gulf Coast. Hurricane Harvey has decimated many parts of Texas and Louisiana. I am particularly interested in the relief efforts since I lived in the Houston area for about 3 years. It is a city near and dear to my heart.

If you are like me, you want to help somehow, someway. But how can you tell which efforts are scams? Also, which relief agencies have the least administrative fees? Hopefully this post will help.

There are actually quite a few websites that rank charitable foundations. Charity Navigator and Charity Watch are just two. Each site has its own criteria. Some of the rankings are based on a ratio of administrative fees to funds handed out. Others rely on ratings from individuals, similar to web ratings for restaurants or hotels. A few do not include religious groups since they cannot access the IRS returns. However, for some these church sponsored groups remain valuable.

There are many organizations I trust. The United Methodist Church is at the top of the list. I will donate to their Disaster Relief Fund which you can access here. The church website relates stories of already completed help. Link to UMC website for more details.

Sometimes individual churches provide direct help. Many churches in the path of the storm became shelters for those forced from their homes. Others became staging areas for rescue efforts.

Churches outside the affected area can help in the months to come. After the tornados in Joplin a few years ago, members of our church traveled there months after the fact to help. Actually, a later visit to help often works better. Perhaps youth groups and other volunteers can plan now to help next spring or summer.

Unfortunately, Hurricane Harvey wreaked so much havoc that relief efforts will need to continue for the forseeable future. I know the neighborhood I lived in as well as the areas where I worked were inundated with water. At this point in time the best thing I can do is send money. In a few weeks or possibly months the dry goods could come into play. For now, it is a time to clean up. The restocking will come later.

Social and Economic Aspect of the Solar Eclipse

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Blacked Out

Minions Eclipse

Charlie Brown Eclipse

The Social and Economic Aspect of a Full Eclipse
As I previously wrote, I was fortunate enough to watch the 2017 eclipse from a position within the path of totality. Today I plan to share with you some of the social aspect as well as the economic impact. I was in a group of about 40 of which the vast majority were complete strangers. But there is a certain bonding which occurs in such an event. It is this social aspect which adds to the thrill of watching a total eclipse.
About half the attendees were children. Most were in the K-12 range with a few younger and perhaps one or two in college. The nearby schools made the day optional for attendance. I was one of the oldest, if not the oldest and so the mid-fifties was the upper range. Therefore, many of the adults took the day off or if on a night shift, awoke early. One individual had his business shut down by the state due to the anticipated crowds. When you see the negative economic impact figures, this loss of productivity is what the numbers represent.
Since I am at a stage where I am beginning to forget things, I forgot to pack a shirt for the overnight trip. Shortly after arriving, I made a stop at the local Target and bought two eclipse shirts. Only adult medium and youth large were left. They were sold out of all other sizes. I also enjoyed dinner at a restaurant with two good friends. I don’t think they planned on eating out before I called them that morning. Additionally, I bought a tank of gas both coming and going to the event. I do not know if these expenditures, which offset the loss of productivity, are counted in any way.
The eclipse party also included some extra consumer spending. As you can see from the pictures, there were other t-shirts sporting the eclipse. Even though I was a stranger to most, I was not the only guest at the party from out of the area. There were at least three individuals from Dallas, Texas and several other towns, cities and states were represented. Most drove but at least one attendee flew in for the event.
While many observers of the eclipse were watching from parks, soccer fields and even the sides of highways, I watched on private property. As I previously noted, most of my fellow watchers were strangers to me. I was the outsider, but am grateful to my host and hostess for including me. They like me, have an appreciation for privacy. Therefore the group of forty was quite small in comparison to the amount of space available. It remains to be seen if any longstanding relationships develop from the experience, but I will never forget the people I met.
A total eclipse is special. An experience that inks permanently on the brain. My only regret is echoed by a fellow observer on the following video clip. I wish I had a better camera.

Short Eclipse Video

Path of Totality Solar Eclipse 2017

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Eclipse Day
August 21, 2017 will be in my mind for years to come. I was fortunate to watch the eclipse from the heartland. The location was in the 70 mile stretch called the path of totality. Approximately 40 people were enjoying the 2017 solar eclipse from a private ranch with incredible views of the horizon in all directions.

Yet another piece of luck was the presence of Dr. Michael Dowling. A veteran eclipse watcher, this was his fifth total eclipse, Dr. Dowling was invaluable in sharing his knowledge. Many had never experienced any type of eclipse. For most this was the first time watching from the path of totality.

As shared in Awaiting the Eclipse of 2017, my previous experiences were limited to partial eclipses. I am so glad I made the trip to see the full eclipse because there is a huge difference. Now I understand why people go to great lengths to travel to the path of totality. I am looking forward to 2045 when the path leads over my house. The eclipse will last about 5 minutes that year, more than twice as long as yesterday.

Over the next few posts I will share pictures and movies of my experience. The final minutes leading up to the total eclipse are shown in the longest video posted below.The camera is a bit shaky because I was holding it behind my back while watching the sun with my glasses. The shadow that sweeps across the land just prior to the moon totally covering the sun comes from behind. You cannot look both for the shadow and watch the sun. I chose to watch the sun and hope the camera could pick up some of the shadow. I was pleased that the video was able to capture the event. The audio tells the story as well.

All were shot with a two year old cell phone camera. I definitely need to upgrade. However, I was able to capture much more of the event thanks to Dr. Dowling. He was great. In addition to bringing a shadowbox to view the moon covering the sun, he provided explanations of what was going to happen. At one point he had volunteers act as the sun, moon, and Earth in order to demonstrate the process. I think this was particularly helpful for the kids in the group.

Solarscope

The pictures to the left are of the solar scope. Due to Dr. Dowling and his explanations of the eclipse highlights, I had a tremendous first experience of a total eclipse.

My absolute favorite part is called the ring effect. I did not try to capture this instant on the film. I just wanted to enjoy the moment. Sometimes photos can’t quite capture the human experience. Bailey’s Beads and the diamond ring effect fall into this category for me.

I plan to share the social experience in a later post. I have two chances to repeat this experience without leaving the continent. The first is in 2024 which would involve driving to Dallas. The second is over 20 years later. I plan to watch both from the path of totality.

Where were you for the 2017 Solar Eclipse?

Awaiting Solar Eclipse of 2017

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PART 1
I live about 5 ½ hours south of the path of totality for this year’s solar eclipse. Naturally, I wanted to take part since my previous experiences have been partial eclipses. Fortunately I know several people who live in the path and found someone willing to put me up for the night.

Since the news outlets repeatedly released warnings about eclipse traffic I took the back roads which added a small amount of time. Of course, in my neck of the woods the main roads are two lane U.S. highways for the most part. The back roads are state highways and in some cases county roads. For the most part the traffic was not difficult. So maybe the traffic will be heavy the day of the eclipse, or maybe I am late to the party.

However, the farther north I drove the more crowded the gas pumps were. Perhaps this was a direct result of the warnings of possible gas shortages. Or maybe people wanted full tanks to go home on.
In addition to the temporary signs warning of higher volumes of traffic, the states I traveled through had other preparations. Lots of no stopping or standing signs appeared as well. As I reached the area that will experience the total eclipse cones and barrels appeared on the side of the road to keep people from parking on the shoulder.

I vividly remember some partial eclipses from when I was a kid. We made pinhole projectors with a piece of cardboard and a white piece of paper. This year I will be using specialty glasses. I will also observe shadows.

Another thing I hope to do this year is to take lots of pictures. Since I will be using my cell phone, the quality may be questionable. However, I plan to take pictures of the social aspect of the event as well as the eclipse itself.

The most important thing is not to look at the sun without special glasses. According to the NASA website it will be safe to look directly at the eclipse for the brief time it is fully covered and ONLY if you are in the path of totality. However, much like experiencing the eye of a hurricane, you do not want to misjudge the timing of the re-emergence of the sun.

I hope many of you take the time to see either the full eclipse or the partial depending on where you live. Be sure to check back on Econogal for a full report.

August Hail Storm

August Hail Storm

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High Plains Hail Storms

Today’s post will have lots of photos of damage to both my garden and that of a nearby relative. While we do not suffer the threats of tsunamis or hurricanes, we have our share of bad weather. On the high plains natural disasters appear in the form of blizzards, flash flooding, strong straight line winds and hail.

I have lived in my present home for 22 years and this is the third time a major hail has hit. Most of the hail we get is pea sized or slushy and doesn’t create widespread damage. But with a storm like this, contractors will be busy for months. We may have been fortunate, depending on the assessment of our roof. Many of our neighbors have broken windows, both car and home, damage to siding and roofs. Businesses suffered as well.

The recent storm carried golf ball sized stones. We are still waiting the claims personnel to see if we will need a new roof. Our current one is just 4 years old and 3 times thicker than the average. Other damage to property is limited to screens and fascia.  However, the garden suffered a direct hit.

Fortunately, I am a fanatic about keeping apprised of the weather. A cold front bringing severe weather was forecasted, so I was aware of the possibility of damage. Once the radio indicated the front was about 30 minutes away bringing large hail I quickly harvested what I could. Any tomato with the slightest bit of red was picked along with other veggies that were near ripened state. The root vegetables were left in place with the hope that the foliage would not be totally shredded.

As you can see in the photos, the hail tore the leaves apart. I estimate the locust trees lost about half, even though the leaves are small. The oak, red buds and peaches all took a hit. The photos of my beds show stripped pepper and tomato plants and damaged artichokes. Both the potato and sweet potato plants now have holey leaves but the crops should be far enough along underground not to be stunted.

The hail beat up the veggies as seen in the photos of the tomato and peppers. All the peppers had been knocked to the ground. The hail stones even knocked holes in large fruits such as melon and pumpkins as can be seen in the photo of my relative’s 20 x 20 garden plot.

The damage was not limited to neighborhood gardens. Farmers took a hit as well as can be seen in these photos of a nearby cornfield. Each year, farmers on the high plains face this threat to crops. Because of this, yields can’t be predicted for any long term planning.

TRIP Around The WORLD

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Quilting is one of my favorite hobbies. I began quilting in the mid 1980s just as the art was experiencing a comeback. I was living in Houston at the time and was fortunate to have a quilt shop just a few miles from where I lived. While I have kept a few, most have been given away.

The quilt in the photo above is the pattern Trip Around the World. I made it for a young lady who was a frequent visitor to our house. She choose a wide variety of colors and prints which made the design process a bit difficult.

The squares are 2 inches finished and I did not add a border on this particular quilt. The hot center is balanced by the gray greens. I was fortunate enough to find a nice Bali print in my stash to use as a transition from the bright pinks and reds to the cooler tones.

Planning is key when making this pattern. I use graph paper to plot out the fabrics. The chart becomes my guide when I begin piecing. Care is needed in order to keep the pattern aligned. If you have a lot of prints as in this example, it helps to snip small pieces of each fabric and either tape or glue onto the chart in the proper order. In this case I simply described each fabric on the chart.

I wanted this quilt to be a square but you could create a rectangular bed spread by adding boarders with differing widths. I like to add my side borders first and then the top and bottom. This particular quilt took me a month to piece and hand quilt.

LEARNING CURVE

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Learning Curve
One of the most difficult things we face today is the challenge of learning how to work, live and function within the technological revolution. Some individuals, those described as early adopters in the business world, can’t wait to try out the latest and greatest item before the rest of us even know it is out there. An example would be an individual in the mid 1980’s transitioning away from the big boom box era to a Walkman and then to an Ipod just after the turn of the century. In contrast, what marketers call a late adopter, is the individual who is the last on the block to own a car with a backup camera. That would be me. My car is fairly new, but no Backup camera or GPS. Maybe on the next car which will be sometime after 2020 unless Tesla can build a car capable of going 500 miles on one charge.

As a blogger I am pretty late to the ballgame. The newest trend is vlogging, which according to an article in the May 23, 2017 Daily Mail is the desired occupation of 75% in a survey of 1000 school-aged children. For any other late adopters, vlogging is blogging via video such as You Tube. Building this website has been a stretch for me, I am not ready for vlogging.

Regardless of how quickly an individual adopts a new technology or task, a learning curve is present. Right now I am facing a steep one. My IT background is one of osmosis. Anything I know I absorbed from sitting next to tech geeks in meetings. Fortunately, the tech world is bent on creating user-friendly approaches. It is a matter of economics. If everyday people like me can’t figure out how to work the product, no sales will be made.

Website building has reached that critical point. I have no coding in my background other than a class that introduced Pascal a very long time ago. I have heard of HTML but can’t write the language. While this site wasn’t built in a day, the time spent as a DIY project hasn’t been too unwieldy. The support platform provided by WordPress has been very good. I have experience with Q&A forums, email responses and a live chat system. I have yet to need phone help.

However, there are plenty of bugs to work out. Additionally, I will be traveling a great part of July. I believe my posts will publish on the main page, but so far I am manually connecting to other tabs. Thus the IN THE LIBRARY postings may not auto populate. In other words I haven’t learned all the posting tricks.

Restaurants use soft openings as a chance to train the staff in real world operations. ECONOGAL is under the same format. Even though it is visible to the public, I have not put any effort into marketing. I have always been a hands on learner which is why I have taken this approach. Please keep that in mind and exhibit patience while I tackle this new venture. I am finding the learning curve steep.

An Original

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Welcome to ECONOGAL. My hopes for this website are many and varied, but foremost I am using ECONOGAL as a way to create new pathways in my brain. Since my maternal side of the family has a history of degenerative brain diseases, I plan to fight any similar conditions in my own brain. Some of my research, consisting mostly of reading news articles, has led me to believe that new knowledge helps keep brains healthy.

I have some limitations with respect to content. I am a private person. I married someone with even greater privacy issues and hence any offspring we may have created inherited the same sense of privacy. So any family or friends who may hope to glean personal news may be disappointed in this site. However, if you are a cat lover, my cat Sophie has no issue with the possibility of a public life.

This site will be eclectic in nature. I realize this may doom ECONOGAL from commercial success, so be it. Book reviews along with commentary concerning successes (and probably failures) in the kitchen, garden and hobby room will be a prominent part of the site. Additionally, there will be occasional interviews and travel recommendations.

Eclectic describes my reading habits. My favorite fiction genre is the murder mystery ( gruesome I know) but I read everything from historical to sci-fi. Non-fiction is not quite as extensive with a heavy emphasis on how-to, although some technology themes have had some of the greatest impact on my everyday life.

In the Kitchen will center on baking and preserving. Recipes will be shared. In the Garden will focus on what I grow. I am somewhat limited by the fact that my garden receives an average of less than 15 inches of moisture a year. Finally, In the Hobby Room will feature quilts and acrylic paints. I have decades of experience in the former and am a newbie in the latter. My new foray into painting is yet another attempt at renewing brain cells.

Finally, I intend for this site to be read by all ages. Therefore, my posts will be G rated. Hopefully all comments will be as well. But if not– there’s always the moderation button. Happy Reading.