Bonnie Tyler and the Supermoon in Sacramento

total eclipse supermoon sacramento

The Supermoon in Sacramento was not viewable at my house at the Total Eclipse

Other people dream about lying on warm sandy beaches or soaring through the air riding rainbows like a cowboy, but me? I dream about charging my phone. Like watching paint dry, watching your phone charge. Oh, yeah, there is that little excitement when you notice the charging number has moved from 24% to 43% but other than that, there isn’t much happening when your phone is charging.

I imagine there are precipitating factors that caused this sort of vivid dream. Like, there was the issue of finding the Supermoon in Sacramento last night. Out of all the websites I visited, I could not find a single site that said, hey dummy, look to your left. I had a very hard time trying to figure out what part of the sky I should stare at. Was the moon rising in the east, west, north, south? Where the heck was it the last time I noticed? Sure, those technical websites gave numbers and hieroglyphics, but not one explained that the moon would rise toward the east and slightly south.

I stood in my front yard holding my cellphone and looking for my Land Park neighbors while I talked to my sister. She could see the Supermoon in Minneapolis, but I could not see the moon at all at the Total Eclipse Time of 7:11 in Sacramento. To the south and southeast, the clouds were an orangey-red but no moon. The sky was on fire. My neighbors down the street were standing on the sidewalk talking with each other but none looked up at the sky, so maybe they didn’t care. Then the sky turned black.

What about out back? In my back yard, I could see a big round moon reflected in the window of my garden shed back by the fence. For a few seconds, I was all excited, thinking the moon must be reflecting itself from the north, and I was looking in the wrong place. Then I realized it was our retro breakfast nook light fixture shining through the kitchen window. Off with all of the lights. But still. No Supermoon in Sacramento at my house.

Bonnie Tyler echoed through my head, turn around, every now and then I get a little bit lonely. My husband wasn’t home last night. That’s when I realized that Total Eclipse of the Heart was a smash hit right after the last Supermoon, which occurred in 1982. Say what you will about that song, but I like it. Did I see the Supermoon 33 years ago? I don’t recall. In fact, I don’t recall much about the 1980s as it was more of a forgettable decade than, say, the 1950s through the 1970s or even the 1990s. All better decades than the 1980s.

So when you start thinking about the 2010s, well, you’re relying on chargers for just about everything. No wonder I dream of charging my phone. At least there was the NASA Live Stream of the Supermoon. Welcome to 2015, where you have to look at your computer to see the total eclipse of the moon.

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