2023 Annular Eclipse

So, the 2023 annular eclipse has come and gone. I have long harbored interest in astronomy, and by extension, astrophotography. Alas, due to a number of frustrations my efforts have dwindled almost nil over the past decade. The coming double-whammy of the anular eclipse and total solar eclipse sparked a stirring of ambition in me, and I resolved to photograph both. As New Braunfels is outside the zone of totality for both eclipses, I had to travel west to experience the full effect. Unsure of how many people would turn out for this thing (many otherwise free public parks were charging admission!) I hit upon setting up my viewing in a somewhat obscure picnic area on Interstate 10 between Boerne and Comfort. Sure enough, when I arrived shortly before 10 a.m. on Oct. 14, the picnic area was mostly deserted save for a handful of truckers pulled over to grab a bit of sleep.

I quickly staked out my preferred site and set up. For those intersted in the techical aspects, I used a Meade 645 Newtonian telescope with a basic, worm-screw tracking drive. I plugged the drive into a inverter connected to a deep-cycle marine battery for power. I rough aligned the tracking mount using a compass to determine north. Over the front of the scope I attached a filter I constructed using Baader Planetarium AstroSolar Safety Film--the same setup I used to photograph the transit of Venus a decade ago. The camera I used is a Rebet T3i modified for astrophotography. Camera settings were 100 ISO with a shutter speed of 1/2000. Aperture is f/5 set by the telescope. Focus was manual and seeing (turbulence in the atmosphere) was only fair, hampering my efforts to get really detailed images. To the camera I attached a Neewer remote programmed to trigger the camera once every 20 seconds, resulting in three photographs per minute.

The clouds stayed mostly away. I managed to capture some sunspots in my images but beyond that there was almost no detail for my simple setup to capture. In hindsight, I did better with focusing than I thought at the time. I'll be better prepared what to expect next April for the total eclipse. Ultimately, I ended up with 566 photos, start to finish. I'm working on a detailed edit of a selection of them, but here's a sampling with a quick bit of processing:

As i said, the picnic area was mostly deserted when I set up but it didn't stay that way for long. By peak eclipse I'd been joined by dozens of folks who pulled off the highway to watch. One guy from Houston had a nice little Celestron scope he was shooting the eclipse with--he hadn't set up any alignment but was using the electronic controls to slew the scope and manually track the sun. Another guy brought his daughter all the way from New Jersey(!) to see the spectacle--they'd originally planned to go to Hondo, but early morning weather reports indicated cloudy skies so they decided to head to Kerrville instead. Unfortunately the rental agency botched their reservation and they almost missed the show. We had a good talk and he took selfies with myself and the Houston astronomer before rushing back to San Antonio to catch a departing flight. Another couple sat on the picnic tables behind me and chatted amiably during the event. Once the "ring of fire" broke and the moon began to uncover the sun the crowd dissipated quickly. Only myself and the Celestron guy from Houston stuck around to the very end.

All in all, I quite enjoyed the experience. I've only experienced partial solar eclipses before and had never gone into any with purpose. I'd planned my strategy, packed my car the night before and everything went as planned--whick is unheared of for me. I learned some valuable lessons this outing and am hopeful that I will be better prepared for the total eclipse in April of 2024. We shall see.

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Book signing news

In the "let's try this again" category, I have a book signing and discussion for my book, Inside the Texas Chicken Ranch, coming up on Oct. 7 from 1-3 p.m. at Pecantown Books and Brews in Seguin. Those of you who've been following along may recall a previous attempt at a signing here back in September had to be scrubbed because of an unexpected conflict. But we're back and looking forward to seeing folks turn out on Saturday. Pecantown is a nifty shop with several rooms filled with books plus a wine and beer bar. I think every bookstore should have a wine and beer bar incorporated into the general layout. Everybody wins!

I also have fresh news to share--as in just confirmed minutes ago. I'm finally coming to the Metroplex for a signing event! After many false starts, misfires and schedule conflicts dating back to 2016 I am delighted to announce that I will be at Monkey and Dog Books in Fort Worth on Nov. 4 for a 2-4 p.m. signing and discussion. The Dallas-Fort Worth area plays such a significant role in the history of the Chicken Ranch--both in Miss Edna's early days as a sex worker before she found her way to La Grange, to the start of that brothel's weird afterlife when the parlour section was shipped to Dallas to become a short-lived, chicken-themed restaurant. I mean, it's crazy I haven't made it up there, isn't it? Well, I go where I'm wanted and Monkey and Dog Books want me, so I hope to see you there in November!

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Friday Night Videos

"Kelly's Heroes" is probably my favorite war/heist movie. Its lunacy and irreverence brings me unconditional joy. I love it unconditionally. And you know what else I love? The film's defacto theme song, "Burning Bridges" by the Mike Curb Congregation. This group never really did anything else that managed to hold my attention, but this one song is certainly a relentless earworm. And Mike Curb himself carved out an interesting and varied career.

Previously on Friday Night Videos... Greg Kihn Band.

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Friday Nigt Videos

I am so happy to share this with you. In high school I went through a Greg Kihn phase. I literally wore out the cassette I had of Citizen Kihn because I thought it so great. Lots of cool, trippy, moody songs on that one. Alas, the first single off that album, "Lucky," struck me as one of the weaker tracks. It was a minor hit, barely cracking the Billboard top 20. Then the second single, "Boys Won't" came out. I saw this video on either Night Tracks of Friday Night Videos when it came out and thought it amazing! I told my friends about it in school. I was certain it would be a huge smash. Folks, I NEVER saw that video again until about eight years ago, and that was a grainy, Nth generation copy on YouTube with terrible audio. Kihn's career cratered after that, and I'm still baffled to this day how that album--which I thought the best of his career--just went nowhere. Regardless, this video is a hoot, from Kihnnedy High School to Nurse Canker, there's a playfull joy here with fun visuals and a catchy song. Enjoy!

Previously on Friday Night Videos... Jim Stafford.

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Chicken Ranch anniversary: Happy birthday Sheriff Flournoy!

On this date in 1902, Thomas James Flournoy was born to Tom and Etta Flournoy on a ranch near Rock Island. He would grow up to work as a ranch hand on the famous King Ranch, a Texas Ranger patrolling the Big Bend region during World War II and--most famously--as the long-serving sheriff of Fayette County. Sheriff Jim famously defied political and media pressure to close down the infamous Chicken Ranch brothel outside of La Grange in 1973 before acquiescing to a direct order from Governor Dolph Briscoe. A year later, Sheriff Flournoy confronted Marvin Zindler on the town square, ripping off the reporter's hairpiece and throwing it in the street. The resulting lawsuits and counter suits were eventually settled out of court with a large donation to the Shriner's Children's Hospital.

Sheriff Flournoy died on October 27, 1982, from heart problems. He would've been 121 years old today.

Autographed copies of Inside the Texas Chicken Ranch: The Definitive Account of the Best Little Whorehouse 50th anniversary edition are now available from my Big Cartel site.

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Dirty, Sexy History and Brenham

I've got a quick information drop to share with you good folks. First up, I've gone and committed another one of those podcast things. This time out I speak with Dr. Jessica Cale on the Dirty, Sexy History podcast. It's quite an interesting discussion, as Jessica asks me more about the origins of the Chicken Ranch and the general history and conditions under which prostitution operated under during 19th century Texas than I ever have been before. There some interesting stuff about malaria in there as well, perhaps timely as malaria has experienced a comeback in Texas of late. You can't tell from the amazing editing of this episode, but we had several odd interruptions that threatened to derail our entire effort for a time, but fortunately, Jessica pulled me through and we managed to stick the landing. On the other hand, there's really no excuse for the weird, long pauses I take in the middle of sentences. I know this has been a verbal tick of mine for a while, and I suppose it happens as I collect my thoughts to finish my statement, but still. It's quite prominent this time out and comes off as an over=the-top William Shatner impersonation. Yikes!

The other news is that on Saturday, September 16, I will be at The Book Nook in Brenham, Texas, for a signing and discussion of all things Chicken Ranch. I've been trying to get to Brenham for a signing for several years now--the manager informs me that Inside the Texas Chicken Ranch has become a perpetual bestseller for them. Whether this is because of Brenham's proximity to La Grange and the eponymous brothel of the title, or the fact that Brenham gets a mention in the book for its own brothel, the barely-remembered Dutch Lane that burned down under mysterious circumstances, I cannot say. Perhaps the answer will present itself on Saturday. I hope to see you there!

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Friday Night Videos

Let's change things up a bit this week. Jim Stafford is a singer-songwriter who had his greatest success in the 1970s with songs that had an often humorous bent. In 1980 he wrote and recorded "Cow Patti" for the Clint Eastwood movie "Any Which Way You Can." I can't find information online if it was a hit or not, but I can attest that it received significant airplay on the country radio stations of the day. I was 10 or 11 at the time, so naturally I thought this song was one of the top 2-3 pieces of music ever recorded (I'm older and wiser now, and will allow that it may be only in the top 10). Eight years after it first came out, Tom and Dick Smothers had a revival of their old television show and invited Stafford to perform. Stafford, the classy guy that he is, chose to sing "Cow Patti." The rest is history.

Previously on Friday Night Videos... Jimmy Buffett.

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