Last night we did go out a few times to see the lunar eclipse.  I was worried that it would be cloudy, but it was perfectly clear.  Unfortunately, it didn’t start until 10 PM our time, and it was just a little cold out.  Like single digits cold.  So we had to go inside to warm up between viewings.  I thought it was really cool to see.  Tyler liked it as well.  We also tied in some talk about constellations and about the satellite that they were going to blow up (news today says that they did blow it up.)  Satellite is a tricky word, see the resources that we’ve been using to study the planets uses the term to describe things like moons.  So Tyler wanted to know why they were blowing up a moon.  After the clarification on what a satellite is, then there was the discussion on why they were blowing it up – it doesn’t work anymore any they don’t want it crashing back down to Earth and hurting people.  That lead to a little talk about meteors and meteorites, but for the most part he was OK with them blowing it up.  We all hope that the next lunar eclipse in 2010 is in the summer so that we can be outside for the entire event.

We did make it to the art gallery this afternoon.  It was interesting.  First, I’ll tell you that we made a stop at Michaels this morning and picked up some smaller sketch pads and sketching graphite pencils for our coming art field trips.  The thought was that if something caught our eye, then we could sketch while we are there.  However, this did not happen today.  The art gallery was only a little warmer than outside and the only reason it was a little warmer is because you were out of the wind when inside.  We did look around the entire gallery.  The current main display was by an artist who decided to photograph Potato Creek State Park for the entire year.  She had some wonderful shots and they were great to look at.  The rest of the artwork was by other artists.  There were oil paintings, watercolors, acrylics, etc.  These ones that Tyler liked best were totally abstract and were done with automotive paints.  They were like swirls of colors.  To me they looked like melted glass that had been pulled and stretched.  We’ll go back there again, as they have a new main display every month, but here’s hoping that next month it is warmer in there.

Now for the cutting down trees.  I find that I have a hard time choosing sides on this one.  Here is the article: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-redwoods21feb21,0,3506781.story  It is about 2 neighbors that are waging a legal battle over one neighbor’s trees blocking the sun from the other neighbor’s solar panels.  On one side you have people who have planted redwoods on their property (and these were planted before the solar panels were installed.)  No one can argue that planting trees is a good thing when it comes to helping the environment.  On the other side you have people who have spent $70,000 to install solar panels that are now not getting any sun and therefore aren’t working.  And no one can argue that solar panels are good for the environment as well.  And CA has thrown in some laws that protect people who install solar panels to make sure that they don’t lose their investment, and I can see this.  So right now, as I understand the one neighbors have to cut down 2 of their trees so they aren’t blocking the sun from the solar panels.  Here’s what I don’t understand, those trees were there before the panels were installed and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that redwoods grow very tall, so why would you spend $70K to install solar panels that are going to be blocked at some point in time, to then spend 6 more years and who knows how much money fighting your neighbor about cutting down their trees in court.  Like I said before, I don’t know who’s “right” in this case, but it’s something to think about because it could pave the way for “I’m more environmental than you are” type lawsuits.  And I don’t think that will be good for anyone.