March 29, 2024

Blood moon

Is the Blood Moon an ominous warning of some cataclysmic event on the offing? Naw. If anything, I told myself, it’s a harvest moon.

And what a harvest! Farmers are saying they’ve never seen yields like this. I believe’m! Driving around the countryside, I’ve never seen crops so lush and thick. It’s all because of the abundant rains we’ve had this year. My yard has never looked so good.

Now the over-abundance problems are rearing up, like snakes on Medusa’s head. One of those snakes is low grain prices. (You might know it, just get a good crop, and prices hit the crapper!). Another problem is difficulty getting the crops out of the fields because of rain. Farmers are already envisioning crops standing through the winter. The third viper is the cost of drying — I can hear those dryers roaring now, and see the flames, like a jet airliner ready for takeoff. And then the forth snake head: not enough rail cars to transport the bumper crop. Remember those mountains of golden corn on the streets of rural Iowa a few years back when there weren’t enough rail cars? “Ski Iowa!”

I was eying the beautiful, full, harvest moon on the evening of October 7. It’s always breathtaking when the full moon first appears, poking its monstrous head over the horizon, like a giant pumpkin. Motorists were pulled to the side of the road, trying to get a camera shot, even “selfies” with the monster moon in the background. So I tried. But not having my tripod, the attempts at moon photography were shaky at best.

Later that evening, a friend called and asked if I was going to photograph the Blood Moon that would be in the Midwest sky at 5:55 the following morning. A Blood Moon occurs, when the Earth gets between the sun and the moon, casting a shadow, often reddish (because of the earth’s atmosphere), on the moon. Since I get up around 4:00 a.m. anyway, I would see what I could see.

So, at 5:30 a.m., I’m out there in the vacant lot across from my house, with camera and tripod. By golly, the moon was starting to turn reddish. Even with the tripod, telephoto lens, and camera set for “nighttime,” it’s still a tricky shot. But doable.

When I was fiddling with the camera and tripod, I noticed both of my arms were sore. The day before I had gotten my annual flu shot. Because of my age, 66, and asthma, it was recommended that I also get the pneumonia shot. Fine.

I went back in the house to gloat over my moon shot and to email the picture to friends. I noticed I wasn’t feeling very well. In fact, I was feeling really sick. My whole body ached, even the hair on my head, and I was running a fever. Ebola! The arm that I had gotten the pneumonia shot in, hurt so bad, I could hardly move it. In short, I spent two days in bed and thought I was going to die. At 5:00 a.m. the following morning, I called the Nurse Hotline on my insurance card. The nurse advised that I call the doctor’s office and let it “ring through to the doctor on duty.”

I called, let it “ring through” and was informed that the doctors office was closed. Click.

I looked at my arm in the mirror. It was swollen from my elbow to the shoulder, and hot to the touch. It was a rusty red color.

Ah, ha! The Blood Moon.

Have a good story? Call or teHave a good story? Call or text Curt Swarm in Mt. Pleasant at 319-217-0526, email him at curtswarm@yahoo.com, or visit his website at www.empty-nest-words-photos-and-frames.com. Curt also reads his column at www.lostlakeradio.com.