Karla's Kolumn: Excited for the eclipse; but focused on reality

I'm excited for Monday. I don't normally, OK I never say I'm excited for a Monday. But, I am this time because it is solar eclipse day.

I won't be traveling to Thermopolis to view the eclipse in totality. I'll be watching from home, where I will have my camera (complete with solar eclipse filter) set up on a tripod to try and capture this historic moment. I'll have 99.4 percent totality at the house. I'm happy with that.

I was a young child during the last solar eclipse, 1979, and I remember making a pinhole projector and I remember being disappointed in not actually getting to see the sun but rather a shadow of the sun and solar eclipse.

Fast forward to 2017 and we have the invention of solar eclipse glasses. Yes, I have my pair. To be able to look at the sun and watch the eclipse is going to be an awesome experience, at least I think so.

It's such a rare occurrence, with the last total solar eclipse across the United States occurring 99 years ago.

WILL'S and WON'TS

As excited as I am there are some things I will be doing and some things I won't be doing.

I WILL: Wear my eclipse glasses anytime I'm looking at the sun.

I WILL: Use my eclipse filter on my camera.

I WILL: Be listening to see if the crickets start chirping and the frogs croaking as day turns into night.

I WILL: Remind myself to be patient if traveling anywhere this weekend through Tuesday as visitors don't always know where they need to turn, may be looking at sights in the area I take for granted.

I WILL: Drive defensively and not be distracted while driving.

I WILL: More than likely watch Ladyhawke again, a fictional fantasy movie where a curse is broken when "a day becomes a night" and true love conquers all.

I WON'T: Take pictures with my camera in my phone since I do not have a filter.

I WON'T: Drive with my eclipse glasses on as the only thing you can see through the glass is the sun.

I WON'T: Be getting glasses for my pets. I don't have a fear that on eclipse day they are suddenly going to want to look at the sun. In the words of veterinarian Steve Tharp – dogs and cats are not sun worshippers.

I WON'T: Be renting out any property. I'm glad I'm no longer a landlord and plan to stay that way.

I WON'T: Use GPS while driving in Wyoming as it is too unreliable. When doing a 40th anniversary story a few years ago for Big Horn County Search and Rescue I asked what the No. 1 issue was for searches – expecting it to be late or lost hunters. I was wrong, it's travelers who don't actually look at a map and trust GPS units that sometimes include old closed roads or two-tracks that don't go anywhere and drivers end up getting lost. I advise our visitors to grab some local maps of Wyoming and the area and trust in the maps, or ask a resident.

I WON'T: Believe that the eclipse is bringing in the apocalypse or the Yellowstone volcano will erupt or that animals and people will behave abnormally or more aggressively.

Whatever you will or won't be doing Monday morning when the solar eclipse happens - between 10:20 a.m. to about 1:20 p.m. with the peak around 11:40 a.m., be safe, wear your glasses, but most of all enjoy the once-in-a-lifetime experience. Not until 2045 will another total solar eclipse run across the entire continental United States, but for us in Wyoming and Worland, this is as close to totality as we will be for a long time, so enjoy.