This month finds Ol’ Dutch and Miss Trixie still in Texas building on the house, going to grandkids’ ball games, selling cattle and yes, you guessed it, seeing the total eclipse of the Sun.

I read somewhere last week there was going to be an eclipse of “the sin” and got all excited thinking a new wave of morality was coming around finally. Alas, people prefer sinning, I do believe.

The Ponderosa where we abide our winters in Texas is smack dab in the middle of the full eclipse set to occur today. As I am writing this on Monday and you won’t get it until Thursday, it will be too late for you to come down to see it. Others, however, did.

It's the most amazing thing to Ol’ Dutch that things that were once tidbits of interest are now blown up by the news media into a gargantuan event. It's been advertised so much and for so long that people were making hotel reservations last fall to be here for the four minutes of darkness.

Not only that but local governments went into a tizzy and shut down schools and other facilities and called in extra emergency responders in a panic that hundreds of thousands of Sun worshippers were going to flood into their small towns.

Because we are the highest point in the county, Miss Trixie was thinking about renting out viewing spots here at the farm. Viewers would have the opportunity to be closest to the Sun in all of Hunt County. Selfishly, though, we’re keeping it between us, Cooper and the cows.

It's been such a huge lead up to this eclipse that yesterday we even saw a guy out in the country practicing his camera set up for today. Now that's dedication. Or insanity, I am not sure which.

Alas, there are kids out of school, people off work, governments in a panic and emergency responders sitting around just waiting for a mass panic to set in later today.

Now Ol’ Dutch has long been a believer in the “smoke and mirrors” theory that governments use to keep us occupied while they are up to something else behind our backs. And I can’t help to think this is just another one of those sleight of hand moves by them.

For while everyone is waiting around for the sun to go dark like it does every day at sundown, they are up to some shenanigans that they do not want you to know about. I guarantee you that someone is getting rich off of our tax dollars somewhere while people stand around like Chicken Little looking up at the sky.

The blessed event is supposed to happen about 1 p.m. and here we sit in Texas with overcast skies which will prevent seeing the Sun go dark at least today. But, we are still being told to be outside looking up as the skies are to clear suddenly at the moment of best viewing.

And not to be outdone, the retailers rushed special viewing glasses out to the mindless public but anyone that would trust their eyesight to a cardboard pair of glasses with plastic lenses that cost about 29 cents to produce needs to line up for a mental evaluation, too. Remember that this marketing is being done to a people who are now 29 boosters into shots for COVID.

In lieu of a real miraculous event similar in scope to the Resurrection and clearing skies, we are not going to see anything but darkness. One writer covering the dark day asked people where they will be when the Sun goes dark and all I could think to say was “in the dark.” Been there, done that. It ain’t that great.

If you missed the experience, you can still tune up Bonnie Tyler singing her 1983 hit song, “Total Eclipse of the Heart" with me and sit in the dark and reminisce about better days.

Kevin Kirkpatrick and his Yorkie, Cooper, fish, hunt, ATV or hike daily. His email is [email protected]. Additional news can be found at www.troutrepublic.com.