Elizabeth Woodworth: Peanut Powder, live fish and a total eclipse

The full moon of Aug. 7 and the new moon on Aug. 21 are likely to coincide with dangerous storms. Aug. 15 is a pivotal date for the first frosts in the West and North. (If they have frost, can the Midwest be far behind?) Lunar perigee is on Aug. 18.

Expand your aquaculture research to include raising catfish. Some people even sell and send fish by mail. I have bought bees by mail, not that the postal workers were happy. I always had to tell them in advance, and we could expect an early-morning call begging (or ordering) us to come get the bees out of their post office.

I can remember, in early spring, the place would be full of chicks and ducklings, cheeping so loudly that it was hard to talk to the clerk. I was always aware that chicks and ducklings elicit an "aren't they cute" response, while bees are evil personified.

I'm trying to picture how the post office, UPS or Fed Express would react to fish. When you send a package from the post office, you are asked if it contains anything liquid or perishable. Well, on both questions, yes. Just how do you keep the water in the container so the fish arrive alive?

I probably will never send a fish through the mail, but the idea intrigues me. It makes me want to catch a fish and send it to Kidlet. Or, maybe, I'll just buy a koi, since I don't like to take fish off my hook. The package would probably be refused, since it is liquid and perishable. How mundane my life would be without the occasional flight of fancy.

It's time to prepare your garden for garlic planting.

The total eclipse of the sun occurs on Aug. 21, visible in its entirety through the center of the United States. The eclipse will begin in the middle of the morning and last until the middle of the afternoon. (Countryside)

The sunlight filtering around the advancing moon creates alternating bands of light and dark on the ground, reaching across the land. It's crazy. They are several football fields wide, and they move over you. It's otherworldly and spooky. It will take 90 minutes for the eclipse to zoom across the entire continent. The longest anyone, anywhere, will be able to witness its totality is two minutes and 40 seconds in Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Harrisburg will get one minute and 52 seconds.

By the way, if your house is surrounded by trees, you are invited to bring a chair, your eclipse glasses, and, if you want, a pan for water watching and join The Boy, Kidlet and me in the backyard. If the church parking lot is not rented, we can overflow there.

Unlike most other total eclipses, this one will cross directly overhead or nearby many major population areas. It is going right across the United States from Oregon to Georgia. My sister will be watching it in Oregon. By the time it gets to us, she will have watched and gone on to other things.

In the darkness of a total eclipse, animals may think it's night time and begin their evening rituals and sounds. Some animals and insects get restless and confused. Temperatures drop during a solar eclipse. When the moon covers the sun, less heat is beamed down to the earth, and we can expect a temperature drop of about 10 degrees. It's going to be an interesting day.

I do know that I would not want to be a weatherman. Too much is riding on this day. Cross all your fingers and toes that it is a cloudless day. (Parade Magazine)

Congratulations to Jay Thompson, who has been inducted into the Southern Illinois High School Coaches Hall of Fame. Not only is he now a member, he is the first baseball coach so honored. Also inducted was Bob Karnes, longtime football coach at Du Quoin. I'm not sure of my memory, but it seems to me that Bob is a Harrisburg boy.

We missed National Sneak Some Zucchini Onto your Neighbor's Porch Day on Aug. 8. I have friends who swear they will curl up and die if they see another one before next July. I have read of small towns, where doors and cars are locked only at this time of year. If you don't lock up, you come back to a kitchen or car full of zucchini.

Peanut Powder is in the PB aisle. It's a lighter version with about one-fourth the calories and 10 percent of the fat of regular. Made from pressing oil out of peanuts, it is a diet-friendly way to add protein to recipes. Sub two parts powder plus one part water for recipes that call for peanut butter. But it's not so hot as a PB&J. Here are a few uses. Sprinkle over air-popped popcorn. Mix a spoonful with Greek yogurt and honey for a fruit dip. Swap with one-third of the flour in your pancake recipe for a nutty breakfast. Blend with three frozen bananas for an ice cream alternative. Add a spoonful to your regular chicken breading mix.

"The things that make me different are the things that make me." (A.A. Milne)