Total Eclipse of the Eclipse

I started my Monday morning the same way anyone who was excited for the eclipse would; I listened to Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart on repeat on my long train ride to the Children's Museum. I'm a pretty big fan of environmental phenomena, and I was not about to miss the chance to see the eclipse.

Our morning session was a bit quieter than usual, so I wrongly assumed that, despite the museum's advertised eclipse activities, people had chosen to go do their eclipse festivities elsewhere. Boy was I wrong!

What a big beautiful girl!

When we came back from our lunch break, the dock in front of the museum was so packed that it was difficult to move. Fishing rods and accouterments in hand, we wove our way over to the railing to set up the fishing program - the more the merrier! Within seconds people came to check out our touch tank and try their hand at fishing. Realizing that we were slightly unprepared, I ran back to our storage closet to pick up a few extra fishing rods.

I weaseled my way back to our station, only to notice that we had attracted quite the crowd. Zach, my fellow SHE, yelled over the tops of everyone's heads (he is very tall), that in the two minutes I had disappeared, we had caught a lobster! I made my way over to the railing where the confused young man was holding a fishing rod with a lobster hanging on for dear life right at the surface of the water.

Politely nudging some people out of the way, I grabbed a bucket with a long rope attached to it and lowered it down into the water. It took some maneuvering, but we eventually managed to get the lobster into the bucket. With the help of a few other people, we hauled up the bucket and examined our catch; it wasn't just a lobster, it was an enormous lobster!

Zach quickly banded the lobster while I prepared the touch tank for our new friend. Between (safe!!) glimpses at the eclipse, we taught hundreds of kids and their families about the secret and exciting life of lobsters.

Unfortunately, our lobster was just a hair to big for us to keep, so at the end of our session we had to let her go. It was so much fun to have the lobster and to talk to so many kids and families that I had almost completely forgotten the eclipse!

Crustaceously yours,
Melissa