It was business as usual Monday for local law enforcement despite what appeared as a large number of people in greater Coeur d’Alene standing along streets wearing funny sunglasses, their chins tilted toward the sun.

Coeur d’Alene police detective Jared Reneau said his department hadn’t planned anything unusual in the hours leading up to the total eclipse, with peak viewing around 10:30 a.m.

Police administrators and officers did not foresee any increase in crime or crashes caused by distracted motorists. Patrolmen and women hit the streets Monday morning as they would any other day.

“I don’t anticipate anything happening relative to the eclipse,” Reneau said.

The sentiment was as common as disposable eclipse glasses.

Clerk Aerial Neverdahl smoked a cigarette outside the Coeur d’Alene Gas Mart on the 1900 block of North Government Way as the moon inched toward the face of the sun.

“I know everyone is excited about it,” Neverdahl said. “I’m excited.”

She didn’t think the solar eclipse would spur unusual activity among humans … but, birds maybe, Neverdahl said.

“I know it’s going to throw the animals off,” she said.

A few blocks away, Dorena Kraack had the same idea.

Along with the cups of coffee that Kraack handed through the drive-up windows of Jitterz on the 2800 block of North Government Way, the blonde barista also handed a set of eclipse viewing glasses to customers who didn’t have a pair.

These were strictly loaners though, Kraack said. They could use them to glance at the sun while they waited for their brew.

“It seems like a lot of people are unprepared for it,” she said.

Many customers were not aware of the monumental event — Monday’s eclipse was a once-in-a-100-years phenomenon — or that it was only minutes away.

“They are asking me, ‘Where can I get glasses?’” she said.

Other customers seemed abject.

“Some are excited,” she said. “Some couldn’t care less.”

Distractions among motorists may happen, she said, but she didn’t foresee it.

A customer told Kraack that eye doctors were on call for the people who looked directly at the sun during the eclipse without the protection of certified eclipse-proof eyewear, she said.

Kim Anderson at Kootenai Health, however, said her facility didn’t anticipate patients reporting eclipse-related eye injuries.

The event, in which the moon would photo bomb the sun, partially blocking its view from Earth for a handful of minutes, didn’t spur any unusual preparations at the hospital.

Eye injuries — in the event someone looked directly at the sun — would not be obvious until about 48 hours after exposure, Anderson said.

As the temperature dropped noticeably after 10 a.m. with the moon passing in front of the sun, Daryl and Sharon DeMills each sat in a lawn chair in an empty Silver Lake Mall parking lot, their faces raised sunward, their eclipse-viewing glasses throwing sharp reflections as if from an outdoor matinee.

The Coeur d’Alene couple have seen their share of natural wonders.

They were around when Mount St. Helens blew its top, clogging the North Idaho atmosphere with ash, and they were in Hawaii when a volcano erupted.

Being a part of the 100-year eclipse would be something they could tell their grandchildren, Sharon Mills said. Then she realized...

“They were watching it too,” she said.

As the temperature dropped and the day grew darker for a few minutes Monday morning, the DeMills leaned back in their chairs in silent fascination.

The coffee and doughnuts they brought for the viewing were placed on a small table between them. Sickle-moon shadows — an eclipse phenomenon that happens when sunlight falls through leaves — danced in the shade of a nearby maple tree.

Despite its brevity, the DeMills were impressed.

“It was fantastic,” Daryl DeMills said.

If there was anything unforeseen related to Monday’s eclipse, it was that it was too short, and, at North Idaho’s latitude, the kind of darkness many anticipated did not come to fruition.

“I thought it was going to get a little darker than it did,” Daryl Mills said.

Nonetheless, “It was an incredible experience.”

By Monday afternoon, no eclipse-related incidents had been reported to police.