Fridays Feast 5/18/07

Today is the anniversary of the eruption of Mt. St. Helens. To most people this is but an interesting news story. To me and my family it was a major event.

I lived with my parents in Federal Way, Washington at the time. We could see the mountain from our backyard. My parents had gone camping up near Mt. Rainier that weekend. I was home alone. The eruption woke me up. There was a huge bang, and the house shook. I got up, looked out my window, and could see the huge ash plume. I could also see rocks bigger than houses flying in the air. I thought of my parents and suddenly I was very very scared. There was no way for me to contact them. We didn't have cell phones back then.

My Mom told me she and Dad didn't hear the eruption. She got up in the morning, looked outside, and it was grey out and rainy. Or at least, that's what she thought until she stepped outside and the rain felt dry and powdery. She knew immediately what happened. The mountain had finally blown it's top. She woke up my Dad and they broke camp and got out of there as fast as they could. Needless to say, I was very relieved when they arrived home.

We were very lucky. The ash blew away from our home that day. I can't imagine what it must have been like for the folks in the ash path. Getting 12 inches of fine powdery ash is not my idea of fun. Ash doesn't melt like snow does.

The mountain blew many more times after that. My Mom got some fantastic pictures of it with her camera. Most of the time the ash blew away from us. A couple times it didn't. So it was just standard procedure to always have an overnight package in the car. Change of clothes and whatnot in case we got stuck where ever we were when the ash came. You can't drive in ash, it ruins the car engine. All that powder is actually glass. Nasty stuff on engine parts. No matter how often you washed it, the car was always covered with spots of fine grey powder. There were many days when I had to stay inside because I have respiratory problems. You don't want to breath in powdered glass anyway.

Appetizer

List 3 emotions you experienced this week.

Joy, pride (in my daughters), excitement (when a fish bit my bait).

Soup
Name a car you’d love to have.

1972 Chevy Camero

Salad
Describe your typical morning routine.

Get up, put on the glasses, visit the ladies room, let the dogs out to pee, let them back in, cover them with their blankies, pour coffee, sit in leather hug, turn on tv to watch morning news, grab whatever project I feel like working on and work on it while drinking coffee and watching the news (I can multi-task!). After hubby leaves for work, log on and check the email, work on blog.

Main Course
Have you ever emailed someone famous? If so, who, and what did you say to them? Did they reply?

No. Famous people don't impress me like they do most others. They are just like you and me, good at what they do. But for some reason folks want to worship them for it. Whatever.

Dessert
Do you listen to podcasts? If so, which ones?

No. Don't have a podcast listening device. Sorry.

Have a great weekend!