Saturday, March 28, 2009

Accuracy by Volume

Well, Mt Redoubt missed me with the first two explosions, but it kept exploding and exploding, and finally dusted my habitation.

I am thankful it held off long enough for my houseguest to get out of town; much as I love my favorite park ranger in the whole wide world and really do intend to teach her to fly when I get my CFI no matter where in the world she ends up being posted, being under a rain of pulverized airborne magma is not the best reason for missing work. It exploded twice today to make up for that, and I'm hoping it holds off long enough for a friend to make it into town tomorrow.

Though part of me really, really, really wants it to explode during Earth Hour tomorrow. It's putting out not only more carbon dioxide than generations of poorly-thought-out "awareness-raising" stunts could save, it's also putting out atmospheric pollutants of the sulfur dioxide and pulverized rock and obsidian shard variety. Now that's a way to put hubris-ridden humans in their place.

In the meantime, volcanic ash is really bad for the car engine, and similarly bad for the human lungs. So, not much driving or errands - what to do when stuck home alone, disconsolately poking at the aviation weather sites like rubbernecking at a wreck? Why, pour a glass of local-brewed mead, clean my kitchen, pour another glass, and plot recipes. It's too late tonight to stay up cooking for hours, so crockpot corned beef it is! Tomorrow I shall use the brine to cook truly delicious potatoes, cabbage, onions, and carrots, to welcome a guest in. And should we stay off the streets, it'll provide plenty of leftovers.

3 comments:

  1. You know, I was really expecting this ash thing to be more... dramatic. If it weren't for the news reports, I'd not notice a thing. That or y'all got a heck of a lot more down on the south side of town than we did up here.

    Hi to your friend, hope to see y'all soon.

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  2. When studying for my private, I learned that volcanic ash warning were to be found in sigmets or airmets, forget which. Yea, I'm not likely to have to worry about that one in Florida. Convective activity, certainly. Volcanic activity, no. It sure would be something to see, however.

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  3. Okay that one... that one even I couldn't miss. Sheesh.

    At the concert today, Dougie was signing a gal's dust mask as a memento. Quite the story to take home. Hope y'all are doing well.

    God, this state is cool. Volcanoes and everything. awesome

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