Confessor
CCF Mod Squad
Not Bucky O'Hare!
Posts: 10,222 
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Post by Confessor on May 18, 2020 19:58:51 GMT -5
40 years ago this morning Mount St. Helens erupted. I heard it, aged 12, all the way up in Victoria, B.C., Canada. It was loud enough that I wondered if a gas station a number of blocks away had blown up. A friend's father was in Yakima at the time and brought back a bag of ash from a hotel parking lot. A lot of kids got a little sample of it and I still have mine. Harry R. Truman and his cats are still buried under this stuff in what used to be the Spirit Lake Lodge.  I remember the Mount St. Helens disaster very well. Though I was only a little kid, it was big news over here in Britain and was covered extensively on the TV news. It really brought home the destructive potential of Mother Earth to my young, impressionable mind in a big way. As a result, it's always been a subject that has fascinated me (20th century American history is a big interest of mine anyway), and I was only watching a documentary about it on Youtube about a month or two ago. |
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Post by Slam_Bradley on May 19, 2020 0:35:23 GMT -5
I lived about five miles away from where I live now. We didn’t get any ash in this part of southern Idaho but my brother who was living in Boise went to central Idaho for work and brought back a half dozen Mason jars full of ash.
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Post by EdoBosnar on May 19, 2020 3:08:14 GMT -5
Yep, still remember the St. Helens eruption quite well. My family lived in the Willamette Valley, about 30 miles south of Portland, OR, so we were southwest of the volcano. It was such a beautiful day otherwise - warm, sunny, hardly a cloud in the sky. My brother and I climbed onto the roof of our dad's machine shop and watched what initially looked like a little plume of smoke way in the distance get bigger and bigger. And the ash, man: that night and the next day a tons of it got dumped on us. I remember looking out the window the next morning and thinking for a second that it was snow - it was light-gray, and there was a good half-foot of it piled up on everything.
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Post by Rob Allen on May 19, 2020 11:27:19 GMT -5
I was in New Jersey at the time; I had no idea that I'd be moving to Portland 14 years later. I've heard about the eruption from neighbors and co-workers.
And the rumor that the eruption happened while the Grateful Dead were playing the song "Fire on the Mountain" isn't true. The Dead played in Portland on June 12, weeks after the initial eruption.
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Post by beccabear67 on May 19, 2020 12:05:08 GMT -5
I remember looking out the window the next morning and thinking for a second that it was snow - it was light-gray, and there was a good half-foot of it piled up on everything. Did it make a scrunchy sound like snow when you walked on it? I imagine probably not. My BF says his boy scouts troop was supposed to have been camping within the red zone area around the mountain that day but it had been cordoned off earlier when the rumblings were increasing so they were all out of harm's way. Unfortunately there were some people not in the expected danger zone that did get hit, and some killed. It is something a lot of things are measured against ever since. |
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Post by Rob Allen on May 19, 2020 12:36:11 GMT -5
One bit of the history of the eruption that's especially relevant today: "The U.S. Geological Survey’s Volcano Hazards Program and the Washington Military Department on Wednesday pointed out on Twitter that days before the 1980 eruption, people pushed to reopen areas around the active volcano to boost tourism and the local economy, against the advice of scientists. The volcano erupted five days later, killing 57 people and causing more than $1 billion in damage. 40 years ago today, people pushed the state to reopen areas around Mt. St. Helens citing tourism & the economy against advice of scientists. Five days later, the volcano erupted. #msh40 t.co/ok5Vmjwug8
— WA Emergency Management (@waemd) May 14, 2020The agencies’ posts did not specifically mention the coronavirus pandemic that has now killed more than 85,000 people in the U.S." - from Huffington Post |
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Post by EdoBosnar on May 19, 2020 12:57:41 GMT -5
Did it make a scrunchy sound like snow when you walked on it? I imagine probably not. (...) Nope, it was very fine and powdery, like dust. You mentioned upthread that you bought a bag of it; about month after the eruption, we took a trip to the Oregon coast, and I remember that the souvenir shops and even front counters of restaurants there were selling little bags with about a teaspoon of ash for a few bucks each. My sister, brother and I were rolling our eyes and thinking we could have made a fortune with the truckloads of the stuff on our property...
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Post by adamwarlock2099 on May 19, 2020 14:08:56 GMT -5
I was a 2 year old baby when it happened. So I only remember what I learned much later in school about it.
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2020 17:32:42 GMT -5
Looks like it's back to work on Thursday. Going to feel a little weird to punch a clock again, and I'll admit I am feeling a little trepidation to be in a restaurant setting again. Our county seems to be replete with folks not wanting to wear masks when out in public and not recognizing social distancing, so we'll see what happens.
Alea iacta est.
-M
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2020 18:22:17 GMT -5
Looks like it's back to work on Thursday. Going to feel a little weird to punch a clock again, and I'll admit I am feeling a little trepidation to be in a restaurant setting again. Our county seems to be replete with folks not wanting to wear masks when out in public and not recognizing social distancing, so we'll see what happens. Alea iacta est. -M I'm assuming it's still take out only? No sit down dining where you live? |
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2020 18:29:48 GMT -5
Looks like it's back to work on Thursday. Going to feel a little weird to punch a clock again, and I'll admit I am feeling a little trepidation to be in a restaurant setting again. Our county seems to be replete with folks not wanting to wear masks when out in public and not recognizing social distancing, so we'll see what happens. Alea iacta est. -M I'm assuming it's still take out only? No sit down dining where you live? Sit down starts Thursday, which is why I am starting back. They've had patio seating allowed since this past weekend. -M |
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2020 18:37:41 GMT -5
I'm assuming it's still take out only? No sit down dining where you live? Sit down starts Thursday, which is why I am starting back. They've had patio seating allowed since this past weekend. -M Oh boy. I can see why you are nervous. What accommodations have they made? Such as distances of tables, disposable menus, gloves and masks for employees, cleaning, etc? |
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Post by Icctrombone on May 19, 2020 19:04:05 GMT -5
I'm assuming it's still take out only? No sit down dining where you live? Sit down starts Thursday, which is why I am starting back. They've had patio seating allowed since this past weekend. -M Do you work in the restaurant business? |
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Post by Deleted on May 19, 2020 19:34:33 GMT -5
Sit down starts Thursday, which is why I am starting back. They've had patio seating allowed since this past weekend. -M Oh boy. I can see why you are nervous. What accommodations have they made? Such as distances of tables, disposable menus, gloves and masks for employees, cleaning, etc? Not sure what our restaurant has done. In the kitchen you can't wear masks because of health risk and food contamination issues, not sure about the dining rooms. The state set regulations about distance between tables and such, but I haven't been inside our lace yet to see how well that was executed. Sit down starts Thursday, which is why I am starting back. They've had patio seating allowed since this past weekend. -M Do you work in the restaurant business? Yes. It's owned by some friends of the family and I started part time there when they opened just after I left teaching 12 years ago.It was supposed to be temporary, but I ended up increasing hours to full time instead and have been there since. -M |
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Post by Batflunkie on May 25, 2020 20:56:50 GMT -5
Yes. It's owned by some friends of the family and I started part time there when they opened just after I left teaching 12 years ago Where and what did you teach if I may ask? |
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