Happy 25th Anniversary, Mount St. Helens!

When I was a kid, I saw the picture of a massive eruption on Richmond Times-Dispatch and asked Dad what is going on.

"Mountain blew up."

I was surprised, "You mean, the mountain get mad and do this?" Dad grinned and said, "No, inside the mountain has hot liquid, save all time then it grew -- mountain can't hold no more. It blows up. Very normal. Many mountains around the world, yes. Name? Volcano!"

Asked Dad, "Kill people?"

"Yes, dumb people who stand too close. They finish true biz gone dead finish! [Dad pointed to the pyrocastic flows] too fast, people no time to escape, impossible. Dumb dumb dumb nitwit pea-brained them!"

I asked if Deaf people was killed or not? "Doubt, many deaf people not dumb stand too close. Only hearing people stubborn always try to see, see but when it blows up, they finish dead. Too bad!"

That was 25 years ago. Thanks to Merritt for reminding me that today is 25th Anniversary of Mount St. Helens eruption which killed 57 people. My good friend, Merritt was in Walla Walla, about 258 miles east of Mount St. Helens. When it erupted, he said that he was in awe of mother nature. It was the first time of his lifetime that he, at the age of 8, realized that mother nature can do whatever it wanted. He could see the ashes plummets into the sky just before it covered the sky. He said that the sky immediately turned into dark like night for the rest of the day.

He went on to explain that the 2nd and 3rd day, it brightened a little but more of "grey days" than "pitch black" on the first day.

Ain't that a grand experience?

If Yellowstone do its job, the whole country probably will witness something like that and Merritt will be one of few people that says, "*Yawn*, been there, done that. Next!"

Cheers,

R-