She's gonna blow!

Can you believe we're coming up on the 25th anniversary of that eruption?

It really doesn't seem like that long ago.

I didn't live anywhere near here when it happened but I am always fascinated by people's stories. Portland was, by all accounts, an absolute mess.

It was. I trooped up there shortly after it happened. Ash, it turns out, is not so easy to get rid of. Unlike snow, it doesn't melt. Some people wore face masks for weeks afterward...

Hmmm, have my eye out from north north CA.

We are an ash sink, here on the coast, for inland forest fire ash. That can be awful, ne'er mind volcanic ash. Though I gather that in the long run some volcanic ash is good for the soil...

"In the long run, we are all dead.", John Maynard Keynes.

Just thought I would toss that in there. You were looking kind of vulnerable tonight, osso.

Er, more than my usual selfness? Is it going south?

25 years ago there was a restaurant/bar called Chances R in the town I went to university.

There was a special dessert at Chances R - the Mount St. Helen - to be shared with friends - 12 scoops of ice cream - lots of chocolate lava - and a handful of sparklers.