As most of you already know, we live near Mt. Redoubt, which is an active volcano. When I say "active" I REALLY mean ACTIVE! Bob and I had no idea when they talked about an eruption of Mt. Redoubt that it would be a LONG SERIES of eruptions! This has been going on for over a week now and the mountain is STILL erupting every several hours to days. In fact this morning it sent out another steam and ash plume to 20,000 feet. It's got us all so confused that when a blizzard blew in last night, we didn't know if it was snowing or ash falling! Luckily it was snow.....another 4 inches practically!
Anyway, I wanted to share my humerous FIRST HAND account with the original volcano eruption last week. Of course, you'll all have to picture these scenes in your head as Bob was not around to take photos of my insane actions and ridiculous looks during the incident. The only photo I have is the one above, which I will explain. Here it goes:
Sunday night around 11 PM, we get word that Mt. Redoubt erupts and sends an ash cloud out to 60,000 feet. Now, mind you, we have been duly warned about all the damages the ash can lead to since we've been dealing with this looming threat since January. So, I've gone out and bought big giant tarps, we have masks and even face goggles to protect us from inhaling the dangerous and abrasive ash and to protect our vehicle from the glass-like shards of ash that fall from the volcano. We were told it can do immense damage and if it sits on your winshield it turns to a concrete like substance if you don't get it off right away. Plus, if you use your windshield wipers to remove it, it scratches all the glass up. We have to cover all our electronics and computers at work, and have to shut off all air intake systems to prevent sucking the ash into our homes. Well, our truck does not fit into our garage and Bob is SO particular about our truck and maintaining it's nice paint job, that during the first eruption when he was still away on business in Juneau, I thought I had better cover the truck or else he'll be upset with me. Soooooo......that's what I ATTEMPTED to do!
Now, "attempt" is the operative word here. You have to imagine this. It's now sometime around midnight last Sunday and I'm all in a frenzy because I'm at home by myself and not really sure how to cover this huge truck all by myself, nor do I know how to tie good knots in order to tie it down properly in our super windy region. So, after about a 30 minute debate with myself, I finally suit up for the action. I'm in my pajamas, I put on my coat and scarf, hat and gloves (I believe the temp was somewhere in the teens!). I also strap on my safety mask AND a ridiculously large pair of goggles to protect myself from inhaling or getting any ash in my precious eyes. I know look hysterical.....like I'm about walk into the heart of the volcano myself! Did I forget to mention my fun new "southeast sneakers?" These are my new colorfully polka dotted boots that keep my feet dry during breakup when all the snow melts and re-freezes. Bob makes fun of them. I've got them on too. Just picture it in your head.....
Back to the story....So now, I head outside with my trusty flashlight that doesn't like the cold weather, so the batteries are acting up and it only stays on for a few seconds before I have to keep hitting the flashlight on the ice covered driveway to make it go back on again! I drag out the tarp and attempt to unfold this massive piece of plastic material, but soon discover that I'm too short to even hurl it over our giant truck. So now I have to go back inside to drag out our ladder to be able to get the tarp over the truck. But, climbing up a ladder placed on a slopey driveway covered in ice at midnight when everyone else was sleeping, was a bit nerve-wracking! But, you know me....I laugh in the face of danger and simply continue with my ridiculous antics!
I've now managed to get the tarp over the truck, but now I'm fighting with the wind and racing against the ash fall cloud racing this way, but now I suddenly realize I have to tie down this massive tarp! I'm not a "knot" knowledgeable kind of gal. This is when I suddenly realize I'm in a bit of a pickle and don't quite yet have the skills all Alaska Girls must posses. How do I tie the proper knots and make sure this giant piece of plastic will stay on the truck and not scratch anything else on Bob's beloved vehicle? So I take my rope and begin to tie it up....to what? I kneel down and now my knee is frozen to the ice on the driveway! Yet, I forge on. I toss my rope under the car and shuffle my way across the ice to the other side just to find the rope and tie it to the next little eyelit hole. I continue this process for a while until my flashlight permanently ceases to work in the frigid weather. Just when this happens and all goes completely dark, I lose the rope I've just tossed under the truck never to be able to find it again! It's had enough too, I guess. The rope doesn't want to reveal itself to me in the midst of this nonsense. So, I say an explicative or two and decide to call it a night. I kick a few of the extra tarp corners under the tires and call it good. Although, in my mind, I know this will not be enough to keep the tarp on overnight. Yet, I pray it will save Bob's precious vehicle from scratches from the vocano ash.
The result? The next morning I wake to find that no ashfall reigned down on Bob's precious truck. Thank goodness! However, mother nature decided to share her windy vengeance and easily ripped my daintilly tied knots to pieces. The tarp was fiercefully blowing in the wind. I called Bob and explained my frustrations. He said to remove the tarp or else it will cause MORE damage to the truck.
Soooo, the saga continues. I hop in the shower and just in the midst of having a head full of shampoo and soap all over me, the lights suddenly go dark! Not only that, but all the electricity goes out AND in turn, our WATER shuts off! What? Now, I've spent time all over the world and lived without water for weeks on end, but seriously? Whose water goes out when the electric shuts off? OURS DOES!!!!! So, I frantically run downstairs and luckily had saved a bit of water from the night before. I had it in a watering can b/c I was planting garden seeds (that's another blog entry for later). I am thankfully able to get the shampoo out of my hair and carry on with my day....of removing the tarp from the truck and living through more volcanic eruptions!
Later, we found out the electric outage was due to an avalanche! Volcanoes, Avalanches and No Electricity......Oh My!
Ok, I know I'm a drama queen, but you have to be able to laugh at some of the adventures or else you'll go crazy! I wish you were all here to experience the humor with me!
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