Author Archives: Mark P

40th

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Today, 18 May 2020, is the 40th anniversary of the catastrophic eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington. According to the Wikipedia entry, the eruption, which killed 57 people, is said to be the most economically destructive and deadly volcanic eruption in US history. I visited the site many years ago, but it was cloudy and foggy and we couldn’t see anything.

I started to say that I was sure everyone in the US remembers the eruption, and then I remembered that not everyone in the US was even born then. In fact, it seems that less than half the people in the US were alive back then.

Coincidentally, today is also the 40th anniversary of my 30th birthday. Under better circumstances, Leah and I would probably go to our favorite Mexican restaurant for lunch, where we would celebrate by having our Wednesday huevos rancheros on Monday, but we are still sheltering at home. It finally dawned on me that when the authorities said that those with health issues and the elderly should continue to shelter at home, they were talking about us.

Death visits the mountain

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Before I start, I want to say that nothing bad happened to Leah and me.

Friday afternoon we went down to the grocery store and stopped to get some takeout. As we drove back towards our house on Huffaker Road, an ambulance came up behind us and passed. A minute later a second emergency vehicle, this time a fire department rescue truck, also passed us. They disappeared before we reached the turnoff to go up the mountain, and we assumed they had kept going towards the next road that leads into Texas Valley.

A neighbor called as we drove up the mountain and asked if we knew what was going on. She heard the sirens coming up, but nothing came by her house. We drove up to her house, which is around the curve beyond us, and were talking when another neighbor came by going down. A few minutes later he came back and told us that Ron, the man who works with John, the grading guy, had turned over his four-wheeler down at John’s house and had been killed.

It was quite a shock to Leah and me. Leah had not seen much of Ron, but I had. He and John worked on our property while we were building, and I’ve seen and talked to him quite a few times over the years. He was as nice a guy as you could want to meet.

The real connection with Ron was that he was the one who actually brought Sam, our dog, to John’s house when John acquired him for his step son around six years ago. At that time Sam was afraid of everyone except John’s step son, John’s wife, and Ron. Sam always came to Ron when Ron was around. He would never get anywhere near me unless Ron was there. Even after Sam came to live with us, he always seemed to recognize Ron’s car, even after Ron bought a new one.

Later in the evening, the same thought occurred to Leah and me: Ron had gotten up Friday morning just like every other Friday, and had gone to work expecting it to be like every other work day. He probably planned where he and his wife would go for dinner. It was a completely normal day. The only difference was that this was the day he died.

We, too, get up every morning, expecting the day to be the same as ever, and never, ever the day we die. But it might be.

Passion in the forest

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The forest on Lavender Mountain is a mixed hardwood and pine. The hardwoods include lots of oak and maple, with a few poplars and others. I have been noticing this particular pair of trees for as long as I have been taking the dogs for their walks on Fouche Gap Road.

It’s a pine in the embrace of a maple.

It would be interesting to see this pair in 50 or 100 years, if they lived that long.

Radiation fog

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We had a strong but short thunderstorm Tuesday afternoon. A cold front moved through shortly after. When I got up Wednesday morning and looked out the front, this is what I saw.

At first I thought the fog was over the river, but then I realized that the Coosa River runs on the other side of the ridge just beyond the fog. This was not advection fog, this was radiation fog.

Radiation fog forms when the ground cools on a clear, calm night, causing moisture in the air to condense into fog. On Tuesday night, there was plenty of moisture in the air because of the shower, and the skies cleared with the passage of the cold front. Perfect conditions for forming fog. The fog also defines a temperature inversion, where the surface temperature is cool and the temperature actually goes up as you go up in altitude, the reverse of the normal conditions at the surface.

I took the photo above at around 8:20. By 9:30, this is what it looked like.

The for was gone. The bright sun had warmed the surface enough to erode the inversion, and the fog had cleared.

Scaredy dog

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This first image is from a walk a few days ago. A neighbor stopped for a little socially-distant conversation, and while we talked, the dogs wrestled. When it ended and I was ready to continue, Sam was on his back. He stood up right under Zoe. I’m not sure she noticed.

This gives you idea of her size. She’s a big dog, even bigger than her 80 pounds might indicate.

Sunday afternoon we drove to a store on the other side of town to try to find some cat food and dog treats that our nearer store hasn’t had. As usual, Zoe wanted to come with us, so we let her ride in the back of the car. We fold the seat down and put a pad on it. She rides back there pretty well. She never makes a fuss. She seems to really like riding. Every time we get ready to leave, she starts getting excited and goes to the door. If we let her out, she runs immediately to the car door.

It was a cool, cloudy day, and we lowered the back windows a little so she cold stick her nose out, so there was no problem with leaving her in the car while we went in. When we came back out of the store and I remotely opened the tailgate of the car, something had spooked her. Before we left the parking lot, she had climbed into the front and was in Leah’s lap.

Zoe’s nails are too long and sharp. Her elbows are pretty sharp, too, especially when she puts her weight into it. I won’t be surprised if Leah has some bruises from this. Zoe stayed in Leah’s lap the whole way home. She doesn’t really fit.

She panted and shivered the whole way home. Once out of the car, she returned to her normal self. It was not behavior I expected from this big old dog.

It will be interesting to see if she is as eager to ride in the car the next time.