11/23/08

Eruption Alert!!!..Will It Be Dad or the Mountain?

It didn't surprise me that IEG have the following assignment, because most of the disasters that happened at our childhood home mysteriously had a common thread...

IEG.

I think she could actually be in the Guiness Book of World's Records for being a part of the most disasters in our home in the last 50 years or so.


Here was this week's sibling assignment:

Finish this sentence." I will never forget the time _______happened at 516 W. Cameron. Remember? It was a huge disaster."

You can read about IEG's coffee disaster here, and RP's TV cable disaster here.


During the spring of 1980, my family was involved in the planning of IEG's first wedding. The reception was going to be in our backyard.




Then May 18, 1980, Mt. St. Helens, a volcano in the southwestern corner of the state of Washington blew volcanic ash all over the Pacific Northwest.



Kellogg was inundated with about a foot of the stuff.



But as summer came, the ash problem was well under control, the cedar deck had been built in the backyard, and plans were moving forward for the big day.



Then, about a week before the wedding, a news report came on one of the Spokane News stations that there was a possiblity Mt. St. Helens was going to blow again.



Panic hit 516 W. Cameron. My Grandma was called in Spokane, and it was decided she and her daughter (our Aunt Ruth) and her husband needed to climb into their motor home and come over early, so they wouldn't be hit with another wave of ash falling.

So Dad headed for the front porch, drink in hand, and did a great imitation of Mount St. Helens about ready to blow.

Grandma, Aunt Ruth and her husband arrived in Kellogg safe and sound.

Mount St. Helens never exploded that summer.

I'm not so sure about Dad.


The wedding Mount St. Helens disaster was averted.


Figures it was IEG's wedding.

4 comments:

Christy Woolum said...

I must have been too busy picking up the wedding gifts off the bookshelf in the front bedroom when it came loose to even remember this. great post.

Carol Woolum Roberts said...

I'm pretty sure this is the way it happened. We'll see if RP remembers and agrees.

raymond pert said...

SVG got it right, though she did forget to mention one conversation:

Ruth: Mary, did I hear you say your cousin Helen is coming to the wedding?

Mom: No, I said Mt. St. Helen's might blow again the day of the wedding.

Ruth: Oh. That would be too bad. Carlin is such a pretty bride.

Mom: Christy's getting married.

Ruth: Christy's picking up Harry? That's so sweet of her. When does he get here? You know Greyhound. Never on time.

Mom: Harry's not coming. He and Phyllis are in Seattle visiting David.

Ruth: Oh. Well, that David sure is good to his dad, showing him around the radio station there in Boise.

Mom: Walter works at the radio station.

Ruth: There's water in the basement? Pert said you got that fixed. Does Carlin know Helen's coming to the wedding?

Carol Woolum Roberts said...

I'm glad I didn't have liquid in my mouth when I read that one!!! Great job!!!