It's hard to believe that it's been 35 years since that bitch had the mother of all hissy fits. Pullman is south of Spokane by about 80 miles or so so you'd have to pick a spot between Spokane and Ritzville to get an idea of where I was in all of this.
NOTE " Sistah, I know that isn't really accurate but WTF..other than us and you guys, no one that reads this tripe has any idea of there WSU is...I'm just sort of going for a frame of reference here ..."
Onward.
I remember how quickly it got dark...as in oh dark thirty dark...early afternoon. I thought okay..massive rain storm headed for the Paloose ..and then it hit me.
Utter silence.
No sound.
Nada .
No birds, no crickets, no frogs, no cats nor dogs.
The world hit the mute button .
Missy and Oogie were hiding in my closet . Nothing would get those 2 cats out for over 24 hours. I think I actually moved their box, food and water in there for them.
Then, I think the Civil Alarm siren went off. Maybe not, but I think it did. Doty said if we ever heard that to haul ourselves to the office...so I did.
Sistah and I worked together in the same building, I for the campus switchboard and Sistah for the campus pd. All I knew was that something was going on...
Now remember, this is before cell phones, the net, e mail , pc and all of that .Yes we had computers but that was back in the days of keypunch, Cobol and Fortran. If you wanted to talk to your folks/family/hottie you got lucky with at the Tavern ( dating myself..you bettcha) you called on a phone, now commonly referred to as a"land line". ..or you wrote a letter.
Yeah , the Dark Ages.
We soon found out that Mt. St Helens had blown and I remember thinking the younger version of SFW..that's down on Oregon.
Hah !
I had no idea that we were in the path of the ash . All I knew was that I was in the process of leaving Pullman,,,and how the hell were we going to paint the apt so I could get my deposits back. Having moved all my life courtesy of Uncle Sam, painting in/out was absolutely ingrained into me. Luckily the Professor who owned the building was understanding and it was not an issue.
We got used to hosing our clothes off before washing to not mess up the water hoses/plumbing. When you are in your 20's , your sense of modesty may not be as well developed as you might think . Everyone was having to do it so it so it became normal.
Trudging through ash..normal. Figuring out whose car would be the best one to make the beer run before the air filter gave out..normal. I do remember Colfax County cops blowing the shit out of their patrol cars before they realized what the ash was doing to the air filters..yep..
If you've ever watched " Dante's Peak" , that's pretty close to accurate.
It was a hell of a ride.
Have what ever kind of week you want to .
Ciao,
Aunty Pol
