Saturday, February 18, 2012

Europeans And Volcanic Ash Falls Vs. Alaskans

Volcanic ash falls happen pretty often where I live. I think we have gotten two in the last three years. I am getting pretty used to them by now. That made it especially interesting when Europe was busy having fits over one recently. (I wrote this before Mt. Etna acted up lately.)


I just looked at a video of a "Tough Guy" marathon in England. Hah! I certainly hope none of those participants got too excited about a little volcanic ash. I don't need no stinkin' tough guy marathon.  I live in Alaska. lol.


Of course I cheat a little. I live in Alaska's biggest city. Well. Ok. Alaska's only big city. We have less than a million people in the whole state and Alaska is almost twice the size of Texas. 


Anyway. I did learn the highlights of how to deal with a volcanic ash disaster. You don't want to breathe it and you don't want it in motors. 


It is heavy for its volume. A much smaller volume than snow will collapse a roof.  Veteran Alaskans said stuff like, "You think this volcanic ash is bad? Let me tell you about when we had a real volcanic ash fall. We had to shovel off the roofs before breakfast every day and then walk ten miles barefoot in the snow...."


I really like duct tape for volcanic ash fall emergencies. Of course I like it for other emergencies too and everyday. It is a standard Alaskan tool.  


Duct tape can help you not breathe volcanic ash. Tape around all of your windows and doors to keep the ash out. You can use it and plastic to separate clean and dirty areas and keep it out of your living space.


I always keep a couple of plastic paint tarps to make flaps to seal off dirty areas from clean areas. You need to remove all of your clothes and wash off before you come into the clean areas.


This blog post is getting way too long so I decided to arbitrarily cut it off here and put the rest in my next post for tomorrow. The really good stuff is in there.



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