Ahhh a small earthquake... might Redoubt burp again?

Alaska is known for it’s nice earthquakes and Volcanic eruptions.

We all know that Redoubt hasn’t gone down in magnitude as it is still at “orange”. But with this last earthquake right on the Denali Fault line, it makes me wonder if we are going to get the ash again?

Has anyone in Alaska, noticed that every time we have a small earthquake as of late, with Redoubt on the verge of burping, two or three days later, it does actually blow? Also the serendipitous way that as soon as we have one of these small earthquakes, the AVO downgrades the volcano to yellow.. and within a day, it blows?

Just an oddity I have noticed.

I am going to predict that Redoubt will burp in less then a week. If I am wrong.. so be it!

**BTW, I never felt this last one, guess I was lucky.**

Sullivan, Redoubt and the Yukon villages.

Well Anchorage has Sullivan. Oh yay. I will wait and see what he does as I am not a fan of neither him nor Croft. One reason I know he is not a fiscal conservative is how he has repeatedly tried to come up with some type of sales tax, since sitting on the Assembly. So what does he also do, he has a smoking tax on all smoking items.. from cigarettes, to cigars to pipe tobacco. 500% in one year is a tad large, but it didn’t stop there and has steadily kept rising. The Federal Government has added a tax as well, but nothing like the City and now State tax on it. He will have to win me over and from what I see; I don’t think it will happen.

And on to other news, Mt Redoubt seems to be getting edgy. Well, anyone in Alaska knows this is prone to happen. We don’t freak out about it, unless you are IN a plane and coming in or leaving the airport when it blows. Other then that, it is just life but at least it fertilizes the plants. I wonder if it is God’s “Miracle Grow”?

And the Yukon River is now taking out some small towns or villages along its bank. I would say most know the normalcy of it. Break up comes, the river swells due to melt, and the ice breaks up. But occasionally you get more ice then water, as it has happened this year. So my thinking is, what are the people going to do, not what is the government going to do. Oh course this is my opinion, but if you build on the bank of a river, eventually you ARE going to have problems. Murphy’s Law, Rule of Thumb, Common Sense… whatever you want to call it, but it makes not sense to build a house on the side of a large river knowing it will come to take your house away.

Now, we all know that eventually the State will come in and “Help”. But maybe the villages and the people who live in them should stop and think and maybe move to higher ground? I understand it is peaceful to live next to the water, but who doesn’t think that one day your house may not be there? People think with a type of nostalgia concerning houses and where they move too. I bet they regret it sometimes. Eventually you will have something called an Oxbow lake, which forms from creeks and rivers that have connected in a different spot. But are people willing to have thier house wash away? This is almost like buying property in Nevada, and hoping Californai finally falls off so you have ocean front property!

Volcano's, fact of life.

Living here in South Central, you get use to the weird natural events of mother nature. Small flooding in areas aren't uncommon. Snow Storms to us are what you call blizzards in the lower 49. Avalanches are normal. Earthquakes are pretty common as Alaska has the most in the world. But Volcano's are kind of a special breed of natural occurance.

A few days ago, Mt. Redoubt blew and has kept blowing. Quite a few people were taken back (these are the newbies moved up here from outta State) by what they thought would be the end of the world. Others, like myself, just shrugged our shoulders and kept moving as this is just life in Alaska. Mt. Redoubt isn't usually a ash type volcano, and doesn't usually stay active for long.

Now the newbies of Alaska were worried about many items. Would my power shut off, would my well stop working (many have water wells) or my septic, would I be able to eat, what do I do if it is on my house/vehicle/sled(snowmachine)/etc, what if my animal eats the snow? What do you say to these people?

In times like this you just sit back and watch the happenings. Ash is harmful but isn't the end of the world. You wash your vehicle and do NOT use the windshield wipers until you do wash it. If you have ash on your house, you wait for spring 9as there is still a bunch of snow on the ground) and water down your roof. If you animals eat the snow, make sure to have plenty of fresh water for them... as ash is abrasive. And if you want to be sure they are okay, you give them some bread so the ash won't hurt their stomach or intestines. Everyone should have some water somewhere in their house or apartment for emergancyies as well as batteries for flashlights or candles. Also, new airfilters for the vehicles you own is always a good thing. The one thing I would worry about in the winter for something like this would be that your waterlines freeze. Then you might have a problem.

As for the Volcanos http://www.avo.alaska.edu/ has some great information if you are wondering. But all in all, just another day in Alaska.