NEW ATTITUDE

Sunday, May 18, 2025

LOOWIT'S EXPLOSIVE ANNIVERSARY~2025


It doesn't seem like it was 45 years ago …



The ripple effect shook our house in Cathlamet - 102 miles away.

It rocked Puget Island - same distance as Cathlamet.

Durrah's Logging Crew - for which Bob was Shovel Operator - was one of the 1st crews allowed into the Red Zone to do salvage logging.

It was so eerily quiet, and barren; it took me years to get comfortable enough to go there with Bob. The quietness and lunar landscape was freaky. And a little creepy, too.

About 2 years after Bob's physical death, I decided to get out of my comfort zone … and did the Hummocks Trail Hike; it was so beautiful, I did it several more times over the years.

It seems like only yesterday Loowit (Smoking Mountain) blew her top.

My May 18th, 2020 Post~MT. ST. HELEN’S MEMORIES: https://jeastofeden.blogspot.com/2020/05/mt-st-helens-memories.html

My May 19th, 2021 Post~REMEMBERING MAY 18th, 1980: https://jeastofeden.blogspot.com/2021/05/remembering-may-18th-1980.html

I have only been back to Mt. St. Helens once, since remarrying: Holland's thing is water … preferably the Pacific Ocean, then rivers.

I'm okay with that.

Mountains are my thing … preferably Mt. Rainier & Mt. Adams; Mt. St. Helens was Bob's mountain - I will always think that way. Getting away into the mountains was an annual thing in my previous Life. But, I have a new Life, now, and things are different.

Different man. Different times. Different experiences. Different Life.

Today is Loowit's (Mt. St. Helens) explosive anniversary; so, I remember those early years when the snow-topped volcano amplified youthfulness. I remember the times spent there with my 1st husband, and our baby daughter. I remember the volcanic temper tantrum that changed the immediate flanking landscape - and the landscape downriver as the raging mudflow tore through Toutle, damaging a portion of I-5 freeway in Castle Rock; changing the course of riverbeds, and lifestyles forever. I remember my husband, then, living away from home (in a camper on a friend's property) for months while he logged the Red Zone, coming home on weekends.

Bob had logged the Mt. St. Helens area in his 1st marriage; and he had logged the Mt. St. Helens 11 years later, 6 years into our marriage.

Different man. Different times. Different experiences. Different Life.

I remember girding myself mentally & spiritually to go back and revisit "Bob's Mountain", 17 mo.'s after his spirit left this planet.

Different woman. Different times. Different experiences. Different Life. 

It is okay to remember; it is not okay to dwell on Memory Lane.

1981 Mount St. Helens Movie: 
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jFN4FPg8GCU)

BIG, FAT, RAINDROPS; Ocean Park-WA


It rained hard all night long; the raindrops fell so hard and furiously 😳 that Holland wondered if they may carry hail too: but it was just big, fat, weighty raindrops 😉

Buckets of water poured from the gray-clouded-sky …

When the rain let up for a bit, there were puddles standing atop the pulverized sand … and the rain had fallen so hard - and washed away all the dust and sandy residue, that Betsy shined - which prodded Holland to comment, "the truck finally got washed" 😂🤣

Since we'd be house-bound, I decided to do laundry.

And, even though it was raining off-n-on, I cracked the front door a bit because the house got stuffy 😑, between the humidity outside - and the heat inside (washer, dryer, & Holland's constant running heater 🙄).

The hanging shirts dried quickly 👍

Cracked the door a little because the rainforest environment gets heavy with muggy humidity.
Rain fell off-n-on, all day; forecast much of next week, also.

Between loads of laundry, I drank warming cups of tea, worked more on my currant project; and scrolled through online movie titles, until I hit on one that seemed interesting - with a good cast: William Hurt, Vince Vaughn, & Hal Holbrook among the lineup.

I drank Green Tea, with Honey-Garlic Syrup, all day long.
Into The Wild: 
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igSlt_IzZaU)

The movie was a bust; I'm glad we did not waste money on it at a theatre.

About a year ago, we had visited Slab City-CA: and did not find it to be as Hollywood portrayed it; it was a run-down, filthy, hell hole … the RV's, buses and vans did not look anything at all like the stunt vehicles used in this movie. And there was not a jamboree atmosphere - that would have been in Quartzsite-AZ, where we visited every 6 months during our Road Gypsy journeys. MPO is that this movie spliced different places into the Slab City clips to make it look like a hippie haven, instead of a desolate, degenerate, patch of desert soil.

I did not like the vibe of Slab City - and I was glad when we finally left it behind.

My November 24th, 2023 Post~SALTON SEA, SALVATION MOUNTAIN, & SONO BONO WILDLIFE REFUGE~CA Daytrip: https://roadgypsiesvalandholland.blogspot.com/2023/11/salton-sea-salvation-mountain-sono-bono.html

Rain always makes me sleepy, so I'm going to shuffle off to Buffalo now, and allow myself to be lulled into dreamland to the backbeat of tap dancing raindrops, racing across Independence's roof 🛌😴