Keep an overnight bag packed, Ron

Knowing that MEJ's Ron Beasley lives in the Pacific Northwest, in the heart of volcano country, I always get a bit nervous when Mt. St. Helens starts acting up. That's why this report caught my attention.

VANCOUVER, Wash. - Rockfall at Mount St. Helens kicked up a dust plume Tuesday that rose above the rim of the volcano's crater, drawing attention in the region.

"It's a nice sunny day, and we're having the first couple of rockfalls that we've had in a while that are putting little dust plumes over the crater rim," U.S. Geological Survey geologist Seth Moran said at the agency's Cascade Volcano Observatory here, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of the mountain that erupted to deadly effect in May 1980.

Seismic activity has continued at low levels, Moran said.

The report has a beautiful photo of the mountain with a dust cloud coming up out of the crater on a clear day. Deadly but beautiful. Keep an overnight bag packed, Ron. I don't trust that mountain as far as I could move it with a shovel.