Thar she blows!

No, sadly not this cutie:

That sucks! I actually popped into Wet Spot last night for a bit, but alas, she was not working.

Things that keep things interesting here in the Philippines besides the women include typhoons, earthquakes, and volcanos. Yesterday, Mount Taal, about 35 miles south of Metro Manila erupted like a horny old retired guy.

On Saturday, Taal was a popular tourist attraction. Today it has caused mass evacuations and closed the airport in Manila.Some nice video at the link.
Everything can change in an instant.
What was a bit odd is that the eruption occurred without a lot of advance warning. A couple of minor tremblers and then BOOM!

Luckily, this is actually one of the smaller volcanos around. Still, it’s impact was felt far and wide.

This is the ash fallout. Not sure if you can make out Olongapo there on the east coast about halfway up in the blue area.

So, no falling ash for us. But we did experience a definite dilution of air quality.

That’s yesterday afternoon from the Arizona floating bar. Crystal clear skies.
The same view this morning from the beach in front of the floating bar. Not sure if that’s Smoke on the Water or Dust in the Wind.

Anyway, so far no reports of casualties, just a royal pain in the ass for lots of folks. I’m not sure if my scratchy throat and cough are related to the dirty air or not. Could make today’s Hash a bit more challenging though.

UPDATE: Well, I’ll be damned. I’ve used the “Thar she blows” title twice previously. Once in September 2018 about a typhoon blowing through town, and again in October 2012 about a Korean cop blowing his whistle on me for jaywalking. Good times!

5 thoughts on “Thar she blows!

  1. One of my American coworkers is Filipino by heritage, and he was talking about the eruption today. Pretty impressive, even for a small volcano.

  2. There has definitely been an uptick in the skin pics of late. Does this have anything to do with the volcano and sudden onset of thoughts of mortality? Inquiring minds want to know…

  3. I grew up in Southern Cal so earthquakes are kind of “eh, so what?” This is as close as I’ve ever been to a live volcano (and as close as I ever want to be!). It’s an amazing show of force, and Taal is considered small compared to most volcanos.

    Dan, just trying to give my readers what they crave! 🙂 But yeah, a Filipina is likely to be the death of me.

  4. dear sir, may i add “Eruption” to your musical tribute to Mount Taal? This is the rock instrumental played by Eddie Van Halen and is considered to be one of the best rock solos. As a side note, i always had the hots for his ex-wife Valerie Bertinelli, in my younger days. Peace Out!

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