Volcano Fund started

We were so excited! We made it to the airport this time… But as we turned in the rental car, the helpful Enterprise folks said, “Uh, I think they just canceled all flights out today…” Sure enough, while I was standing there, with a dumbfounded look on my face, my Twitter alert from Alaska Air went off on my phone announcing the same thing.

Canceled. That makes eight flights canceled since last Thursday.

When I got back in the car, there were two very upset females and one very quiet 12 year-old son. Dad was remarkably calm, all things considered.

Redoubt volcano continues to throw up all over Alaska’s atmosphere, prohibiting flights out. Many say the airlines are being way too cautious; however, the alternatives are not pretty.

The Northwest Air agent we spoke to next, however, would have won an award for jerk of the year. Thankfully, we hung up, called back and got another one that was very helpful.

With all that said, we’ve purchased more tickets on Alaska Air, in the hopes that one way or another, some of us will be able to leave Alaska this year. Caro and the kids are now slated to fly out Tuesday at 8:00 a.m. Alaska time. I’m flying out Thursday at 8:00 a.m. Pray that these flights take!

Carolyn has already missed her annual Easter Special (a most necessary income event for us!) and will be rescheduling it. However, she’s also supposed to be taking Kim’s Dance photos this week. On top of that, her chemo was scheduled for today. Things ain’t pretty.

So we’re starting a Volcano Fund. If you’d be willing to give, my Paypal ID (and email) is quackup [at] sbcglobal.net. 

Whether you give dollars or not, we would sure appreciate your prayers. Kristy’s mom mentioned that someone needs to throw alka seltzer in the volcano. We are open to all options at this point.

One bright spot today: I think we get to spend more time with the Hales this evening. We’re going to talk them into coming to Anchorage to hang out with us some. We love them! And we are hating that they’re feeling bad for us! 

Spiritual lessons out of this are too many to number. In addition, we know that they’ll be easier to digest after the intensity of these days wear off. Patience, unfulfilled expectations, God’s sovereignty and goodness, being frustrated in the midst of indescribable beauty, etc.

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Time lapse volcano eruption

This is a pretty awesome video from the Ground Truth Trekking blog that shows a time lapse video of Redoubt’s eruptions:

Redoubt Eruption March 27 2009 from Bretwood Higman on Vimeo.

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Bathroom remodel and flight update

So which do you want first? Aaaahhh. The bathroom remodel is going well this afternoon. Just in case we have to live here for 3-4 months, Mike decided to add another bathroom downstairs. That way, two families won’t be sharing one. I’ve been helping *watching* him tile Saturday afternoon.

On the flight front, Redoubt Volcano has erupted 17 times this week so far! To give you some perspective, this was taken from an Anchorage Daily News article:

 

If history is a guide, the last eruption at Redoubt — from December 1989 to April 1990 — lasted four months and generated 23 distinct eruptions, according to U.S. Geological Survey records.

Before that, an eruptive episode begun in 1965 dawdled on for a couple of years, but there were no instruments on the volcano back then to record mini-tremors or changes in its shape like today, so it’s difficult to make scientific comparisons. That leaves just the 1989-90 eruption cycle as a historical clue, Waythomas said.

“That’s a sample size of one,” Waythomas said, citing the weakness in interpreting the statistics.

By comparison, Redoubt’s current eruptive episode is less than a week old, and it would have to continue through half of the summer to match the 1989-1990 eruption in terms of duration. At the same time, it’s already generated 13 distinct eruptions, and at that rate it could match its previous mark in terms of in just one more week.

However, as it stands at 3:00 p.m. Alaska time, our flight out is still on for Sunday morning at 2:30. Keep your fingers crossed. We’ve been bumped 4 times now. Every time the flight has changed, we’ve been moved, without notice, to another flight. Sunday a.m.’s flight will be heading to Seattle on Alaska Air (we were originally flying out on Northwest). 

We’re hoping all goes well. If not, I may need to start looking for preaching opportunities here in Alaska to earn my keep. I’ve already got dish pan hands…

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Volcano eruption cancels flights

Alaska went from beautiful to bizarre on Thursday.

We were supposed to fly out Thursday night, so Mike went back to work to begin some return to normalcy and routine. But at 9:24 a.m. Alaska Time (12:24 p.m. CST), Redoubt erupted again. This time, however, it was a tremendous explosion that shot debris and ash thousands of feet into the air.

Volcanic ash apparently is not good to breathe or to run an engine in, so the Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage promptly begin canceling all flights out after noon. Enter the Nobles. Stuck in Alaska.

We called to reschedule, and the earliest possible time they could fly us back to Little Rock was on Monday night. The Hales family is freaking out. We’ve exhausted our planned activities, and we’re still here! Hahahahahaha. (Wicked laugh)

Soooo…. looks like we will be having some extended games of tiddlywinks. And let’s hope Redoubt settles down. This could be a much longer trip than planned. If it is delayed again, I’m renting an old truck and strapping Carolyn to the top like Granny on Beverly Hillbillies.

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