The end of the world! 

NORTHERN NEWS

by Maxine Deeter

Well, that’s kind of what it looked and felt like last Wednesday, as a huge plume of smoke rose in the air above “The Mountain” a.k.a. the La Sals.  My first thought – no, don’t ruin my camping weekend!  Which in the end it did, but in a different way.

The plume was not visible from La Sal the way it was from the highway commuting home from Monticello Wednesday afternoon.  Wow – it was awesome, spectacular, almost otherworldy.  It ranked right up there with the aurora borealis viewed a few winters ago in nearly the same spot.  It was much more spectacular than the errant White Sands missile that was in the southern sky early on a commuting morning a few years back.

The big plume rose very high into the air and was topped with a self created cumulus cloud.  It was awesome, magnificent, spectacular.  Finally a friend of mine told me to quit making up positive adjectives -  to her it looked more like the end of the world.

And from La Sal it did.  The smoke – dark and ominous – flowed down from The Mountain, riding over the top of La Sal, hiding the late afternoon sky.  Yep, it did kind of look like the end of the earth via smoke and vapors upon the land – well the smoke part anyway.

But it soon dissipated and blew eastward by evening into Colorado, where it looked like a dark thunderstorm.  I hear it actually rained ash in Paradox!

La Sal felt little more impact from the fire burning on the other side of the mountain.  Personally, I was sucked away by the fire activities and spent a long weekend on fire detail – gohphering rather than camping.  Can you spell mega overtime!

Otherwise, life went on in La Sal, with many folks taking advantage of the last weekend of the summer camping season and heading to The Mountain to enjoy the cool and green and rain.

On Sunday, the Frost family returned to La Sal for a reunion with old friends.  Jason Frost, late of a Canadian LDS Mission, gave a report at church.  It was followed by a “Linger Longer” pot luck dinner, which I’m sure was a fun time.  Sorry to not be able to give you a first hand report! 

Then many folks loaded up and went back to The Mountain to enjoy cool temperatures and even some moisture, as a fall-like storm system moved into the area reminding folks, summer really is nearly a thing of the past. 

It also put out the fire.   Once again Ma Nature asserts her power showing us mere mortals that she rules supreme!

Upcoming events include a Friday evening “Ya’ll come” pot luck at the LDS Church on September 12.  More details next week as to theme, etc.  I’d have to guess the theme is something along the lines of “Harvest Bounty” shared or bring what you have growing in the garden.

The next night at Rattlesnake Ranch will be the wedding reception for the former Brittney Blankenagel.  It should be worth a surprise or two.

This is not really on the social calendar – but there will be a weed pulling “party” tonight – Wednesday at 7:30 at the potato/corn patch at the T at the end of Markle Road. 

Come on out and join the fun.  It will soon be potato digging time.  Fall really is just around the corner!