Our guide in Madeira warned us repeatedly about some common plant on the island that if you touch it and subsequently rub your eyes, it can cause blindness. However he never made it clear exactly which plant he was referring to. He seemed to be pointing at a cactus-y looking plant like in the bottom left of Jim's picture, but the guide may have been pointing to the plant next to the cactus-y one. I took this picture of where the guide was pointing, but I don't know which one is the bad one. It also sounded like he was saying the plant was a "Euphoria"

This Forest Service worker gave a lengthy, colorful recounting of the events of that day, and really brought it to life. One of the things he noted is that a different volcanologist was scheduled to be observing the volcano, but he needed to attend a meeting at the university where was a grad student, so he arranged for a different volcanologist to man his post, for just one day -- May 18th. That other scientist wanted to see off a grad student of his that was returning to Germany on the morning of the 18th, so he arranged for yet another volcanologist, named David Johnston to cover the post that morning just until 10:00 A.M. Mr. Johnston reluctantly agreed, and the volcano blew at about 8:30. We lucked into beautiful weather when we visited: and hiked far enough that we could see Spirit Lake where Harry Truman (famed local curmudgeon who refused to evacuate) lived in a lakeside cabin Mount Adams is visible in the distance

She is gorgeous, isn't she? Belongs to a neighbor. She is kept indoors, but when she escapes it is our yard that is a favorite to visit.

I was thinking about this last night. The dust, smells, and noises of farming don't really effect me too much as I have grown up around it all. In fact, if we had smella-monitor I'd let you experience the waft of cow manure that has been being spread on the field right across the road from the front of my house for the last several days. ha