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Observations for 26 May


Put together an overnight eruption of Fan & Mortar and a bear closure of Geyser Hill and you get a number of people standing around with the look you get on an old dog whose food dish has been moved from the spot it's been in the last few years.

So Fan & Mortar did erupt overnight, and based on the amount of water still on the walkway at 08:00, I'm guessing just before daylight. Castle had a dawn minor, and Grand appears to have had another long interval.

For me the morning was one of watching GeyserHill from the parking lot, working on a project and watching a woodpecker trying to work on the tree next to the bike rack. (Whenever people would walk by, it would fly off, only to reappear a few minutes later. So there must be something to like there.) The weather itself was nice, a little breezy at times, but a great improvement from previous days.

The early afternoon Grand eruption was a pretty unspectacular 1 burst which this time was only an hour and a half after West Triplet.

I wasn't sure if I wanted to go out for the middle of the night eruption of Grand. The day had become overcast, and before sunset (which couldn't be seen), there was even a sprinkle or two. I decided that maybe I should stay in, when I noticed the moon was visible. SInce I could at least get out with some light, decided to go out.

It cleared as I waited, but it was really steamy. At one point, I heard a bison or two grunting away over by Calida. There was other wildlife out and about too: drunken Amfac louts were making noises, but I never saw any until after the Grand eruption. Even Sawmill had quit by then, so they were going out only for exercise.

The eruption of Grand was spectacular in its own way. Rift had just finished when I arrived, so no need to worry about West Triplet. Finally there was a Turban that had all the right sounds for an eruption, and Grand's pool looked steamy than before. But the Turban eruption just kept on going, with no Grand. Finally, at 3m18s, Grand took off. It was so steamy over toward Turban that I couldn't see what Vent might have done.

With that long to get started, I was half-expecting a short one burst, so not surprised when the first burst ended after only 7m36s. This had to mean a second burst, which I did get. After it ended, I could hear Vent blasting away, a sign that the pool was probably trying to refill and a third burst was possible. It took 1m13s before that finally happened, and once it was over, so was Vent and Turban. SoI would have liked to have seen exactly what they were doing back in that steam, it was still enjoyable.