Idaho Falls

70  IDAHO FALLS MAGAZINE MARCH/APRIL 2016 Outdoors by Gregg Losinski The title of this section that I have been fortunate enough to write for the past few years is "Outdoors." I love this head- ing because it gives me all kinds of latitude to write about whatever I feel pertains to the outdoors in relationship to life in Idaho Falls. This piece is a little different because this winter I experienced an event that inspired me to write about bring- ing the great outdoors inside. While the outdoors is truly great when it's outside, when brought inside it can lose some of its charm. Most folks here know that the bedrock foundation for much of Idaho Falls is made up of the basaltic lava fl ows that emanated from the Great Rift volcano out in what we now call the Arco Desert. Basalt is darn tough stuff that holds up pretty well to having water run across it. Just check out the rugged basalt columns that line the banks along the falls in downtown Idaho Falls. Before the water gets to where we live on the lavas, it starts its journey as snow high up in the mountains. The mountains aren't made of tough lava, but of soft sedimentary rock like limestone. As the snows melt and the water runs down from the heights, it wears off microscopic particles. These particles are carried along in the water, happily bouncing along. In the past, these particles would have even- tually wound up in the Pacifi c, but now they work their way indoors where, unless we have a water softener system, they deposit themselves as hard water scale throughout our homes. Hard water scale on your faucets is annoying, but I recently had the joy of hit- ting the mother lode of hard water scale when I replaced the heating elements in my home's water heater. Judging by the amount of crud I cleaned out of my hot water tank I probably could have added back a foot of elevation to the top of the Grand Teton. Thanks to following a how- to video on YouTube about changing water heater elements without draining the tank, I also had the chance to experience the raw power that running water can have. Even though the water tank was only 50 gallons, I was literally blown away by the force of water that came out of it. Trying to cap the fl ow made me realize that every movie I'd ever seen about submariners plugging leaks at 20,000 leagues below the sea was indeed fi ction. I can't imagine how much power must be in the waters of the Snake River as it moves through the turbines that generate much of our electricity here in Idaho Falls. After making all the necessary repairs to the heater, I was then faced with the daunt- ing task of cleaning up the miniature replica of the travertine terraces at Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park formed by the deluge in my laundry room. As I cleaned up the mess, I contemplated the cause of it all and realized that maybe all those blue feathered headbands that lit- ter the Eastern Idaho State Fairgrounds that I always found so annoying were a type of harbinger. Hey, Culligan Man! Bringing The Outdoors In IF

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