Hello & Good Morning!

[Tobina+1]

Well, my hometown has alumni celebrations every year (banquet, dance, etc), but usually the classes only have get-togethers on the 5-year marks.  We graduated 25 in our class.  Yes, people sometimes stop by the year ahead or behind's reunions to chat with friends they had in those classes.  Some people come back every year (to see parents who still live there), and some don't even come for the "big" reunion years.  Us kids are usually required (highly recommended) that we attend our parents' reunions, even at this age!  My grandma even stops by us grandkids' reunions, as her house was usually the after school catch-all, especially for country kids waiting for evening events like CCD or play practice. 

Diane; we're lucky this week; no rain for a good 5 days!  And it's supposed to be nice and sunny and warm all week long!

[frawin]

Our Daughter just called and said they had another Earthquake this evening in the Signal Hill/Long Beach area. Apparently it was not a big one.

[Tobina+1]

Wow, I'm glad to hear your daughter isn't bothered by things like that, Frank.  Hopefully there was no damage.  I guess it's no different than being in hail storms or tornado warnings here (you just get used to it), but still scary!

I had a fun afternoon yesterday... went to Andover and got my hair cut, then did some shopping in Wichita.  I haven't been clothes shopping for a while, and my expanding waistline is hard to get used to.  I found some great deals, though, even though it took me 2 hours in 1 store!  Unfortunately, when I got home and went to put on something new this morning, they had forgot to take the alarm tag off!  So, now I have to figure out when to go back to get it removed before I can wear my new clothes.  On the way home, I stopped by the Dillons in Andover and picked up some Chinese for supper... yum.  That is a funny store... buy a couch across the aisle from where you pick up your milk!
Hope everyone has a good day!  Stay out of the wind (if that's possible)!

[frawin]

Thanks Tobina, her Mother and I are bothered more about it than she is. We will be happy to get her back to Texas someday. If we get her back to Texas all 3 of our kids  will be in Texas and we are thinking about moving back there ourselves, and that might just do it.

[larryJ]

The earthquake that happened on Tuesday was a 4.1 aftershock to the previous one.  There are those who think that an aftershock is like an echo of an earlier quake.  Not so.  An afteshock is an earthquake in its own right.  Earthquakes happen when the continental plates under us move.  There is alway pressure on these plates to move as one is trying to go one way and the other the opposite way.  After the pressure builds up there is a slip and the ground moves.  If it moves a lot then it is a big quake. An aftershock occurs as the pressure that was released from the previous quake causes pressure on another spot on that fault.  Aftershocks are almost always smaller than the original quake in that the area where the release of pressure happened probably would not have moved if the first quake had not happened.  Aftershocks can go on for years in smaller magnitudes.  This particular fault is responsible for the 1933 Long Beach quake which caused the city of Los Angeles to pass an ordinance banning buildings from being higher than a certain number of storys.  Over the years with improved ways of construction, that ban is no longer in effect.  Quakes measuring between 4.0 and 5.0 are generally not considered damaging.  A few things may fall off of shelves or the picture of your grandfather might be leaning to the left a little, but for the most part these quakes are not too bad.  Again it depends on how close you are to the quakes epicenter and how deep the quake occurs.  The Richter Scale used to measure the magnitude of earthquakes is also usually misunderstood.  Lets say there is a 4.0 quake which is a small quake.  Then there is a 4.1 which is still small but is ten, yes ten, times stronger than the 4.0.  By the time you get to a 5.0 quake, it is 100 times stronger than the 4.0.

People react to earthquakes each in their own way.  If you have lived here for many years, you tend to take earthquakes as a "comes with the territory" attitude.  You become attuned to the sound and the strength of the shaking in determiining how to react---duck and cover or don't worry about it.  And that is done believably in the first few seconds of the quake.  Newbies will or can panic and get hysterical.  I have actually known people who had moved here and were happy until a little tremor came along and they packed up bag and baggage and went back to where they came from.  

Of all Mother Natures diaster phenomena, earthquakes are the only ones that can't be predicted (yet) and can cause more damage over a greater area than any other disaster.  Everybody knows when there is a hurricane in the vicinity and takes steps to protect themselves.  The same with tornadoes because when there is a big storm, there is a possibility of a tornado and you can move to an underground shelter or a safe room to ride it out.  Major blizzards can be predicted and you can stay home and not go out in it.  With earthquakes there is no warning, no change of weather, (earthquake weather is a myth), and all you can do is get under something that isn't going to collapse on you and pray.

I have felt over the years many earthquakes some as far as 150 miles away from me.  I did not feel the ones in the last two days and they were only 40 miles away from me.  I didn't feel the first one because I was outside on the swing talking to someone. And the second one was just too small and too deep to be felt by me.  Contrary to popular belief, California will not slide into the ocean although bits and pieces of some the cliffs along the shore might fall and there might be landslides in some of the mountainous areas.  

There is your lesson for today.

Larryj

[Diane Amberg]

Tobina, how did you get out the door without the store alarm going off? If you call them could they tell you how to get the alarm thing off?
Frank, if you move back to Texas and Texas secedes, you'll become some of them dang feriners that we all gripe about.

   Larry, thanks. I have actually had nightmares about the earth opening under me and dropping me in and slamming shut. Most of me knows that is silly, but a tiny piece of me is scared to death.

[Mom70x7]

Diane -

Tobina, how did you get out the door without the store alarm going off? If you call them could they tell you how to get the alarm thing off?

That's happened to me - only it was ball caps at JC Penney's. The kids all bought a different kind of cap for Jim for Father's Day one year. When we go to wrapping them at home, two of them still had those alarm tags on. Had to take them back to the store with the receipt. What a hassle. And I don't know how we got out with them on, either.

Larry -

Contrary to popular belief, California will not slide into the ocean although bits and pieces of some the cliffs along the shore might fall and there might be landslides in some of the mountainous areas. 

My next older sister used to live in California. She moved back to the Midwest because she was afraid of the state falling in to the ocean! Worried about it all the time she lived there. Course she worries about other things now. 

[Tobina+1]

Diane and Mom; I wondered the same thing about getting out of the store (and yes, it was JCPenneys)!  I wished it would have gone off so I didn't have to make a trip all the way back in!  Yes, I'm getting ready to call the store, but I think you have to have one of those special magnet things.  I imagine they don't just tell anyone how to get them off, since they are there for security.

Very interesting, LarryJ; thanks for the info!  I was going to ask about the myth of California dropping off into the ocean...(or at least just L.A.!)  I have no idea when it was, but I have vague memories about a big quake in CA when I was little; seeing the images of collapsed bridges and buildings on TV.

[Diane Amberg]

Oct.1989.

[Diane Amberg]

Frank, I finally figured out what I had screwed up on guessing the size of the Marcus Hook refinery. I went back and reread the big article in our paper. As they say, I was close but no banana.  The paper said Marcus Hook is Sunoco's largest refinery, it's the second largest in the North East, and seventh largest in the country. It covers 82 acres, employs about 700 people and opened in 1902.