pics from this morning's northern california earthquake

[madamesilverspurs]

34. Got to spend several months in Eureka back in the late '70s.

A family friend offered the use of their guest room, and I gladly accepted knowing that it had a wonderful view of Humboldt Bay. The neighbors referred to the house as the "wedding cake"; our friends had designed it with the second floor having a smaller footprint than the first, and the third floor was smaller yet, and I can attest to the home's earthquake survivability having been awakened by being vigorously shaken one morning. My hostess had her teacup collection hanging from small hooks on her kitchen wall; she called it her quake monitor, the motion of the hanging cups varying from slight quiver to the wide swaying that she interpreted as "get your ass out, NOW!" My folks had a small place uptown and they loved living there, Dad could sail and Mom could revel in the gardens and Victoriana. They tried mightily to get me to stay there instead of going back to Colorado, they worried about my being squarely in "tornado country," to which I observed that, unlike earthquakes, one can see tornadoes coming. And their newspaper had DAILY earthquake reports.

Having been through earthquakes in Los Angeles and Eureka, I promised to visit often and headed for the Rockies, and I've been back in Colorado ever since. Ironically, my first earthquake happened in my childhood in Denver suburbs. To be sure, we're not immune, we have our own quake history. Sadly, the fracking industry has seen fit to contribute to that history, their dismissiveness of that reality notwithstanding.