Large ground shake So. Cal

12-28-03 | Joe

[Joe Hadenuf]

Anyone feel that??

[Ingtar]

Memphis. Waitin' for our own big 'un. I want to see the Mississippi flow backwards (just kidding)

[Boot Hill]

Dianna sez: &nbps; "I NEVER want to be in a big quake."

We lived quite close to the epicenter of the magnitude 7.1 Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989 and from it I learned what I call "Zen and the Art of Balancing Earthquakes and Marriage".

When the earthquake struck it continued for quite some time. I first got my youngest boy out of the house and was heading out the door myself when, just as I rounded the last corner before the door, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed my wife's China Closest rocking back and forth precariously.

Her china closet has the memories of a lifetime stored in the form of elegant chinaware, silverware, crystal goblets, delicate candlesticks, special plates and various ceramic knickknacks that husbands are not expected to understand, much less offer an opinion about.

It dawned on me in a flash there were only three possibilities for me.

1. I could run outside and save myself, but the China Closet would certainly crash to the floor. Now my wife is by no means a spiteful or vengeful woman, but if I allowed the contents of the china closet to be destroyed, I would probably pay for it with my life.
2. I could stay in the house and try to save the China Closet, but the house could collapse and kill me.
3. I could stay in the house and save the China Closet and if I was lucky, the house wouldn't collapse and kill me.

Now notice that the only scenario where I live is number 3, stay in the house and hope that it doesn't collapse. So I took the only rational course open to me and stayed and saved the china closet. As luck would have it, the house bucked like wild horse, but it didn't collapse. When my wife got home and heard what happened, she called her five closest friends. All of them were in tears over having lost their china closets in the quake. At this point my wife elevated me to the status of "venerable master"! For the next three years I could do no wrong! Well worth the risks!

I'd like to arrange another earthquake, because my current status needs a boost. I tried to use the birth of our grandson a year ago as a cause for a status boost, but she wasn't buying any of that!

BTW, as a parting note, do you know why the safety "experts" recommend getting under a door frame during an earthquake? They claim it's because the door frame is the strongest part of the building, but the truth is, it just makes locating the bodies a whole heck of a lot easier after the building collapses! "Hey Mack, I just found three more dead idiots under this door frame!"

--Boot Hill

[PRND21]

Mexicans!

[Canticle_of_Deborah]

Will a big quake usually be the FIRST to hit, and then smaller aftershocks, or can you get little ones leading up to a big one too?

Yes, both scenarios could happen.

[Oorang]

You are very wise, grasshopper.

[Boot Hill]

Wise or chicken, the jury's still out on that one!

--Boot Hill

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Her china closet has the memories of a lifetime stored in the form of elegant chinaware, silverware, crystal goblets, delicate candlesticks, special plates and various ceramic knickknacks that husbands are not expected to understand, much less offer an opinion about.

ROFLMAO!!!!!

I understand that!!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I am close to Long Beach and I never felt a thing!

[Jack Black]

Number 4 too, kinda, given Iran.

[Boot Hill]

I get a lot of that kind of response when I tell that story to other men!

--Boot

[sheik yerbouty]

My better half did, but ony for me!

[JustPiper]

Near any military bases? We may be doing 'rounds'?

[JustPiper]

What part of CA are you in?

[JustPiper]

Man, it was explosive like in my location. Very fast, with an audible boom. LOL! I was thinking of LB harbor.....

It was on my list of worries

[JustPiper]

OC is huge

[JustPiper]

What part of OC is Annaheim?

[JustPiper]

Sounds like your describing sonic booms?

[JustPiper]

Is it worth calling Mom in Irvine?

[JustPiper]

Dude!

[JustPiper]

Only shaker senstivie folks like me feel a 3 pointer