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Sorry for the lack of chatter. It's been a little crazy the last couple of days, and I had to put the priority on getting the boys back into their routine. Tomorrow's goal: San Diego trip report.
Now, yesterday's earthquake. It was a 5.4 centered in Chino Hills, about 9 miles below the surface. Because it was so shallow, it was a jolty quake, not the nice rolling kind. I admit, I am an earthquake geek. Understanding the natural enemy of the Californian is something that comes in handy out here, since we don't get much in the way of natural disasters. We have your brushfires, the occasional flood and mudslide... but earthquakes are our biggie. (For those curious, here's a fairly up to date listing of recent quakes. Keep in mind that this isn't my precise location, and it takes the USGS time to update the website as it's first verified as an event before being listed.)
For those who aren't from California, you might think I'm crazy for saying this... but I would rather an earthquake than tornadoes, hurricanes, or anything else you get across the country. No, you have no idea they're approaching - but, with modern building codes, the likelihood of a small to medium sized earthquake destroying your home is minimal*. Also, the actual shaking is over quickly. The longest quake I've ever been through which was the Northridge quake. Now, the official length is 30 seconds - but the way they measure it isn't actually from the start of the shaking. It's from the start of a certain sort of motion on the seismograph. The actual length of shaking for the Northridge quake felt like nearly a minute, it just went on and on and on. The Chino Hills quake was relatively short, and where we live was a sharp jolt. Of course, being where we live (near a fairly major faultline), we really felt it.
So what does an earthquake feel like? There are two sensations with earthquakes, all depending on the depth of the quake as well as how far away you are from the epicenter. Deeper quakes as well as living far away tends to give a rolling sensation. That feels like you're on a waterbed with someone and they just got up. The ones that have a sharp jolt like motion are more like you're talking to someone and they suddenly grab you and shake you.
An earthquake has a sound to it, too. There's a rumbling sound from the earth, and add on top of it the sound of the house shaking (the lumber adjusting) and everything on the shelves clattering... it can get pretty loud. But there's a definite sort of rumble/roar thing that the earth itself seems to do.
Onto happier subjects. R had his 9 month well-baby. Got his polio shot, and was an angel. He's 27" long and weighs 19 lbs 2 oz. I believe that he's now taller (but not heavier) than D was when he was a year old. After the doctor's appt, we went to lunch with my dad and then off to Rej's house. Fun fact: we only had 2 tantrums today from D. There was a fair amount of whining. But, he was well behaved.
*I'm sure that some of you saw images of the Northridge quake- with buildings that had major cracks in it, as well as others that were destroyed completely. While earthquake codes were enforced for new buildings, there were a lot of buildings that were from before the codes were put in and never retrofitted. And, that was a BIG quake. Plus, since I live where there was a pretty major quake, everything is totally up to code.
((Rej, feel free to correct any errors about quakes. I'm WAY too tired to think this one through right now.))
Now, yesterday's earthquake. It was a 5.4 centered in Chino Hills, about 9 miles below the surface. Because it was so shallow, it was a jolty quake, not the nice rolling kind. I admit, I am an earthquake geek. Understanding the natural enemy of the Californian is something that comes in handy out here, since we don't get much in the way of natural disasters. We have your brushfires, the occasional flood and mudslide... but earthquakes are our biggie. (For those curious, here's a fairly up to date listing of recent quakes. Keep in mind that this isn't my precise location, and it takes the USGS time to update the website as it's first verified as an event before being listed.)
For those who aren't from California, you might think I'm crazy for saying this... but I would rather an earthquake than tornadoes, hurricanes, or anything else you get across the country. No, you have no idea they're approaching - but, with modern building codes, the likelihood of a small to medium sized earthquake destroying your home is minimal*. Also, the actual shaking is over quickly. The longest quake I've ever been through which was the Northridge quake. Now, the official length is 30 seconds - but the way they measure it isn't actually from the start of the shaking. It's from the start of a certain sort of motion on the seismograph. The actual length of shaking for the Northridge quake felt like nearly a minute, it just went on and on and on. The Chino Hills quake was relatively short, and where we live was a sharp jolt. Of course, being where we live (near a fairly major faultline), we really felt it.
So what does an earthquake feel like? There are two sensations with earthquakes, all depending on the depth of the quake as well as how far away you are from the epicenter. Deeper quakes as well as living far away tends to give a rolling sensation. That feels like you're on a waterbed with someone and they just got up. The ones that have a sharp jolt like motion are more like you're talking to someone and they suddenly grab you and shake you.
An earthquake has a sound to it, too. There's a rumbling sound from the earth, and add on top of it the sound of the house shaking (the lumber adjusting) and everything on the shelves clattering... it can get pretty loud. But there's a definite sort of rumble/roar thing that the earth itself seems to do.
Onto happier subjects. R had his 9 month well-baby. Got his polio shot, and was an angel. He's 27" long and weighs 19 lbs 2 oz. I believe that he's now taller (but not heavier) than D was when he was a year old. After the doctor's appt, we went to lunch with my dad and then off to Rej's house. Fun fact: we only had 2 tantrums today from D. There was a fair amount of whining. But, he was well behaved.
*I'm sure that some of you saw images of the Northridge quake- with buildings that had major cracks in it, as well as others that were destroyed completely. While earthquake codes were enforced for new buildings, there were a lot of buildings that were from before the codes were put in and never retrofitted. And, that was a BIG quake. Plus, since I live where there was a pretty major quake, everything is totally up to code.
((Rej, feel free to correct any errors about quakes. I'm WAY too tired to think this one through right now.))
