That's Gneiss! #89 ~ An earthshaking week
At 2:50 a.m. on Friday morning, I was laying awake in bed with my mind reeling over the news our work group had received earlier in the day about significant changes coming to our jobs. The good news - I have a job, and it’s at my current location with no change to pay or hours. However, my job focus will be changing, though I don’t know yet what exactly it will be.
But that is not what I’m writing about today.
At 2:50 a.m. I was laying awake. At 2:51 I felt a small shaking that turned into more shaking with a jolt followed by a bit more shaking.
“Is this the big one?” I thought.
“HOLY SHIT, it’s an EARTHQUAKE!” I shouted, waking Michael (sort of).
The shaking stopped without us falling into the crawlspace under the house. Later I realized we’d be on a mattress so maybe that wouldn’t be all bad. Soften the landing, you know.
I lay there, actually feeling a bit afraid, and about three minutes later there was an aftershock.
Nothing more, and I finally managed to get to sleep for a short time before the alarm went off.
When I got up I learned more about the quake, and discovered it centered not far from our house!
I just did a screen grab now from the Pacific Northwest Seismic Network Recent Events page, and you can see there have been quite a few smaller quakes in the same area. The three orange dots represent quakes in the last two day.
The quake I felt was measured to be 4.6, which while fairly large isn’t likely to cause much damage (other than mental). If you’re geeky and want more info about the details of the quake, you can check out the event page.
I haven’t felt anything since those two, but as is always the case when a quake hits close to home, one starts thinking about how woefully unprepared they are in the event of the BIG ONE. We all know the things we should have in our disaster kits, not just for earthquakes but for big storms or other unusual situations that may occur.
If you REALLY want to be prepared though, you’ll want to get an earthquake-proof bed.
Hmmm… maybe not. That raises so many questions about what happens next. Like how do you get out of that coffin?!! Are there supplies like water and food in there, or do you need to keep snacks under your pillow every night just in case?
Terrifying.
Hopefully that will be the end of our earthquake excitement for a good long while. The work excitement will be sorted out for better or worse in the near future.
So yeah.
On a totally different topic -
I can now embed Instagram photos into this newsletter. Let’s give it a go, shall we?
Ah - it works, sort of. That’s actually a short video clip of the fly doing a little dance. Pretty cool though! And you should definitely follow that IG account if you like closeups of insects and slime mold.
I’m going to wrap this up now. I’m waiting for a plumber to call, because the pipes decided it would be a good day to back up and stop cooperating. Clogged showers and toilets, definitely not a simple fix. Like everything, it could have been much worse - we noticed the trouble and called right away before it gets any worse. And I’m a renter, so it’s somebody else’s responsibility to get it taken care of ($$).
Sigh.
Let’s hope things turn around next week!
Tidbits
Abe Vigoda - is he dead? Be sure to listen to the accompanying music (carefully), and check the source code for that page… and enjoy.
Fabre’s Book of Insects (1921)
Making: I visited Sunnyside Nursery and bought a plant for my garden, which I am working to make more pleasant. I need to go back there and spend more time looking around, but should probably leave my wallet at home.
Recently eaten: this week was a bit of a bust, but we did have tasty burgers with bacon, garlic mushrooms, and blue cheese on them last night. Not much of an appetite with the muggy heat and other things going on.
Reading: started reading The Traitor Baru Cormorant. Slowly plugging away at many others - things don’t go as quickly when I’m not camping.
Video of the Week
This is really the only thing I could choose this week.
Question of the Week
Answer if you wish, and I’ll share next week - anonymously of course. Just hit reply…
It was a bit of a rough week. What kind of things do you do for yourself to cope with times of abrupt change and stress?
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Last week I asked what your favorite story-songs are.
Devil Went Down To Georgia
My favorite story/song is most definitely Uneasy Rider by Charlie Daniels. In this song our protagonist demonstrates that quick wits will get you out of any situation no matter how grim it may seem!
Favorite story song – Ode to Billie Joe of course!
Most of the non-classical non-instrumental music I listen to tends to be story songs, so it's hard to pick a favorite. A major contender is certainly Tom Russell's Gallo del Cielo.
I love when a song can skillfully evoke whole hidden backstories. I find this one an amazing example of what can be done with nothing but lyrics:
So many choices, but I have to go with this one as a fave.
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