23 January 2011
Earthquakes
23/01/11 14:18
Nanaimo is in the Pacific Coast seismic zone. Now the risk of an earthquake right here isn't great. The geological plates are fragmented so they absorb any slippage and they're not moving very fast so they don't build up stress quickly. Because of this there doesn't tend to be huge quakes right here in Nanaimo. Oh there have been, and there are more than, say, in Minnesota, but it's not like we sit around every evening waiting for the 5:00 shake to arrive. South of here in Washington or California they get a lot more, but here not so much.
Nonetheless it is something we are aware of. When we put in the new water heater a couple of years ago I added earthquake straps. These tie it to the wall so if there is an earthquake the unit won't fall over and break the water lines. Our windows will all shatter but at least we'll have water. Just not hot water as the electricity will be out. I also was happy when we bought a house on a hill, above the reach of any Tsunami, and setting on bedrock, so it won't slide. If the ground shakes, we will be fine.
I don't think the cats will do well in an earthquake though. They don't like loud noises. The thing is, if we have an earthquake we have hundreds of fragile things on shelves. Mugs, pictures, steins, figurines, mugs, fossils, tankards, antiques, mugs. A good force 5 or 6 earthquake would result in a lot of bangs and smashing sounds. I expect there would a good one to two inches of broken glass all over the house. Geiger especially wouldn't handle it well. This week I dropped a steel tray in the kitchen and Geiger ran all the way to the other end of the house to find Marsha to protect him. Do they give cats Valium? We may need it. For us though, Earthquake Preparedness actually consists of having a couple of brooms at the ready and a good insurance policy.
As I said though, while there are tiny (< 1) quakes reasonably often, the chances of us having a big earthquake are not that high. They tend to be a few hundred kilometres off the west side of the island or well to the north of us near Haida Gwaii (formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands) It's not something we're actually that worried about. On Wednesday of this week there is going to be an Earthquake Drill here in Nanaimo. I'm not sure what we're supposed to do actually. I already know how to run around in circles screaming. But best to be prepared I suppose.
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On another note I'd like to thank those of you that let us know over the holidays that they like our weekly letters. It's good to know that people still appreciate what we're putting out. Just a reminder that we keep an archive of our letters on our web site:
http://web.me.com/geoduck/Site/Weekly_Letter/Weekly_Letter.html
So you can go out and review any you may have missed.
Several people even said we should collect the best of these into a book. Thank you very much for the compliment. The same thought had occurred to me however there is one problem. While I'm, by acclamation if nothing else, fairly good at writing, I'm absolutely terrible at selling. Even in college when I worked in retail they would put me on other duties, repair, stocking, customer service, etc. rather than sales. I just don't have any talent for selling. Fixing things? Yes. Storytelling? Yes. But trying to convince someone to buy some product ? I just can't do that.
The result is that I now have five books done, the first completed in 1998, and three more in various stages of completion but exactly none of them have been published.
Maybe it's my approach. I think you gotta' be pushy and the one thing I'm not is pushy, (Ok honestly, there's a lot of things I'm not good at, but I digress.) In any event, if anyone knows any publishers out there I'd appreciate it if you would give them a nudge in my direction. An author with lots of work done and reasonably good reviews is ready and willing to work with them. We could make a million.
Or at least kill a lot of trees.
Doug & Marsha
Pix: The only earth shattering event here this week was an accident up the road from us. It looks like Mr. Jeep took the corner too fast coming down the hill and had a close encounter with Mr. Toyota Economy Car going up. The road was closed for a good half an hour but it looks like nobody was hurt.
This Kingfisher hung out on front of the house for the better part of an hour this week. Didn’t know they would perch.
Nonetheless it is something we are aware of. When we put in the new water heater a couple of years ago I added earthquake straps. These tie it to the wall so if there is an earthquake the unit won't fall over and break the water lines. Our windows will all shatter but at least we'll have water. Just not hot water as the electricity will be out. I also was happy when we bought a house on a hill, above the reach of any Tsunami, and setting on bedrock, so it won't slide. If the ground shakes, we will be fine.
I don't think the cats will do well in an earthquake though. They don't like loud noises. The thing is, if we have an earthquake we have hundreds of fragile things on shelves. Mugs, pictures, steins, figurines, mugs, fossils, tankards, antiques, mugs. A good force 5 or 6 earthquake would result in a lot of bangs and smashing sounds. I expect there would a good one to two inches of broken glass all over the house. Geiger especially wouldn't handle it well. This week I dropped a steel tray in the kitchen and Geiger ran all the way to the other end of the house to find Marsha to protect him. Do they give cats Valium? We may need it. For us though, Earthquake Preparedness actually consists of having a couple of brooms at the ready and a good insurance policy.
As I said though, while there are tiny (< 1) quakes reasonably often, the chances of us having a big earthquake are not that high. They tend to be a few hundred kilometres off the west side of the island or well to the north of us near Haida Gwaii (formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands) It's not something we're actually that worried about. On Wednesday of this week there is going to be an Earthquake Drill here in Nanaimo. I'm not sure what we're supposed to do actually. I already know how to run around in circles screaming. But best to be prepared I suppose.
------------
On another note I'd like to thank those of you that let us know over the holidays that they like our weekly letters. It's good to know that people still appreciate what we're putting out. Just a reminder that we keep an archive of our letters on our web site:
http://web.me.com/geoduck/Site/Weekly_Letter/Weekly_Letter.html
So you can go out and review any you may have missed.
Several people even said we should collect the best of these into a book. Thank you very much for the compliment. The same thought had occurred to me however there is one problem. While I'm, by acclamation if nothing else, fairly good at writing, I'm absolutely terrible at selling. Even in college when I worked in retail they would put me on other duties, repair, stocking, customer service, etc. rather than sales. I just don't have any talent for selling. Fixing things? Yes. Storytelling? Yes. But trying to convince someone to buy some product ? I just can't do that.
The result is that I now have five books done, the first completed in 1998, and three more in various stages of completion but exactly none of them have been published.
Maybe it's my approach. I think you gotta' be pushy and the one thing I'm not is pushy, (Ok honestly, there's a lot of things I'm not good at, but I digress.) In any event, if anyone knows any publishers out there I'd appreciate it if you would give them a nudge in my direction. An author with lots of work done and reasonably good reviews is ready and willing to work with them. We could make a million.
Or at least kill a lot of trees.
Doug & Marsha
Pix: The only earth shattering event here this week was an accident up the road from us. It looks like Mr. Jeep took the corner too fast coming down the hill and had a close encounter with Mr. Toyota Economy Car going up. The road was closed for a good half an hour but it looks like nobody was hurt.
This Kingfisher hung out on front of the house for the better part of an hour this week. Didn’t know they would perch.