Earthquake Season

There was an earthquake last night. It was a 4.7 on the Richter. Okay, so what else is new? We have them every now and again to keep Midwesterners from overpopulating our state. They don't seem to mind the threat of a tornado that can wipe out an entire town in one terrifying roar. But let the ground vibrate under their feet and they spook like it was Armageddon. Something has to squelch the migration or California will get so overpopulated that it just might break off and fall into the Pacific.

Here we were, typical Californians, pausing the video we were watching while our house danced the jig for about 40 seconds.

Me: "Wow, wasn't that interesting!"

Barbara: "Yeah, it was a pretty good jolt, must've been centered nearby."

Me: "Okay, let's turn to a local TV channel and find out."

All this time the two of us refuse to budge from our comfortable recliners. They tell me that people scream, grab their loved ones and run into the street. Well, no one around here does anything like that.

Now when I was a kid (I mean MANY years ago, like 1951 or so) I remember the quake that devastated the town of Tehachepi. I was in bed on the top bunk. We were in a room with many old fashioned sash drawn windows with counterbalances built into the framework. My bed was violently shaking and I could hear those counterbalances banging inside the frames in cadence. The sound was like a platoon of marching soldiers. I climbed out of bed and looked in the back yard where the lemon tree was shaking as though a great hand had grabbed it and was trying to rid it of all the fruit at once. That was an earthquake! But they just don't come along all that often. Most of them are fun, interesting diversions, that keep Californians reminded that they live on the left coast.