Earth-Shake, Rattle, and Roll?

Yep, there was a decent sized earthquake here in Southern California today. It registered at 5.4 magnitude!

But, we didn't even feel it. So, we are fine!

My sister Carolyn's 2 story office shook a bit, and she called me as I was nearby in my sculpture class. No one there noticed either. Carolyn had pictured all the sculptures shaking off the shelves! Heads could have REALLY been rollin'!

Here's an interesting earthquake map: http://quake.usgs.gov/recenteqs/

News article: Powerful Quake Shakes up San Diego!

Why wasn't there more damage? Read:
Tougher Codes Kept Quake Damage Down

Update: July 30, 2008
A surgical nurse was speaking on the radio today discussing the procedures for what they are required to do if in the middle of an operation when a quake starts. (He was on the "Jef and Jer Showgram". Anyone remember when they were on Detroit radio? They left 20 years ago this month!)

Anyway, first, the nurse is required to lean over the opened patient to prevent anything from falling onto/into the person. The doctors are required to go under a table if possible, AND the nurses are to lay on top of the doctor!

It's all part of the code protecting the patient. The doctor must survive in order to complete the surgery, hence the nurses must cover her or him!

I just thought that was an interesting discussion you might want to learn about! It was new to me!

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ps: here's my latest sculpture with the model in the background on the left. This picture is from week #1. I'm on week 5 now and I think she looks less like the model than the first week!
I can't believe the quake didn't shake this room. There are hundreds of breakable "heads" on shelves around the studio!

Independence Day Weekend in Vista, California

With the perfect San Diego weather helping out, we hosted a neighborhood BBQ at our house. We attempted a classic "All American" meal, with hamburgers, baked bean, potato salad, corn on the cob, corn bread, beer, and more. (dang: I forgot to put out the potato salad!)

There was a bit of extra excitement as some idiots drove up the new road clearing on the hill behind our house, probably to watch the fireworks. (You can see the road in the photo above.) That would have been fine, but then they built a large campfire!!!! HELLO!?!?!?! California is on fire again (up north this time), and we in San Diego are still recovering from last October's fires here. And they have a fire up there????? We called the fire department and the sheriff. Before we know it we have a firetruck pulling up our street to get the details before trying to drive up the foothills to get the people to put the fire! It wasn't even cold out! Why would they risk our homes???

After our dinner, we proceeded to walk next door to Wayne and Gunde's for dessert and a great view of the Vista fireworks.

Although we had a few new and/or different neighbors this year, we basically did the same combo party as last year.

This time it was a bit of a neighborhood reunion of sorts: just in the past week Wayne and Gunde had returned from a 7 week RV trip to Alaska, Gary returned from 2 months in Germany (his wife Karin is still there), Pattie and Charlie have been back from a 4 week RV trip up to Oregon just a couple of days, and Rick and I have been back from our Michigan trip less than a week!

Gunde outdid herself again with the desserts:
Although it wasn't cold, we got Wayne to crank on the their firepit! (IT by the way, is gas, and therefore no fire sparks. Open fires are not legal around here for obvious reasons).

It occurred to me afterwards that only two of us women were born in the USA! Gunde and Karin are from Germany, Suzanne is from Denmark, and Julie is Hungarian (I think!)

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Happy Birthday Jeff!

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