You’re probably all sick to death of hearing me yammer on and on about these earthquakes, aren’t you? Especially those of you from California who are thinking, “They haven’t even had a 5.0 yet and she’s complaining? Pansy!” You wouldn’t be half wrong, either. I fully admit I am a pansy. It’s a little like flying in an airplane. When I was younger, I loved to fly across country. Turbulence didn’t both me in the least and in fact, I enjoyed it on several occasions. Take off and landing didn’t bother me one bit. Last year, when I flew to Chicago for BlogHer ‘07, I noticed my feelings on the subject had changed. I am now a much more nervous flyer. I decided it was because I have a family, I have something to lose. Having children has turned me soft, I suppose.

It’s the same with these earthquakes. Now, it’s not just me. I’m not the only one dealing with an earthquake. I have a husband, a son and two babies to think about. So every time it starts shaking, I’m not only thinking about what I’ll do if it’s a “big one” but what about the kids? And Harry being easily old enough to get what is going on is very scared and I have to deal with that too. I own a house now that I need to worry about getting damaged. There are so many factors here. Plus, it’s been a good 14 years since I’ve lived in California and have become sensitized to a degree, I suppose.

We had a 4.2 at 4:33 this morning (I’ve been enjoying reading comments on these news stories, btw). Woke both of us up, though I had a feeling I was already awake. Hard to explain. Anyhow, besides the usual heart pounding-sick in the stomach-weak in the knees feeling I usually have been having with these earthquakes, I also felt EXHAUSTED (and not just because it was 4:33 in the morning). I’m tired of this. I’m tired of not knowing what the freak is going to happen. Or when.

There’s lots of guessing games being played. Someone on the newspaper website put a link up yesterday to a research paper done in 1997 that profiled all the earthquakes in Reno’s history and I found this entry particularly interesting:

Verdi Earthquake, December 29, 1948, M6.0
On December 29, 1948, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake near Verdi caused Intensity VII damage to that community. The main event was preceded by several foreshocks. On December 27, notable foreshocks occurred at 5:15, 6:24, 8:21, 8:24, 9:24, and 10:04 p.m. (PST). The event at 9:24 p.m. is described as “a prolonged jolt beneath the city [Reno] for perhaps 30 seconds.” On December 28, numerous earthquakes were felt, and at Verdi there were almost continuous vibrations. Following a lull of nearly 36 hours, almost everyone in a radius of 80 km (50 mi) was awakened by the mainshock at 5:53 AM on December 29th. Nearly every building in Verdi had some sort of damage. Brick parapets on the east and west sides of the Verdi school building were sheared and thrown off. A wall of a grocery store fell down. Several chimneys came down in Verdi and Floriston, and bricks fell from many others. A chimney was also broken in Dog Valley. Windows were broken as far away as Reno. A water main between Reno and Sparks was sheared. In Verdi, stoves were knocked out of line and in some cases went sliding into walls. Large boulders up to 1.5 m (5 ft) came down in the Truckee River Canyon along U.S. Highway 40 south of Verdi, knocking out both power and telephone lines. Telephone service in Reno was out for one to two days.

The earthquake is thought to have originated in Dog Valley and to have possibly occurred along the Verdi fault (which is northerly striking as is the orientation of the most severe damage) or the Dog Valley lineament. In addition to foreshocks, “mysterious rumbles” or subterranean roars were heard in the Verdi-Reno region for about a year before the Verdi earthquake (Bell et al., 1982). [MSL 6, MBM 6.0]

Which, you know, is pretty much exactly what is happening now. Well, minus the 6.0 earthquake (so far), of course.  All of these earthquakes are happening in a populated area of town, meaning the epicenter is directly underneath people’s homes.  These people are pretty much feeling shaking and hearing rumbles ALL THE TIME.  So this here tells me that this has happened before and it has happened in roughly the same area and I AM NOT ENCOURAGED ONE LITTLE BIT.

We did some “earthquake preparedness” this weekend because we are twitchy freaks.  We took down the framed art that was located above our bed, mostly because that is where Evie is sleeping and we didn’t want anything to fall on her in the night, even though we’ll be right there.  We rearranged the living room to maximize safety.  We moved the sofa from the wall underneath the windows to out in the middle of the floor, creating a “conversation pit” of sorts.

This is a move we’ve been wanting to make anyhow, the earthquakes just gave us incentive.  The move freed up space under the windows for the pack n’ play  and the bassinet.  I’m not concerned about broken glass so much, since we do have full length curtains they would contain any “blow out” pretty well.  And it got the pack n’ play out from in front of the china cabinet which is very tall and VERY unstable.

Plus, now the bassinet is right next to my chair.  I put the bouncer seat in there this morning (well, Kile did actually) and now I don’t have to worry about Liam sitting on her should I want to put her in it during the day.  This morning, I helped Kile take the top part of the china cabinet, the hutch, off and set it on the floor.  Then he strapped it to the base.  It’s not very attractive, but at least it won’t fall over.  And it’s just temporary until these earthquakes die down.

The only things left to worry about are a couple of shelfs with knick knacks on them and the entertainment center.  I’m more concerned about junk piled on top of falling off than of the tv coming out.  The tv has been sort of “built in” so it would take quite a bit to shake it out of there.  Plus, the entertainment center as a whole is rather squat and sturdy and not terribly top-heavy.  So that’s good.  Still, if it starts shaking terribly hard I’m going to make sure Liam isn’t sitting right in front of it.

I tell you, if Kile wants to ever move to Elko, today is the perfect day to come home and announce we are indeed going to move.  I will even pack the boxes myself.