so we were eating hot dogs

from the Dog House in our front room last Saturday. We're sitting there peaceful as can be when there is some noise and after 10 to 15 seconds Jen says to me "we're having...we just had an earthquake" and I blow it off as a truck going by the house (it's funny-Jen was born in Texas but raised up in California, whereas I was born in California, but raised up in Iowa, so we must have very opposite earthquake instincts-if she had jumped up and got in a doorway I probably would have started laughing), but simultaneously realize that it would have to be a semi going by and those are extremely loud and there's no sound-as I'm thinking all this the shaking comes to a stop. And that was that-20 minutes later the news comes on and reports there was indeed and earthquake, a small little one, the epicenter was about a 10 minute walk from our apartment under one of the many bridges in the middle of town. Fortunately, it was 9 miles below the surface, and we just got lucky enough to be home to feel it. If you were on the bus or in any kind of substantial structure, I'm sure you would have missed it. So last night I asked her about the big quake back in San Francisco in 1989, which frankly I had barely thought about since, but upon reflection her dad and stepmom's house in the mountains/hills outside of Santa Cruz couldn't possibly be a scarier place to be on that day (think stilts underneath portions of the house)...she had a really amazing story about it that I am not going to relate, since it's hers. But anyway. There's really no point to this other than when there is something like an earthquake, it makes it starkly clear that everything is temporary in the long, long run no matter how much we think whip nature into shape. A major, active fault runs right through downtown Portland, 2 active volcanoes are visible to the naked eye. And while you worry about all that, everything might just flood. I don't mean to get all hippy or apocalyptic, I just think small earthquakes are really awesome. Also, electrical storms.