Well ... what did I touch? hahahah.

Actually ... that's Jerry's joke. Because Jerry had sent me a casting mold for repair .... he'd called me to discuss it, on a break at work. In mid sentence ... he said ..... "Hey ... we're getting an earthquake!" At the same time, my house started to shake ... quite a bit. Extremely wierd. We've NEVER had an earthquake here.

Fox news said it was a 5.8 quake. So - that's pretty small. But ... man ... what a wide area. Family stationed in Langley, Va. also felt it. Jerry is in Southern Md. - 2 1/2 hours away by car. BIG area.

Very odd.

Gary

That wasn't an earthquake, it was the birth of ...wait for it..... TRIGGER GAURDZILLA !!!!!!

That's it!!!! You're RIGHT!!!!

Had to be that!!!

I knew it wasn't my fault! I was actually going to ask Timmy or AJ what they had touched when I got them on the phone but everybody in town talking on the cell phone brought the network to it's knees immediately. This wasn't a huge deal but cell phones were useless for at least an hour (at least down here). Totally ruined my joke...

Yeah ... never let it be said that we don't know how to "over-react". I think they evacuated everything East of the Mississippi. Sent them all home early. Clogged all the roads. Brought the cell service to it's knees. Closed down power plants. Evacuated the Control towers and left the planes full of passengers sitting on the runways.

God help us when something bigger happens again.

Gary

It wasn't that small, we felt it all the way down here in NC. I'm sure nothing like ya'll did though. I was standing in the livingroom when all of a sudden I felt the the floor shaking and the china cabinet started to make all sorts of noise. Reminded me of how the ground shakes when several tanks roll by. At first I thought something had exploded or a plane had crashed then it dawned on me it was an earthquake. Hopefully that one won't be followed by stronger ones.

Yeah .... it was over a huge area. My comments referred to the fact that they were really, really, really having to work to find any damage to anything. And, it stopped everything in it's tracks.

I listened to dozens of experts talking about building codes and increased rules and regulations. And, here I sat in the office of my 120 year old Victorian pile of rot and "charm" and not a flower pot cracked. Hey - those old guys used lots of nails. hehehe.

Covered an enormous area - amazing.

Gary

That's weird. You guys got that 5.8. WOW. The worlds coming to an end guys........crazy stuff happening this year...real crazy.

Hope everyone is alright.

Neil, please don't laugh at us!

Gary,

Maybe now you'll reconsider bolting that new lathe to the core of the earth.

Lon

Guys,

They upgraded it to a 5.9

It was clear that they were really, really rooting for a 6.0 .... but the darned "experts" wouldn't go for it ... held on to the 5.9

Lon,

You're right. Good thing I wasn't in the shop. All those lathes smashing around like bumper cars on their wheeled carts. WOW. Close.



Actually, I got up this morning ... looked at my shop ... and said .... "Man ... that thing is TOTALED!" I nearly called the insurance guy ... and then I realized ... it looked that way yesterday morning too .....

Say a prayer for the people that are dealing with the fury of mother nature. Watch out guy,s Irene seem,s to be heading your way. Be safe and as far as your old house Gary. It has survived for a long time, and will be around for much longer.

HI Don,

Yeah ... ya know ... I always sort of figured that "Old Houses" are good indications of the nature of a particular area. If you find a bunch of 120 year old houses, you know there hasn't been a raging flood, or a hurricane, or the sort wipe out an area in a long time. So - either that means that the area is relatively trouble free ... or that we're due for a big one.

Odd thing though ... about two years ago ... we had a twister touch down about a half a mile from here, and tore thru the woods. Twisted off huge old oak trees and such. So ... it can happen. We've gone to the basement during storms here before. I do have a safe room down there. Lots of big screen TVs and long mahogany tables. Well, actually, it's a cinder block room I built for an alternative furnace system I installed when I bought the house in 1980.

Gary

Gary,

Don't forget, Jim has generously offered to let us use his new business location when the end comes.

Next time you're there, measure for an indoor range and small machine shop with casting facilities.

Lon

Good idea.

And ... a Concession Booth!

Gary

We were not spared . . . everything *inside* the vault started shaking, as well as the vault itself. That's how I knew it was a quake rather than a truck driving by (which would never cause any shaking anyway), or a big piece of machinery doing something in the warehouse. No damage, though . . . just some decent motion in a solid concrete structure, where the *only* thing that would've caused it was an earthquake, or close proximity to a nuclear detonation. So I walked outside afterwards to make sure there was no mushroom cloud.

-- Jim

Talked to my Brother in law last night & he said he had just pulled in to his driveway & stopped & was looking thru his mail when his 1994 Ford Expedition started to Rock & Roll..He thought his neighbor was messing with him & jumping on his rear bumper..He lives in SE Chester CO, PA..Thats a lot more Shaking than i thought it would be!

Rick G.

A fella who'd child Kelly watches, told the exact story around here. Sitting in his truck at a job site. Thought someone was jumping up and down on his back bumper.

The office here, did rock and roll. I probably wasn't alarmed, because Jerry had just uttered the words "having an earthquake" in my cell phone. Nothing off the shelves or anything. Just rumbling and knocking.

Gary

Kelly found this ... it was only very low rez .... I blew it up a bit. This is great. Love it.

Gary

That made me Spew coffee all over my Keyboard!! That's Priceless!!

Rick G.

Yeah ... Jim needs to find a high Rez of that, and make posters! If THAT is not a picture of our culture today, what is?

A while ago, I heard that the Va. Governor was actually REQUESTING GIFTS to the VIRGINIA DISASTER RELIEF FUND!!!! Wasn't someone SAYING that ... it was THE MAN speaking (I heard it while working ... I think it was the Gov., but it could have been another official). I'll hear it again tonight, I'm sure.

Man .... that Japanese thing was NOTHING compared to THIS!!!

Gary

We WIIL rebuild! Love it.

Oh, I'm asking for gifts too...I'm still pretty shook up.

I heard it again ... it WAS the Va. Governor.

Donate to the Va. Disaster Relief Fund. Amazing. Politicians ... have no shame.

oooohhhh Don't get me started on Politicians. i might end up in Jail...


Rick G.

Check my last post on Dory's Outlaw thread ... regarding "Baseline Budgeting". It'll make your day.

Gary

If the govt "helps out" with the rebuliding.......It will cost 100 million, and still not be finished 2 yrs from now......

Hi guys, I only just caught up with this post , and although I'm not laughing Jerry, it did bring back to me some of the big moments of our own quake, and also brought to mind that scene from the movie "Crocodile Dundee" where he is confronted by a mugger with a knife and says "That's not a knife, THIS is a knife!"

Anyhow, I revisited some videos of our darkest day, February 22, and wanted to share this amazing clip. No-one died in this immediate area.
[youtu.be]
This next clip is a bit more disturbing. It is taken within minutes of the main quake. The collapsed building (two buildings away from our own building) claimed around 20 lives and at the time of this video no rescue personnel have arrived. The papers off people's desks are scattered everywhere. At another site not far from the collapsed building, the woman bleeding from the head and being escorted away by her friends has just been pulled from the rubble next to her dead brother. The shots of guys throwing huge pieces of stone aside as though it was paper are trying to free him, to no avail.
[youtu.be]
Ths is sobering stuff, and I guess we all get a bit disconcerted when the earth moves unexpectedly. Like in Crocodile Dundee, it's all a matter of size! THIS is an earthquake!
Cheers
Neil

Yeah, it's not really funny. It's just odd when a couple shacks fall down and the "re-build" calls sound like what you guys have to go through.

Jerry, I re-read my post and I think I have come across as a killjoy....I should have said I wasn't laughing at you guys but with you! The thread had some funny content for sure and i loved the deck chairs
I wondered whether anyone (especially Gary with his eye for detail) picked up the guy in the first clip taken from the CCTV camera, taking shelter under a doorway just before the collapse, right on the side of the collapsing building, then walking away as the dust cleared?
Cheers
Neil

Hi Neil,

"No Worries Mate". You're good.

To be honest ... I didn't watch the clips. Not a snub. Part of "Being Gary". Stuff sticks with me. I limit input when I know it's misery. Therefore; I've missed all those award winning movies designed to put you "right there" in the heart of the misery, blood and guts, heartbreak, die in your arms, loss, trama. You can resell my seat. ;?)

Hope you've found a work around for most of the things you need. Did they total your building?

Gary

Fair enough Gary, best not to clutter that artistic mind with disasters, it needs all the room it can get for art thoughts....

Yep, the building is coming down, with demolition expected to start within the next 3 - 4 weeks. It will join about 1200 other office duildings, hotels etc. The central city will be like a moonscape for a few years! We hope to rebuild a s soon as possible, but insurers aren't insuring at the moment, so banks aren't lending. The aftershocks need to settle before insurers re-enter the market. Patience is what we have to have at this time.

Cheers

Neil

Hi Neil,

Well, that's a bummer. Sorry to hear that.

Gee - so long as nobody needs to work for the next few years, I guess all will be well.

Hope good things come in the end.

Gary