Charlie Fireplace

Charlie is a brave soul who shies away from stepping into the Pacific Ocean, and lives comfortably with the various wildlife sharing our garden. Though he was bred to destroy rattus norvegicus wherever they lived, he insists that our garden variety rat is a potential friend, and only gives them a bark or two.

However, the sudden action of an earthquake sends him into paroxysms of angry terror as it did in the early hours of the morning today. We were all nestled comfortably in and on our bed when the house shook and crashed. Dr. A slept soundly until Charlie announced the event, and then sleepily groaned “Naw, that wasn’t an earthquake.” The morning news showed it was a 4.0 quake right beneath us, though with no visible damage. Some so-called experts say that animals show nervousness when a quake is on the way, but that has never been the case with our animals. They simply take them as they come.

We in California are used to the earth shaking now and then, and even sometimes wonder if it will give us a bit of excitement when the weather remains warmer than usual. They predict that sometime in the near future, the San Francisco Bay Area will experience what they call the “Big One”. Since we have about as much control over the weather as we have over the fury of a terrified Jack Russell Terrier, we may as well go back to sleep.

Author: kaytisweetlandrasmussen83


14 thoughts on “A MILD SHAKEUP”

  1. He looks very comfotable, old Charley. I think the last thing anyone would want now is an earthquake.Wise of him not to venture into the water Did you watch that shark going for an Aussie surfer in S.Africa.?
    Our Milo is on possum watch again. I think their mating season is on again. It can’t be very nice for possum love with a beady eyed Milo standing staring up the trees. My, how the years fly by.


  2. I wish Charlie would sit and stare instead of raising such a ruckus, even at nesting birds. Haven’t seen a possum or raccoon around for awhile, so maybe he’s scaring them away. The last raccoon was on the roof and made a terrible noise in the middle of the night.

    Yes, we watched the shark attack. So frightening as we have one grandson who is an ardent surfer, and has his 9 year old daughter on her own board already.
    And yes, how the years fly by!! One grandson turned 36 yesterday and told me “it went by so fast”. He has no idea.


  3. You’re exactly right when you say, “If you can’t do anything about it, why worry?” In my book, that covers a lot of territory: hurricanes, nuclear war, economic collapse, what happens after we die. Reasonable preparation is always wise, but laying awake in the middle of the night, obsessing? Not so much.

    I do follow a good number of weather/meteorology sorts on Twitter. I smiled when one of them sent out this tweet: “People need to learn that “any day now” in geologic time can mean a lot of things.” Yup. It sure can, and honestly? There’s a big gap between scientific hypotheses and what I like to call our “Profit$ of doom.” Listening to AM radio in the middle of the night doesn’t do anything for anyone except the ones raking in the advertising dollars. 🙂


    1. How right you are. The USGS says we have around 20 quakes per day, and aren’t aware of any most times.
      Though I wrote some nights around midnight after my first sleep, I am sleeping better now and don’t wake up. It would never have occurred to me to listen to AM radio, but my aunt and uncle living in Oregon, used to listen to the SF station every night during the night as did my mother in law. So it may comfort older people in some way. It would just annoy ME!


  4. Since our house sits atop the Hayward fault and since this fault has not relieved any real pressure since 1868, we are due. The USGS said yesterday that there is a one in three chance that a large “event” will happen in 30 years. Think about that. Although such thoughts have not changed my way of going, I have begun to think about earthquake preparedness kits, etc.

    We dropped 65 piers 60 feet deep when we built our house 20 years ago in anticipation of earthquake.

    By the way, our Labrador, Dinah, slept right through it. I, on the other hand, suddenly woke up about 3 minutes before it hit. Maybe I was a dog in a former life.


    1. I collected some preparedness things after the 1989 quake, but they somehow got lost in the meantime. I was in the big quake in Los Angeles in about 1941-2, and another exciting one probably in the 30’s. It’s a vague memory now. If it’s going to happen, it will. Good forethought on your part to anchor your house as it was being built.
      I can assure you that you were not a dog.


  5. JR terriers are so smart…Woofy’s best friend when we lived in Mexico was a JRT. You must have much entertainment with Charlie in your life. Woofy is terrified of lightening/thunder and fireworks…shakes and pants until he is dehydrated. When Paul was living he would hold him and watch from the veranda…it helped some, but he has never gotten over the fright. Deafness has diminished the awareness, but he still senses it somehow. Let’s hope those earthquakes never give you too much excitement.


  6. Yes, JRT’s are such an entertaining breed. There’s always something new with them. Charlie is also afraid of thunder and fireworks. An old dachshund we had used to sit in front of the slider and watcher the lightening. They’re all interesting to have in ourlives. Thanks Carol Ann.


  7. I learned something from you this afternoon, Kayti. Thank you. I always assumed the phrase Goody Two-Shoes meant someone who never did anything wrong and was smug about it. I never understood the shoe connection, but didn’t worry my head about it. Turns out I should have.


    1. You weren’t wrong Janet. That;’s what it does mean, although the original story was about a girl who lost one shoe and when she got another she went about smugly singing “Two shoes, two shoes! I have two shoes!” So it actually began with two meanings. Glad you enjoyed it.


  8. Yikes, I entered the above comment under the wrong post. Oh well, now I’ll respond to the right post. I read and heard about the earthquake that would send San Francisco and its environs into the sea many, many years ago before it became my favorite city in the United States. I admire your philosophy of not worrying about things you can’t control; over the years I’ve become better at that myself. I enjoyed my visit with your blog this afternoon.


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