During my ranch days the threat of a prairie fire would happen almost every day during the summer. The thunder clouds would roll in daily. Often there would be thunder and lightning but little rain. A look out system was developed to watch for lightning strikes.

Ranch folks would drive to various observation points to watch for fires. If lightning did strike, the call for help would go out. Using the crank phone all users would be notified when the fire was burning. In those days fires would be fought with gunnysacks. Milk cans would be kept full of water, the gunnysacks would be made wet, and the firefighters would beat the flames out. Fortunately, the fire would burn slowly; however, often times hundreds of acres would burn.

Now that I live near one of California’s major earthquake fault lines, the San Andreas, I have become a misplaced Wyomingite who has felt many earthquakes. The one I remember most was the quake of 1989. I was at home. The force knocked me out of my chair, the china cabinet fell, and the chandelier crashed. After the quake, there was only one narrow road open that would take me out of Santa Cruz. I took it and drove to Los Banos. When I returned to Santa Cruz, I only spent brief moments in my house.

With the 7.1 earthquake in Southern California, we are being told that there is a 72% chance of a major quake in Santa Cruz. This has triggered an earthquake drill at Dominican Oaks which will be held next week after the summer barbeque. Hopefully, it will not strike before then.

I remember the last drill which was held more than a year ago. We were told that the drill would start at 10 a.m. At that moment some folks started to leave. The loudspeaker then announced that the drill would not start on time, and those folks were told to go back to their rooms. Then the loudspeaker came on telling us to evacuate. The result: We had folks moving in opposite directions at the same time. I decided to shelter in place and stand by for further directions.

After evacuation, assuming there was a quake, water and other necessities would be available from the storage shed. The stored water expired in 2009, ten years ago. Gary has promised to bring a ladder and rescue me. I think this is a better choice than drinking water that expired ten years ago.

“THERE IS NO MORE OFFICIAL RITE OF CALIFORNIA PASSAGE

THAN THE FEELING OF A ROLLING, RISING, RUMBLING EARTHQUAKE”

                                                                                                Beth Spotswood

John Wasserburger

PO Box 14

Capitola, CA 95010

831-476-1874