The Actual Anniversary

I have to admit something here: I was wrong about the date of last year’s Earthquake. It happened on the 30^th of November, not the 11^th. I don’t know where I got the idea it happened earlier = just got my numbers mixed up, I guess. That means that TODAY is the anniversary, not a few weeks ago.

I’m pretty bummed about the mistake, actually. I really wanted my earlier post to be a memorial to the event, posted on the actual anniversary of it. Oh well… I do have some cool graphics to share this time, at least. I borrowed them from the papers this morning.

This first one shows all the aftershocks we’ve had since the big one. This doesn't show all the smaller ones, however (of which we've have thousands) - only the bigger ones.

This second one shows a cross section of the area, illustrating the depth of the aftershocks.

And of course, I can’t have a post about the big earthquake without showing what happened to Nash Road, out in Big Lake. This was by far the most dramatic damage done to our road system.

Global Entry

I travel a bit: not a lot, but a bit. And as everybody knows, part of traveling now-a-days means waiting in line at the Security Check-Points; you and 10,000 other weary travelers.

What a hassle! Take off your shoes & coat. Remove any metal you might have on you. Empty your pockets. Take out any liquids you have in your carry on. Walk through the x-ray scanner thingy. Oops! I forgot my belt! Go back and do it again. Ugh! I got selected for a more thorough bag search AGAIN!

You know the drill.

But did you know you could get PRE checked and there-by avoid all of that hassle? For a small fee of just $100.00 you can get a Pass Card that lasts for 5 years. It’s easy:

Go online to globalentry.gov

Fill out the proper forms

Pay the fee

Get an appointment to go in person to TSA for fingerprinting

And that’s it. You’re done.

For the next five years, you get to go to the head of the line (or to a much smaller line). You don’t have to remove your shoes and all that. And, if you’re coming from a foreign country, the card makes going through customs that much easier, to!

I just signed myself up – so I’ve got some smooth sailing ahead of me for my next Earthwatch Expedition!

Oh, and if you don’t need the international entry, you can go to tsa.gov/precheck instead.

My Boy is a Hero - or will be soon

A couple weeks ago, as I was sitting on the couch snuggling with Viktor, I found a lump tucked down at his groin on the left side. It was quite large (about the size of an egg) and so I got alarmed. What could it be? A tumor? His “guy parts” acting up? An alien about to hatch? He didn’t seem to mind me poking at it, so I assumed it didn’t hurt. A quick call to the vet got us an appointment on Wednesday to take a look at it.

Viktor did so well at the vet that day! He was cheerful and inquisitive, running all over the exam room exploring. When the doctor tried to listen to his heart, all she could hear was him purring. He even showed her how he could open up all their cabinets!

The doctor talked to me about all the things it “could” be, and stated that she didn’t think it was anything to worry about. She said they could take a biopsy and send it in to the lab to confirm it if I liked – which I did. So she picked Viktor up and headed to the back room.

When she brought him back a few minutes later, she praised him (yet again) saying that he was such a good boy. While they were poking him with the needle (multiple times) he just laid there smiling up at them!  He was so good, in fact, the doctor asked if I would consider having him be part of the Blood Doner program for Felines!

Cats have two major blood types: A and B. A is the most common type with most cats in the world falling in to that category. B is much rarer and therefore harder to get. Because Viktor is a Devon Rex, which is a rare breed, they thought there was a good chance that he would be a type B – apparently the rare blood type is most typically found in the rare breeds.

It’s a lot to consider. Viktor would have to be sedated each time because they take the blood from his jugular and they don’t want to harm him in any way. And you all know how horrible you feel after having given blood yourself – do I really want my baby to feel like that every 8 weeks? The doctor listened to all of my fears and answered all of my questions – then sent me home with a pamphlet laying out all the pros & cons of the procedure so I could think about it.

I talked it over with Bryan and Mother, then called the vet back and said we would give it a try. If he gets too stressed out at any time, he can always back out of it.

There’s a lot to the program, actually. First we had to get his blood typed out to see what he is = and guess what?!? He IS a Type B!!! I always knew my baby was special…

Now they are testing his blood for all the things you can possibly test blood for. I should get results back from their lab sometime this week. Then we’ll move on to some more testing: a complete physical examination, chest radiographs, a urinalysis, a fecal exam, and a 1-year flea/tick/heartworm preventative (assuming we need that up here).

He’ll even get his portrait taken to be posted up on their wall.

Oh, and that lump turned out to be nothing but fat. I am relieved, of course, but have to just sadly shake my head over that.

My boy may be a Hero, but apparently he’s a fat Hero.

A Year Ago Today

November 11, 2018 = EARTHQUAKE

Thank God it was our day off. By a shear stroke of luck, both Bryan and I were home that day. If we’d been in Anchorage at work, it would have been a whole different story.

It was 8:30 in the morning and I had just gotten started at organizing our CDs, which meant that I had a pile of CDs on the floor around me that I was alphabetizing one at a time and placing them into the cabinet where they go. I don’t remember what Bryan and Mother were doing.  We had only recently moved in to the house and still had a lot of unpacking and organizing left to do.

Suddenly, I started hearing the weirdest sound. It was LOUD and it sounded like huge heavy equipment was running through our house. I looked down the hall into our living room and asked “What’s that sound?” That’s when I realized that Bryan was shouting at me: “GET OVER HERE. NOW!” The sound had been so loud I couldn’t’ hear him. That’s also when I realized that this was an earthquake; a really big one. (Officially a 7.1)

I ran to him and we all huddled under the main beam of the house as far away from all the windows as we could get. I had my arms around Mother, and Bryan had his arms around the both of us. Both Mother and I were crying/whimpering while Bryan was shouting obscenities (yeah, that’s what he does when he’s frightened). The whole house shook so bad we could barely stand up. There was glass breaking, pictures falling, pottery shattering, and all the while that NOISE was so loud we could barely hear each other.

It only lasted a few minutes, but it felt like hours. By the time it was over, everybody was shaking. I had to sit on the floor; my legs just wouldn’t hold me. Mother wanted to start picking things up right away (that’s her way of dealing with fright) but we made her sit still for a while until we knew for sure it was over.

Within perhaps 5 minutes the second one hit; thankfully not quite as bad. I don’t remember exactly how many aftershocks hit right away, but eventually we felt safe enough to take stock of the damage. That’s when I saw that all the bottles in our “bar” had crashed to the floor, but thankfully only two actually broke. Mother’s Mexican Pottery fell off the hearth, one of them shattering to a thousand pieces. Pictures were knocked off and frames got broken. All my books walked to the edge of the shelving, but thankfully did not fall. My favorite tea mug got broken but I was eventually able to glue it back together and still use it, albeit gingerly. Mostly it was just little things like that. Nothing structural other than nails popped out of the gypsum board. We were really lucky.

I’m ashamed to say, it actually took me a while to realize that all three cats were nowhere to be found. Another search through the house located Bailey and Naldo – but we could not find Viktor. We searched again more thoroughly but still could not find him. It took a good 4 hours to finally find him hiding in Mother’s shower, and the poor guy was just petrified. He was so scared his eyes were the size of quarters and he was trembling. I put him in our bedroom with the lights turned off, thinking that would be the most comforting place for him. He promptly crawled under the blankets on our bed and didn’t come out again for 24 hours - and then only because he had to pee.  Naldo was pretty scared, too, but she didn’t react quite so bad. She just wanted to be held all weekend long – which is highly unusual for her. She normally doesn’t want to be touched, let alone held.

We began the process of putting things back in place and cleaning up the wreckage, making sure to thoroughly investigate every part of the house both inside and out. Our TV was on all day so we could keep an eye on the news and see how bad it was. There are at least 5 overpasses between Palmer and Anchorage and all of them were compromised, so traffic was pretty much ground to a halt for the foreseeable future. Again, I’m so glad we were home that day: we weren’t able to get to work again until Tuesday, 5 days later!

A quick text to all of my siblings found them all shaken (pun intended) but no bodily harm. Julie was perhaps the worst emotionally (understandably so) but Heather and Reed got the worst damage to their home. We all pulled together and helped out as needed – like family should.

That’s Just Weird

So I have this friend; let’s call her *Sheila (subtle shout-out to my Australian friends, there).

One day, Sheila meets *John Doe and starts dating. They date for a good 6 months or so before breaking up and going their separate ways. No drama, just life.

Fast forward about 15 years or so, and you find Sheila at a crafting retreat where she meets *Jane Doe – who coincidentally enough, is married to John Doe!

Understandably, Sheila freaks out a little bit. I mean, how weird is that? (“OMG! I kissed your husband!”)

Thankfully, Jane is the type of person who sees the humor in the situation, and understands that the whole thing happened before John even knew Jane existed.

Jane is really nice and Sheila becomes good friends with her. They’ve even been on double dates: John & Jane Doe with Sheila and her mate *Oliver.

Still, how weird is that?

* Names have been changed to protect the innocent!