September 30, 2009

Dateline: Cambria, California

Shake, Rattle, and Roll

True Californians rarely notice the hundreds of earthquakes that occur every year. That includes Diana and me.

A couple of Saturdays ago, we woke up and got going on the projects for the day. After I returned from my usual jaunt with the dogs on Fiscalini Ranch, I discovered that the door to the deck from our kitchen was impossible to close. Strange; but I wrote it off to humidity or something equally benign. A bit later Diana came up from the bottom floor and said that the bathroom door in the guest room wouldn’t close! I noted in the kitchen that some of the joints between the fake beams and wall had separated slightly.

Very weird. But being the curious fellow that I am, I contemplated these telltale signs in our home. Earthquake was the only logical conclusion for what caused this type of damage. I went on the USGS Earthquake tracking site and, sure enough, there had been a 4.1 earthquake nearby in the early morning hours of Saturday. We didn’t feel a thing and it wasn’t reported in the press.

We are thankful that this is the only damage we’ve ever had from an earthquake.


The Great Unwashed Swim

Last week we had great experience swimming in the Neptune Pool at Hearst Castle in San Simeon. I am a docent at Hearst Castle and Diana and I are both docents at The Coastal Discovery Center at the William R. Hearst State Beach across Highway 1 from the Castle’s property. As a “ reward” for volunteering at these two venues, we get to swim at Hearst Castle once a year in September.

Both Di and I were able to bring a guest along; Di brought her sister Marlene who was visiting from Wyoming. I brought along good friend PJ Webb.

I put together the video below documenting the fun we had in a rather unique (as well as very beautiful) setting! Hope you enjoy!


5 comments:

Todd said...

yo daddio,

when i return to the states i want to go swimming!!! that looks like a ton of fun. what was the water temp like?

so what is the current status of your doors? are you going to wait for another quake to jolt the beams back into place?

Holly Teetzel said...

Very nice video :-) If I didn't know it was Hearst Castle, I'd almost think villa along the Amalfi coast in Italy - or something similar in Greece. The ocean, the mountains, the bald eagle (perhaps?) and of course the stunning pool and statuary. What a neat experience! And I love the music you used - "in the mood" jazz piece and the guitarra - Albeniz maybe? or someone I should know!
Do you ever get to swim in the indoor pool? I'd love that!

CalBadger said...

Unfortunately no one gets to swim in the Roman (indoor) pool--it's way too delicate to have the likes of us use it! The bird in the video is, alas, a turkey vulture, which is slightly bigger than the eagles that also populate the area. The bald eagle wins a beauty contest with the tv hands down. Next year you might get an invite!

Holly Teetzel said...

A turkey vulture?!?! And to think I thought it was a bald eagle - my apologies to our national bird! Too bad about no swimming in the roman pool - I so wanted to dive off one of the balconies! Or float on a raft with a bunch of grapes and a glass of wine :-) Just as well I'm not there - this ol' bod doesn't do bathing suits any more!! If I was in a beauty contest with the turkey vulture, it would win, hands down!

Erik said...

A photo of your colon? On your blog? In the persistent sidebar no less? Seriously? Come on now, do us all a favor and substitute for a photo of the dogs instead.

And I though Ronan and I had dibs on going this year. Where was our invite?

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