WHOLE LOT SHAKIN IN THE BUS ZONE

[boxcarOkie]

 
Oklahoma now has the proud distinction of being the most active earthquake zone in the nation (upwards of 800 per year), even surpassing California in the number and frequency of quakes.  (Feel free to check me out on this, but be warned, “I am usually right.”  The bus guy in Chicago, dumping in the river, thanks RJ)

Anywho ....

Just the other day, I was lying under my bus in the shop and waiting on it “to speak to me” when we had a 5.7 shaker.  I was soon joined by my dog, who had crawled under the bus with me.  Animals can sense an earthquake coming and she had a flashlight in her mouth and had already changed the batteries!

If you stop to consider all this, a bus or rather being in one, or under one, is a safe place to be during a earthquake. 

It is not going anywhere.
It is not going to fall on you.
It is relatively a safe haven during one of these events of nature. 

Now if by chance you were under it working on it, and it was up on blocks?  Well, just hope and pray that your dog and the cadaver dog get along when they do get around to you.

Most of our problems stem from oil development.  In our case, it is not so much a natural occurrence, but the result of fracking by the oil companies.  We have eight wells within a two mile vicinity of our home, so we are always conscious of this fact.  If you happen to live down wind from one of these oil producing, or ground shaking pads you might be affected like me. 

Recently I have started dreaming about stuff like:

Encounters with drunken EPA judges, passive-aggressive seismograph meter readers in my backyard, semi-repressed cat people, and co-dependent, we work for Big Oil enablers, in our neighborhood.  Home Insurance companies who do not speak or apparently understand English are also on the rise.

Don’t worry …… This is the new perfectly normal in Oklahoma ....  Or so they tell us this all the time on Channel Four.

Now conversely, if your next door neighbor, who happens to be a recently divorced, Air Force B-1 bomber pilot just home from Iraq, Afghanistan, Cleveland, or some other place you cannot find on a map.  If he starts speaking loudly to himself, running madly thru the yard with his weed-whacker in his Michael Jordan underwear and acting in a peculiar manner. 

If the people across the street start glowing in the dark, or if all your fruit trees in the backyard suddenly start humming. 

If you find yourself in the local Denny’s at three in the morning, sitting next to some stranger who is sitting on a well worn, rumpled, Valentine’s Card, while writing frenetically on white paper napkins.  Wearing a T-shirt that reads, “I like the smell of diesel in the morning, and pouring Delo 100 on his Chef Salad.”

Well?

This is NOT normal (even in Oklahoma).  You could possibly have problems.  And trust me, being under a bus, waiting on it to speak to you, is not one of them.

Watch them Right-Handers.

BCO

[eagle19952]

Are you all right ? 

[Jim Eh.]

You sure it was a quake? What did you have for breakfast?

[Oonrahnjay]

You sure it was a quake? What did you have for breakfast? 

     Between the bran and the beer ...

[oltrunt]

OK BCO, I laughed my a$$ off and you've got a point.  You are welcome at my breakfast table at any time!

Jack

[dtcerrato]

I would say the quake raddled you a little bit. Was you better or worse before that? !

[DKO]

I was soon joined by my dog, who had crawled under the bus with me. Animals can sense an earthquake coming and she had a flashlight in her mouth and had already changed the batteries!

That really is funny. I was in the barn the other day and laughed out loud when I thought about it.

[Seangie]

Good thing you got an Eagle.

Thanks Oakie.  Good laughs.

-Sean

[boxcarOkie]

We are fine, some cracks in the exterior of the house, but all in all, situation is normal again here at the old goat farm, the last great vestige of good community living left in Mid-America.

Thanks to all of you for your "positive responses."

BCO

[billy6941]

I might take issue with Oklahoma having the most quakes. Maybe in the "Lower 48", but I believe that honor belongs to Alaska with over 1000 a year. We wonder when the next "Big One" will be and hope not very soon......Bill

[dtcerrato]

Bill, where are you located in Alaska?

[billy6941]

We have lived in Soldotna for almost 13 years, this time. My wife is Native Alaskan from Nome and I've been here for almost 56 years now. We have lived in McGrath, Bethel, Kotzebue, Kenai, Anchorage, and twice in Soldotna....Bill