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Post by Tex on Dec 23, 2009 20:12:23 GMT -6
We have had a rash of nasty small tornados all around us this evening. There is one on radar about 3 miles NE of us now. No one hurt so far, just a few buildings damaged and a semi truck flipped over in town.
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Post by Christinko on Dec 24, 2009 0:45:38 GMT -6
Yikes! Scary stuff, Tex. Stay safe. I keep wondering with all this climate ch-ch-change talk if more "rashes" of this nature will be occurring.
Every day here in the SF Bay area I ask myself if this day is going to be the "big one"....but apparently people from here don't think about it as much as us import models.
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Post by Merlot Joe on Dec 24, 2009 1:04:44 GMT -6
but apparently people from here don't think about it as much as us import models. I never think about it. Joe |
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Post by Tex on Dec 24, 2009 9:37:51 GMT -6
Yikes! Scary stuff, Tex. Stay safe. I keep wondering with all this climate ch-ch-change talk if more "rashes" of this nature will be occurring. Every day here in the SF Bay area I ask myself if this day is going to be the "big one"....but apparently people from here don't think about it as much as us import models. Chris, this is Tornado Alley. It's part of living here. This was a little unsettling because the cloud deck was less than 1000 feet and was swirling around. If a twister dipped down, you would not have much time to react. The worst tornado that I have seen personally was in rural Louisiana in the late 1950s. We had a flat tire. It was raining so hard that my dad was ch-ch-changing to his bathing suit to ch-ch-change the tire. The twister came up so my dad drove on the flat tire down into a barrow ditch (which as not yet flooded) so as to be down low. The twister sounded like 100 freight trains coming and was a monster tearing across a cotton field coming at us. It crossed the road a couple hundred feet in front of us. After that, it was fairly calm. There were wet cotton bolls all over the car and the ground. Trees were uprooted. A stile was torn to smithereens but a share cropper's shack 100 feet away was untouched. My dad found an old black man with a couple of mules to pull the car back up to the road and ch-ch-change the tire. San Francisco is overdue. They say about every 50 years. The last two were 1906 and 1956. You do the math. The building codes out there are pretty good though and they use a lot more metal to join structural elements of a house. I was so impressed with the strength that they added to the frame and foundation that I used the same fasteners on my house here even though we don't have a history of quakes. When the big one comes, you will be OK and it will give you another subject to write about. |
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Post by Merlot Joe on Dec 24, 2009 10:13:23 GMT -6
When the big one comes, you will be OK and it will give you another subject to write about. If we don't fall into the ocean!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Reno and Las Vegas NV, the new ports of the West Coast.!!!!!!!!!!!! Joe |
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Post by ♥ COVID-19♥ on Dec 24, 2009 10:15:23 GMT -6
Go East, Old Man!
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Post by Merlot Joe on Dec 24, 2009 10:17:19 GMT -6
I may take that advise.
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Post by ♥ COVID-19♥ on Dec 24, 2009 10:25:29 GMT -6
I would suggest stopping in Arizona -- you wanted to retire there anyway.
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Post by Christinko on Dec 24, 2009 10:40:21 GMT -6
My husband says California is not falling off...the rest of the US is.
And yes, Tex, I would rely on codes to some extent, but when my husband ripped my office down to studs to rebuild it (a first-level room), he found a mess...the foundation bolts weren't even tightened. So he rebuilt, added metal bracing like crazy and even installed 3/8" thick wood walls under the drywall. Total overkill, but I'm happy.
If the big one hits, I can ride my office intact down the hill we live on.
Experts say there's a 66% chance of a big one hitting within the next 25 or so years. Could be tomorrow! I'm just fascinated that science hasn't found a better way of predicting these things.
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Post by Merlot Joe on Dec 24, 2009 13:56:15 GMT -6
I would suggest stopping in Arizona -- you wanted to retire there anyway. Arizona, New Mexico either or, just as long as I don't end up in Oklahoma. |
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Post by Merlot Joe on Dec 24, 2009 13:57:15 GMT -6
My husband says California is not falling off...the rest of the US is. I'll go for that as long as they are the ones sinking into the ocean when this all comes about. Joe |
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Post by Merlot Joe on Dec 24, 2009 13:58:17 GMT -6
If the big one hits, I can ride my office intact down the hill we live on. A new "E" ride at Disneyland. |
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Post by ♥ COVID-19♥ on Dec 24, 2009 14:19:55 GMT -6
It's called "Escape From Bitch Mountain".
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Post by Christinko on Dec 24, 2009 15:51:59 GMT -6
And Merry Christmas to you too.
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