I felt the earth move

On Saturday (oct. 11) I was sitting on the couch finishing my second cup of coffee before heading to my 7 AM hair appointment, when the couch started to tremble. Hmmm, I thought to myself, that's kind of odd. As the couch started to shake so did the table and the phone and other items through out the house. I felt the earth move under my feet, and as soon as I stopped singing the Carole King song, I realize we were having an earthquake. The earthquake happened on 6:40 AM and registered 6.1 (Richter scale) and it was felt through out the U.S. and British Virgin Islands as well. This was the worse earthquake to strike Puerto Rico in years.

Did you know we had earthquakes? (bet ya didn't) We have earthquakes because we are near the Puerto Rico trench. The trench being the deepest part of the Atlantic ocean. The trench region posses significant seismic and tsunami hazards to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. I am not at all clear on why the trench has this "shaking ability" but it has something to do with being the most negative free-air gravity anomaly on Earth as well as having large landslide escarpments, trench axis and left lateral strike slip motion. Frankly, the why we have earth quakes in P.R. doesn't really matter, point is, I felt the earth move under feet.

Four strong earthquakes have affected Puerto Rico since it's colonization. The first one was in 1670 and the magnitude was not determined. On May 2, 1787 an earthquake registered 8.0 and cause significant structural damage through out the island. On November 18, 1867 a 7.5 magnitude earthquake hit followed by a tsunami that ran in land 490 feet, then on October 11, 1918 it was a 7.5 quake accompanied by a tsunami that was 19.5 feet high.

There have been numerous tremors through out the years but with this weekend's quake, the island was all abuzz about what could happen or might have happened or will happen should a "big one hit". A lot of people were afraid. As for me, well lets face it, this year has sucked mightily so far and I just don't care to think about the "big one". (unless of course it has to do with male genitalia) So I am just walking around doing what I got to do, singing or humming "I feel the earth move under my feet, I feel the sky tumbling down, I feel my heart start to trembling, whenever your around ". Damn I can't get that song out of my head ...

RIF - Boobs

Grope your breasts ... October is breasts cancer awareness month.

1. Breast cancer is the most common (excluding skin cancer) cancer among women affecting one in four women.
2. Breast cancer incidence and death rates generally increase with age. 97 % of of deaths occur in women age 40 or older.
3. White women have a higher incidence of breast cancer after age forty than African American women. In contrast African American women have a higher incidence rate before age 40 and are more likely to die from breast cancer at any age.
4. Early detection can save your life.

So my little huckleberries grope your breasts, do it your self, or have someone do it for you. Make a game of it, but do breast self exams every chance you get. Go get a mammogram, do it, schedule it now. Boobs, tits, breasts, bosoms, hooters, jugs, boulders, mammary cannons, melons, twin peaks ... what ever you call 'em take good care of them, your life depends on it. (and don't forget to moisturize)

This has been a public service announcement.

Asi esta la cosa

Just some rambling about stuff at the asylum.

• Weather: after all that rain, 8 towns were declared disaster areas, FEMA is on the way. Now the sun is shining and it's been beautiful outside except for the humidity which was 71% today. The night sky has been a brilliant canopy of stars. We are back to tropical paradise.
• El gato: my cat was sick on Saturday, throwing up and very sluggish. I was scared. I love my gato and I couldn't bear the thought of anything happening to him. He is all better and so am I.
• Eyes: a couple months ago as I was planning a little get away vacation to the west, my vision became very blurry. My eyes were itchy and red and I felt like giant boulders had taken residence in my eyelids. I had a severe bacterial infection that required, eye drops, oral antibiotics and all sorts of ointments. As if that wasn't bad enough, the bacteria invaded a mole (on my eyelid) and caused it to grow to about the size of a giant redwood, only not as majestic. End result ... surgery, stitches, another round of all sorts of antibiotics. My vision has sucked for the past 2 months, but it's better now and so am I. (Stitches come out Thursday.)
• Google reader: sweet cracker sandwich, I could not get the bitch to load all my feeds and allow me my daily fix of all your blogs, as well as my various other interests for 3 days! Got it all figured out, no thanks to Google. Just has I was having withdrawal symptoms, you are all back and life is good. and so am I.
• Visitors: My niece Melissa was here for a week. She is beautiful and funny and loving and as crazy as the rest of us at the asylum. She was a great distraction from my depressive self. Love ya Melissa and glad you were here. Thanks so very much for the "flip". Expect to see some videos at the asylum as soon as I take some and can figure out how to add them. (yeah, I know you hate this picture, right out of the shower, blah blah, but you gotta love that t shirt)
• Grief: it has it's ups and downs. Some days I feel fine, some days I don't. I find I have a short fuse these days. But I am better, it does get better. I think, maybe.
• Books: I need some new stuff to read. Any suggestions? What about books for my ipod? My vision isn't clear enough to enjoy reading right now but I can listen. And I have a $50 itunes gift card just itching to be be spent.
• ipod: I got a new ipod this week and it is sweet. We now have 7 ipods in this household, overkill? ... no fucking way.
• Sadness: overwhelming on any given day for a whole cacophony of reasons. No longer feeling close among them.
• Gratitude: For every single one of you sweet huckleberries, My Familia, my comadres, slowing finding the courage to sew up some loose ends, spreading my wings, learning to say goodbye.