The earthquake a couple of weeks ago was almost a non-event for us. Arlin was outside walking Kai and didn’t feel a thing. I was inside, reading. I felt a mild shaking that lasted for five or ten seconds. The main difference from other earthquakes I’ve felt was that those are typically short single jolts. This was the longest quake I can remember. After it had gone on for a couple of seconds, I got up and started thinking, “Maybe this is a big one and I should be looking for shelter” — and then it stopped.

The oil spill has been a bigger deal for us because it’s meant that we can’t take Kai to the beach. The beach we usually go to in Albany near the race track is completely closed. Point Isabel is open but has signs warning you not to let your dog in the water (or so I hear — we haven’t gone there in months). One the alternative places we’ve been going is the Richmond Marina. On the Friday after the spill, though here was no oil in the Marina itself, I saw a partially-oiled bird there (probably one that was able to escape to the Marina before it suffered too much damage), and people in hard hats and bulky protective clothing going out in boats for clean-up duty. There were signs warning boaters that oil had been spotted outside the Marina.