When I write, as I’d doing now, I prefer it to be quiet, with a minimum of distractions. That’s why most of my so-called creative writing is done at night (often late into the night), when the phones and the internet calm down after yet another busy day. However, even when things are tomb-quiet (perfect writing weather for me), mother nature might have something to say – as she did about 15 or 20 minutes ago.
For those of you unfamiliar with the tectonic activity endemic to the desert Southwest – and especially those who live in the fool’s paradise that thinks Las Vegas doesn’t have earthquakes (the highest one since the city was founded was measured at about 6.8, out at Hoover Dam, way back in the 30s), we do have earthquakes.
In fact, we just HAD another one. Actually, it was a big momma quake at Ridgecrest, Nevada, the gateway to the appropriately-named Death Valley, a 7.1 quake that hit 11 miles from Ridgecrest. That’s enough to do a lot of damage there – God willing, there were no serious injuries, but it’s too soon to tell. And while I make no claims of being a psychic earthquake whisperer, I think what Lynn and I just felt was above 3.0 on the Richter Scale, which was enough to shake everything pretty good. Worse, it lasted a long time – well over a minute as I watched the clock.
There are seven major fault lines known to run through the Las Vegas Valley, and a 3.6 quake last Sunday is thought to have revealed yet another fault line, and Earthquake Track (dot.com) reports 52 earthquakes in Nevada in the past 24 hours and 97 in the past seven days – most too soft to detect. And as was the case in the quake that just hit, the actual natural disaster was in California, more than 100 air miles from here, near Death Valley.
So, when you come to shake things up here in Las Vegas, you may have mother nature’s help.
Recent Comments