Ready for the BIG ONE

After losing my virginity to the 4.1 earthquake last week and hearing about the 6.5 earthquake just up the road, I began to seriously look for information on how to be ready for The Big One. I found several websites with lists on what to have on hand to Be Prepared. Using the Emergency Survival Program's Make Disaster Kits, I started to collect stuff. The lists, part of an awareness campaign developed by the state, have three parts - Household, Personal, and Pets. While each section lists many items you would expect - food, water, first aid supplies - there are also some unusual ones..... like non-latex exam gloves, litter pans and litter, road maps. And "manual can opener" is listed three times. So I got that first. And THEN if you study the lists - which I have been doing all week - you will note that there are some VERY important omissions...... like toilet paper and a shovel and a saw (shovel to make a latrine pit.... saw to cut wood to burn and to get to stuff in the wooden wreck of my house.... you get the picture). I started shopping and brought home a carful of stuff - camping stove and gas, canned food, bottled water and jugs to fill with water. The list for personal supplies suggested a backpack that could be kept by the door and grabbed on the way out. So I got one and filled it with spare eyeglasses, whistle, snack foods (like chocolate), water. I even got those suck-all-the-air-out-so-you-can-pack-more-stuff bags and put a set of spare clothes in, sucked the air out and had a neat tiny package to add. We have copied personal papers and included them as well. And then the earthquake hit Haiti....... and all week I have been looking a pictures of the devastation and death. The quake happened Tuesday and supplies/aid is still just trickling in. I have thought about being isolated with no help for days. It made The Big One here more real. But I don't live in a cement block building with poor construction because there are no building codes. And I have the ability to get supplies ahead of time and be prepared. And I don't live on an island with a corrupt government and a poor infrastructure for community assistance. So I fill my four plastic bins - labeled with a list of the contents of each taped to the lid and sorted by need - and I practice to STOP-DROP-HOLD ON which is what you do when the shaking starts. And I feel a bit more secure.
I have been asking other San Joseans if they have emergency supplies put away. Surprisingly, most don't. Even the ones who lived through that last Big One - 1989. One lady described how the floor of one of her rooms completely dropped away and her sewing machine was hanging in midair by the cord which was still plugged into the wall. The only thing she does is to keep a pair of shoes by the bed. That way, she can slip them on and walk out through any broken glass. Good idea. I added it to my list. I am feeling a bit self righteous about being the NoCal newbie and being so prepared. A bit like one of the wise virgins with the lamp oil from the New Testament or the pig in the brick house of Three-Little-Pigs fame or a Boy Scout (Be Prepared!). But what I also feel, as I watch the bodies being piled up on the streets in Port au Prince, is very lucky to be ABLE to be so OCD and get prepared. So bring on The Big One...... I'm ready.

Sunday Morning

It is Sunday morning..... Mark is on a bike ride (training for his Charity Treks ride next August) and I have just started a second pot of coffee. It is a chilly 47 outside and the fog makes the trees all white and fuzzy around the edges. I have just come back from the Farmers' Market. Every Sunday from 8:30 to 12:30, local farmers, bakers, tamale makers and popcorn poppers bring their wares to Jackson St. in Japantown. It is a pleasant walk from our mouse house and Mark and I usually head down after breakfast and some NY Times crossword. But today, I went alone. Our neighborhood is very quiet with only the birds chattering away. I pass many neatly trimmed lawns. Small bushes pruned into tiny round balls. Grass precisely edged. As I near the market, the Filipino Community Center is bustling with activity. The curb outside is full of drums, amplifiers, people in elegant black suits. A man carrying a silver trumpet is followed by a small boy into the building. While most of the businesses on the main street are closed, the Japanese grocery is open. Customers come out laden with bags. The farmers' market is also busy. I smell popcorn and tamales and hear many languages. Because Mark and I come to the market most weeks, I am beginning to recognize the vendors. There is the young man selling Beckman' Old World Sourdough bread - quite tasty especially the asiago rosemary sourdough and the great pastries. Across from him are the gentlemen who sell olives, hummus, pita and other Mediterranean delights. We love the kick-in-the-pants green olives that have something in them that makes your eyes water. Further down are the ladies that sell mushrooms. Mark gets the Shitake ones and turns them into the most mouthwatering things like spring rolls. I get some to inspire him to cook one night this week. And then I visit the very attractive Hispanic man who sells the most interesting fruit. He has Hand-of-Buddha citron again. I tell him I made a bread with mine last week and it wasn't bad. His eyes light up and twinkle as he says, "Pretty strong?" Not too bad if you add enough sugar I reply. I buy a bag of navel oranges, an avocado and a persimmon. I sample some of the dried fruits he carries - pears, peaches, raisins as big as cherries, persimmons..... I get a container of mixed fruit (great in oatmeal). I ask about cherries. And he smiles his great smile and tells me they sold out. That's what I get for lingering so long at home. Across from him are the Asian ladies who sell huge piles of green stuff. I recognize the broccoli and cauliflower (as big as a basketball) and eggplant. But at the far end of her stall are tables of greens or mysterious origin. I watch as several small elderly Asian ladies minutely inspect each bunch before selecting one. I must get brave, buy one and test it out. But not today. This week the mother vendor (I assume she is the mother) is wearing a warm hat with furry ear muffs. Last time, she had a blanket tied around her head. Her two daughters help customers and play with each other during lulls. There are very few lulls. The final stop for me is the flower vendor. I find the most interesting flowers - Bells of Ireland, star gazer lillies, and more that I don't recognize. I have purchased two bunches of something with green leaves that have a reddish/orange tip and yellow green centers. The lady tells me what they are, but I'm not sure I hear correctly. Damn ears! She says they will last a month - I got that part. As I leave, I decide to get apples at another fruit stall. I pick out Pink Ladies and start chatting with the young man who is hopping from foot to foot. "Cold isn't it' he says. Yes and I don't have to stand out here for four hours. He replies that he arrived at 6am and couldn't set up until 8:30am. So he emptied the open-topped trailer and crawled into the middle to keep warm and wait. I try to be cheery and say that at least the days are getting longer and soon it will be getting warmer. He doesn't look convinced. My arms are full of flowers, oranges, fruit and veg. So I head for home through quiet streets and misty fog and birds shivering on telephone wires....... I think I'll have that second cup of coffee now.