top 10 family camping tents
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NANCY K
I have read stuff about what happened in 1811 till 1812, and it wasn't just one big quake, it was over and over, almost daily!! It sounds like the San Andreas fault would be a tea party compared to going through what happened to them. There just wasn't the dense population to react to it like there was in San Francisco, etc. It was in Missouri and rang church bells in Boston! It created Realfoot Lake. What would happen now ?
Answer
It could be a major disaster. The USGS rates the hazard in this area as high as that of the San Andreas fault zone on the west coast.
http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs-131-02/fs-131...
The current probability of a seismic event the magnitude of the 1811 quake is 7-10% within 50 years, and for a smaller quake of 6.0 is 25-40%.
I know firsthand that much of the construction in this region is un-reinforced or partially reinforced masonry. Larger cites such as Memphis and St. Louis have lots of older multistory masonry buildings that are vulnerable in a large quake. Many of the grade schools and high schools are also concrete-block construction and were built before it was common to pour reinforcing concrete and steel into the buildings. As far as I know there have been no significant efforts to force buildings to be retrofitted as Los Angeles did in the 1980's.
I can only hope that the nearby states have made efforts to retrofit bridges, and that the Federal DOT has retrofitted the I-55 bridge, as well as those in St. Louis and Memphis.
I do know that at one time school districts in Illinois were required to practice earth quake drills and put in outside storage of emergency supplies and water. I have heard that since then they have abandoned this effort.
If you live in the area (or any other earthquake prone area) there are some easy things you can do to make your home more earthquake proof:
1. Find out if your homeowner's insurance covers earthquakes.
2. Be familiar with how to turn off your natural gas, water, and electric utilities. Consider installing an "earthquake valve" on your natural gas line. This type of valve shuts off automatically if there is shaking. It could prevent your house from burning down. Here are a few:
http://www.earthquakestore.com/gas_shut_...
3. Brace your water heater with at least two metal straps tied to a major wood stud or anchored to a concrete wall. The straps should be anchored with a wide angle extending laterally about two feet on each side of the water heater, if possible.
4. Install child-proof type latches on your overhead kitchen cabinets and other cabinets where things might fall out.
5. Anchor the top of tall furniture to a wall using a strap and anchor, or an angle bracket secured to a stud in the wall. Hanging pictures should be hung from hooks secured into studs.
Move chandeliers, tall bookshelves, and large mirrors away from beds. By the time a sleeping occupant has realized the earthquake is happening the hazard may have already fallen on the bed.
6. If you have an antenna attached to a masonry chimney, move it. Masonry chimneys should be checked and tuck-pointed if the mortar has begun to deteriorate. Be aware that masonry chimneys are very likely to shake apart in an earthquake.
Preparedness:
1. Be prepared to live without power and water for at least 72 hours. The water heater and toilet tank will supply up to 45 gallons of water if they are not damaged. Having a water purifying filter on hand is always a good idea. These camping type filters are the ones I recommend but either water purification tablets or those household water filtering kits are suitable:
http://www.rei.com/online/store/search?n...
2. Have a battery operated radio on hand, or even one of those self-powering crank units.
3. Flashlights and batteries are essential.
4. Don't expect the telephone, either land or cellular to work. If they are working, avoid using them except for emergencies as they will be overloaded.
5. Be prepared to live outdoors, preferably in a tent while there is risk of an aftershock. If your house is damaged seriously it may not be safe to re-enter.
6. Have a fire extinguisher and a first aid kit on hand.
7. Have a family plan, and plan ahead who will be responsible for helping elderly or children out of the house and the route. Know your neighborhood and the skills of your neighbors. If there are doctors or other emergency personnel in the area know how to contact them. If your family is spread out, have someone out of the area for everyone to check in with. Long distance calls will be easier than local calls.
8. Make some plans for your pets. Many pets get confused during earthquakes and get lost.
9. Keep a small camp stove handy, or at least some canned food and a manual can opener. Eat the food in your refrigerator first, then the food in the freezer. An unopened freezer will last about 3 days.
10. Apply the same concepts to your workplace. Know how you will contact the rest of your family if at work. Many emergency personnel have their entire family carry a small CB-radio because they realize they would not be able to function properly if they were uncertain about the status of their family.
11. Stay off the roads unless it is an emergency. Try to leave roads open for emergency services like ambulances and fire trucks.
If you want to read more about earthquake preparation buy or check out a copy of this book:
Yanev, Peter I. , 1991, Peace of Mind in Earthquake Country: How to Save Your Home and Life. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. 218 pp. ISBN: 0877017719
(at this moment there are 18 copies available used on Amazon.com starting at $4.25. I am sure other booksellers will have this book as well)
What are some things to do outside for the summer?
CC Cutey26
I love being outdoors and I was wondering what are some things I could do this summer during my free time.
Answer 1 Hold a Skee-Ball tournament with your pals at the arcade. At 25 cents a pop, the fun 'n' games won't break the bank. The champ gets all the prize tickets!
2 Make a summer scrapbook. Include everything--even the little stuff. The price tag from your fave sundress, amusement park ticket stubs, photo booth pics of you and the crew and vacation postcards are all awesome additions to your book. It'll be a summer you'll never forget.
3 Grow a green thumb! Purchase some packets of flower seeds--cosmo, poppy, sunflower (unsalted, of course!)--and plant them in your own garden patch. Tending to your sprouts will keep you super-busy, and it's oh-so satisfying to watch as your blooms blossom.
4 Rent a tandem bike for a day. It's a bicycle built for-two. Grab a pal, hop on and pedal off for some good laughs: Yeah, it's goofy.... So what?
5 Get a cool deck of cards, and enjoy tons of fun playing Butthead, Blitz and Blackout with your pals. Don't know how? Check out www.pagat.com to learn these and other games--and a few you can play by yourself, too.
6 Do some flower projects. Pluck a few wildflowers from a field, and press them between the pages of a phone book for about two weeks until dry. Then, use them to decorate stationery, picture frames, bookmarks, whatever. Surprise friends and family with your flower creations--just as nice as a bouquet!
7 Head for the nearest gumball machine. Now, get four gumballs for a buck for you and each of your girls, and have a contest to see who blows the biggest bubble.
8 Speaking of bubbles... Hit the kiddie section of the dollar store, and buy a few bottles of soapy bubbles. You're never too old to blow bubbles!
9 Buy some zany sunglasses, and wear them in public. They can be ultra-glam, ultra-goofy, ultra-big, ultra-anything! The trick is to find a pair that really attracts attention. You're guaranteed to have an ultra-hilarious day!
10 Play the claw machine two times for a buck. You knaw--the one in which you try to pluck prizes with a mechanical crane. Yeah, it's usually a waste of money... but it's sooo irresistible!
11 Fly a kite on a windy day. Haven't flown a kite since you were a tot? You're missing out! It's not easy to keep that thing gracefully floating up there--but that's what makes it challenging! Fly your kite on the beach or in an open field, where the wind is often at its strongest mph.
12 Turn into an expert. Pick a topic you're really interested in (like surfing, Linkin Park, Paris, butterflies... whatever) and spend a little time each week researching it online. By the end of the summer, you'll practically be an expert on the subject.
13 Go backyard camping. Call your pals, pitch a tent, grab some sleeping bags, and head out your back door. OK, you'll have to forget about the campfire, but that's no reason to forgo the traditional campfire songs and tales. Have a blast sleeping under the stars-while enjoying the indoor plumbing just steps away!
14 Become a bookworm. Make it a goal to finish off a certain number of books this summer. Pick a genre you've never tried before--biographies, sci-fl, historical fiction--and then stake out a few reading spots. Climb a tree, stretch out on the porch swing, or even curl up on the couch on a rainy day.
15 Decorate your tank top. Start with a solid-color tank, and then go all-out with glitter, beads, crystals, markers, you name it. Personalize your shirt to reflect your unique style. Think of it as a summer souvenir!
16 Have a water fight. Get all your pals together, and designate teams. Then grab your water guns, water balloons, buckets, hoses and whatever else you've got...and ATTACK
17 Catch fireflies in a jar. Make yourself an all-natural lightning-bug strobe-light lantern for the evening. Don't forget to throw in a few blades of grass and poke holes in the lid. Just be sure to let them go after a few hours!
18 Become a volunteer at your local nursing home. Your electric smile and enthusiastic personality will have folks at the local home uplifted in no time. Spending even an hour a week playing board games or just talking with residents whose families can't (or don't) visit makes a big difference in their lives. Oh, and the stories they tell!
19 Start a cool collection. It doesn't matter what you collect--just pick something you like, and go for it! Sea glass, shells and bottle caps are popular summer collectibles. Or be a collector of something totally unique, like ceramic cats, funky bandannas or vintage buttons. To get into the collecting groove, visit a local museum and check out its collections for inspiration.
20 Play tag--in the rain. Why stay indoors just because the sun's not shining? Nothing screams summer like a game of soggy tag. Running around in the rain (um, as long as there's no thunder and lightning!!!) is a great way to cool down.
21 Check out any local, free-admission, all-ages
music festivals. Many local bands enjoy performing outdoor conce
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