Yes ladies, I agree. What is the world coming to? What does Mother Nature think by all this anyway? :wink: Back in my day........California got the earthquakes - NOT Illinois! :happy As of this morning, there had been a total of about 18 aftershocks from Friday morning's earthquake. The worst happening around midnight this morning registering about 4.5 or something like that. This one happened down in Mt. Carmel, IL - which is in the same general area as the original 5.2 earthquake Friday morning. CRAZY!!! Still no injuries so that's good. But honestly!

Actually, (here's the bad news) the New Madrid area of Missouri has had some of the worst earthquakes in the U.S. and that would felt and effect your area. I don't know if this la-*test*-('") one was because of that fault, but that general area gets the most and biggest quakes East of the Rockies. The California quakes just have better advertising, I guess :roll: . Hope you don't get any more aftershocks as they are unsettling.

Yes Gaff, that is actually where it happened. They've been saying stuff about "the big one" for ages. I remember back in the early 90's there was talk because I was in junior high and my mom was dating my stepdad at the time. It was just before they got married and I remember hoping it would happen and he'd be swallowed up. :oops: Yes I was a very bad and bitter girl in my teens. But it never came. They were talking about it on one of our local radio stations the other day, some geologist had written in and said that it's very possible that within the next 30 years (or something) we could get an earthquake that would make the San Fran one seem like child's play. That's unsettling.

It truly can be unsettling. We hear about earthquakes, volcanos (Mt. St. Helens) and tsunamis here. Where I'm located, a tsunami would probably make us beach front property. :mrgreen: If we survived. The beauty of the area is worth it. Yesterday, between the hail and raindrops, I took Gaffer with me for a little excursion to Port Williams and some beachcombing. He loved running on the beach until I saw two eagles flying overhead. Needless, to say I scooped him up and carried him before the eagles could. He'd look like a nice, tempting and plump morsel to them. They may not be able to carry him off, but they could do a lot of damage. As soon as I find my missing camera cable I'll upload a picture of the beach in pictures from our areas. It was very enjoyable, relaxing way to spend the day.

Ummmmm,sounds like it. But, poor little Gaffer! Wouldn't that be an awful predicament for the dear thing? Oooooo,the mental images,GG.......help me turn them off,please.........

I know what you mean Gaff. We have hawks, coyotes and now apparently cougars in my area. My mom has a little dog. She's a doxiepoo (part dachsund, part poodle) and is tiny tiny tiny. She only weighs not even 10 pounds I don't think. She has little 2 inch legs and is probably 6 inches long. So she has to concider the hawks and coyotes most especially. And now apparently cougars as well. :roll: But that does sound like a lovely walk. I have nothing even remotely that interesting around me. :no no

Oh my Goodness! I would have never thought of Cougars in your area. I think of them as in mountains and mostly uninhabited areas. Coyotes can live just about anywhere, but Cougars! I can never let Gaffer out by himself around her. I always have to be around.

Oh dear, it's a good job Roxy the Ratdog is seperated from your two wee doggies by an ocean!!!!! She's not called the Ratdog for nothing! :???:

Does Roxy go after little dogs that look like rats? My Gaff might qualify.

She goes after rats (living beside the shipyards, we see a few!) so it depends how similar little Gaff is. Jack Russell terriers were bred to go own holes after rabbits, but actually Roxy is a craven coward where other dogs are concerned - she'd probably run a mile if Gaff barked at her! I've seen her visibly shaking, while she barked at a cat, who was sitting on the gatepost washing itself, totally unconcerned..... :blink:

Sounds like a true scrapper,that one!

Well, my Gaff is about twelve pounds and he scares the Mastiffs when he growls at them. He's a tough little bugger, but like your Roxy, I think it's because he's scared and doesn't want any creature to know it. And he will defend any hole in the ground whether he's dug it or not, because it becomes his hole. He owns it and no dog or even his Mom will take it away. It is quite funny to watch him. Not quite sure what he'd do if he saw a rat though.

Sounds like a Jack Russell! :wink: They very much have that "Napolean complex" don't they? Gaff - yeah, I'm surprised you didn't hear about it. Although I guess it was much bigger news here in Chicago than anywhere else in the world. There had been a cougar sighted a couple weeks ago, but nothing came of it. Then about a week later it was spotted again in a suburb a bit farther south from the original area. About a day or so after that sighting, it was found in a northern area of Chicago where the police actually ended up shooting it to death. It was a very sore subject around here for a few days. But they figured it somehow came all the way down here from South Dakota - the Black Hills??? So yeah, totally weird. And then 4 days later we had an earthquake. :blink: BIZARRO!!

Must have been one hungry cougar to travel that far. That could have made another cute children's story if not for the end result. The curious cougar that travels from the Black Hills to the Big City. Are they sure it didn't escape from a zoo somewhere closer.

Yeah my hair girl and I were making up stories about it. He just had heard so much good stuff about Chicago and the food here and such. I'm sure that's why he was here, Chicago style hot dogs, pizza, Italian beefs, some Eli's cheesecake.....maybe take in a Cubs game or two, have a cold Budweiser. All those dreams came crashing to a hault that fateful, horrible Monday evening. No they ran -*test*-('")s on it, the animal version of an autopsy was performed and they said he was definitely wild. Originally it was thought that he was "kept" (which is way illegal), but last I heard anything he was wild. So sad! They had the most awful, sad pictures in the papers too.