A bad dream

I had a bad dream last night.

I was standing in an aftermath of a devastating earthquake. My house was still standing but retaining wall collapsed and the back path was buried. Electric cables severed and were now sparking death traps. The unit next door was also still standing, but the one below has collapsed. I wanted to go there to help but the live wires were in my way. Then I noticed cracks appearing in the water reservoir tanks above our houses and shouted at the people next door to get out. Arwen was nowhere to be seen and I was thinking, if she was hiding under the house, she'd drown when the water tank ruptured and flooded our houses. I was thinking desperately what to do first, go help the people in the collapsed unit, or look for Arwen? …

Suddenly I was waken up by the noises and vibration. It got stronger. And I got up from bed. The house was shaking and the shake did not end in a few seconds like most usual NZ quakes would do. In the dark I rushed to the front door, being aware the shake was still going and I could here timber framing creaking. Finally just when I managed to find the key and opened the front door, the shaking stopped.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/7214948/7-0-earthquake-felt-in-Wellington
http://www.geonet.org.nz/earthquake/quakes/3732830g.html
http://www.geonet.org.nz/news/archives/2012/jul-4-2012-deep-7-shakes-central-new-zealand.html
http://info.geonet.org.nz/display/home/2012/07/04/Jul+4+2012+-+Deep+7.0+shakes+central+New+Zealand

I can tell you it was unnerving. Never felt that kind of long shaking in NZ in my 23 years living here. Needless to say I didn't sleep well last night. Luckily it was not a damage causing quake for us, at least this time. But what about the next? :insane:

:coffee:

Updated 21 July 2013 to replace dead link

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  1. Your experience reminds me of the time in the student dorm when a couple of the local wags slipped firecrackers under the door of a sleeping student. It didn't wake him up, but he incorporated them into his dream.You may, in fact, have a sensitivity to such things, MM … I wouldn't bet against the possibility.

  2. Originally posted by derWandersmann:

    You may, in fact, have a sensitivity to such things, MM … I wouldn't bet against the possibility.

    I've never been a "sensitive" type as far as I know. It actually could have been Arwen that triggered the imagery/ dream in me. About an hour before the quake, she suddenly jumped up and dashed out of house for no apparent reason, and I wondered what got into her. She came home a little after the quake and eventually settled on my bed as she'd normally do.

  3. :no:You know what was spooky? I was quite awake when I started thinking about what to do in a big quake. I heard earlier about the quake preparedness initiative called ShakeOut and thought about registering. In bed I was again thinking about ShakeOut and then thought maybe I should talk to some neighbours to get them involved. Then I thought where would be the safest place in my property, which is on a quite steep slope. I figured the top of the section at the same level as the water reservoir would be the best place to be when the big one hit. Visualised myself standing there and thinking what damages I would see from there. Land slipping, electrical wires severed and laying on ground live … I am sure I was quite awake until this bit. So when I woke in middle of the primary shake, I had this strange and scary sensation that I had had a premonition and the quake would get much bigger and cause damages as I imagined/ dreamed. I'm so glad my dream was not actually a premonition, but, still can't shake off the bad feeling that something bigger is on its way. :insane:

  4. Yes … and our Amerinds paid attention to it, too. There is an account, from exactly where, I can't recall, of the Indians coming to the door of a settler's cabin in the West someplace, and telling the settler "We just think you should know that all the animals have left this mountain. We can't find any of them, so we're leaving, too, and we'd advise you to do the same." The settlers stayed. and the next day, the side of the mountain slid down into the valley.

  5. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    It actually could have been Arwen that triggered the imagery/ dream in me. About an hour before the quake, she suddenly jumped up and dashed out of house for no apparent reason, and I wondered what got into her.

    Animals have long been known to exhibit strange behave immediately before a quake. :sherlock:

  6. Originally posted by qlue:

    Animals have long been known to exhibit strange behave immediately before a quake.

    Yes. Arwen will be watched even more closely from now on. :eyes: It's a good thing she is rather a happy go lucky kind of cat and doesn't mind close attention from me. Some cats get nervous from being watched by a human and act even more strangely.Originally posted by derWandersmann:

    The settlers stayed. and the next day, the side of the mountain slid down into the valley.

    :yikes: I don't hear much native birds singing lately :insane:

  7. I'm glad you're okay. We had a bad storm here Friday. The wind tossed trees over and broke high power lines. There were people trapped on the road in their cars with snapped, live wires draped over their cars, just waiting for help to arrive. But we didn't experience any scary drama ourselves.

  8. Hi Deb. Sorry to hear about the bad storm in your area. Relieved at least you're OK. I suppose the worst nightmare to you in your area is tornadoes. Take care.(One of the double posts deleted. I'm guessing you encountered a bad gateway :sherlock:)

  9. It was also a fantastic vantage point to watch the dog trying to squeeze out through the cat flap 😆

  10. Fantastic, I was simply keeping calm to encourage those around me to do the same…

  11. Er maybe :insane: It was quite noticeable here, I couldnt be bothered to get off the sofa though 😆

  12. It was. :insane: Did you feel it over your way? Originally posted by darkesthour:

    Luckily very deep…

    Apparently the quakes in that region are tend to be deep. Shallower quakes tends to be more in the east, like Wellington and Hawkes Bay. :insane:Remember we had a good shake in Cook Strait early December? It was lucky this quake wasn't in the same area. If it were, it could have been another Wairarapa quake of 1855 :insane:I'm over-using that particular smilie, aren't I? 😮

  13. Originally posted by darkesthour:

    I couldnt be bothered to get off the sofa though

    Talking about laziness :rolleyes:Apparently Cory Jane's ankle survived his mid-quake mad dash to children. Twitter is a wonderful thing, isn't it? 😆

  14. Originally posted by darkesthour:

    to watch the dog trying to squeeze out through the cat flap

    :yikes: Hope she didn't get injured.

  15. I can't even imagine what it is like to live in a place where earthquakes are possible :faint: :worried:Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    I've never been a "sensitive" type as far as I know. It actually could have been Arwen that triggered the imagery/ dream in me. About an hour before the quake, she suddenly jumped up and dashed out of house for no apparent reason, and I wondered what got into her.

    There you probably have the answer to the question you had in your dream 😉 Cats probably would have much better chances than peeps.

  16. Originally posted by serola:

    I can't even imagine what it is like to live in a place where earthquakes are possible

    Having lived the first 30 years of my life in Japan, then moved to NZ, I can't imagine living without earthquakes. :lol:Originally posted by serola:

    Cats probably would have much better chances than peeps.

    Then I shall go to rescue the neighbours :knight:

  17. Risk identification is the first step of risk management. ;)Originally posted by serola:

    maybe even risk of fire.

    Very good point. No, I didn't think about fire risk. Our street doesn't have gas supply. But some houses have fire place or wood burner for winter heating. So I should take that into account. Thanks for pointing out.

  18. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    Then I shall go to rescue the neighbours

    Indeed, that is what everyone should do in this kind of situation. What I found remarkable is that you had thought somewhat everything in advance and it then came into your dream: possibility of electric shocks, flooding water, and maybe even risk of fire.

  19. Thanks, Alex. We're always with nature, IMHO. Only some area/country get more frequent reminders than others. 😉

  20. I now read of your "bad" awakening from a dream some days before, which could then had been reality. (I hope I've translated it right!) It must have been shocking, because of the memory of the earthquake with the big destruction. :no:

  21. It was shocking, Angelika. I titled this "A bad dream". But the first part was actually my conscious imagining. I still can't tell how much of that I imagined and how much was a dream. :confused:

  22. Please, take good care! I can well imagine how shocking this earthquake was. The devastating earthquake of last year is still in the head.

  23. Sleep on an inflated bed, with a distress transponder in it … if NZ sinks, we'll find you, at least after a couple of days.Hmmm … better stuff some cookies and peanut butter under the covers, too … and a bottle of water.

  24. Thanks, Angelika. I will. (And I should get my emergency supplies, food and other stuff, too.)Originally posted by derWandersmann:

    better stuff some cookies and peanut butter under the covers, too … and a bottle of water.

    I do have some supplies of couscous, the billy (camp cooker pot for you) and MRS gas/petrol camp stove. Good idea to add dry fruits and nuts, and water. They initially said to be prepared with 3 days supplies. Now it seems more like two weeks. :confused: Originally posted by derWandersmann:

    Sleep on an inflated bed, with a distress transponder in it … if NZ sinks, we'll find you

    😆 There is a famous Japanese scifi novel titled "Nippon Chinbotsu (Japan Sinks)" by the author & screen writer Komatsu Sakyo, which has been made into a film. It is true that a major earthquake can cause land noticeable subsidence.

  25. This brings to mind, the somewhat minimalist preparations made by people I worked with, for the supposed 2000 disaster: I got some extra cigarettes and lighters, an extra couple jugs of drinking water, someone else took an extra $50 out of the ATM…..knew a guy who had 30,000 or so rounds of small arms ammo, numerous weapons, generator, wood, etc. Figured he could last for years. He didn't seem to realize if it was global disaster, he's also need an army to protect his place from the hungry hordes seeing his chimney smoke.

  26. That's a LOT of ammo.I had my muzzleloaders, but I figured I'd do OK in the woods, even without them. But I had a shooting buddy who canned a deer. Not in one jar, of course. Spent about a week doing it.

  27. Disaster survival = ammos? Can't imagine how that'd protect you from big tsunami. You can't even eat them. :rolleyes:

  28. Oh, this was the one where all the computers were supposed to crash, maybe, dragging Western civilization down with it…..But I think the idea would be, you would be very competitive among survivors for resources.

  29. Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:

    Disaster survival = ammos? Can't imagine how that'd protect you from big tsunami. You can't even eat them.

    Not that sort of disaster, MM … Y2k. Remember?

  30. I thought Y2K => Planes falling off sky. At least that was what we were told here in NZ. Don't fly. Originally posted by qlue:

    'Mad Max' not 'Deep Impact'

    😆

  31. Originally posted by gargoyle38:

    28 Days Later, 3 [after all, it's only the UK]

    😆 You haven't watched 28 Weeks Later, have you? :devil: (And rumour has it there will be 28 months later :insane:)

  32. Originally posted by gargoyle38:

    I even watch the Dolph Lundgren ones.

    :confused: Can't say I watched that. Or the prince of darkness one or the happening (Was it about the house in middle of field and a guy fighting with baseball bat? Then I watched like the last 20 minutes :p).We can add the Judgement Day to the list, can't we? At scale of 8.5 or something. 😉

  33. I think, based on this thread, we need to develop a world disaster scale rating, withDeep Impact a 102012, 9.9 [there are some survivors]….Judgment Day,[Terminator 2] 8. 5 [per MM]The Happening [the scenario where the plants get tiredof people and give off toxins that produce suicides] 6.8Mad Max, 6.3John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness, 6.1 12 Monkeys, 5 [even odds the people from the future willstop it]Global Warming, 4 [it's just the world's the beachfront property,sort of]28 Days Later, 3 [after all, it's only the UK] and so on…..

  34. Oh, ooops ….I did actually: I am totally addicted to these epicsI even watch the Dolph Lundgren ones.

  35. The Dolph Lundgren ones are low budget ones staring Dolph when he is taking a break from merc thriller shoot um ups and saving the world. There is a growing list of these. …The Prince of Darkness Carpenter one is a bunch of nerds in a church basement with the TV message from the future …..the house in the field and the guy with the baseball bat sounds like lots of zombie films, to be honest….Judgment Day the movie or Judgement Day the esoteric Christian one?I added it as an 8.5 per your suggestion

  36. Been a long time since I baked: loved punching the dough down in a big giant bowl I had found at an antique shop, the smell of bread, even photographed favorite loafs…..Ummmm. Sounds so good.

  37. The Judgement Day instigated by the evil Skynet (aka G00gle :p) as in Terminator Been torturing (stretching, rolling up and squashing daylight out of) bread dough. :devil: Letting it rest for now to rise before squashing and cutting up and fan-baking. :devil: Should be good to eat for lunch :chef:

  38. Luckily still edible. :yes: Quite flat and very dry outside (, which luckily is the way I like,) but baked through and no doughy bit inside. Still not getting the 2nd rise as much as I like. I've probably overworked dough in the first knead, which probably got yeast to lose the strength in the second rise. So less bread dough torturing next time :p And shall try to adjust to oven's temperament next time. Originally posted by gargoyle38:

    the smell of bread, even photographed favorite loafs.

    I know the feeling. 😀 Won't be photographing this batch, but I have a couple in past.

  39. Isn't homemade bread traditionally baked in a wood burning oven? :sherlock:

  40. No; the oven does not burn wood. Wood is burnt to heat the oven. My mom used to used an old wood-fueled stove in a house we rented when I was a kid, to bake bread in. Excellent bread! I wish I knew how to control one of those stoves.

  41. My oven's 25 years old common regular lay electric. It seems steam gets inside control box and fools the oven's automatic timer function to think it's done cooking and should stop. If I then leave it off at the power source for a while after that it fixes itself and let me use it again. But not great thing to happen middle of baking bread :(There are wood burning stoves with built in oven & cooktop, mainly for large rural houses in cooler area, I believe. Would love to have something like that myself. The idea of heating house & cooking at the same time sounds great. :up:

  42. Those kinds are currently hot, aren't they? 😀 No matter how fashionable outdoors ovens are now, they don't heat house and are waste of firewood IMO. I suppose they are good in the areas that get too hot in summer to bake indoors.

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