U is for....

Well of course, UMBRELLA!  Who doesn't know that?  But this isn't any old umbrella.  This is Abbey's umbrella -- Abbey from NCIS, my favorite TV show.  I know it's a bit gory at first, but if you notice how wax-like the bodies are and how conveniently the bright light shines on the dead body in just the right place to make it it decent, then you can concentrate on what I think is the excellent dialogue -- witty, crisp and clever. Then there are the excellent characterizations -- all have grown in the years the show has existed.  All are realistic, if a little over the top for comedy sake.  The first time I saw Abbey as I flipped through the channels I was totally put off, only to find I've been missing one of the best and talented shows for years.  Thank goodness there are re-runs.

 

Then there is my friend over at Morning's Minion who took this positively UNIQUE photo of her UP-SIDE-DOWN cat,  Teasel.  Only she's not UP-SIDE-DOWN.  Sharon's explanation below.  Thank you Sharon for allowing me to use this photo.

Finally we come to UNPREDICTABLE, which is what earthquakes are.  You may have heard we had a 7.2 just over the Mexican border not many weeks ago.   We don't live too far away, but though we knew it was a big one,  nothing fell off the shelves and I feel  a little bit left out of the excitement.  I think it is because our house and area is located on a particularly solid, rock hard mesa.  We felt much more when the earthquakes came up in Los Angeles.  A lot depends on what kind on ground your house is located. I have my own 'patented' method of predicting within a week or so.  I look for large ones in Chile or Peru and inevitably the movement spreads north over a few days.  There will be one in Central America then Guatemala or Northern Mexico, then between the border and LA.

The map below shows how much we are still shaking.  They are mostly only small ones but there have been quite a number of 3.5 to 5.5 in that cluster.  The map just shows the ones in the last week  -- 456.  The original 7.2 took place in the bottom right hand corner and showed up as a LARGE red square.  See side of map. It's not showing now because the map is updated every week. We're still way above the average number of shakes for this area, so things are still on the move and with so much shaking, it's has to be unpredictable until things settle down again. I live approximately due west of Palm Springs, on the coast.