I heard on the news there was an earthquake in California, and that there
were to be serious after-shocks. I seem also to recall something about
fatalities. How bad was it?

The important question is "Is everyone, and their kin, OK?" Did you suffer
much property damage? And, in the grand scheme of things, a trivial
question about a relatively unimportant issue: "Did your orchids come
through OK, or did your growing area suffer damage, and falling things
damage your plants?"

Cheers,

Ted

Thanks for asking. The earthquake was apparently due to an undersea
fault, with an epicenter in San Luis Obispo, and the town hardest hit was
Paso Robles, both south central coastal CA. At least two people were killed
when a building collapsed. The USGS folks were concerned because of the
number and force of aftershocks, which were expected to continue for a long
while. Haven't heard anything today about further injuries or deaths. I know
one SF news anchor said last night that he had felt the shock in the Bay
Area, though it must have been subtle. No orchid trauma up here!
Tom
Walnut Creek, CA, USA
(To reply by e-mail, remove APPENDIX)

From: "Ted Byers"
Organization: Bell Sympatico
Newsgroups: rec.gardens.orchids
Date: Tue, 23 Dec 2003 23:35:25 -0500
Subject: How are the folk in CA doing?

I heard on the news there was an earthquake in California, and that there
were to be serious after-shocks. I seem also to recall something about
fatalities. How bad was it?

The important question is "Is everyone, and their kin, OK?" Did you suffer
much property damage? And, in the grand scheme of things, a trivial
question about a relatively unimportant issue: "Did your orchids come
through OK, or did your growing area suffer damage, and falling things
damage your plants?"

Cheers,

Ted