Hi All,

Don and I had a nice telephone chat with Lowell tonight and he said to tell all of you Hello. To be honest with all of you I called Lowell to ask for his advice about the research and results we are working on in regard to the possibility that the MTJ is having episodic tremor(s). It seems a few people have an interest in securing the answer, but as to what each person wants to do with the results are of course to their own interests. Based upon some materials that are out there, it seems likely that it is, but we don't have a definitive answer and may not for a few months.

We have to realize that acknowledging this event(s) could be occurring is not really the total answer. The actual answer is how much land mass is moving, what direction is it going in and how large a magnitude of earthquake stress is relieved with this event(s). Therefore, you can see the project is rather indepth.

Lowell was in good spirits, is still teaching school and enjoying wintertime in the northeast. In his ususal true form we talked about subtle and not so subtle influences which create such events and Lowell has his way of connecting the dots. Very interesting.

Don is feeling much better, good enough to come to visit little ole me and he brought a huge rock collection with him to bestow upon me. He inherited half of a collection from a man who had been rock collecting for 60 to 70 years and there are some magnificent pieces. One I know I will treasure is a beautiful piece about the size of the palm of my hand which is a clear, like light green glass and comes from the Aldubi Gorge.

As Lowell isn't here to tell us things about nature and animals, which he wrote wonderfully about I'll tell you my little animal story from yesterday. When I opened my garage door to leave for work there was a little red salamander sitting near the edge of the garage in the middle. I looked at him and said, "I'm not running over you this morning." He looked up at me and seemed to understand. So I stomped my foot and he didn't move. Then I gave him a nudge with my shoe and still no movement. So I searched around the garage and found a metal divider from my file cabinet and gently tried to put it under him. He got his right arm and paw on it and sort of rested his chest on the edge and I told him, "hold on." I carried him to my flower bed and told him that was his new home and to get off. He did and he remained there. He's really little and deserves a nice wintertime place to rest.

I see Mount Saint Helens took on venting big time today, so maybe there is hope for the 3.0 or so. You watch, the thing will have a 5.5 and blow up in the next few days and I'll be low on my mags again. LOL

Petra