Barbara,
Appreciated your post a lot. For a minute there I felt like I was in a time warp and on Berkland's site. I had to pinch myself to realize that you were posting here, on earthwaves. Your words are real. Your words ring true. Your words are from the heart.
I have a gut instinct that when the big one does strike in CA that a lot of these nature-oriented, scientific-minded folks who lash out at predictors or people who say we're not prepared(or think that all animals are seismically sensitive which they are not) will not be so calm or prepared as they claim to be.