Hi Don & All,

In Petaluma I've acquired the title of the Earthquake Lady by the Fire Chief and the Mayor and those who know me say everytime an earthquake rolls through, they think of me first. I am greatly honored. But, these people also know I hear earthquakes before they occur and none of them have any problem with it.

Earlier this year I bought Bruce Bolt's "Earthquake" and for the first time learned that rocks emitted an electrical discharge when broken in a laboratory. At last I finally understood what I've been hearing for the past two years. The greatest problem with being an ear tone sensitive is that because I'm human, I make mistakes. As Don said, in the absence of quakes of late, its difficult to remember the exact sound I hear and associate it with the correct fault. But I do keep trying and if the quake frequency expands, then I think I'll have better results over time.

This year, I have been bombarded with events that have made me question why anything is the way it is. Mostly its that way because of established tradition, be it right or wrong. In America at present there is no rush for earthquake prediction because we haven't had enough earthquakes with significant loss of life to warrant the expense. Its much like trying to get a stop sign placed on a street where only one person died. When its more than one, then its not so difficult. Its an odd way of thinking about things. Although I'd love to believe in the idea that everything in geologic time moves slowly and that large earthquakes are truly rare. However, of late they aren't quite so rare and we all know to well, it doesn't take more than a 5.0 if you're in the wrong place at the time of a seismic event.

Since the time of my posted prediction a lot of things have become known. Solar flares, with those who record geomagnetic activity reporting increased recordings, the data gathering devices are showing stress increases on some of the local faults and we'll see what happens in a week. A lot of people I care for live down around Gilroy, San Jose, Hollister and environs and I don't relish the idea that they'll be rockin and rollin in their locales. I just hope it can all be pulled together and see if all the precursory factors are known this time. It should be interesting.

Thanks Don for admitting I'm hearing something. When I've told you repeatedly that my ears are "not ringing" you finally understand what I'm talking about. Now, if there was some way to capture that sound, what a difference it would make everywhere on this globe. This is one wish I'd love to see come to pass. Instruments instead of people, placed on high risk faults and knowing long in advance an earthquake was coming and never have to be concerned with human error.

From North of The Golden Gate...Petra Challus