Hi All,

Don and I just got back from Parkfield today. We didn't advise but one, in advance as it was rather a secret mission, but now that the mission has been accomplished, we can talk about it.

The trip was to grant a wish of Donalee Thomason, lifetime Parkfield resident and historian. The last time I met her she said the cemeteries had fallen into disrepair and needed some care. I made up my mind the minute she told me about her wish that at the earliest possible time, The Gardens Of Stone would be enhanced. So Don and I left on Saturday morning and spent three days working at the Imusdale Cemetery making improvements.

But it didn't remain a secret very long as people began to spread word around town about what we were doing and the next thing you know we got a free breakfast compliments of the Parkfield Café and thanks from total strangers.

However, while at the cemetery on Sunday afternoon we got rather an unpleasant surprise. We were working inside the gates and had parked the car about 30 yards away and we made the mistake of leaving the gates open. We received two visitors in the form of hunting dogs that we later learned belong to pig poachers. The larger of the two dogs kept coming towards us and with Don's instructions I got behind him. When he could see the dog was not friendly, he pulled out his Glock .40 Smith and Wesson. We kept backing up very slowly toward the car and once I was inside, Don took a firm stance and a direct eye at the dog. With both hands firmly fixed on the gun and pressure on the trigger, the dog began to bark and Don was only a hair's breath away from shooting the dog. Thank goodness at that moment the dog backed down, turned and met his other dog friend. Don and I sat locked in the car with shaking hands and pounding hearts.

But my hero Don from Hollister, showed no signs during this scary event of being one bit frightened. He told me more than once had the dog moved one step closer he was gonna be a good dog. (Of course we would have had to work a little harder than we expected, but oh well.) After we calmed down and saw the dogs were well out of range we gathered our tools and called it a day. We learned our lesson that day, to keep an eye out for anything, human or animal as you never know what to expect when you are in an isolated area.

On the seismic front, we were not disappointed there either. Much to our surprise and glee we found the USGS has now taken residence at the Division of Forestry Fire Station across the street from the Parkfield school. Fortunately yesterday evening when we got back to town we had the pleasure of meeting resident Seismologist Richard Liechti. He has lived and worked in Parkfield since 1985 and was a wealth of information for us. First of all we learned the volcano which is a little northwest of town has its origins somewhere other than Parkfield. Not unlike the Pinnacles or the Laytonville Rock, this volcano was moved along the Pacific Plate until it came to rest within the Parkfield area.

It was during our discussion with Richard that we learned the farmhouse not far from the cemetery, was not the residence of the two dogs that gave us our problem. Of course as he has lived there for many years, he knows everyone and their pets and said there was no doubt the dogs belonged to poachers in the area.

He also clued us in on the status of the fracture in Middle Mountain which has moved around 14 to 15 mm in a short of period of time, but currently is not moving. We also learned the creepmeter that is located along the SAF on the Carrizo Plain which is checked every two years has not moved one iota. Which means it is locked up tighter than Fort Knox.

We had a most enjoyable visit with Richard and Don now has an invitation to go and view the next two color laser measurement. This measures the movement from Parkfield to Middle Mountain. Hopefully, good weather permitting it will be very soon.

This no doubt was our most unusual trip to Parkfield. While we were on a volunteer effort, we got the hxxl scared out of us, a free meal, peace and quiet and a seismic education in the process. I did have four ear tones while we were there and noted them as carefully as I do at home. (It also appears some of the matching quakes have already arrived.) The down-side is that I am allergic to some of the flora we handled and my arms are itching like crazy.

Believe you me, we tried very hard to encourage an earthquake while we were there. I did a dance and chant and Don kept saying repeatedly, "come oooon earthquake." Oh well, we ate like Kings & Queens at the Parkfield Café. That place has the best food anywhere.

Now back to the norm, we see there were two 7's while we were gone, no real surprise there as we have been expecting at least one and its raining so tonight we'll have a fire.

Petra & Don