E A R T H Q U A K E ! ! ! ! ! !

It sounded like a freight train...er, wait, that's what they usually say about tornadoes. Ok, I have nothing catchy to express that central Indiana was rocked today by an earthquake!! (Rocked very gently, but rocked none the less!!)

Want proof??



BAM!! Channel 8 this morning reported that an earthquake was recorded at 5:38 am this Friday morning, April 18th, 2008. The earthquake originated in South-Eastern Illinois and rippled throughout Indiana. The quake registered 5.4 on the Richter Scale.


(Browny Brown-Suit guy and Joy Dumandan bow their heads in respect of the massive quake.)

I was in bed when the quake hit. I was asleep (duh, it was 5:38 in the am!) and the bed started rocking, and not in a good way. I sat up and Becky came walking in from the bathroom.

Becky: "Was that an earthquake?"
Me: "Heck, I don't know...is it raining outside? Is the wind blowing hard?" (Come on, I was half asleep, and we live on a busy road...it's not unlikely for a big truck to rattle our walls...of course, I asked about wind, but it's the same effect, alright? Get off my back, geez!!)
Becky: "No, it looks calm."

And it was calm...calm except for the earthquake, that is. Becky said she saw the shower moving and then stop. A few seconds later, it began again for about 10 seconds. I only remember about 4 seconds of bed moving, so I almost missed it entirely.

I know some Joe in California is probably reading this and saying, "5.4? Big freakin' deal..." I know, I know...but this is the first time in my 31 years that I have felt an earthquake in Indiana. So, for us Hoosiers, it is a big deal!

Hopefully, it's not a sign of things to come!!

Leave a comment and tell me about your earthquake experience!

Rock On, and On, and On...

Making your home look nice is hard. It takes time, it takes money, and it takes sweat. A few weekends ago, Becky and I decided we had extra of all three and needed to freshen up our driveway's look before summer. Becky made the call to the gravel yard, and soon a large, heaping pile of gravel was dumped in our yard.


(Me on top of Ole Rocky.)

I was convinced the pile would not cover our approximately 1,800 square foot driveway, so I decided against borrowing a wheelbarrow, and instead I opted for the following three things:


A Shovel


A Rake


and a 5 Gallon bucket.

I convinced myself that those three things, along with my own two hands to control the shovel and bucket, and Becky on the rake, would be enough to get the job done. Becky urged me to get a wheelbarrow, but I was convinced we would only have the rock to cover half of our intended project.

Anyone want to take a guess as to how long it took to complete the job?

a.) 2 hours...I'm sure they knocked it out quick.
b.) 4 hours...Maybe it took a little longer than they thought.
c.) 6 hours...Hoochie Mama, that's a project!!

(answer revealed at bottom of post)

So, we got to work...


(Before view of the driveway.)


(Before view of the driveway beneath the car port.)


(Before view behind the shed.)


(The first rake is the easiest...)

Raking gravel, as it turned out, wasn't as easy as I had envisioned. I thought I would knock that sucker out fast...2 hours, tops. But as the time quickly ticked away, the driveway slowly filled up.


(Halfway through the carport side.)


(Wide view.)


(Under the carport finished, half of second side done.)


(Rapper's aren't the only people who can make it rain!!)


(Raking out the back half.)


(Full view of both sides finished.)

At this point in the game, I was completely beat. What the pictures don't show is in the areas that I couldn't just rake down off the pile, I had to fill the 5 gallon bucket and haul it to a spot, dump it out, and repeat. Might not sound like much, but when you take into consideration the bucket weighed 30 or 40 pounds, I had to carry the bucket at least 30 feet, and each bucket of rock covered 2 square feet, you'll understand how tiring that really was! I must have made 50 trips from the pile to finish the carport side alone! (Not to mention the other side, and, as you will soon see, behind the shed, and down the back side of the shed!!)

When we finished the two sides, we realized we had more rock than we thought we would, so I braced myself for the heavy lifting to come, and started hauling one bucket full at a time over to the area behind the shed. At this point, I knew a wheelbarrow would have been the right way to go. As usual, Becky was right.


(Getting ready for the pain.)


(After about a thousand trips, behind the shed was finished.)


(All that was left was the far side of the shed...and carrying one bucket full at a time made it REALLY FAR!!)


(More trips = halfway finished!)


(It took a long, long, long time...but the side, and the project, was finished!!)


(Final view of completed project.)

In total, the project took a little over my estimate of two hours...ok, it was a lot over. SIX HOURS!! Yes, kids, six straight hours of shovelling, carrying and raking. It looks nice, but I learned a valuable lesson: When dealing with rock, ALWAYS HAVE A WHEELBARROW!! (I would say the lesson was ALWAYS LISTEN TO BECKY, but I still haven't totally learned that one yet!!)

(PS, all that rock was only $150! What a deal!)