40 days and counting?... Earthquake!

All right, I hope I'm kidding -- but something that I've researched for ongoing Alfreda stories is the New Madrid earthquakes. The first major quake of the sequence occurred on December 16, 1811. It was probably around 7.0 on the Richter scale, and woke people as far away as New York City and Charleston, SC. New Madrid, by the way, was in Missouri and on the Mississippi River.

How bad was the sequence that ran until February -- and the aftershocks that were experienced months after that?

The Mississippi River ran backwards for several days. (This was the perception of eyewitnesses. This was probably seismic wave activity -- but it did fill a newly-sunken area and create a lake!)

Ground uplifts and drops of from 1.5 to 5 meters happened.

Huge fissures opened in the earth, swallowing homes.

Reelfoot Lake was formed during the last major quake in February 1812.

So -- what do we know? We know that the third largest cluster of quakes since the European settlement of North America took place around New Madrid, Missouri. These faults effect the largest square mile area in the United States. We know that the area registers tiny quakes all the time -- but it's been over 100 years since even a moderate quake.

"The lack of apparent land movement along the New Madrid fault system has long puzzled scientists. In 2009 two studies based on eight years of GPS measurements indicated that the faults were moving at no more than 0.2 millimeters (0.0079 in) a year.[20] This contrasts to the rate of slippage on the San Andreas Fault which averages up to 37 mm (1.5 in) a year across California." (From Wikipedia)

This suggests that if you live in this area, knowing what to do in the event of an earthquake might be worthwhile reading.

So far I haven't found anything that suggests the recent Oklahoma earthquakes were caused by these faults. That's another restless spur of the earth.

GF Chocolate Chunk cookies by the tub!

EatPastry Rocks!

Here’s a small San Diego, CA company that has dipped a toe into the growing sea of gluten free offerings around the country. They specialize in vegan cookie dough, sitting in the deli case at your specialty grocer, ready to scoop up and bake.

One of their offerings is gluten-free. I was tearing through the Tucson Whole Foods, looking for anything to tempt my father’s appetite. He needed calories, and as far as I was concerned, he didn’t need gluten.

I pulled the container out in the pre-dawn hours, slapped the pans into the oven, and in a short period of time had a batch of Gluten-Free Chocolate Chunk cookies. And guess what?

This is a lovely cookie. Great mouth feel -- soft, chewy, flavorful. I stored them in a sealed bag on the kitchen table, ready to tempt my father, and religiously limited myself to one a day.

I got three of them, I think.

He got the rest.

They were just as soft the third day. I made them a touch smaller than recommended, and got 28 out of the container. This is actually cheaper than buying most ready-made GF cookies. You may not want to feed the horde this way, because all those great ingredients aren’t cheap, but for special occasions, and to have a tub in the fridge that you can safely eat raw? Oh, yeessss, Precious, they are rings! And for your vegan friends who don’t have to worry about gluten? Five more flavors. They have Ginger, sob!

Not available in Texas yet, alas. But check out their web site to see if anyplace near you has them!

Have you been wondering if you needed a Klout strategy?

Wonder no longer. You don't.

Read Charlie Stross's blog on Klout before so much as going to their web site.