I have spent a bit of time the past few days walking around the Campus of U. C. Berkeley. The Students are gone on Winter break and when you subtract the students, and the women, you get a very high percentage of Jerry Garcia look a likes wandering around the campus. (If I hadn't shave my beard off last month I would be one of them.)
What can I say?That's Bazerkeley
On the personal quest to tag my life to chronological events I got to thinking the other night I do remember where I was during a few major earthquakes, and those earthquakes where easy to look up on the web;
Feb 9th, 1971 at 601 am (22 yrs. old) I had a near death experience. It would have made for a weird headline. "San Fernando Earthquake kills hippie in Pasadena basement, the house is intact, a 30# fire extinguisher fell and crushed his head" (Actually it missed me by a good 8 to 10 inches!) What was I doing sleeping in the basement? That's another story.
May 18th 1980 at 8:32 a.m. (31 yrs. old) Mount St. Helen blows. I did not feel the ground shake, but I did hear the explosion 300+ miles away. I know it for a fact because I was by myself loading rock onto my 2 ton truck (one of many many loads for the rockwork on our two houses and the garden walls) I heard what I thought at the time was someone blasting, later I factored the speed of sound with the distance I was from St Helen and that explained the noise I heard.
Borah Peak Idaho, October 28, 1983, 6:06 A.M. (34yrs. old) Cheri and I are laying in bed in the Studio (before the "big house" was finished) The first thought was that a bear was shaking our back door, then we notice the hanging lamps swinging and realized it was an earthquake. It was centered in Challis Idaho about 350 miles away. In Challis there was extensive damage and two children were killed by falling debris on their way to school.
Now I have time bookmarks for 13,18,22,31,34 years old. I am going to use the "Read More" sections for myself to fill in some of the interesting back story on these events. If your reading here I must not have bored you to death yet and I thank you for reading on.
The first story taking place in Palo Alto was during one of our cutting school, bike hike days. Myself and Tony Wynne (and other school mates also, I think) would take off on our bikes and do an all day loop through the foothills above Pasadena. Here's the weird twist that makes this back story phenomenal. About three years ago I'm sitting at the computer and I get this impulse to look up Tony Wynne an old old friend from elementary school I have not heard from in 45+ years. I did a Google search and sent an e-mail to someone in the Bay Area I thought could be the same guy. The next day I get a response from Tony with the picture of the carving I made in 1961, it turns out that at the time I was thinking of him he and his brother happened to be at the place we hung out on our school ditching days. They found that carving and took the picture with his phone. (Pretty amazing coincidence huh!)
I need to add that Tony was an expert at drawing and carving perfect pictures of our idol those days: Alfred E. Neuman of Mad Magazine, his carving apparently did not survive. Bummer.
Feb 9th, 1971 at 601 am (22 yrs. old) I had a near death experience. It would have made for a weird headline. "San Fernando Earthquake kills hippie in Pasadena basement, the house is intact, a 30# fire extinguisher fell and crushed his head" (Actually it missed me by a good 8 to 10 inches!) What was I doing sleeping in the basement? That's another story.
May 18th 1980 at 8:32 a.m. (31 yrs. old) Mount St. Helen blows. I did not feel the ground shake, but I did hear the explosion 300+ miles away. I know it for a fact because I was by myself loading rock onto my 2 ton truck (one of many many loads for the rockwork on our two houses and the garden walls) I heard what I thought at the time was someone blasting, later I factored the speed of sound with the distance I was from St Helen and that explained the noise I heard.
Borah Peak Idaho, October 28, 1983, 6:06 A.M. (34yrs. old) Cheri and I are laying in bed in the Studio (before the "big house" was finished) The first thought was that a bear was shaking our back door, then we notice the hanging lamps swinging and realized it was an earthquake. It was centered in Challis Idaho about 350 miles away. In Challis there was extensive damage and two children were killed by falling debris on their way to school.
Now I have time bookmarks for 13,18,22,31,34 years old. I am going to use the "Read More" sections for myself to fill in some of the interesting back story on these events. If your reading here I must not have bored you to death yet and I thank you for reading on.
The first story taking place in Palo Alto was during one of our cutting school, bike hike days. Myself and Tony Wynne (and other school mates also, I think) would take off on our bikes and do an all day loop through the foothills above Pasadena. Here's the weird twist that makes this back story phenomenal. About three years ago I'm sitting at the computer and I get this impulse to look up Tony Wynne an old old friend from elementary school I have not heard from in 45+ years. I did a Google search and sent an e-mail to someone in the Bay Area I thought could be the same guy. The next day I get a response from Tony with the picture of the carving I made in 1961, it turns out that at the time I was thinking of him he and his brother happened to be at the place we hung out on our school ditching days. They found that carving and took the picture with his phone. (Pretty amazing coincidence huh!)
I need to add that Tony was an expert at drawing and carving perfect pictures of our idol those days: Alfred E. Neuman of Mad Magazine, his carving apparently did not survive. Bummer.
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