Project One: The Pool

 The month of projects.  The reasons I haven't written are twofold:  I have been working so much and have had workers in and around the house for several weeks now. Projects are officially finished for now, for now being the usable word here, because an old house like this is never lacking potential projects.  

First of all, Pablo and I painted the pool a couple years ago but the sun and chemicals took their toll.  This year the pool was left dry from October til mid February when I found some great workers to do the repairs and paint.  As you can see from the cement, there were a few cracks in the pool where water was seeping out.  There were chips of cement broken off the sides that have now been repaired. 

 The rust colored pole you see here doesn't' have a top on it and it was full of water, oxidating the pole and rotting the pole from the inside. They fixed it and built a cement platform for it, as well as topping the pole so rain doesn't enter.  The cement had to dry for several days.

 And then came this day. The paint job. No more nicks, rust, low spots for water to collect along the wall  and a beautiful new white acryllic surface around the pool  to finish the new look.

 I promised to be in that pool by March1st and by God, the photos below are taken March 1st,more or less.  Close enough. 

 My office opened up that day. The step in the corner is my favorite desk in the house. I do my best writing out there.  It was so hot here in February I'd wished the pool were full and heated.  By the time I got it finished a minor cold front came in and I could only use the pool a couple times, since it was windy and cool during the day.  Now I am  happy I have my pool and i've begun exercising.  My flabby Polish arms were showing, time to do those pool exercises again.  Bring on summer, I'm ready.

Coincidence? The Oaxaca/Guerrero Quake

As the world probably knows by now, Oaxaca and Guerrero were the epicenters for several earthquakes (18 by evening, smaller aftershocks, some around 5.1).  That's not a surprise, they have quakes in that area all the time.  There are many live volcanos in México and Central America, and as I know from living near a live volcano, it causes lots of earthquakes.

When they said it was a 7.9 on the Richter scale, I had to go to my favorite earthquake site to check it out. Since the quake hit rural areas, it was hard to find much information.  Everything on the TV news was about the people in México City, where they felt the quake quite strongly. The city is built over a lake and I question its stability on a good day, but after the big quake in '85 the 'Chilangos' knew what to do.  So far still no injuries have been reported, but there has been a lot of structural damage.  Damage closer to the epicenter is harder to learn about since it struck in an area in small pueblos which are very remote and  hidden in the mountains.

A few of the comments I read while moderating yesterday said  in reference to the quake 'somehow Obama will get involved in this too.' And I am sure he did. I haven't read any news yet today, but I am aware his daughter was on a school trip to Oaxaca.  So the commenter was right.  I do hope they don't BLAME him like they usually do for absolutely everything.  There wasn't much to damage in Oaxaca, mostly low structures, so I bet she is fine but a little shook up.

And now to the heart of this blog. The news I read yesterday that fascinates me is reprinted below.  The entire state of Chiapas planned a big earthquake drill for yesterday at noon.  To get all of the state to participate is difficult, most of Chiapas is extremely rural.  However 16,300 schools closed, and the government agencies and military were all out in force to pretend they had just been struck by a 7.9 earthquake. This is not a  hoax or information that was published after the fact.  They would have had to plan this for a while to get everyone involved. I am completely beside myself with this coincidence, incredulous you could say. Check it out.

For a complete look at the flyer, open this linkhttp://img85.imageshack.us/img85/4526/55750935693923623911500.jpg

Massive drill in Mexico coincides with real earthquake

Telediario
Tue, 20 Mar 2012 07:32 CDT

Translated from Spanish by Sott.net

The government of the state of Chiapas had prepared for today at 12:00 a massive drill ("mega simulacro") of a 7.9 earthquake in the Richter scale.

A poster of the government of the southern state of Chiapas announcing a massive earthquake drill

Monterrey - It was nothing but a moment of panic, as there are no lost lives, the president of Mexico Felipe Calderón Hinojosa confirmed today in Monterrey, commenting on the 7.8 earthquake in the Richter scale with epicenter in the borders of the state of Guerrero and that was felt in Mexico City and several other states.

In view of the scale of the event and because there have not been any lost lives, it is noteworthy that the government of the state of Chiapas had prepared precisely for today at 12:00 a massive drill ("mega simulacro") of the earthquake - something that is being actively discussed in social media networks.

The objective of the drill is to test the response capability of the State System of Civil Protection and General Population in the event of a large-scale disturbing phenomenon. Its official web page stated that the exercise would enable the evaluation and feedback of action protocols in case of an earthquake.

"Earthquake Drill of 7.9 degrees", could be read on the title of the promotion of the event, which was expected to involve all the population at that time.

It should be noted that the National Sismological Service (SSN) informed today that the 7.8 earthquake in the Richter scale was registered at 12:03 local time (18:03 GMT) and its epicenter was located at 29 kilometers south of Ometepec, in the southern state of Guerrero, at a depth of 15 kilometers.

Therefore, it is suprising that the planned time of the massive drill was only a three-minute difference from the time of the real earthquake, and that the drill was for a 7.9 while the real one was 7.8 - only a 0.1 difference.

The massive drill, organized by the state government of Chiapas, had announced and planned it since the beginning of February.

Comment: A three-minute difference and almost the same intensity? It is too much coincidence to let it pass unnoticed.