I had planned to stay home today, and tend to the horses, perhaps ride, and clean the goat pen. It turned out to be an instance in which the best plans go awry. Last night I noticed on the Friends of the Palmer Library website calendar that there was going to be a Story Time at the Tsunami Warning Center. I hesitated to go because the Tsunami Warning Center has a closed-door policy. Also, this event was being sponsored by the FOPPLL, and I didn’t want to crash their party.

I felt the same way a month ago, when I attended the FOPPLL sponsored story time at the Mat-Su Borough Animal Shelter. But I decided to go because the worst that could happen would be that I’d be told that I was crashing the party.

Kodiak after tsunami from 1964 earthquake

I took Pete with me because I have discovered that it is far easier to do these events when one has others with them. Pete rang the buzzer and a woman with a huge smile came to the door. We told Kim what we were there for, and she greeted us warmly. Pete struck up a conversation with her. I chanced it and brought just one bin of books along. (I’d put bookmarks and information about fundraising in the books.) I set half these books on a small table and the rest on another table.

Shortly thereafter, the children and their parents, I’d say a dozen individuals, came in the door. Kim invited them to take books and have seats in the conference room. I stood by the far wall. I noticed that the age range varied from about a year to eight years old. Kim, who was at the head of the table showed a video about tsunamis and read two children’s books to us all.

I noticed that Kim was comfortable around adults and children alike, and also adept at fielding questions that everyone seemed to have. I too learned all about Tsunamis. Now, a tsunami is a series of large waves that are triggered by earthquakes and landslides. We do have to worry here about earthquakes but not about tsunamis because we live well above sea level and quite a distance from the ocean.

After the readings, we were invited into what I called the command station area. There were computers with large monitors all around the room. We learned that it is here that the Tsunami Center workers learn about and disseminate information about seismic activity.

Kim presented the information in such a way that I got it. She neither talked down or up about seismic science. I had thought that we’d see some of the rollers, the ones in which the pen, going back and forth, made squiggles on the page. Not so, for now the information is computerized.

Something interesting to me – there is a correspondence between seismic and cardiovascular waves. Both have numbers. This got me to thinking that I could have learned my cardio waves by assigning a word to each letter. Oh well, it’s too late now.

We are going to pass on two John McPhee books to Kim; The Control of Nature and Assembling California. And as well, we will give her a thank you card.

Next: 88. 3/30/25: There’s No Place like Nome