#Jiggle, jiggle…
Recently, I pulled some trophies out of the closet where they'd been
languishing. One of them has come a bit loose… (if you've never seen how
trophies are constructed, basically there's a bolt or several bolts holding
things tight vertically… if the bolts are loose, the trophies have about as
much vertical stability as a drunk) anyway, it's pretty loose, and I've got it
sitting in my office, on the floor, where I was planning to get to it and wipe
it down then take it to my school. When I got time. Ok so far.
Well, as I said, it's a little loose, and it's leaning back, looking almost
bent (it's leaning at two separate points, adding together). Mostly it just
sits there. I should mention that my office is on the ground floor, and the
floor is solid concrete – it's a 75 by 125 foot slab, in point of fact.
Several times in the past few days, the trophy has begun to sway back and forth
(east-west), and twice it was moving at least an inch to an inch and a half. I
couldn't feel a thing… and I closed my eyes and sat right on the floor in
front of it. Interestingly, If I blow on it, hard, at the top, it sways but not
that far, nor does it _keep_ swaying the way it was when I watched it.
The house, the slab, is built on a hill of gravel and mud, more or less. As far
as I know, northeastern Montana is a pretty stable area – but I am the first to
admit I don't know much at all when it comes to this. We're about 5 linear
miles from town, and the only thing I can think of that might be causing that
much disturbance is perhaps a heavy freight train, again about 5 miles away at
the closest.
What do you (anyone with some knowledge) think is happening here? Have I
accidentally constructed a seismoswayer? Is the trophy haunted? Are peices of
the crust coming back from the moon to haunt me for doubting Kameron and making
the earth shake? Willl Oprah have me on? I won't go! <grin>
Anyone know of an internet connection, or web site, where I can get seismic
info for this area?
Ben Williams
UnShaken, but slightly shook, in Glasgow, Montana