For dinner Thursday I just had one of those little packets of tuna (one with jalapenos) and a few crackers. It's a handy substitute for a meal in hot weather. After my nap I microwaved a ramen bowl, as it was not extremely hot overnight so soup did not seem inappropriate. I've now been awake so long that I needed to eat more, so I just ate a few cookies. Was that breakfast? Maybe. It might also have been an early bedtime snack. At this point I really have no idea how the day will (or won't) go. I do know that the high forecast for today is 108, and that I'm not going to like it at all. Saturday is now predicted to be 112, and Sunday 111. I'll like those even less. The highs won't drop into double digits until Wednesday, at 97. This is the summer from hell we've been fearing.
At about 3:50 Thursday afternoon there was an earthquake on the eastern side of the Sierras, and I felt it in Chico as a slight rolling motion. I checked the USDS earthquake web site and it showed two quakes; the one in Mono County, with a magnitude of 5.9, and one east of Stockton that started 25 seconds later, with a magnitude of 4.8. A few minutes later the Stockton quake vanished from the map. It turned out to have been some sort of artifact of the detection system— sort of an echo of the Mono County quake in an area that got unusually strong ground motion. The magnitude of the Mono quake has now been upped to 6.0, which is pretty strong. It could have done considerable damage in a built-up area, but Mono County and the eastern Sierra in general are very thinly settled. It did drop some boulders onto highway 395, which was closed until they can get it cleaned up.
It's weird being awake this time of day. But if I was going to be awake this time of day, today is a good day to do it on. The yard guy is outside now using his noisy blower on the parking area, which would have woken me up if I had been asleep. No rest for the wicked. I've put some butter out to soften, and might make a grilled cheese sandwich. And I should check the laundry room again to see if the other tenant is done with the washing machine. The fun never stops in the mini-metropolis.