The Other House

 This morning Mikey, David and I went to the other house.

Before the earthquake on Thursday, I had noticed cracks on the outside wall.  Two on the front, but they look like they are more cosmetic than structural. The ones that worried me were on the foundation near the bathroom and one bedroom.  Those seemed deeper, one going round a corner.

The earthquake here wasn't that strong, maybe a M3 but the house and the one we are in were built before 1995. That year there was a massive earthquake in the Kobe area of Japan. Many lessons on building design and how to make buildings safer were learned.  One small example is the lever-style taps. Before 1995 the taps were pushed down to make the water flow, after the design was changed so that you have to pull the taps up. With the pushdown ones, it would be easy to flood the area if something fell on them.

Most newer buildings are built with some type of dampening system in place to help dissipate the seismic activity.  I'm thinking of having the house fitted with that kind of system.  Something else I need to check.

The house was fine. The cracks hadn't changed. That was a relief.

The other thing I was worried about is a massive tree that is too close to the house and storage area.

The tree

It's not as thick as I thought it was as it branches off at the top. It shouldn't have gotten that tall. I remember my mother-in-law used to trim it a lot!  I'm worried about it. An earthquake could loosen the roots more and a typhoon could take it down all together.  

side of the house

This is the passageway between the storage building and the house. It always looks bad, overgrown, and smells damp. There's little sun on the area, and weeds take over the walkway easily.  I've been focusing on the inside of the house that I haven't noticed all the work that needs to be done outside. Not just getting it to look better but keeping it up after!

We managed to take over a few more things. That helps me feel better. Even if I can't work at the house I can get sorted here.

On the way back we stopped at a few shops.  And, of course, I got sick. I wasn't outside long, just from the car to the shop and back again but even that was too much for me! The heat is extreme still. Up to 37C today but felt like 40C.  All of next week is going to be over 35C.