I'm guessing chicken sheds are not that sturdy in earthquakes?
Actually, they're the perfect thing — all wood, all swaying and jostling. Interesting but not traumatic. Our apartment house in Petaluma (a former chicken baron mansion) did fine, too. It's the brick and mortar stuff that sucks, and that's why you'll see all that state-mandated structural reinforcement in brick buildings.
Sebastopol . . . sigh. It was a very romantic time for us. We started out on the Russian River, Rio Nido, up in one of those canyons under the redwoods, in a houseful of friends, all transplanted Iowans. There was a storm, followed by a big flood, and our neighbor, a postman, had his house cut in half by a falling tree (it fell through his living room, between his wife and the TV she was watching). Since he'd been on the verge of bankruptcy, he was happy, and he moved his family into a motel in Santa Rosa for the duration, partying, apparently, the whole time. We lived on wine and leftovers for a week until we could get out.
