Shake, Rattle, and Roll!!

What a wake-up call we got this morning! I was about half-awake when the house began to shake at 4:36 a.m. Mike was sound asleep and jumped about a foot when the shaking started. It seemed to go on and on for a long time, and when it stopped I could hear a hanger swinging back and forth on the closet rod for a while longer. When I got downstairs to the computer, I had an email from dd Katie reassuring us that she and Doug were fine although seriously weirded out by the whole thing.

Then of course there was the aftershock at 10:16. I had gone to a yoga class with our neighbors, and after class we were standing around and discussing our experiences of the early morning, when the walls of the dance studio began to shake, and the vase of flowers on the table began to dance (how appropriate, after all!).

I'm thankful that we had no damage here, or even any falling objects (if you are familiar with the current state of my housekeeping you realize that there is great potential there!). And I'm reminded that I STILL need to get busy on assembling my emergency kit.

I remember in the late 80's when Iben Browning predicted that the New Madrid Fault would produce a severe earthquake on a certain date in early December. Anthony, our youngest son, was just over 3 years old at the time. On the day of the predicted earthquake, he donned an old sailor hat from my uncle's Navy days, and insisted on wearing it all day "for protection from falling objects". It must have worked well since nothing fell on his head. Wonder where the sailor hat is now??