Friday, April 18, 2008

Whole Lot of Shaking Going on!

When I was in Girl Scouts around 11 years old, I went on an overnight with my troop. During the middle of the night, the entire lodge we were staying in began to shake! Several of us woke up, and one of the girls (and I will clearly insert here NOT ME) yelled, "It's an Earthquake!"

The Girl Scout Troop leader, who thought of me as the Evil Little Girl, yelled, "Jana! Stop scaring all the other girls and go back to bed."

Seriously. I was the bad apple. All was blamed on me. I spent the rest of the weekend making lanyards in the dirty bathroom separated from the other girls. And I didn't even do it! (Read this in the mind set of an 11-year-old, and you will be like, "Nuh-uh! That is like, SO unfair, ohmygosh.")

The next morning, the radio was buzzing about the small 'earthquake' we had the night before. Girl Scout Lady said nothing, and I had to make breakfast for the whole troop. WTF?

In 1990, there was some guy claiming conditions would be right for an earthquake in this area precisely on December 3rd of that year. I was in high school, and they actually considered cancelling school for the day. My mother was so freaked out, she insisted we take a drive to Canada that week to avoid all possible earthquake activity. Nothing happened. I may have gotten a B on a math test that day, but in the grand scheme of things, that wasn't that far from normal.

Last night, I was sleeping on the couch, NOT due to domestic discord but my insomnia was once again rearing its very ugly head and I went to the couch for some much needed relief from my husband's snoring. Snoring + insomnia = insanity. Around 4:30 a.m., the entire room starts shaking!! At first i thought it was a VERY large truck, but then I soon realized it was an earthquake. LP came running in, "Jana! It's an earthquake!" Mr. Obvious we call him. Mo woke up crying, and I woke up Rug and we all went to the kitchen, not really knowing what to do. Yes, the kitchen, with all the knives and what not. We're smart ones here in the Midwest. Notice now that we completely forgot about the oldest child, I guess we thought she could fend for herself. They have earthquake preparedness class in school, right?

Well we all went back to sleep and this morning it was all the buzz. 5.4 earthquake, and i am alive to tell about it. My knick-knacks the only true victims of the house.

2 comments:

OldHorsetailSnake said...

Your knick-knacks got hurt? It is the only report I have of damage from that quake. Stand and be proud.

kalki said...

Yikes! I've never been in an earthquake. Although sometimes a quarry near our house has explosions and the dishes in my hutch rattle...