I was sprawled on the sofa trying to fit a photo into a frame when Siren came charging through the living room and disappeared behind the love seat. Isadora had been asleep in a box right in from of me. She stood up, smelled the air and turned to stare at me.
At first I thought Siren was now behind the sofa pulling furiously at the back but then I realized the entire sofa was moving. It felt as if it had a heart beat. I broke the stare with Isadora to see my extra tall bookcase swaying.
When I put the bookcase there my son had said he thought it was too tall and too top heavy. I remember saying - "It's not like we're going to have an earthquake."
" ... and I'll put all the classics and the lead vase and ..., what could possibly go wrong?"
My heart was pounding and I just sat for a moment. Through the open window and across the yard I heard a man - "Babe, the deck is moving - am I having a freaking stroke?"
As I got up to go to the door I heard Babe say - "I think it's an earthquake, get over yourself."
Hope was sound asleep upstairs with her Mom in the next room so I went next door to watch news coverage with my neighbor Joe.
I immediately called my son - "Ma, I never got out of a manhole as fast as I just did", then my brother - nieces working in Manhattan were fine, and finally my aunt who I knew would be proclaiming the end of the world.
You are always quickly reminded of who you love the most as you dial numbers to make sure they're OK.
Be careful out there.
Dear Mineral, VA
Glad everyone is OK
24 comments:
They say people felt it here (S Ontario) but I didn't.
I was in the bathroom brushing my teeth when I felt my apartment building vibrate and shake - it actually made me feel dizzy.
For some reason I thought I had imagined it, so I left my apartment, got in the elevtor, and walked outside.
WOW! The whole city was swarming with people that had evacuated their office buildings. I finally asked someone who was talking on their cell phone what was going on, and they told me - and earthquake in Virginia!
YIKES!
Later, when I got home, I called a friend of mine who lives in VA to find out if she was okay, and she was - whew!
Scary.
X ya, dear lady
Gosh that must have been scary! So glad you hear you're all OK. x
LOL I know people like your aunt!! A lot of them have recently been deleting themselves from my fb page... Oh welll. God loves silly people too, I guess.
I am glad everyone is well. Didn't feel a thing in Kansas City, sorry. :)
Scary indeed! Glad to know all of you are all right! Hugs to Hope!
Sylvia
Terrifying for that part of the continent. I spent most of my life on the west coast, where earthquakes are expected to happen, even if most of them still happen in San Francisco. But, yes, you wouldn't think you'd have to consider quakes when putting up your bookcase, would you?
I'm now living in southeastern Alberta, and once I suggested to my youngest brother that he and his wife and young children should move out here. His wife said, "I'd rather die in British Columbia than live in Alberta."
She's only 40, and their children aren't quite 10 and 8 yet, so what about them? I can't kidnap them because everyone would say "Auntie Kay did it" LOL but it is very scary to think of their neighborhood falling into the Pacific.
— K
Kay, Alberta, Canada
An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel
Now you have to worry about the hurricane. Earthquakes, hurricanes - can locusts be far behind?
Glad y'all are safe!
I've got a lot of USGS info on my post today.
Glad to hear that everyone is well in your world.
It was subtle here, but noticed.. realized after the fact, mostly. My sister, who lives on the north shore of Lake Erie felt it quite distinctly.
I'm glad all is ok. Now go rearrange that bookshelf!
Glad everything turned out all right. Here I am on the West Coast reading about all this happening where we just didn't expect it!
Yes it was quite strange. I was parked next to a giant rigging truck outside a deli near the Queens-Midtown tunnel.
My first thought was that the truck was too heavy for the parking area and that the ground below us was going to collapse.
Then I remembered experiencing another small quake in the mid 80's in Flushing and it made a bit more sense. Then the calls and texts to my wife and daughter...different stories...common threads.
Earthquakes are scary enough when you know what's going on. We live in constant fear of "the big one" that scientists predict is inevitable. But on your coast, they are so rare, it's scary and confusing! glad no one is hurt.
Just in case you were wondering, I weathered the earth quake pretty well here in Seattle. Were you worried about me? :-)
I had been having some car issues so I don't know if I actually felt the shaking from the quake or the shimmying of the car but I was on the road at the time. When I got home FB was buzzing with posts. My kids had called when I was on the road so I tried to get back to them but the cell coverage was out. Only very temporarily though. All is well, thankfully.
And now there's a hurricane heading this way?!
Double "ditto" on "glad everyone is okay".
So did anything happen to the overly tall bookcase and its classics and the lead vase?
I was sure I was developing palsy when my chair began to vibrate .. and at home according to your boyfriend neither he nor the cats felt anything!
Earthquakes scare the heck out of me...I am so glad everyone is ok. Now it's time you re think that bookcase of yours...as I look at the book case in my office...hmmmm
And now you have a hurricane - possibly the biggest to hit the country in years - pointed right in your direction.
Get the important stuff off the top of that bookcase, ok??
I just thought I was having a seizure at first but when I looked back at my coworker to warn her she cleared that up real fast. Glad everybody is okay!
Yup we felt it here...but my sister lives very close to Mineral VA and I got her and she was in DC..she was afraid for the horses and pets..but things were OK....Michelle
It's been a while since we've had a big tremor over here in South Cali. I'm beginning to lose my quake legs!
Too much summer weather excitement for any one area.
Although a lot of folks around here where I live in central PA said they felt the earthquake, I can honestly say that I never noticed a thing! And none of the piles of stuff that sit around my house -at almost all times (sometimes I think it looks like a "hoarder's beginnings") -moved or were disturbed either. Go figure, huh?
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