Saturday, December 27, 2008

Shakin' it up!

Last night, after I returned home on my scooter from work, my wife and I were sitting peaceably on the couch, talking about the events of the day, when suddenly, there was an enormous booming sound that seemed to come from all around, but seemed to especially echo up from our basement. The house shook, and then within a short time there was a smaller booming sound and another shake. We were unsure what had happened, but no one in our neighborhood seemed alarmed, so we checked our furnace and water heater, assured ourself that all was well, and went to bed.

This morning, we had forgotten all about the event, until we were at Oregon Dairy and noticed one of the headlines on the local Saturday paper. Apparently the sound we heard was due to an earthquake of magnitude 3.3. It's a bit surprizing, but at least now we know that we were not imagining things.

Just prior to the quake, my wife had noted that our cats were acting crazy. During the quake, our cats were truly spooked and seemed to be gripping the floor with their claws. once the quake had passed, they were fine and stopped running around like mad.

Apparently the epicenter of the quake was only a few miles from our house, which is why we heard the booming sound and why the earth seemed to shake so drastically. We are just thankful to be unhurt and to have our house undamaged.

2 comments:

Amy Jo said...

I remember in 1980 at was at a friends house with two other friends while our parents were outside. All of a sudden the china in the china cabinet starting shaking along with everything else. We went outside quickly and told our parents about it. OF course at first they had a hard time believing us. They didn't hear or feel a thing. Earthquakes are a very strange thing. I am glad you are okay.

Joe said...

Yikes! Right here in good old Pennsylvania? I remember something similar happening when I was still of pre-school age. Grandma told me it was something in the mines and I believed her, but I've wondered at times while remembering that incident if it hadn't been a quake that sent me upstairs screaming her name.

- Joe at Scootin' da Valley