Tuesday, July 29, 2008

I Feel The Earth Move!

Did you hear about the 5.4 earthquake we had in Southern California this morning? Well, the epicenter was just 5 miles from my home! We felt it very strong! I was quilting...of course, and at first I thought we were having a sonic boom. Then it got stronger and stronger. I yelled for my BabyBoy who was still in bed sleeping. I grabbed The Purse Dog (she was scared too!) and I ran out to my backyard. Now, I have lived in southern California since I was 7. I know what to do in case of an earthquake and you are NOT supposed to run outside. But I did anyway! I think it was my "fight or flight" instict. My instinct was to get the heck out of there!

Here are some pictures I took before I clean up the aftermath...

Take a look at my china cabinet below. Luckily nothing was broken. I collect antique ironstone. I guess it's pretty sturdy stuff.
We checked for gas leaks and found none. We also checked on the neighbors who were home at the time. Everyone seemed ok, just rattled nerves. Take a look at my antique piano. It's an 1893 Chickering. The bottom piece fell:
Take a look at the piano mirror. I was surprised at how much stuff was rattled around.
According to the news were no injuries, but soon after the initial earthquake we could hear ambulances. Not a reassuring sound. Take a look at one of the hall cupboards below. Many of the drawers in bedrooms and cupboards and drawers in the kitchen were open. Maybe it wasn't an earthquake, maybe we have ghosts!Interesting to see a picture of my parents had fallen over. They are also from earthquake country (California) and now live in Oregon.
Take a look at one of the bathrooms. Everything we own was thrown about. The medicine cabinets were emptied, but amazingly, nothing was broken.
The news helicopters were soon flying overhead after the big jolt. It was frustrating, too, not to be able to talk to anyone by phone. The cell phones were out and so were the land-line phones for a while, too. My BabyBoy listened in on his dad's ham radio, though.

I'm glad there were no injuries, according to the news. We all just suffered from rattled nerves! Even as I sit here writing this blog entry I can feel an occassional aftershock. The Purse Dog runs to have me pick her up every time we feel one. She doesn't like it at all!

I took this picture just a short time after the earthquake. My BabyBoy was preparing to evacuate if we needed to. He doesn't like to "feel the earth move" either!

Hopefully tomorrow will be a calmer day and I will have some quilt pictures to share!

17 comments:

MARCIE said...

So glad you are all OK. What a scare! I know I would be very shaken.

Summerset said...

I'm glad you're ok! Yikes - I do know the feeling after living in the LA area for two years. I lived there when the Northridge earthquake happened. Not quite the usual wake up call, if you know what I mean. I've been through quite a few other "minor" quakes (6.0 or below), but there's still something strange about the earth moving about. Poor purse dog, our cats didn't like quakes, either and acted very weird.

Vicki W said...

Scary! We have an office in Woodland Hills and I was relieved that my coworkers and friends were OK.

Sipiweske Quilts said...

How unsettling yesterday must have been! Wow! We don't have quakes here on the Prairies and I can't even imagine what kind of things must run through your mind when this happens. Glad to hear everyone is OK . . . all you need to do now is clean house again. P.S. loving your feathers. - Marlene

gramakas said...

So glad you survived with only some disaray! That has got to be so scary! Living here on the Wasatch Front we are constantly warned about "the Big One" that could happen any time! I am afraid my method of coping is ignoring which I know is not a good disaster plan. Take care; Be safe! Keep on quilting!

LaVonne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
LaVonne said...

You just need to move to Arizona. Sooner or later Arizona will be beach front property. Get out of CA while you can.

Myra said...

I live on the prairies also, within a couple hundred kilometers of Sipiweske Quilts. My closest experience with an earth quake was a worry years back. My brother and I worried for 3 days about my parents being in the area of a big earthquake (can't recall the name or year of it, but it was a bad one) on their travels. When we finally heard from them they were miles from it...
I am glad you are ok....

Kay said...

Wow! thanks for the pictures; it brings this home. Glad you're ok.

I love antique ironstone!

Thimbleanna said...

Wow Vivian! Thanks for the visual reminder of what an earthquake is like! So glad you're ok. I thought you WERE supposed to run outside -- guess it's good I'm not in earthquake country!

Suzanne said...

Glad you are all okay. I remember the earthquakes from my Cali days...I also remember the fight or flight feeling! Poor purse dog!

sewprimitive karen said...

Wow! Simply amazing pictures, what a frightening thing. What are you supposed to do in the event of a quake? I would think your every instinct would tell you to run outside.

sewprimitive karen said...

Oh! and thank goodness the pretty ironstone was all OK.

Anonymous said...

We are so glad that we moved in time to avoid that one! Im glad that everyone is ok. Yor babyboy had the right idea about preparing for an evac, Im sure he hates to admit it but there is a boyscout in him!===========Shana

Quilter Going Bananas said...

So sorry to hear you were near the epicentre of the quake. Hopefully the cleanup won't take too long. The shaken nerves take longer to go away unfortunately. I was at the San Diego Zoo on Tuesday when it happened but was on a bus tour of the zoo and didn't notice it. Other people I talked to in SD did notice it though. Glad to hear you weren't hurt. QGB

Diane said...

I heard about the earthquake on the news, and when they said where it was centered, I immediately thought about all our friends back there. Glad everything is ok and that no one was hurt! Earthquakes are seriously too scary!

Ana Lucas said...

Qué susto!