It's A Good Thing I Was Quilting!

It's a good thing I was quilting tonight. Even though my longarm purrs like a kitten...it does make some noise and it's not easy to hear things going on around me. Tonight I missed this:

Do I live in earthquake country? That red square indicates a 5.0 earthquake centered in San Bernardino, about 45 miles east of my hometown, Yorba Linda.

I didn't feel this earthquake at all tonight. I just felt a little dizzy as I was quilting. I thought to myself, "Oh great! Am I getting sick again?"

My BabyBoy sure felt it. He was sitting on the floor playing video games. He came into my studio and said,
"Did you feel that Mom?"
I said, "Felt what?"
He said, "I think we just had an earthquake."
He sat down at the computer and went to this site: Earthquakes

There you can see all the earthquakes just seconds after they happen. Not a pleasant site to look at when you live in a state where there are 300 earthquakes a day! Oh, the joys of living in southern California!

Like I said...it's a good thing I was quilting. That way I didn't have to feel the earthquake and could focus on a quilt like this.

A lovely Broken Star quilt.

Below is a view of the back.
Yes, quilting is much more pleasant than feeling earthquakes! Now get back to work, Vivian!

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!