When we moved to Oklahoma in 1993, we knew that bad weather was part of the deal. But we never expected earthquakes!
In November of 2011, there were a few small ones and then one very big one that hit in the middle of the night. It was interesting, to say the least. At the time, it was the highest on record for this area.
Until yesterday morning, that is. We were sitting on the couch enjoying coffee and discussing out plans for the day at about 7:00. Maggie Moo was acting really weird. She's an affectionate little fluff most of the time and likes to be with us. But she was acting like she wanted to glue herself to me, she was leaning on my leg and acted like she was surgically attached to me. We also noticed at about the same time that the morning bird chorus was suddenly silenced. At 7:03, we heard a very strange sound almost like a sander or grinder and it was coming from the direction of the outer kitchen wall which is the west side of the house. We looked at each other, Bill said "what is that?" Then the couch started shaking and the floor rippled - we figured out that it was an earthquake at that point, obviously. We got up and went very quickly to the door frame and Maggie Moo went right with us - I called her name but she was going anyway. We had the tv on and I must have turned it to one of the local stations because the channel changed and the weatherman was on. He was in the midst of a forecast when he suddenly started saying things along the line of "OK folks, we seem to be having an earthquake." It seemed to last for a long time, the hardest part of the shaking was probably about a minute but the actual quake was a few minutes long in duration and we felt most of it. Once we could tell that it was over, the tv was still moving slightly and we could hear what was probably everything in the china cabinet vibrating still.
It took a little while, but the strength was revealed to be a 5.6 which is a pretty big quake. It was centered in Pawnee, which is about 50 miles west/northwest of Tulsa. It was shallow, just a few miles deep, which is why we could feel it so strongly. It was huge and was felt as far as Memphis, Indiana, Illinois, Arkansas, parts of north TEXAS. There was quite a bit of damage at the epicenter, no deaths but one injury and at least one fire caused by either the gas lines being ruptured or the electric lines.
There have been several aftershocks, although we haven't felt any. According to the news this morning, there were at least ten. It also appears that it was a previously unknown fault.
Maggie Moo was a goosey girl for a while, but she got back to normal after a couple of hours. The birds did start singing again, but we didn't hear them for several hours. There was a weather radar picture released that was taken at the time of the earthquake hit - all the birds took off and there were so many of them and so fast that it appeared on radar!
We didn't have a lot planned for this weekend, I got my flu shot Friday afternoon and I can never tell how much of a reaction I will have. Otter went with me, we decided to get them at the same time. She got hers first and then I got mine. It was 5:39 when I got mine. About 3 minutes later, I felt cold - not like a severe chill but definitely cold. By the time we got to the front of the store and got cokes out of the fridge section, I was feeling warm. Not hot flash warm, but warmer than normal. I dropped her and J off (he was visiting and went along with us) and headed on home. I felt ok then, but in the 15-ish minutes it took us us to get home I started to crater. We had Digorno's pizza for dinner, I had a drink and went to bed early. I felt like I had a low grade fever and was slightly achy, I didn't sleep too well and woke up with a headache yesterday morning. I didn't feel as bad as the night before but I did not feel too good. Bill had a couple of errands and I decided to ride along with him. Obviously, that was after the shaky start to the morning! But mostly I spent the day parked on the couch, with a crochet hook in my hand part of the day and the tv remote as well. I didn't actually nap, but I did rest and stayed on the couch. I went to bed somewhat early last night and slept better. I woke up this morning with a slight headache and didn't feel 100% but I was still better. I've been taking it easy for the most part today, although I did ride along when Bill went to the booth. It's been a much lighter reaction this year than last year. I am not complaining at all about that!
OK, Froggy. I blogged. I told you I would, and I did! :)
