I feel the earth move under my feet

Yeah, so the "big one" hit at 5:36 AM Friday morning.  I'll be honest, I'm a deep sleeper and have slept through more than one tornado so I don't remember feeling it or hearing it, but something did wake me up at 5:38 (according to my clock).  I'll be honest, I wasn't sure what it was.  I do remember thinking that it was odd that the birds, which are normally screeching so loudly that carrying on a conversation outside is nearly impossible in the morning, were suddenly silent.  That was weird.  I rolled over and slept until my alarm went off half an hour later and they were playing, of all things, "I feel the earth move" by Carole King.  Yeah, classy stuff folks.

My mom was staying at my sister's house in Indy and she said it was strong enough to shake the furniture and said that it was probably the bed rocking that woke me up.  I know my cat was nowhere to be found.  That earthquake registered a 5.2 on the Richter scale.  According to mapquest, I am 110 miles from the epicenter. 

At 11:20 am I was sitting at a co-worker's desk and I could hear another staff member across the hall yell "earthquake!" and slam her phone.  Ricci was sitting across from me and suddenly grabbed her desk while we rocked and rolled.  They say it only lasted 10-20 seconds, but I timed it and the folders on the desk danced for 90 seconds.  Of course, sitting on the 4th floor probably gave me a better appreciation of the movement.  That one registered a 4.5 on the scale.  Evidently we are still having aftershocks and they will continue another 7-10 days.  I think that's probably true because my equilibrium has felt a bit off.

I think we may have had another aftershock this morning, because the cat came tearing into my room and starting pawing at the window and shaking the blinds and howling.  I've never seen her act like that.  She came back a few minutes later and did it again until I yelled at her to knock it off.  

Of course, I think the funniest thing is this: Yeah, that was the headline on the "green" section of the paper when I woke up yesterday.  Of course, the funniest part of that is the fact that the paper had probably been sitting in my drive way before the quake hit. 

Other random facts:

• Friday's quake took place on the 102nd anniversary of the devastating 1906 San Francisco earthquake. 
• Because our bedrock is different than California's bedrock, our quakes are different.  Researchers are unsure if yesterday's quake was a result of the New Madrid quake line (in Missouri) or the Wabash Valley Fault system (which is where my parent's live in southeast IL).
• Because our bedrock is more compact than CA, our quakes can be felt more intensely for a greater distance.  Yesterday's quake could be felt in Kentucky, Missouri, and Wisconsin even though the epicenter was in south-eastern Illinois. 
• A major earthquake in the Wabash Valley nearly 200 hundred years ago registered over a 7.0 on the Richter scale and was quite devastating.  It reversed the direction of the Wabash River (and the Mississippi) and rang church bells in Boston.
• I grew up in the Wabash Valley and was 20-30 miles from the epicenter in 1987.  It was not as strong as yesterday's quake, but I do remember it.
• The last strongest earthquake along the Wabash Valley Fault system was in 1968 and it was a 5.3.
• The quakes in this area usually register between 4-5 on the Richter and are considered moderately strong.  They used to occur every 10 years, but the last one recorded was in 2002. 
• Because I lived on an active quake line growing up, my school would have "earthquake drills".  We were told that some day the "big one" would hit and we'd likely die (well, they might not have said it quite like that, but that's the general impression I got from it).
• If you like you-tubing as much as I do, you will see some interesting earthquake predictions.  One was posted days before the quake and claimed it would occur on the 18th or 19th, but in California.  The other way claimed a lot more information, but since it was posted the day of the quake, it loses points for validity.

Evidently there were signs hours before it hit that something was brewing.  Several people reported "knocking" sounds several times during the night, my mom was one of these people.  Others reported that before both quakes their dogs, cats, birds, gerbils, rats, etc started making noise and behaving strangely.  We have a very large seismograph in town--so why were none of us notified of the impending earthquake?  This thing is so sensitive that it can read storm activity from the East coast. 

And for your viewing pleasure: