This time, it was our fault

For you Californians reading this, you won’t be entertained so switch to another webpage. But for everyone else, you might find this amusing. We had another earthquake tonight. It was only 3.0 on Mr. Richter’s scale but it did get our attention. I was in the living room talking to my friend, Jerry, when it felt like a giant truck hit the side of our house. We heard a huge boom and the whole house vibrated for about 3-4 seconds. Some of our neighbors ran out into the street. I’m not sure why. I stayed in my chair talking to Jerry. He’s from L.A. so I take my earthquake cues from him. You can check out our little event here.

Most of the quakes we’ve felt here were just like this evening’s. Just when you realize what’s happening, it stops. It’s not even enough time to enjoy the shaking. During one of these little ones I lost about 5 gallons of water out of my fish tank. It sloshed all over the place. I was in the emergency room getting stitches during another earthquake. At first I thought it was some unruly kids behind me kicking my chair.

The biggest one we’ve felt was a bit over a 4. It lasted about 15 seconds. We had just arrived home after an eight hour drive back from Disneyland. We were all stepping out of the car, the garage door still open. We heard a boom and then felt the ground and the house start rocking. We looked across the neighborhood and the pavement down the street was actually moving in waves. We remember hearing the sound of all the houses creaking and moaning as the earthquake twisted and rolled the foundations. It was a very strange feeling. We propped ourselves up standing in a doorframe because we didn’t know how long it would last or if it would get stronger.

If you’re into this nerdy stuff, bookmark this map and check on us. We live five miles NNW of Santa Rosa along the red fault line called the Rodgers Creek Fault. They say we’re due for a big one. Hopefully when that happens we’ll be somewhere safe, like heaven or Fargo.