"Shake, shake, shake.....shake, shake, shake..."

As you all know, this week we had the 2011 Earthquake! 

I have felt earthquakes before, but not a 5.8, never like this. 

The question everyone is asking is "did you feel the quake? where were you??"

We were at Chick-fil-A, having lunch with our kiddos. We felt the first shake, felt like something just rolled through the building. Peter and I looked at each other with quizzical expressions "what was that?". 

Then we heard the roar, not unlike a train approaching. Because I am an East Coast girl my first thought was "tornado!" but at the same time I had this thought it registered in my brain that I was looking out the big window  at a crystal clear blue sky and no wind.

Then the shaking started, the whole building shook, our drinks wobbled on the table, people shrieked, some grabbed their children, some dove under tables. We were sitting right next to the glassed in play area, the glass started bowing and swaying. We grabbed the kids and ran outside.  We know now that the shaking only lasted seconds, less than a minute, but it is amazing how many thoughts fly through your head during that time.

Once outside we were like "What the hell was that???"   We saw people pouring out of buildings all around us, everyone was wondering "was that an earthquake or an explosion?"  If that was an explosion then DC must be gone!

We went back inside to get our stuff, everyone had lost interest in eating and were vacating the building. We were eager to get in our vehicle and hear the news, we were actually relieved to know it was an earthquake and not a terrorist attack!

Once home we surveyed our home for any potential earthquake damage.  We found a few things that had fallen off shelves but nothing was really damaged. There is an advantage to having your house under construction for the past couple years, anything that hasn't already been knocked off the walls and shelves was going to take more than a 5.8 to shake it!   Trust me, my husband and his power tools and can make the walls shake more than a measly earthquake.

We did immediately assign some blame to the 2011 earthquake.  Per my husband "all imperfections in the drywall are a result of the earthquake."  So now we are going to just finish painting the addition and all the defects we will just treasure as souvenirs from the earthquake.

Take a few moments to view the devastation.

It may take some time to restore our patio but we are optimistic.

This weight fell over 5 feet off of a shelf, fortunately there was only minor scuffing so it was not a complete loss.

This crack in the wall we are blaming on the earthquake, although there are reports that this was an issue prior to the quake. But now we can quit trying to fix it, put a plaque up "2011 Earthquake" and keep it as a souvenir.

Possible damage from 2011 Earthquake, more likely from Hurricane Ainsley and Hurricane Wythe.

The quake caused DVDs to tumble to the floor. Once again, no major damage other than minor scratching of the DVD.

There were some frightening reports of train derailments in our immediate area.  Upon inspection we found that Gordon the train had in fact rattled off of the track. There does not seem to be any significant damage to Gordon or the track.


However, Henry was not so fortunate.  We are still waiting word of the extent of damages Henry incurred.

As my son said,   "oh....poor Henry!"

'til next time...