I woke up at four in the morning because the house was shaking. I listened for a train, because the tracks go behind the house. I didn't hear one, and this was way more than the train would do. It was too rhythmic to be ghosts, but I couldn't decide what it was and it stopped as quickly as it started, so I went back to sleep.
The Boy slept right through it and decided I was crazy. He called me from work this morning to tell me that Little Jeff told him about the earthquake north of Bellmont. Hmmm. OK.
About ten minutes ago there was either another one or an aftershock, I dunno which.
Now I'm reading the news, which tells me that this was a 5 point something (second largest the state's had), no injuries, and has been felt as far away as Wisconsin. According to Wikipedia, the activity on the 5 point level is similar in scale to an atomic bomb. Fun.
Apparently, another one like the New Madrid earthquakes (which were all estimated to be bigger than the San Fransisco earthquake- probably 8 points) in the early 1800's would pretty much wipe out the Midwest now, especially considering the damage it would do to the river system. With the flooding and electric problems I understand it would be a much bigger disaster than any California quake.
OK, so, for all of you living in places where "the earth done quake-th" on a regular basis, my apologies, but I don't. There haven't been any in Iowa since the 1930's and none of the Illinois or Missouri ones ever came far enough north. Recording of a momentous occasion in my life, if you will. Better than the usual drivel, eh?