... and then there was an Earthquake!

So life has been a bit crazy March of 2020.  There's been a pandemic going on. Sports, stores and schools had been shut down. People have been asked to stay at home. Social Distancing. Life has definitely been different.

... and then, Wednesday, March 18, the ground started shaking too! Gray was at work, as was Landon. Cal and Keaton were together on the road. Normally, I would have been leaving the house taking Colton to school, but with the school closure, we (Colton, Cooper and I) were still in bed at 7:09, when the earthquake hit. It was a 5.7 shaker, and it woke us up, shook us up!

I guess there had been an earthquake back in 2009 - but it was in Southern Utah, and we didn't really feel it here. There had also been a small one in 2014, and I do remember it (Easter and an Earthquake). This was quite a bit bigger, but still not one that really caused any injuries or damage (there was some water damage at the airport, one school had some bricks falling). I think while having the double disaster (pandemic AND earthquake) was a little much for people to handle, it was actually good timing in a way. So many families were together, rather than parents at work, kids at school. That was a comfort. People had already stocked up on supplies ... although this caused another rush of panic shopping!

 ... checking the house, there were a few things that had fallen off walls and shelves. The clock in the kitchen, the decor in the bathroom, and the biggest mess was the pantry, were my container of tapioca flour had fallen. It actually wasn't as bad as it could have been ... it fell perfectly onto it's top, keeping the lid on, with just a bit of the flour poofing out.

... and then, there were the aftershocks! Lots of them were little. Things we probably wouldn't have even noticed except we were all on edge. A slight rattle of a window. Glasses clinking. Feeling that small shake. Really similar to having a helicopter fly over the house, or when someone slams the door. There was one aftershock that was pretty big a couple hours after. 4.5.  Later in the day, there was another big one ... it just registered 4.6, but it felt bigger to me! Gray had come home and had laid down and it got him out of bed!

Poor Oreo ... he went UNDER the bed in Cooper's room and did NOT come out for hours and hours. 15+ hours. I called to him, pushed some food and water to him. I couldn't imagine that he'd gotten hurt (he wouldn't have been in the pantry when the flour fell, and that was the heaviest things that came down) so we figured he was just being a scaredy cat. Joy had hidden until the bed too, but didn't stay under for very long. I was relieved when Oreo finally came out again, but he remained super jumpy for days. And the aftershocks continued for days.

Keaton and Cal had been on the freeway driving to work. The radio went out, but other than the usual bumps in the road, they didn't really feel anything different. They were a little further South, and didn't feel the aftershocks either. Finally on Sunday, there was a 4.0 aftershock, and both boys got to feel a little of the earthquake experience.

Yes ... I now have an "earthquake app" on my phone. Although everyone was already in "disaster" mode, we'd been assured that water was fine (after there had been an initial rush on bottled water) and not something to worry about ... with the pandemic anyway. An earthquake is another matter. A bigger earthquake would very likely affect water! 

So, the earthquake is over. For now anyway. Who knows where there will be another. 

The pandemic is still going and growing ...