Friday, April 18, 2008

Well That Was Weird

You don't expect to be wakened at 4:30 by an earthquake in the middle of Illinois.

It shook the house, woke everyone up, rattled closet doors, and knocked a few things off shelves. Not really such a big deal except, hello, Illinois?

Update: 10:15ish There was another one. It was strong enough to shake my monitor a little, but I probably wouldn't have noticed it if someone else hadn't commented on it. Apparently there were three little ones in between.

You know, I've heard for ages that we're due for the New Madrid Fault to kick loose again. Back in the early 1800s, there was a biggie that shifted the course of the Mississippi.

5 comments:

BeckEye said...

How many headlines will use Sufjan Stevens' "Come on Feel the Illionise" line?

Johnny Yen said...

It's just been a weird week. That mountain lion was shot just a few blocks from my home. Are these biblical plagues? Should we be watching out for locusts?

lulu said...

I love that Johnny thinks in "blocks" the same way I do. The mountain lion had to be shot a good 1/2 mile from his house, but in Chicagoese that's a couple blocks.

I remember an earthquake in Chicago when I was in college. I was out for breakfast with TenS and the table started shaking.

Johnny Yen said...

Don't forget, Lulu, that as a Chicagoan, you (and of course I) also think of distances in minutes. So in those terms, the cougar was shot even closer-- less than five minutes from my home.

deadspot said...

"Not nearly enough?"

I don't care what MonsterQuest says, when I was growing up it was an article of faith that there were cougars around Charleston. I mean the wild feline variety, not just boozy university wives. Although, come to think of it, I'm pretty sure those existed too.

I remember one back in the late 80s that was strong enough to knock stuff off shelves, Lulu. OK, a few things... A few, precariously balanced things... but I remember it.

In C-U, pretty much everything is less than 15 minutes from your house.