Friday, April 18, 2008

All Shook Up

About 5:30 this morning I was startled awake by what turned out to be an earthquake. I was prepared for that when I lived in the Memphis, TN area for ten years, because there was often talk about the "Big One", and we had several small earthquakes and tremors when we lived there. I wasn't expecting an earthquake in Indiana though and was quite frightened not knowing what was happening.

It is a gorgeous day today, as was yesterday. I spent most of the day outside yesterday and plan to be out a lot today too. The warmer temperatures have certainly made a huge difference here in the last few days. The creeping phlox is starting to bloom, the grasses are starting to grow, leaves are on some of the trees...

the birds are mating, and gathering their nesting materials...

the buds on the trees are opening, the tulips are about to bloom, ahh...IT'S SPRING. Yes, I'm yelling that! Finally, it really feels like spring! I love it!

Thank you for all of your well wishes. I'm feeling much better. Whatever that was thankfully didn't last long.

Wow! Just now we had another one! The house shook again and caused Lilly to bark. This is scary!

25 comments:

walk2write said...

I just felt it too. I've heard that it's actually better to have these minor shocks because they release some of the pressure that has been building up in the fault zones. It's kind of like having minor disagreements with your hubby rather than a big fight--better to let off a little steam than blow up at each other.

Robin's Nesting Place said...

That is a great analogy!

Lisa at Greenbow said...

I agree that it was a rude awakening and a little frightening. I have never 'heard' an earth quake before. This one was so loud. Very strange. It is nice to have such a beautiful day to erase the frightening uncertain feeling we woke with this morning.

Kylee Baumle said...

We felt it too, but not the aftershock, because we were outside working in the garden, using the tiller, etc.

I posted about it pretty much after the first one happened, because I couldn't get back to sleep after that and was downstairs anyway, listening to the news.

Glad you're feeling better, Robin! It's too nice out to be feeling bad! *Hugs*

Amy said...

Yikes Robin, I can't imagine. I have an earthquake and tornado phobia even though I've never lived anywhere that had them! I once felt an earthquake while playing in the backyard. One had hit the southern coast of British Columbia and we felt it all the way up here (an eight hour drive north!). I actually fell on the ground and was totally terrified.

I hope they stop soon. Glad to hear you're feeling better today :)

Karen said...

I felt and heard it this morning, I live about 150 miles north east of the epicenter.

It's strange because for a split second I thought it was the wind until I felt it and then the house started creaking, then I knew it was an earthquake. I've only felt one once before about 20 years ago when I briefly lived in California. It is the strangest feeling though isn't it.

Enjoy this glorious day! It looks like rain is in our forecast for
tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

Living in the UK I cant appreciate what earthquake tremors must be like. We had one here a couple of months ago - caused a few chimneys to fall down but I slept right through it!!

Q said...

Checking in! Just wanted to make sure all was okay at your house. My goodness earthquakes...
Glad to see Spring has finally sprung at your house too. Cool down and rain today for me but the tulips are beginning to bloom too!
Scary stuff!
Sherry

Annie in Austin said...

The reporters keep saying 'Illinois' but it sounds as if you in Indiana felt it more - glad you're okay!

Robin that branch packed full of buds is a gorgeous sight... and bet it will smell like heaven in a couple of days ;-]

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

Jan said...

hi robin, hope the 'quakes' are no longer 'quaking'! when i lived in ohio we had one and i thought the furnace was exploding until i turned on the news!
how did you get those photos so clear? are you using the manual settings to take your shots? i'm still using automatic and haven't read much about the camera. i guess i should. take care.

Linda said...

Yikes, an earthquake. Hope there was no major damage to the area.
Glad you hear you are feeling better and out enjoying the garden.

Carol Michel said...

That was quite an early morning jolt, at least in this area. The last one we really felt was in 1987. Hope that's it for now and not a sign of something bigger!

Carol, May Dreams Gardens

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

I slept through it, although people who were awake felt it. It seems that anything less than a 6 on that fault line is not really noticeable this far north.

Robin's Nesting Place said...

Lisa, wasn't it a gorgeous day? I watched blooms bursting open today with this warm weather. I was outside most of the day!

Kylee, thanks for the well wishes and the hug! My daughter was outside and didn't feel the aftershock either. I guess you wouldn't feel it if you were tilling!

Thanks, Amy. I have a phobia about tornadoes too; I hate them! We seemed to always be in their path in Alabama.

Karen, I first thought someone was kicking my garage door in, then I thought it was the wind. I peeked out the window and didn't see wind blowing. I called the police to find out it was an earthquake.

You must be a heavy sleeper, Patientgardener. I'm a pretty light sleeper.

Sherry, thankfully we didn't have any damage. I'm thrilled to have spring here too. Today was wonderful!

Annie,thank you, it is Bradford pear blooms. Carol did a great post on the smell. I love the beautiful blooms, but try not to smell them! I'm surprised at how far away people felt this. I heard on the news that people in Florida, Alabama and Georgia felt it too. Isn't that crazy?

Jan, I cheat with the camera. I always shoot in Automatic, so really, I'm not much of a photographer. The camera does such a great job, I figure it knows far more than I do.

Crafty, I felt great today. Thankfully we had no damage, other than raw nerves for a while.

Carol, I sure hadn't heard anything about earthquakes here. This was totally unexpected to me. Hopefully we are done for a LONG time.

MMD, I'm glad you didn't feel it. It was a very rude awakening!

Anonymous said...

Love your robin!

That's amazing about the earthquake. I'm glad you had no damage because of it, but I can see why it would scare you.

Sue Swift said...

Wow - we very occasionally feel them in Milan too. But from far away, so we don't need to worry but we know that somewhere there's been a big one ...

Jayne said...

That IS scary Robin. Glad spring has finally really sprung your way! :c)

garden girl said...

Robin, this isn't the first time I've slept through an earthquake! It did wake DH though. We have train tracks on the perimeter of our subdivision several blocks away, and he said it felt like a train derailed.

An aftershock yesterday morning around 10:15 knocked the owner of the nursery where I work off her feet as we were unloading pansies!

Jan said...

robin, thank you for responding to my questions; it sounds like we're both about the same 'level' with our photography...(although you are much further ahead than i am) :)
a photography professor i am friends with at Penn State told me to use a piece of paper and a rubber band around the lens to start playing with lighting! i still haven't tried that technique yet...i'm surprised that some 'instrument' like that hasn't already been invented! be well!

Jessica said...

we slept through it, I think! Our friend (who lives only a mile away) said it woke him up...haha. I definitely am a heavy sleeper!

Marie said...

Beautiful as always...

m.e. said...

Rhonda, I am SO thankful you are feeling better than in your previous post. And I thank God for protection during the earthquake. It would have scared me spitless! I hope your Saturday has been a gorgeous and good day for you.

Blessings,
Susan

Digital Flower Pictures said...

Thanks for your kind words on my blog they really made me feel better. I love your pictures. My favorite was the goldfinch eating the pear buds. I hadn't seen that either and you captured it perfectly.

Connie said...

Beautiful photos!

So glad to hear you are feeling better. Years ago we experienced some earthquake tremors and it was pretty frightening.

Anonymous said...

Hi Robin,
I am sorry you had to deal with the earthquake, but I had to laugh when I saw that you used to live in Memphs. I live here and I know exactly of what you speak of! It is always a worry. Your blog is wonderful! jenn