the ground be a-shakin'!

It’s 4.30 in the morning and I’m jarred from my wakeful thought of the wonders of velcro and the sheer genius of easy-bake ovens by a quick and sharp clack-clack-clack. It’s the mirror vibrating back and forth in its frame and I soon come to realize that my bed is shaking too. ‘asphinctersayswhat?’ I think to myself. After rolling the idea of what on earth is happening to my teeth around in my brain a few times something inside my head clicks and I think that it may be an earthquake. ‘So this is what an earthquake feels like’ I think. It wasn’t a very big earthquake, maybe a one on the Rictcher-Scale if that (of course I’m not very Ricther concious) but later I heard from Temurlan that it’s epicenter (that's like the hole in a doughnut) was somewhere in Kazakstan, which is a big place so it could be anywhere from fifty kilometers away to a light-year and a half. I also came to find out that it was rated at a seven on the Ricther-Scale. I’m no Ricther-Scholar, but that’s big!

On an entirely different note but relating to the same topic, we have a beach house on the Outer Banks. It is built up on stilts in much the same way an ostrich or giraffe is built on stilts. The scientists tell me to call them ‘legs.’ When the washing machine in said house is on the rinse cycle it shakes the house, but in more of a circular motion than a vertical one like this earthquake was. That’s my one comparison.
The Earthquake freaked me out a little. I’m glad it was an itty-bitty earthquake instead of a ginormous one; then I could be in trouble. My ‘goose would be cooked’ if you like idioms. This was the first earthquake I’ve had the pleasure of participating in so if one comes my way I’ll be ready for it with my newfound (it's cold up there) no-longer-an-earthquake-virgin status.