Ill Omens? Earthquake Confuses Fleep, Scares Kitties

So sometime before the crack of dawn this morning, I was startled out of a deep sleep to feel the earth moving and the house making very strange sounds. I sat up blinking and bewildered and looked at the kitties who looked back at me with wide-eyed “What the heck was THAT?” looks on their faces.

Beanie, Flip, Cleo

We continued to look at each other for a few seconds, the house creaked and settled, and I thought to myself, good thing we don’t have earthquakes in Cincinnati, and then I went back to sleep.

Of course it turns out there was actually an earthquake and I was so sleepy and confused I didn’t even realize it until @samharrelson told me on Twitter when I got up hours later.

Illinois Earthquake reported at 5:37AM EST

Local coverage from WLWT reports no damage in Cincinnati, USGS has a nifty map showing all the earthquakes reported in the last 7 days, and local blogger Joe Wessels has an interview with a University of Cincinnati prof who specializes in earthquake building design about an hour after this morning’s quake.

Me, I’m thinking it’s only April and so far we’ve had a blizzard and an earthquake, two pretty rare natural occurrences in my neck of the woods. I’m a little trepidatious about what the rest of 2008 might bring.

Blizzard 2008

Thankfully the plague of cicadas was in 2004, so we don’t have to worry about that one for another *gulp* 13 years.

0 comments

  1. That happened to me in central New York state several years ago. My cat was a kitten and used to wake me up regularly with his nighttime antics. One night I sat straight up in bed ready to yell at him, only to find him curled up quietly in a ball at my feet. Very confusing. Next day I heard there was an earthquake.

    Your kitties are very cute!