Apparently we're overdue

2nd UPDATE: at about 9:45pm we had another aftershock although really, it just feels like another earthquake. This one was a 5.0 and Ang and I just stopped and looked at each other. It lasted a little longer than the other ones and as soon as it started, the birds in the tree outside our window flew away. The door shook this time, and the TV table and I still felt like I was shaking a minute or two afterwards. We have yet to come up with an emergency plan but figured we should because we were both sitting here on the bed and I was like, should we be here, should we go downstairs or something? Ang thinks we're supposed to go into a room without windows but I think I'll do some research tomorrow to figure out exactly what to do. It doesn't seem to be a good idea to stay on the second floor during one but by the time I had decided to move it was over. Man, at least with tornadoes you have enough warning to get to safety. This is crazy!!!!

UPDATE: We've had about five aftershocks since this morning's earthquake, only one of which I've felt - it registered a 3.6. We're shaking here in Yuma!!!

I have survived my first two earthquakes in three days. Yes, I know, it's weird to me too. I grew up hearing about earthquakes as things that happened on the other side of the world, in far off places I never imagined I'd live in. But now there's a different reality - I live in the southwest which is prime earthquake territory. Go figure, something else I didn't see in the brochure...

Friday night I went to bed early, before 10pm. I read for a few hours and around 12:15am, the wall next to my bed shook. My bed is right up against the wall so I felt it, for a few seconds and thought it must have been a semi-truck or something, read a while longer and fell asleep. It wasn't until Ang asked me the next day if I felt the earthquake did I connect the dots. I grew up on a busy street in Howell, Michigan and that street had semis going down it frequently. Our house shook at times because of these trucks and because of how close we were to the road. Our living room has cracks in the walls and paint because of them, and I remember lying in bed at night, feeling them go by. So I didn't realize that this wasn't a truck.

It was an earthquake. A 5.1 earthquake that left 400,000 people without power and 1,200,000 people without cell phone services - mostly in Mexicali, Baja, Mexico where the quake originated. Mexicali's just over an hour southwest from Yuma. And then this morning, about 11:30am, I was lying on Angela's bed reading and all of a sudden, I felt it. Another 5.1 earthquake.

At first I heard the vase on her bookcase shake and then the bed started to move and it continued to move for maybe 20 seconds. It was weird, there was no noise, just the movement that was strong enough to move me on a queen-size bed, on the second floor of a condo. At first I thought, no, it can't be, I'm hyper-sensitive now. But then I thought, maybe, what else could it be. Five minutes later when Ang called it had been confirmed, I wasn't the only one who felt something - her desk and computer shook and other teachers noticed it as well.

You can check out this article to learn more but apparently we're, as in Yuma, is overdue for a larger quake. I'm not terribly excited by this news. That shaking was more than enough for me. I wasn't scared but I began thinking about all the things in my house and whether or not I should move them off their perches or maybe pack them away. I won't because I realize this is the first tremor I've had since I've moved here but it got me thinking. Yes, I still plan to move to L.A. and yes, I realize they are more prone to quakes over in sunny California, but I guess earthquakes are really no different from the snow and cold or tornadoes we have back in Michigan. Weather is crazy, it's scary and it's dangerous. I'm just thankful all that happened was a little shake this time.