Once upon a time, and what seems like a fairy-tale ago, Patrick and I got married, escaped to the Carribean for a week, and came back to Dallas to quit our jobs immediately. It had always been a dream of mine to be a travel nurse and we decided, life is short, seize the moment. He was my house husband, and I, his travel nurse. The experience was like an extended honeymoon with a little work on the side, and we met a lot of friends along the way. Our favorite place to live was Hollywood, CA, and to this day we dream of ways to move back.
It wasn't always a dream though. Soon after we first moved to Northridge, California (yup, where the huge earthquake happened a few years ago), there was a massive fire that threatened all the major freeways and was closing it's gasp on the Valley. We had gone to a bonfire the night before it started and when we awoke the next day, I was disgusted that we both still reeked of smoke. It wasn't until I walked outside to take Callie on a walk that I noticed why our entire apartment smelled like bonfire. Ashes were falling from the sky like snow flakes. It was terrifying and amazingly wondrous all at the same time. I turned back to catch the news and became aware of the threat for rolling black outs and health risks. The next week there were warnings for mudslides. "What have we gotten ourselves in to?" I thought to myself. A few months later we were laying in bed one evening watching a movie when we heard a loud banging noise. I was immediately outraged that one of our neighbors would be so disrespectful and disruptive! Then I looked around and noticed the dresser and mirror where shaking. When I floated back into my body, I noticed the bed was a little jiggly but no one was moving. We were frozen in place. Earthquake! My mom hated that we lived in California for fear that we might be there when it "falls off into the ocean". I still think my heart belongs there.
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Last Saturday night, as I mentioned before, we had a few margaritas. It's not uncommon in such cases that we come back to house and have a few more, except this time I was dying to drink some of my Belgium Raspberry Flavored Beer that I found at World Market. Some time between having fun and having too much fun, Patrick got "weird". I was standing in the bedroom doorway having a conversation with my husband that was sitting on the couch when he put out his hands in a stopping signal, and made a weird face:
Patrick: Wait. . . . .Wait just a minute. . . . . Do you feel that?
Me: ? . ? .? .
Patrick: Seriously, I'm shaking.
Me: Like tremors, seizing, low blood sugar? No you're not; I'm looking at you, and you are not shaking.
Patrick: Yes I am. I'm not kidding. I'm . . . . . . . . shhhhhhhh-aking.
Me: You've had too much to drink. (I sat down beside him to get a better look at him and further assess the situation)
Patrick: Well of course it's going to stop when you come over here. It felt like that time when there was an earthquake in Hollywood.
Me: Oh yeah, sure. We're not in Cali anymore.
Patrick: Oh, no. What if our house is sinking? The foundation is crap, and the house is sinking and everything we own is going to be gone. . . . . . . .
Me:You are so silly. I'm going to bed.
Patrick: Lame.
Apparently, sometimes my husband isn't too far off his marbles. After seeing a couple of strange posts on Facebook the next day, I did a little research and discovered the sensation Patrick was feeling the night before was more than his imagination. It was the earthquake in Oklahoma; sometimes I don't realize how close Dallas is to OK!
Here's the news story:
Early Monday morning Oklahomans were rattled again by a 2.9 magnitude aftershock, which was small compared to the weekend earthquake that was felt in neighboring states.
Hundreds of North Texans report feeling the ground move or their homes shaking moments after a 5.6 magnitude earthquake shook central Oklahoma Saturday night.
Saturday night's quake was recorded at 10:53 by the United States Geological Survey. The USGS originally reported the quake was a 5.3, but said it was a 5.6 after it was reviewed by a seismologist.
In Las Colinas, Marcella Villagra said she was sitting at her computer, when her chair started rolling. She looked up at a hanging pot, and saw it was moving too. That’s when she knew something was going on.
“I was freaked out, really freaked out, just not expecting an earthquake here,” Villagra said.
“I was freaked out, really freaked out, just not expecting an earthquake here,” Villagra said.
Camille Forsythe just moved to Plano from Memphis, Tenn. She said she was closer to a fault line in Memphis, but never felt an earthquake. Here, two months after moving, she said the ground started moving on Saturday night.
“I was on the floor reading a book and all of the sudden it just started moving, wasn’t sure what was going on,” Forsythe said.
The 5.6 rating makes it the largest quake in Oklahoma's history. Reports show that the record-setting earthquake has been felt from Texas to St. Louis.
The USGS said the epicenter of the quake was 21 miles north-northeast of Shawnee, which is roughly 40 miles east of Oklahoma City. The depth of the quake, from the USGS was 3.1 miles.
Jessica Turner with the USGS told The Associated Press that the subsequent magnitude 4.0 quake that struck at 3:39 a.m. Sunday was an aftershock centered some 36 miles east of Oklahoma City in the same region. Like Saturday night's quake, she said it was another shallow quake occurring about 3 miles underground, but experts had no immediate explanation for the spurt in seismic activity.
Saturday night's earthquake jolted Oklahoma State University's stadium shortly after the No. 3 Cowboys defeated No. 17 Kansas State. The crowd of 58,895 was still leaving when it hit, and players were in the locker rooms beneath the stands at Boone Pickens Stadium.
The temblor seemed to last the better part of a minute, rippling upward to the stadium press box.
"Everybody was looking around and no one had any idea," Oklahoma State quarterback Brandon Weeden said. "We thought the people above us were doing something. I've never felt one, so that was a first."
A series of quakes, the largest being a 4.7, shook the same area overnight Friday. As of Monday morning's 2.9 magnitude quake 5 miles west northwest of Prague, Okla., the USGS has recorded 18 aftershocks ranging in magnitude from 4.0 to 2.7 in the same area.
The earthquakes are occurring on a known fault line, the Oklahoma Geological Survey told Oklahoma's NewsOn6.com.
There were no reports in the hours after the quakes of any severe injuries or major devastation.
NBC 5's Ray Villeda and Elvira Sakmari contributed to this report.
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