What's Shaking in Eldersburg?

At 5:05 am this morning, I was sort of twilighting. You know - not awake, but not totally asleep either. Then all of a sudden a loud bang shook the house. The windows, the doors - everything shook loudly for a hot second, then stopped.

I jumped up out of bed and whispered to my wife, 'What the hell was that?" She had no idea. I ran to the window and threw up the sash. And what to my wondering eyes should appear? Wait, wrong story. I expected to see birds fleeing the trees, or a big truck going down the road. Or a low-flying jet. None of that was to be seen.

My wife demanded that I go check on the kids. After a quick peek I determined they were okay. I went downstairs to check out the house. I flicked on the spotlights. Nothing outside.

Well, I'm awake now. I turned on the television and decided to look at the news. I jumped on the computer (not literally. It couldn't take that kind of abuse) I got on Facebook and had several friends that posted "WTF was that?" and "Did we just have an earthquake?" Okay, so I wasn't the only one.

A few minutes later WBAL reported that a small earthquake centered around Gaithersburg had indeed shook (shaken?) the area. And then the flood gates opened. Some of my nerdier friends posted links to the U.S. Geological Survey's website declaring that we had an earthquake. Other links pointed to the site where you could input your information to help determine the magnitude of the quake and any possible damage.

This was the first time that I consciously experienced an earthquake. Scary at first, but now I find it intriguing and exciting. (BTW - Blogger's spellcheck does not recognize 'consciously' as a word. Huh????)

And I'm sad to report that it did not cause the Carrolltown Center to collapse.