An Illinois Earthquake

Yep, that's right. I experienced my first earthquake last night. And I almost slept through the whole darn thing.

According to the USGS, it was a 5.2 that occurred at approximately 4:37 a.m. And it was felt outside of Illinois, from Ohio to Des Moines.

Right about that time, Conservative Boy and I awoke to the sound of Butter barking. Butter doesn't bark much, so this was a bit startling.

In my fuzzy, still mostly asleep mindset, I realized I was holding onto my nightstand because it was shaking. My far-from-lucid thought was that my alarm clock must've been off-balance so it was causing my nightstand to shake. I know, it makes no sense at all, but at the time it seemed logical!

As the nightstand was shaking, I asked Conservative Boy what Butter was barking at and he said, oh, probably the rain. Although I wasn't awake enough to figure out what was going on with my nightstand, I knew it wasn't raining out, so that really puzzled me. But I was too tired to argue so once Butter stopped barking I rolled over and went back to sleep.

The end. Until we heard on the radio this morning that it was an earthquake. In Illinois? Big thunderstorms. Tornadoes. The occasional blizzard. Flash flooding. These are things I expect in Illinois. But an earthquake? That's a new one. I guess Conservative Boy's buddy who bought earthquake insurance here last week wasn't so crazy after all. (Does he know something we don't?)