August 23, 2011

  • So Much for Normal

    Yesterday, my post on facebook was that I was hoping for a normal week.  We're trying to get into the swing of school and after two weeks of schooling hit and miss between visits to the hospital and doctors, I thought we were finally ready to return to our normal routine of starting our day with some exercise, getting the majority of school work done by lunch and finishing up our school day about an hour after lunch.  That was my wish, my hope, my desire, but it didn't happen.

      

    Was it because the boys are no longer working on an elementary level, or is it the fact that we took a longer summer break then some summers?  It could be that they were used to having Dean at home and were missing him.  It might have been the phase of the moon or the atmospheric pressure.  Whatever the reason, school ended up taking us much longer than we planned yesterday.  Much, much longer - and they were good sports about it.

    This morning it looked like we were going to be on a much faster track and by lunch time it seemed that we could be done in another hour and a half.  The boys dug right in and were working independently when the earthquake hit.  Have you ever been inside of a giant, over-loaded, unbalanced washing machine on the spin cycle?  I haven't either, but that's what it felt like.  The entire house was vibrating and even after we were outside we could still hear the vibrations.  Our neighbor across the road was shouting "earthquake".  (As I wrote the last sentence we felt and heard more vibrations so I went to see if the washer was spinning - it was empty.)  The boys' eyes were wide open and I suppose mine were as well.  We were all shaking when we returned inside and the boys declared they couldn't do any more school work.  I called Dean to confirm that it really was an earthquake and as I was talking to him, he got the word that the building was being evacuated.

      

    We have a lot to be thankful for this evening.  Even though we live just 12-15 miles from the epicenter, we live way out in the country where little was damaged.  Between us and the epicenter is a nuclear power plant and it was shut down after the quake.  Having felt this earthquake gives me more understanding for those who have lived through major earthquakes.  Even though we're not going to have that "normal" week this week,  we've enough excitement to made the week memorable.

    The second picture I took to show how the boys have different views of "dressed up"  The third picture I snapped while the boys were singing along with their new favorite CD.  They were pretty amazed when I showed them the video.

Comments (3)

  • Our daughter in Columbus, Ohio felt the quake, too. Not quite as intense as you describe, but still she felt it. Glad you are okay.

  • Enjoyed your description of the earthquake. Fun to hear people's accounts. My sister in Thurmont thought maybe a truck had crashed into her house. : ) She said her mind is too full of the possibility of hurricanes that there's no room for earthquakes!
    Fun to see how much your young men have grown up!. They clean up very nicely!!!
    Blessings,
    Pam

  • I really like their microphones.  That's called making use of what you have handy.

Comments are closed.

Post a Comment