Earthquake!!

[Kamal]

Re: Earthquake!!

Was really odd that Truman (my dog) was up and about at the time. You always hear about animals having a 6th sense for that sort of thing -- they were even talking about that on the news this morning -- and although the rational part of me thinks that's ridiculous and that it was pure coincidence that Truman was up, it's really intriguing. He gets up in the middle of the night all the time for any of a host of different reasons and rarely bothers to let us know that he's up, but last night he jumped off the bed, spread out and crouched down on the ground, and started this growling/whining sound and just became more insistent with his growling when I asked him what was wrong. A few seconds later, the house started rumbling. Pretty wild.

yes I've had the exact same experience. In 1993, a massive earthquake had struck the western part of my state back home. several thousand people died sadly.

however for about 4.5 hours before the earthquake, my spitz (who was a very quiet dog by nature) just wouldn't stop whining. for hours he kept crying and I was speaking on the phone with a friend at an ungodly hour and she kept hearing him in the back and kept asking me "why's your pooch whining, he hungry ? he thirsty" and I had gave him something to eat and gave him water but he just wouldn't stop crying.

and then at 4:30 am, the quake hit, a second tremor 5 minutes later and after that, he fell asleep silently. was so weird.

[CactusBeats]

Re: Earthquake!!

toasty - glad you susrvived it man! Seriously though, when the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami hit India, not a single elephant died anywhere along the hundreds of miles of coast. They all broke their chains and ran within an hour before the tsunami hit.

In California (used to live there) earthquake predictions are being made by tidal forces of the moon (when its gravitational pull is strongest) and by the number of runaway pets.

You should do a search on the fault near you. I can't remember its name. Some of the biggest earthquakes in North American history happened where you are (circa 1804?). Because very few people lived there, it is not very well known. I have heard that one of those mag 8.0 quakes (YES 8.0) changed the direction of the Mississippi River temporarily and its course permanently. It also supposedly broke windows in the old White House in Washington DC. Someone please correct me if I am wrong on any of this cause I haven't read up on it lately.

So listen to Truman dammit!

[toasty]

Re: Earthquake!!

^^ That's the New Madrid Fault you're talking about. We're evidently due for a whopper at some point or another, but we don't have the frequent quakes like they do on the west coast. I've lived in St. Louis for almost 10 years now, and this is the first one I've ever felt. I gather that it's a different type of fault -- one that doesn't slip as often, but when it does, it makes it count. Don't quote me on that, as it's purely anecdotal. Last big one rang bells in Boston, but that was like 1811-12.

The more people I've spoken with, the clearer it is that this animal thing is a real phenomenon. The cool thing is that he wasn't just wigging out on his own, he was trying to alert my wife and I, growling at whining at us like we were having a discussion about trouble at the Old Mill or something. Love that little guy -- he's our sentinel.

[toasty]

Re: Earthquake!!

Not sure if folks have seen this from this morning, but this weather guy could not be less phased by the fact that he's in the midst of an earthquake:

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/04/18/quake.on.air.wfie

[threehills]

Re: Earthquake!!

The cool thing is that he wasn't just wigging out on his own, he was trying to alert my wife and I, growling at whining at us like we were having a discussion about trouble at the Old Mill or something. Love that little guy -- he's our sentinel.

Maybe Timmy fell down the well again?

[threehills]

Re: Earthquake!!

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/04/18/quake.on.air.wfie

"Ha look it there, theres a guy getting beating senseless on the weather cam, but sometimes we get that here on the cameras. We are on the west side and those trains carry in a lots hobos someitmes. Anyways....Oh geez, there we were again, wow they are taking a bat to his head, hahaha. Should be nice day today though, highs in the mid sixites."