Earthquake

We were watching a movie when a quiver began then exceeded into a rumble. The house shook. At first I thought maybe the bass was vibrating on our surround sound system and I reached for the remote both to turn down the volume and pause the movie. Then I realized that there was no bass on the show at the time. "Hun?" I said. "What was that?" K says.

I know probably only moments passed, but time seemed to stand still as everything around us seemed to shake and rumble for quite a long time. Enough time for my mind to flip through some possible reasons that we were experiencing this phenomenon. First I thought loud bass from the surround sound system, then I thought furnace in trouble, but the furnace wasn't on. Then I wondered if there was an explosion nearby. My next thought was spoken out loud as the house vibrated, "It's still going on.....Earthquake!"

I had experienced a small New England earthquake once before. It was a short burst and shook the building enough to make me unsteady on my feet. Once this was over, I thought someone hit the building with a truck. This was similar, but longer and more rolling.

I jumped to my MacBook and visited Facebook first and immediately saw comments from friends relaying that they also felt something. I googled "earthquake map" and found Real-time Earthquake Map that showed a 4.5 reading located nearby (it has since been downgraded to 4.0).

Earthquakes are rare here in New England. I can't imagine living in an area where they are more severe or more common. I'll think I'll take my snowy winters.