THAT got my attention!

That's what I don't like about earthquakes. Out of the blue with no warning. When this one hit this morning, there was a tremendously hard jolt and then my desk chair start "bucking." It did that five or six times, and then it changed to a violent swaying back and forth. My desk is under a window that looks out into the hallway, and that window was bowing back and forth like an old saw and the wall was banging against my desk.

I pushed my desk chair back quickly and hard. I rolled all the way back into my file cabinets. I tried to stand up but the floor kept moving on me. I stumbled my way out into the hallway, and it was five or six feet before I got my legs under me. That's when this little old lady kicked into turbo! I went running down the hall as fast as my little thunder thighs could carry me out into the production office. All of those California natives were under their desks! I stood there for a couple of seconds watching the desks dance around and the blinds swinging back and forth.

And then it stopped.

The plant workers were all looking around and looking up. And then there was one of our maintenance guys - who was on the roof checking something. I've never seen a kid shimmy down a ladder as quickly as he did!

I've been in SoCal for 14 years, and I have never felt one this violent before. I was really shaken by it all. My legs felt like Jell-O all afternoon, and my heart still feels like it's missing beats. Yeah, I'd say I've got a good case of the old Southern lady "nerves."

I just got home and all is well downstairs, except Daisy has this wild, wide-eyed look about her. Upstairs things were slightly rearranged. The pictures on the walls are askew, and some books and antique darners and textile bobbins came tumbling off the bookshelves and onto the floor. A stack of DVDs on the nightstand were on the floor, and a couple of bottles fell off the vanity in my bathroom.

Things to remember for the next quake:

~ Duck and cover. Crawl under the desk instead of trying to run out the building.

~ Put Daisy in the kennel every morning. I wasn't too worried about her being hurt because she was in her kennel today. Put a leash for Daisy in the QuiltMobile.

~ Put a flashlight at all strategic locations in the house - by the doors, at the top and bottom of the stairs, in the garage.

~ Keep a pair of shoes by the bed.

~ Seriously consider moving!