Earthquake rattles the homestead.

4:42 AM I am awakened by a small jolt...."Hmm, small earthquake...go back to sleep". After 5 seconds of slight trembling, the house is hit by 3 good seconds of shaking..."Woo, this is a big one..."...and I hear several pictures fall from the wall. Right afterwards, silence, then dogs barking, then the relegate car alarms.

I immediately switched on KCBS, which coincidentally was running a 3 minute report on earthquake insurance at the time, and they reported that the epicenter was 2 miles from our home, with the slip occurring a mere 3.6 miles from the surface....a 4.2. I said to myself that that was the strongest 4 pointer I've ever felt. It turns out that this quake was a "shallow" quake. Deeper slips have wide spread effects but tend to have less dramatic shaking in and around the epicenter. With this one so near the surface and the surface epicenter a mere 2 miles away, on the Hayward fault BTW, it really rocked the house, so to speak.

So, I got up and checked on the cats who had leaped off their pillows...I can tell, the pillows were strewn onto the floor, meaning they must have bolted as the earthquake hit. 3 pictures fell, none were broken, and everything else was intact.

Back to sleep.