Bow Tie o’ the Day had gone missing over the holidays. It took literally yesterday’s earthquake to find it. The only earthquake damage I could locate in the house was this rubble o’ books that fell from a bookshelf in the loft. And what was at the bottom of the rubble when I tidied up? My Christmas plaid slimline Bow Tie, which I’ve been looking for since the holiday season ended. I must have taken it off in the loft and set it down atop the stack of books, which finally crumbled yesterday in the quake. Finding Bow Tie was like getting the Crackerjack prize. And I mean the good Crackerjack prizes of yesteryear, not the “safe” paper things they give us now. Excuse my opinion, but you know darn well a Crackerjack or cereal prize is good only if you can choke on it, get it stuck up your nose, or cut yourself with it. A “safe” prize is just boring.😉
Anyhoo… We survived yesterday’s earthquake, with all but these bookshelf contents in tact. When the quake happened, I had been pondering the idea of getting out of bed. Suddenly, my grogginess was interrupted by what sounded and felt like the garbage truck was plowing right through the house. That was a very long 8-10 seconds, which felt like 8-10 minutes. I was now wide awake. Suzanne was fine. I was fine.
I wanted to head straight downstairs to survey any possible damage to the house, but first I had to release Skitter from her sleep crate at the foot of the bed. I was hoping the earthquake hadn’t already scared the morning pee out of the skittish Skitter, cuz I was not in the mood to wash her bedding and scrub her crate. So I opened her little crate door, and…. no Skitter ran out. Huh? Her crate doesn’t have multiple rooms. She can’t be hiding in its basement or attic or secret passageway. Where is the Skit? I knelt down to peer inside.
Skitter was in a crate corner. She had wound herself into a ball o’ fear so tight that she looked like a rolled-up hedgehog. I could have served her tightly curled body like a volleyball. Gradually, through the day, Skitter loosened herself. She would start to stretch out and look more like herself, then an aftershock would come along and undo some of her progress. By the end of the day Skitter had gotten a bit used to the earth’s tremors, and she was almost back to her abnormal normal. This morning, she seems to have forgotten all about the quake clamor. I admire the critter.