DID YOU FEEL THE EARTH MOVE?

We finished dinner early yesterday.  DH was in his favorite chair in the living room reading the paper, and I FINALLY had some time carved out for watercolor fun. I was sitting quietly at my desk with all my stuff at the ready when…everything shook.  It felt like something large had run into our house.

My bowl of watercolor water rippled,

 (reenactment of the water waves)

and the strings on the blinds were swaying.  It only lasted a few seconds.

I walked in and asked DH if he felt the house rattle.  “Yeah, I just thought it was someone in the attic.”  No one was in the attic.  Who would be in the attic?  I even went up and checked.


The local television news reported a magnitude 4.8 earthquake about 170 miles away in eastern Wyoming.  The Star Valley Independent stated--The earthquake was located 3.1 miles beneath the surface with an epicenter 20 miles east-northeast of Jackson and 40 miles west of Dubois. 
The Billings Gazette said--There were no reports of damage or injuries… At Flat Creek Ranch, people saw rocks roll off the top of Sleeping Indian, also known as Sheep Mountain, ranch owner Joe Albright said. Guests had been entertained at lunch by a member of Geologists of Jackson Hole, who talked about earthquakes, Albright said.
"A few hours later, here this damn thing comes," he added.


In 1983 a magnitude 7.3 quake hit near Borah Peak, about 170 miles west of here.  Our house rocked, things fell off shelves and the dining room light fixture danced on its chain.  Two deaths and major damage to buildings were reported near the epicenter. 
Around here earthquakes are mostly chalked up as one more tick of the clock that measures when the Yellowstone Caldera blows us all into oblivion.