I was in the kitchen in my apt. in Mountain View, which is (let me google map it) 16 miles as the crow flies from the epicenter, making a salad. I had just turned around to grab some sunflower seeds from the cabinet behind me when the counter started shaking. I stopped and looked and listened. After about 10 seconds it was feeling big enough to do something about, and seeing no good duck and cover places in the kitchen I dashed to the front door about 20 feet away, opened it and stood under it. And it was over. 5 or 5.5 I thought, depending on the epicenter. No big deal.
I'd been in the 6.75 Seattle quake of '65 (I was in German class in high school) and the 7.1 Loma Prieta quake in 1989 ( at work in HP Tech Support in Mountain View) not not mention being maybe 25 miles from St. Helens during its second eruption. Compared to those, this was pretty ho-hum. I was highly amused at the panic reaction of the KGO staff, none of whom had been in a quake before. At least not one they could feel. Have to hand it to them, though, they led the 8 pm newscast with it, with the set still shaking.
Pumpkin was kind of freaked out, he meowed to be let out, then just stood by the door looking out. Domino zoomed outside, then meandered around in front of the apartment as she usually does. Pumpkin is still a little spooked - he's on the sofa with Domino, ignoring all territorial imperatives (the sofa is Domino Country and the bedroom in Pumpkinville).
It was a very mild shaking, nothing was disturbed, the fish tank didn't even ripple.
However, cell phone service was dead - I tried to phone a friend up by Roseville/Lincoln who had left me a message earlier in the day, but the calls both to her cell and land line failed. So did my land line call to her. And cell calls to a couple of other friends failed too. Chalk it up to everyone calling at once, I guess.
