Around 7am, I felt the bed shake, and I thought Georgene was getting up. Then it started shaking harder, so I asked her if she was having some sort of problem. Then it felt like being on top of a serious unbalanced washing machine in a spin cycle. Georgene was already up, and in the next room.

After a few seconds of disorientation, it occurred to me that what I was experiencing was an earthquake. The peak lasted about 10-15 seconds, then slowly subsided. Roughly a minute later, I could still feel a slight tremor.

Neighbors were posting on Facebook and Twitter almost immediately, wondering just what was happening.

The news report came in less than 10 minutes. A magnitude 5.6 quake had struck about 70 miles northwest of here, in Pawnee, OK. Strong enough to do some damage to buildings. Strong enough to challenge one’s notion of terra firma. Fortunately, not strong enough to cause widespread devastation.

My very first experience of an earthquake.