Whole Lot Of Shakin' Goin' on

I thought that the weather was going to be warmer this week,but yesterday it brisk and very windy. I took a walk around the yard and it was fabulous having the leaves shower down around me. I thought you might like a peek at our foliage. It's not as pretty as in the past,and the wind took many of the colorful leaves off the trees,but there is still some pretty colors nonetheless.

               This is a nice chunk of color across King's Highway:

                    There's still some pretty color up Avon Lane:

                   We have many white birches on our property line that glow a brilliant yellow in      the sunlight:

             The photos don't do the lovely yellow justice:

              The maples are pretty in red,yellow,and orange:

You can see in this photo how some of the trees are now bare,but some are still pretty:

The foliage will be gone soon,and all the leaves will turn brown. :(

Last night,we were surprised by an earthquake. Mind you,in NH,we aren't on a major fault line,like the folks out on the West Coast,so when we get tremors,they are very light and very rare. I think in all of my almost 45 years I have only felt three mild tremors here in NH,and they only felt and sounded like a heavy truck going by. When we lived in western MA,Zach and Rick were up in NH and I was home in bed when I was literally bounced up and down. It was an earthquake tremor that was in the fours,so I know what it feels like. Rick,Brother B,and Zach have never felt one. So last night,when I felt and heard the rolling rumble,I thought,"That's an earthquake." Everything started shaking,and it then sounded like an underground explosion. "Earthquake!" I called out ( I was reading in the bedroom). Rick rushed in and asked,"Are you alright?" "Yes, it was just an earthquake tremor." I followed him out of the bedroom and he and Brother B had flashlights ready to go outside. "It's only an earthquake tremor," I assured them. "Is that verified?" Brother B asked me as they went outside. "No,but I know it was an earthquake. I've felt it before." I don't think they believed me at first. Rick and Brother B were outside making sure everything was OK. Apparently they thought that there was some explosion somewhere. Then the NH channel came on and announced that we did indeed have an earthquake registered 4.6 on the Richter Scale. The epicenter was located in Maine,about 30 miles from us,but the whole state felt it.

As soon as the surprise of an earthquake at that strength subsided,I immediately thought of Rick. "I bet he had a flash back," I thought. He came back into the bedroom and started gathering a pillow and blanket. I asked if he was alright,and he said yes,but I could tell by his face that he was shaken up. I hugged him and said,"You know that you are safe,right?" He started to cry. "Yes,but the sound was like bombs exploding,and it also sounded like the Bradley's going by. It also sounded like when they would shoot up buildings and the buildings would collapse." He also refused to take his Valium,which he uses to sleep with the sleep apnea machine. "I have to be alert," he told me. "You know you don't have to protect us,it's OK," I tried to assure him. " I understand that,but I have to do this,I have to be able to wake up quickly, in case," he told me. He went and slept on the kitchen floor in between the table and the wall.He started napping in  this little spot when I wasn't feeling well and was laying down in the bedroom. He didn't want to bother me with the sleep apnea machine noise,and because Brother B was watching TV in the living room,he didn't want to bug him with his loud snoring. I have tried many times to tell him to just lay in the bed,it's no problem,but he still used this little nook. It did surprise me because it was still early ( only 8:00 PM by this time). I asked him if he wouldn't be more comfy in his recliner,and he said when he was in Iraq they didn't have mattresses in the shacks ,and he felt more comfortable laying on the floor. When I woke up this morning,I noticed that the dining room table had been pulled closer to the wall,so he had an even smaller area in which to sleep. "Did you do that to create more of a safety zone,like a barricade?" I asked him. "Yes,"he replied. "I had to do it."

If you live in the NE US or in NE Canada,did you feel the earthquake?