Earthquake!

A 4.4 earthquake shook the area at around 4 am this morning. The epicenter was Pico Rivera, CA, about 15 miles from Hollywood. It woke my husband and I up. Here was the conversation my husband and I had when it happened:

Jeff: That's an earthquake.

Me: (half asleep) I thought it was just the bed shaking a little.

Jeff: No, that's an earthquake honey.

Since I moved here from Maryland several years ago I haven't really experienced very much as far as earthquakes go. A 4.4 is not a very strong earthquake. A few years ago I experienced the first earthquake that ever scared me and I think it was a 4.7, which is also not a strong earthquake. I'm not sure what about that one scared me. My house shook more than I had ever felt it shaking before. My dogs definitely sensed something was wrong and freaked out for about ten minutes prior to that earthquake. When it happened I was on the phone with a friend who was driving in the car with his wife. People in cars cannot feel moderate earthquakes and I was asking him if he felt the earthquake when I heard his wife screaming that there must be an earthquake because they could see people running out into the street in fear. My friend Valerie was on the 22nd floor of a building downtown when that one happened. People from the East Coast on her floor ran out of the building and didn't come back! So I've been pretty lucky so far and I'm crossing my fingers that the Big One doesn't happen anytime soon.