That Time Idaho Had an Earthquake and a Pandemic at the Same Time

I've been so busy writing about my hilarious social distancing experiences that I haven't had time to recount that time Idaho had an Earthquake in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. On the last day of March, Idaho had a 6.5 magnitude earthquake near Stanley, and lots of us felt it.

I was in the kitchen, cooking dinner. At first, I thought a large truck was driving by our house until I noticed the cabinets rattling and the light swinging over the kitchen table. Oh, and the ground underneath me felt like ocean waves.

"Umm . . . Dan?" I called.

My husband, Dan, was already running into the living room, "We're having an earthquake! Cool!"

He stayed right by the windows the entire time (not what they teach us to do in school, by the way) because he wanted to watch our house move around. I surreptitiously scooted to the nearest door frame . . . away from all the windows.

"Oh man! I wish I grabbed my camera!" Dan said as the ceiling fan shook over his head.

Then I took to Facebook:

"An earthquake?! In Boise? It is totally the end of the world, guys!" I posted.

"It is," commented a good friend of mine. "I thought my treadmill was having a seizure at first. Then I realized it was just impending doom."

She also wondered: First the COVID plague. Are locusts next?

I told her they had already arrived.

"I should have learned to can. And sew," she sighed.

"Same . . . And forget about stocking up on TP. I mean, I could probably learn to live without if I have to."

"Soon, it won’t matter . . . dun Dun DUN!"

"Meanwhile, Dan is filling out a questionnaire about the earthquake because he is contributing to citizen science. Nerd," I said.

"Of course he is." Then she added, "I mean, I CAN out run an earthquake."

"I've got my mad First Aid skills!" I told her.

"This ain’t kickball, kids. The locusts are coming! #teamlocust"

"And a tornado hit in Washington," another friend chimed in.

The next day, it snowed in Boise. It was April 1. I wasn't surprised. Thus far, 2020 has been one big April Fool's Day joke.

"So . . . snow now?" I posted on Facebook.

"Did you expect anything less?" that same friend asked.

"Better than locusts, I guess."
 
On the last day of April, Boise had a crazy thunderstorm with hail, lightning strikes, trees falling down, and fences toppling over.

It makes me wonder what May 31 has in store.

A local musician thought he might have jinxed Idaho when he recorded a song at the Mount Borah Fault Line the day of the quake. The song is called "Volcano," and, yes, it's about an earthquake.

(DISCLAIMER: I didn't really believe the earthquake was ushering in the Apocalypse, but apparently some people did. I've heard stories . . . )

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