Shook Me All Night Long

Well, not really all night. Actually, less than a minute is more accurate. It was quite exhilarating but an incredibly disturbing way to wake up. Not knowing what was happening, Mr. Weasel sat straight up in bed "WHAT THE HELL!" as the bed violently shook and the dressers rattled, reminiscent of a scene right out of the paranormal.

Clueless myself, "An earthquake?"sputtered from my mouth, as thoughts of Armageddon rattled through my brain. Stop laughing at me! I wasn't all the way awake & this kind of thing doesn't happen here! I listened for the sound of a snow plow possibly rumbling down the street as Mr. Weasel checked to make sure that Matilda The Hun wasn't scratching herself at the foot of the bed, even though neither of those things could rock the bed like this did.

It stopped as suddenly as it had started. I headed immediately to the best source for immediate information that I know, Twitter, and received confirmation that it was indeed an earthquake and had registered a 4.3 magnitude (It's now been adjusted to 3.8.).

It's not unheard of to have a n earthquake in IL. We do sit on a rather large, mostly inactive, fault line. A year or 2 back, there was a small one that was I awake for and still didn't feel. The neighbors did and it registered somewhere like 1.8. It made the news top story because it is such a rare event and I never would have known about it otherwise. So you can really stop pointing and laughing at me because I have never felt one before & it's not like I am vacationing in Los Angeles at the moment.

So, all in all, it made for a few minutes of excitement and with no damage involved, I can say it was kind of fun. Now to hope for aftershocks!

The Five Seasons

Most people usually break the year up into four seasons, namely Spring, Winter, Summer and Fall (or Autumn, if you like). Some in the great white north will joke about there only being 2 seasons; Winter and Construction.

I however contend that in this part of the country, we experience five, count 'em, five seasons. Consisting of Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter and Mean. What? You have never heard of Mean? Oh, you just never thought of it as a season. Well it is.

Mean is a season within a season. Mean begins in late January, reaches it height of strength by late February and continues while mixing with heavy amounts of frustration through March and usually into April until there is any sign of old man winter actually leaving town and giving way to a little bit of sunlight and warmth that will allow us to be able to leave our homes without consternation.

Mean is caused by months of freezing temperatures, bone chilling wind and constant snow shoveling in those conditions. Factor in cabin fever and being kept in close quarters with others for months on end, with daylight not rearing it's head until after 7am and leaving yet again by 4:30 pm.

*notice I say daylight and not sunlight. There is very limited amounts of sunlight in the winter here. The cloud cover keeps everything a very consistent gray.*

When all these conditions come together they create a season of Mean. This is the season where there is no hope of being given a warning when pulled over for a moving violation, when the bagger at the grocery store is going to pack a 5lb bag of sugar on top of your loaf of bread and make your eggs only worthy of scrambling. During mean, teachers will not be generous with extra credit or grading curves and you should certainly avoid the DMV at all costs.

There is only way out of the season of mean and that is through warmth and sunshine. This is the perfect time to take a vacation, if only pesky things like work, school and money weren't standing in your way.

All of you living below the Mason/Dixon may laugh at or get annoyed by 'snow birds' invading your towns during these months, but keep in mind that they are actually just refugees fleeing the ravages of Mean. They are the lucky ones that have found a way out of the tumultuous conditions that befall the north each and every year and don't forget the rest of us who are unable to escape from the turmoil and misery that is Mean.

If you would like to help with relief services to alleviate the suffering of seven many you can donate to me via the "Get Me The Heck Outta Here Fund" @ weaselmomma@yahoo.com