Saturday, September 3, 2016

Wichita Falls Prairie Dog Town Survives 5.6 Oklahoma Earthquake

On my way to ALDI today I decided to check in on my neighborhood Prairie Dog Town.

I was concerned that this morning's earthquake might have left the residents of Prairie Dog Town all discombobulated from the unusual shaking.

Upon arrival the Prairie Dogs seemed perfectly happy. Brother and sister, Theo and Ruby, quickly greeted me with their telltale welcoming chirp, soon joined by their big brother, David, who did no chirping.

David is a bit shy. He popped up above ground to see who is siblings were chirping to and then quickly headed back underground, as documented below by my excellent photographic skills.


Then morning's earthquake shook shortly after 7. I was walking toward my kitchen to make coffee when I began to feel a bit wobbly. The wobbly feeling did not last long.

I did not realize I'd been shook by an earthquake til I was informed about such via the news.

A 5.6 shaker which was felt as far north as Nebraska and south into Texas, epicentered near Pawnee, Oklahoma.

I was shaken by many earthquakes during the years I lived on the West Coast. The West Coast earthquakes were extremely LOUD. The first thing that startles one during a West Coast earthquake is the LOUD thundering noise, and then you realize you are shaking and everything around you is moving, trees swaying, windows popping.

Today's earthquake, as experienced in Wichita Falls, was eerily quiet, with the earth moving in total silent mode.

Methinks a frackquake is a different type quake than an earthquake caused when Mother Nature decides to adjust one of her underground fault lines, hence the eerie quiet. If a frackquake is not caused by tectonic plates moving, what causes the frackquakes?

A 5.6 level quake starts to get into the magnitude zone that can cause actual damage. Was this the BIG ONE? Or is a BIGGER ONE coming? What level of earthquake was the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium designed to handle? Or other Texas structures. Like giant highway flyover exchanges, such as Fort Worth's Mixmaster, or the High Five in Dallas.

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