Although there is a lot going on with the San Jose Earthquakes, there was also some moving and shaking nearby my house early this morning. After a little flurry of quakes in December, 2006, all has been quiet on the Western Front. Last night at 4:42 a.m., though, we got a pretty good jolt. I felt the rumbling for close to ten seconds, and I could hear wine glasses in a hanging rack pinging against each other for another five to ten seconds.
I happened to be awake at the time of the quake, because just about ten minutes earlier my cat Nicholas had thrown up some grass he had eaten earlier and then demanded an early breakfast. This temblor was significantly longer and stronger than the previous ones. It turned out to be a 4.2, whereas the previous ones had been in the 3.5 – 3.7 range. Also, the epicenter was much closer to our house. In the Google map I just linked to, my house is just off the left of the map.
The epicenter was along Butters Drive, which is part of my most common bike route up and over the hills. The Oakland Naturfreunde clubhouse is right at the epicenter. Hopefully, they didn’t suffer any damage.