Jumpin’ Jehosaphat, did you feel that earthquake Friday morning? It was a most frightening and misunderstood phenomenon.

Recently I commented on heavy rains that caused flooding and high winds with perhaps some circular rotation in the atmosphere that tore up trees and damaged structures. However, the rumbling and rolling activity Friday caused fright of the unknown at my house.

We have had minor earthquake disturbances before. This latest rumble was immense in my opinion. It came out of Pawnee, Oklahoma, at a level of 5.6 on the Richter scale and frightened the “who-ha” out of me in less than a second. I thought someone had broken into my house and was shoving my bed back and forth. Never would I have thought of a natural disturbance. I thought I was the victim of a manmade home invasion. I did not think my house would collapse around me, I thought someone was invading it.

When the shaking stopped, I went to the front door and looked out; thinking perhaps the brick homes of Pat Hunnell and the Larry Larsen family across the street had collapsed. Everything looked normal. The home of the Married Daughter to the south did not show any damage. Her dogs were not barking, although some in the neighborhood actually were howling.

I thought about aftershocks and wondered how soon they might arrive. I had never thought about such a thing. I went to the computer to check and almost immediately got sidetracked by social media reports. Ah-ha! We were safe.

There were pictures of plastic lawn furniture tipped over and a message that said, “We will rebuild.” Posts about the earthquake came from friends all over the midwestern map. I decided Peabody dodged another bullet. I thought about going back to bed, but the whole thing had frightened me so much that I knew I was up for the day.

I know tornados are quirky and often happen at night when we can see nothing. They rip through neighborhoods of sleeping Kansans with little or no warning. However, I have lived with that possibility for nearly 50 years. I have my basement prepared and I have a bag of additional needed items to grab if it appears that type of storm is on the way. While I have never actually experienced one, I understand the watches and warnings. I have heard the wind, gusts of rain, and pounding hail. I know when something like that is upon us and I know where to go.

Trying to escape rolling furniture, find a way to stand up, and think “earthquake” all in a few seconds is foreign to me. I am not too sure this old lady is ready to learn to defend herself against earthquakes. The debate over fracking as the cause is building steam. By the same token, earthquakes happen all over the world without fracking. I am not knowledgeable enough to join in that discussion.

Quite frankly, I would just rather not go through another one of those events. Ever.

—SUSAN MARSHALL