I always imagined that, in an emergency, I’d grab the dog under one arm and Baguette under the other and make a leaping dash for safety.
Turns out that, in spite of how much I love her, I’ll leave the dog.
I took one look at Wicket, sitting calmly on Baguette’s plush lion chair, and sprinted for the bedroom and my girl–who was still asleep, and therefore not at all concerned. (Although this morning she needed her pacifier for the first time in months, so maybe she did feel it a bit.)
Fortunately, this wasn’t an emergency. Yes, we had an earthquake, but not one that will in any way disable the area. At this point, the USGS is saying it was 4.4 on the Richter Scale, and that means this wasn’t the Northridge quake, not by a long shot. And Wicket is totally blase about earthquakes; she’s not one of those dogs that goes tearing for the exit. (In fact, she followed me into the bedroom at nothing faster than her usual trot.) I’m not sure if that’s good for her or bad, but it does mean we don’t have to worry about her getting lost.
But if you want to know, in great detail, how you might stock up on disaster supplies, here are a few posts:
The last earthquake you could really feel here came while Pumpkin was potty training (it was the Easter quake centered down near Tecate… I can’t remember which year, but if Pumpkin was ~3, I guess 2010…)
She was sitting on her little potty when the quake hit, and I just picked her up and took her out to the backyard, with no pants on. She still remembers that, although at this point, she may just remember telling the story. She thought the earthquake was fun at the time.
I was home on maternity leave, before Baguette was born. That’s when I learned that Wicket is not at all fazed by earthquakes. She and I were sitting on the couch, and I stood up and carried her while I stood in the hall doorway. Her only reaction was to wake up and look at me as if to say, “Why are we over here?”
I know, I know, Earthquake Best Practices is no longer to stand in the doorway. But the nearest table was also right by some windows, and that doorway offers no falling object hazards. Plus I’m really not sure I could have gotten under a table at that point in my pregnancy.