Earthquake

Was napping early this afternoon, and when I got up, the Internet was abuzz with news of a 5.9 earthquake centered in Virginia, between DC and Richmond, and apparently felt by many here in Cincinnati, though not by me.

Apparently, the ground around my house must have some shock-absorbing sponginess about it, because this quake did not, as you can see, even knock the Charmin off the edge, even though it was perched precariously on the edge of the table. Nor was my collection of bobbleheads disturbed. Everything in the pictures is in exactly the same position it was in last night. Also, Pixel, my cat, who was inside at the time, did not seem to notice anything amiss.

Reading others' description of the quake made me feel a little like Monty Python's Ralph Melish (link to YouTube is audio only):
"June the 4th, 1973, was much like any other summer's day in Peterborough, and Ralph Melish, a file clerk at an insurance company, was on his way to work as usual when... (da dum!) Nothing happened! (dum dum da dum)"

I'm certainly not complaining about missing this event, mind you. After some flood damage to carpets in my house earlier this year, I could certainly do without an earthquake. ;-)

A party for Tony's birthday

Click image for more pics

A fun time was had at Casa hugh57, celebrating Tony's birthday. Steaks (with hot dogs for the kids) were grilled, followed by pumpkin and/or apple pie with ice cream.

Didn't get too many pictures (somewhat busy on the grill cooking steaks), but what I did get, here they are. :-)

Hometown Wildlife

Came home from the store yesterday and found my neighbors all gathered around my mailbox.

Turned out they were looking up the tree behind my mailbox, at this little guy who was trying to make it back to his nest, after apparently being knocked out of it by the recent storms.