I Got Lucky

My friends L&D live in Eureka, and I have not been able to reach them by telephone. So today I decided to drive up there to make sure everything was all right. When I got there, it was immediately obvious that they were gone for the weekend (mail in the mailbox, car gone, etc.), so I decided I should check on the cats and make sure there wasn't anything (like a gas leak) that needed immediate attention. Using the spare key, I let myself in and looked around.

First and foremost, I located all three cats, and they were safe and healthy, their normal selves. They had food and clean water and were fine. There were no gas leaks, the power was on, and there seemed to be no immediate danger to anyone.

While there was no significant damage, most every room in the house was a jumble of fallen and broken items. In the dining room (above right; click on the picture to enlarge it), a curio shelf had collapsed, taking numerous china pieces to their doom. The kitchen was a mess of broken glass, and the bathroom had toiletries all over the place. But the TV was upright, and so were all the stereo components, and even the Christmas tree!

I went upstairs, where they have two rooms that are mostly just used for storage. One of them was a mess, but it's always a mess, and we won't go into that. :) The other, however, looked like a very selective miniature tornado had visited it (left.) A big filing cabinet had fallen over and spilled its contents, and a number of books had fallen off bookshelves. However, most of the books were still in their proper places, evidently undisturbed.

All throughout the house, almost every cabinet door, closet door, or room door that could be open was open. To my mind, this seems to defy the randomness of the event. I can see why the shaking would swing closed doors open, but why would at least some of them not then swing shut again?

Anyway, I took some pictures and otherwise left the mess alone. They may want to document the state of the place for insurance purposes, and/or just see what the aftermath of a 6.5 looks like. Furthermore, it wouldn't be up to me to decide what is garbage and what should be kept for possible repair. I decided that the best course of action was to leave a message about the condition, offer my cleanup help when they want it, and otherwise leave things as they were.