We lived on Circle Dr in the Felton Grove. I’d just gotten home from work. My son was playing at his friends house a couple of doors down from us. Suddenly everything started shaking. The refrigerator door flew open and things were flying off the shelves.

Gloria, My husband’s pet South American toad and her terrarium crashed to the floor. My son down the street barely missed having a large shelving unit fall on him.

My husband had been in the bicycle shop in Scotts Valley. All those wheels and metal things hanging from the ceiling made a lot of noise as they crashed around over head.

Gloria didn’t make it. In my effort to save her and keep her warm, I put her in a large pan with a little water and a flat rock to sit on. I folded the top down over the burners of my 1930’s stove with the burners turned off. I then set 2 big bricks on top and put Gloria’s pan on top of the bricks. I turned the oven on as low as it could go. I thought this would keep her warm and safe.

I won’t detail the outcome, but it didn’t work. Heat radiates more than I thought.