then the whole house was plunged into the dark and my connection with the outside world came to a sudden stop. for approximately 18 hours. We were having such a nice rainfall yesterday, it started around 4 p.m. and by 5 p.m. there was an inch in the rain gauge. I was standing out on the porch type area we have with my cup of tea and thoroughly enjoying the rain watching the lightening flash through the clouds. One really loud one clapped right overhead and there wasn't enough time between the flash and the crack for me to think....you know how lightning releases nitrogen into the air making it easy for plants to take it up, then they have a growth spurt because of it....I thought I had a growth spurt too but soon realized that I had jumped about an inch when from the loud crack of thunder. By 6 there was 2 inches in the rain gauge and it was coming down heavy enough to make me come inside and watch from the livingroom window. Just about 7 p.m. I was surfing through GardenStew when there was another even brighter flash of lightning, a hard tap on the side window like someone had thrown a small rock at it, a very loud clap of thunder and then the house went black. I called our electricity provider to report the outage and was told that there were so many problems because of the storm that repairs would not be complete until about 2 Thursday afternoon. Our oldest daughter and her boys are out of town this week so we packed up and moved into her apartment for the night. Power was restored around 1 this afternoon...lightning had struck the transformer in our backyard and to replace it meant cutting back a lot on a Hackberry and a Chinaberry tree so they could get to it. The only damage to any thing of ours, other than the trees being pretty funky looking after the tree service got through with them is the power supply on Randy's brand new laptop was fried. Had it less than a week so the warranty is covering a brand new one that should be here next week. But on the bright side, my yard received 3.125 inches of much needed rain, the plants also received several nitrogen boosts from the lightning and because they took out most of the really large Chinaberry tree out back the back garden will be receiving more much needed sunlight and none of these benefits cost us a penny.
Gosh, Toni, that sounds scary. Our storm started around 6 pm and continues through part of the night. Lots of thunder and lightning. We got two inches of rain in our rain guage. Our electricity was out from 1 pm to about 4:40 pm but not because of the storm which had not started yet. A tree killed by the drought last summer chose this time to fall over onto the electric lines and broke one of them. It was just down on the corner so of course our electric was out. I'm glad you are okay with exception of your tree and Randy's computer. dooley
Lightning can be beautiful, scary and dangerous all at the same time. Surge suppressors are great when the work......was Randy's computer plugged into a surge suppressor? At least nothing else was fried. Jerry
I'm so pleased for you toni! Congratulations on your much needed rain. I'm sorry for your power outage but at least it was just a computer, not your brains. I'm so looking forward to seeing your plants later on, when the effect of the nitrogen shows.
Toni, you are the only person I know who could see the advantages of that storm! I was wondering--hadn't seen a posting from you yet today and the TV said much of the Dallas/Ft. Worth area had power outages. So glad to hear you are fine (and your plants got a boost!)
Glad that you and Droopy got some rain. I actually was able to count the drops that I got yesterday... ten! When's my turn in the rain rotation?
Yay Toni! Rain! I'm so happy for you and your plants. I guess this growth means you will be outside snapping photos tomorrow? hint hint
All of our UPS (and each of our three PC's have one) are filtered and most of the power strips are filtered but since he just got the laptop a week ago and has been tinkering with it...i.e. putting Linux on it and getting all of that set up....he hadn't plugged it into one of those yet.
That was scary Toni. I had no idea how frightening lightning could be before I visited Malaysia, there it routinely struck the rooftops of neighbouring buildings. Back in Ireland it was always at a safe distance.
What a great story. I asked my husband about lightning and our laptops. He said that since we're in the middle of storm alley our house is equipped with a lightning surge protection. I'm happy to know more damage wasn't done to your house. Love that you're making the best of the situation.
If you want to experience a nasty thunderstorm, Malaysia is the best place! Just last week I had to replace my door bell after a nasty lightning strike just about 50 meters outside my house. The whole house shook and the door chime cover flew 20 feet from where it's other part was and part of it got fried! And just a couple of weeks ago, the mosque down the road had it's little dome like thing on top of it roof blown off.
Interesting story and yes storms can be very scary.A few seasons ago we had lightning strikes which blew phones off the walls and created 6ft holes in the road....over the underground cables.Sometimes phones can end up 30ft from the original positions.In our phone directory here there are many messages telling us not to use the landline during a storm, because of the lightning. We have lost a couple of TVs by lightning strikes, even when they were turned off, the strike comes down the aerial wires. Glad everyone is O.K. though...stay indoors when there is lightning about.
I agree...it does sound scary. I am a big chicken when it comes to lightning and thunder...I am glad things are being taken care of. We could use a little of that rain..
wow Toni! glad the laptop is getting replaced! I like that you see the positive and humor in the adventure! you remind me that my rain gauge needs to be replaced! I love comparing it to the weather channel!
