More About the Lightning

So I’m still on this lightning storm we had last Thursday night that blew out our internet and satellite service.  The internet was fixed by Monday, but the satellite wasn’t back until Wednesday.  We still have three TVs that are being looked at, so David’s TV watching is still limited.  I think that’s what brought on the plague that he has now.

Here’s the tree as it looks from our porch.  At the base of the tree, just below all the stripped bark, is a hole about a foot and a half wide and a foot deep.

If you look closely at the middle of the picture, you can make out the place where the lightning struck.  It looks like a fuzzy black hole.

Here’s another picture of the same thing without overusing the zoom feature of the camera.  You can see all the white bark, and right above where it starts is where it was struck.

Here’s a hunk of wood that was blown off.  There are a few more chunks scattered underneath the tree.

I don’t know why I’m so obsessed with this tree and its lightning tattoos, but I have gone just a tad around the bend about it.

Maybe it’s because I know that lightning not only struck the tree, but the satellite dish, at which point the electricity traveled inside through the wiring.  Hence the blown-out TVs.  Three of them are probably goners, and we were told by our insurance agent that we should also check the furnace to make sure its something-or-other wasn’t fried as well.  We don’t want to turn it on in November and find out we have no heat, so we have to turn it on TODAY and see if it comes on.  The high today should be somewhere around 100 degrees with a heat index of about 110, and we’re going to run the heat for a little while.

I can tell you are jealous that you can’t be here for all the sweating and fainting.  I may have to treat myself to a diet coke from Sonic after this little episode.

I hope the old adage rings true that lightning never strikes the same place twice, because once is plenty for us.

Do have a lovely and lightning-free day!