I don't know if I ever mentioned it in this space or not but a couple of years ago I got hit by lightning while standing in my garage door watching a thunderstorm move through. Well, I didn't actually get struck by a direct hit since I am still alive and whole, but I was close enough that I got knocked back about 10 feet and was in momentary shock to the point that The Wife called 911. The final damage assessment was two burn marks running parallel down my arm where I had been leaning against the garage door rails.

What evidently happened was that the basketball goal post or one of the vehicles in the driveway, or the house itself had been hit and the current was sufficient to leap to the metal door rails, giving me a good jolt. I was stunned and immediately assumed I had been hit. Having seen photographs of people who had been hit by lightning or were electrocuted, I quickly surmised that I was probably going to die or be permanently crippled from the wound. And you know what? Your life does flash by when you think your demise is imminent.

I regained my senses pretty quick and since I wasn't on fire or smoldering and there was no gaping exit wound where the current left my body, I knew I was OK. Unfortunately, the Wife had already called 911. Man, it is next to impossible to get those 911 guys to go away without some meat in the wagon.

It was the brightest flash of light and loudest boom I have ever seen and heard--until the other day when severe thunderstorms moved through the area. The storm had passed through and the rains had stopped but the dog was still a bit skittish so I had to coax her out into the yard by going out myself. We were standing outside watching the clouds break up to the west when flash! boom! then another boom! sent us both back into the garage like a couple of cartoon characters fighting to get through the door first. Luckily I wasn't leaning on the BBQ pit or I'd probably been knocked on my ass.

The second boom was the power transformer on the utility pole. Though I survived unscarred this time, there are casualties. The tally so far is a battery backup unit for my router and DSL modem, my mail server/backup web server (hopefully just the power supply fried), and a network switch, which I just today finally figured out was bad.

1. Trench05/26/2007 05:33:47 AM
Homepage: http://crimene.ws

Did you get super powers?

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