Monday, September 24, 2007

Lightning Strikes Close To Home

Ok.  Today we’ve been having some serious lightning storms on and off and since I do practice what I preach, I believe I was spared something drastic earlier.

I was online, writing my last post, when I started to hear the thunder getting too close.  Now, I was done with that final post.  I had already submitted the entry and was just going through it to ensure everything was spelled correctly and that it read well as it is a paid ad.  I had forgotten to add a link and was just correcting that, had done so and was submitting my updated version when I lost my satellite connection to the internet. 

Anyway, I shut everything down, turned off anything that used electricity and had just walked to the bedroom to console the kitty and the stray.  (No way was I letting the stray sit out in this weather no matter what she thought about being inside.) I was looking out the window as I was walking and as I was doing so, I saw a flash of light, a LOUD crack and, AND a spark and then a ball of electricity right where my satellite dishes are....all at the exact same moment.

The first thing I did was fling myself to the ground, flat.  Call it a reflex from either military days or too much time in the cities but whenever I hear a loud noise like that one?  I get as low as possible.  I mean, this spark and ball of electricity sizzled and snapped...right outside my window.  That?  Is very unsettling.

Eventually I passed out and slept for three hours and got up about a half an hour ago.  I turned things back on, came back online and saw that my previous post was half gone.  Half of it got eaten up somehow.  I have NO idea how the hell that happened but I had to re-write the last four paragraphs.  That is just weird to me.

Anyway, the point of this entry is, seriously kids, I don’t joke around when it comes to lightning and advice.  Please, when you are experiencing a lightning storm, please turn things off.  It can travel through pipes and lines and come right in to your house.  Please stay away from windows.  Please do not dance around in it outside.  It can and it will strike.

A lot of people think, “Oh, only like 100 people a year die from lightning strikes.” Yes, that may be so.  But think of all of those who got struck and lived.  Those people suffer for the rest of their lives.  Think of all the appliances that can get ruined/destroyed.  Think of all those house fires that get started because of it.

The satellite dishes in my back yard have grounding wires, thank God, and that is probably what saved everything including the fact that there was nothing on for the lightning to feed on further.  It can happen.  That shit just struck right outside my window today.  I don’t think it was a direct hit.  I think what happened is that the lightning struck about 20 feet away, rode down the power lines and jumped to the satellite dishes outside.  Direct hit or not, that was just too damn close for me.

When you see something like that, not 10 feet out your window, you start to realize just how serious lightning can be.  So, take it from me, okay kids?  I would not steer you wrong when it comes to this.

And can anyone explain how half my blog entry just up and disappeared?