Accidentally Angela

Rainbow from another storm

Wow! Did we have a storm tonight….some of the biggest lightning strikes I’ve ever seen, and I have seen a bunch! We got lots of needed rain, but it came down very fast and hard, so not much time for soaking I’m afraid. Oh well, we are in a drought in the South, so hopefully it will help.

I have always been fascinated by storms. When I was a child we apparently lived in some sort of special spot. Special to lightning that is. I think the total count of lightning strikes to the house was 12 or 13. Once it knocked our 7 bricks from the outside, blew out an outlet in my grandmother’s room, blowing up her little lamp as well, then ricocheted somehow into the toilet, which was cracked.  That was a very surreal experience. I think I was about 6 or 7 at the time. The boom from the strike was so loud we couldn’t hear for a while. Mom and Dad could smell something like a weird burning scent, and after about 15 minutes of searching, Daddy found a nice big hole in the back of the house. We didn’t have power for a couple of days while the electrician repaired the damage. It took a few more days for a brickmason to fix the hole, but soon the house was good as new, waiting for the next storm…

Then there was the time that lightning managed to charge the bolts on our kitchen door just as my sister was trying to unlatch it to let the dog in. She was hanging there for a while it seemed, pinned by the electrical charge from lightning that was running our main eletrical lines outside the house, the ones that come from your meter box. The lightning landed there that day, but just glanced off we were later told. Oh yeah, and my sister? She suddenly fell to her knees, a little shaken but unbelievably unhurt.  And our dog was fine too.

When I was in my early 20′s, another storm blew up our way and brought a small twister with it. It didn’t touch the house, just pulled the basketball goal out of the ground and chunked it at me. I was trying to put out a small fire that had started outside, and was very happy said ball goal missed me. The storm’s aim was off that day . I didn’t get to pull a Dorothy Gayle either and check out Oz, but maybe one day!

I could go on for several more stories, but I’m sure you get the idea. So yeah, I have a little storm experience, and today just added another tale to the list. As we were closing our office, a fairly big storm started pelting rain in the parking lot, with leaves and trash swirling everywhere. Then the lightning started, big bright bolts with loud, close thunder right behind. The building slightly shook a couple of times, then the surge protector in the back office started beeping at us, letting us know it was a good thing we had shut down the equipment and were headed out the door. So no umbrella, (after it all it was hot and sunny this morning, why would I need an umbrella?) I dash to my car as fast as I can. Home again, home again, jiggety jig!

The lightning seemed to still be close as I headed up the road to go home. It would strike and I would hear thunder immediately, indicating the storm was right on top of me. I was feeling glad to be in my car with rubber tires on the ground under me when suddenly to my left…..BOOM! Lightning strikes! BOOM! It strikes again, this time hitting a transformer off to my left, and I don’t see how anything could be left of it! Quite a little sizzle and fizz going on there too, but it was far enough away that it didn’t touch my car and I hit the gas and kept heading home. Whew!

So, I hope your evening was a little quieter and more relaxing. But then again, I do like explosions, and a little entertainment never hurt anyone! I think mother nature was just putting on a great big show for me.  Let me know if you ever make it to Oz, and I will be sure to do the same!

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