Struck by Lightning

[bluelacedredhead]

Nope, we didn't go away for the weekend..
Our place got hit by Lightning on Friday at Lunchtime. Shook the house pretty good!! And blew the cover right off an electric fence charger...We just happened to be looking out the window when it happened. The horses were standing in their corral in the shade when it hit. I'm not sure which moved faster? The lightning strike or the horses?!!! I'm surprised my old mare didn't drop her foal right then and there, lol.

But fortunately, there was no damage other than the Box that connects the outside phone line to the house lines fried! But being a long weekend up here too (July 1st is Canada Day), the phone company didn't have anyone available to come fix it until Sunday Morning.
All of our equipment is fine though. After we had a modem blow 5 years ago from an electrical storm surge, I invested in a good surge protector for the phone line. One that protects not only the lines, but carries up to $10,000 insurance if there is damage to computers, tv, satellite dish and oh yeah the stupid telephone, haha.
They are under $100, and after Friday, I'm convinced that's the only reason we didn't sustain more damage.

Oh and the accompanying hail sure did a number on the garden. Tore holes in a lot of the bean plants. The Amish Paste tomatoes were laid down, but seem to be recovering now. They've only begun to blossom so there was no fruit to be damaged. I guess it's time I got the tent poles out of the shed and staked the plants. :o
But my Arkansas Travelers came through unscathed. I'm thinking it might have something to do with the fact that I hadn't weeded them as well right at the base of the plants so in fact they had better support from the Weeds.
Oh wait, maybe I should put this hint in the Lessons from the garden thread, ;)

[dirtundernails]

Hey, now you think like Fukuoka!
We flip the circuit breaker on the water pump in a lightning storm, and unplug the fence, as it was hit (or rather discharged) recently.
Glad everything is fine.

dun

[lovetogarden]

Glad the situation did not turn out worse.

[bluelacedredhead]

DUN, the really eerie part about the fence charger is, it WASN'T plugged in!! But it was still wired to the groundpost and a fence...
We are still trying to figure out exactly where the bolt hit?
But it turns out that we weren't the only property in the area that experienced problems. None of our immediate neighbours lost their power or phones? But 3 other places on a concession sideroad northeast of us did?? Too Weird
Thanks DUN & Lovetogarden for your thoughts. We know we were blessed to get through this with so few problems.

[Cliff Timmons]

Sure glad to hear you folks are OK.

That sounds spookie.

[chubbyduckie]

Good to hear you got through this ok, redhead. Lightning is something to be rrspected for sure; I am glad to hear your horses are doing alright.

I remember (before cordless phones, lol) our phone started ringing just once every time it lightninged; and then it just quit workiing.
The phone repairman told me to never talk on the phone during a storm, and showed me a big burnt spot on the back of the phone...he said we were lucky no one was on the phone at the time it hit. Yikes.

[flowerpower]

Blue, I am glad everyone is ok and there wasn't too much damage. I can totally sympathize. In 2001 our 1860's carriage barn was struck by lightning while I was at work. It burned to the ground and our other barn had some damage too.The weirdest thing is that it was the shortest thing in the area. There are several tall trees within 20ft of where it struck. It hit a 15ft high thick pine beam inside the barn-very strange.

[mrtomatoexpres]

hi blue up everybody is ok :)

[dirtundernails]

Ha- our electric fence blew out this time. Also a modem card in the laptop through the phone line. I wasn't home during the storm, and the neighbor called and said to make sure to disconnect the electric fence from the fence whenever we get thunderstorms like that again, that they just had a lamp blow up. Well, I said not to worry 'cause it just blows our fuse, got off the phone, and realized that the charger was not clicking anymore. Felt stupid.

dun

[bluelacedredhead]

DUN, glad to hear that you are okay as well. Well, except for your pride, LOL
I've spoken to 4 people just this week who have had their properties zapped in the past year. No more will I be running outside in an electrical storm just to check on things..Too many variables.

[finnteara]

Did you know that every time lighting hits the earth it fixes nitrogen into the soil? Did you know that the lighting you see is the light traveling back up the path it took down to the ground?

[Cliff Timmons]

Did you know that the human head weighs approx. 8 lbs?

Sorry, just kidding finnteara. That is interesting.
I love stuff like that.