When it rains, it pours
Just to recap, since getting back from vacation a few weeks ago:
-- Our dog died;
-- I got a separated shoulder; and
-- Gretchen got pinkeye and a bad cold.
They say things come in threes, so we figured our bad luck had passed--or at least that's what we thought until Tuesday night.
I was on a business trip to Philadelphia that night, and Gretchen called to tell me she was freaked out. She had been giving Mädchen her evening bath when there was an enormous flash of lightning and crack of thunder, at which point the power went out instantly. (The severe storms last week were followed by record heat, and a cold front was bringing in another round of bad storms.) She quickly got Mädchen out of the bath, only to realize that there were a bunch of fire engines two doors down from our house because a live electrical wire had come down in our neighbor's yard. By then it became apparent that the lightning had actually struck on our street. Not only was our power out, but so was our phone line. Our neighbor across the street came over and told Gretchen that his circuit box had literally blown out of his wall and wanted to know if ours had, too (luckily it hadn't).
By yesterday the electric company had replaced the blown-out transformers on our street and we finally got our power back around mid-day (but only after having to flip every circuit in our house first). There was just one big problem--our brand new air conditioner wasn't working (neither was our fiber optic phone/internet/cable, but that was lower priority). The A/C repairman came out to look at it and told us the electrical surge from the lightning strike had basically fried (literally) the inside of our furnace, and it probably wouldn't be until next week (and thousands of dollars) that it could be repaired. So, with a weekend of 90+ degrees and a return of humidity in the forecast, we have to decide if we want to tough it out or move somewhere cooler. (Oh, and of course our phone/internet/cable system is still out.) Ugh...
Knock on wood, we haven't found much other damage (yet), although in our dining room we have a little speaker dock for our iPod, and I just happened to look at the plug and noticed that the plastic casing around the plug had been blown off and the whole thing looked scorched, so now we're wondering if maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to have an electrician come in and make sure there isn't anything else we should be worried about.
Happy days!
-- Our dog died;
-- I got a separated shoulder; and
-- Gretchen got pinkeye and a bad cold.
They say things come in threes, so we figured our bad luck had passed--or at least that's what we thought until Tuesday night.
I was on a business trip to Philadelphia that night, and Gretchen called to tell me she was freaked out. She had been giving Mädchen her evening bath when there was an enormous flash of lightning and crack of thunder, at which point the power went out instantly. (The severe storms last week were followed by record heat, and a cold front was bringing in another round of bad storms.) She quickly got Mädchen out of the bath, only to realize that there were a bunch of fire engines two doors down from our house because a live electrical wire had come down in our neighbor's yard. By then it became apparent that the lightning had actually struck on our street. Not only was our power out, but so was our phone line. Our neighbor across the street came over and told Gretchen that his circuit box had literally blown out of his wall and wanted to know if ours had, too (luckily it hadn't).
By yesterday the electric company had replaced the blown-out transformers on our street and we finally got our power back around mid-day (but only after having to flip every circuit in our house first). There was just one big problem--our brand new air conditioner wasn't working (neither was our fiber optic phone/internet/cable, but that was lower priority). The A/C repairman came out to look at it and told us the electrical surge from the lightning strike had basically fried (literally) the inside of our furnace, and it probably wouldn't be until next week (and thousands of dollars) that it could be repaired. So, with a weekend of 90+ degrees and a return of humidity in the forecast, we have to decide if we want to tough it out or move somewhere cooler. (Oh, and of course our phone/internet/cable system is still out.) Ugh...
Knock on wood, we haven't found much other damage (yet), although in our dining room we have a little speaker dock for our iPod, and I just happened to look at the plug and noticed that the plastic casing around the plug had been blown off and the whole thing looked scorched, so now we're wondering if maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to have an electrician come in and make sure there isn't anything else we should be worried about.
Happy days!
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