Okay, maybe not the stone age. 19th Century maybe? (this house was built between 1896 and 1903, there is some debate). Wait. The air-conditioner survived so, maybe not quite so far back.

Oh, and the water heater.

Ur…and…uh…well.

It’s been a long weekend. Lemme start over.

Y’all might recall about this time 2 years ago that God, or Thor, or Zeus, or Science…all depending on which mythos I’m required to buy into this month…did mightily smite our pecan tree. The lightning strike blew bark clean across the street into the neighbor’s yard, welded links on the chain-link fence, and had some effects on the house as well.

The tree has recovered nicely BTW…full bark covers the damage and it is as happy as ever.

Anyway, we were smote again last week. Tuesday a lighting storm left popped power-line fuses and dead transformers all over the city.

Several houses on our block took damage from one (or more) of the voltage surges.

Our internet/cable modem and router were destroyed. Fortunately the computers are wireless and thus not damaged. We lost all the wired in carbon-monoxide detectors. Timers died. Many light bulbs (CFL’s) gone as well.

Every breaker in the house that had a load popped, as well as many that didn’t.

The refrigerator, the air-conditioner, and the water heater (electronic controls) survived. Seems the breakers managed to protect induction loads.

Pretty much anything else that was on did not.

We lost all the food in the refrigerator and freezer as well (yuck).

Cable guys should fix their stuff today. I’ll have to go buy a new router…and a freezer full of food.

We’re figuring around $500 in damage. Unfortunately that’s about what my insurance deductible is, so no help from there.

Neighbors lost internet equipment, computers, and appliances in varying degrees, but at least nobody burned down.

I am reminded again, of how glad I am I installed the new service equipment. The old electrical system probably would have simply exploded.

CUAgain,
Daniel Meyer