almost got a bit of a shock....

I was at my parents house, my dad was outside mowing the lawn..... he was just finishing up as some storm clouds were moving in.... the weather was so humid outside earlier, and he wanted to get the lawn mowed before it would rain again..... he stopped a couple of times because he couldnt handle the humidity.... he had a patch to finish up, but then it started to cloud up, so he decided he better finish before it did something..... anyways, I was outside in the driveway looking at the clouds rolling in....... they were a bit dark, but I thought they were just mostly rain clouds.... dad just finished and pushed the mower in the carport...... he made the comment that it looks like he finished just in time, at that moment I felt a couple sprinkles of rain...... and we went up onto the front porch to watch the rain start to come down. I was sitting on the steps, and he was in a chair.....

the rain then decided to come down a bit harder.... then we saw some lightning and a clap of thunder which was pretty loud, so it was kind of close...... then a bit after that there was a flash and a large crack of noise, like an explosion going off....... I fell back onto the porch floor, just out of shock...... that lightning strike was quite close....... I saw falling leaves, which i thought came from one of the taller maple trees out front...... then I thought man, I am going to go in the house where I feel a bit safer, dad followed as well...... the tv was on inside and the screen was multicoloured... I turned the tv on in the kitchen and it was the exact same.. we figured it was probably the cable company that is having problems..... but then I went into the bedroom to see the computer's screen all messed up as well....... then we noticed the phone lines were out, but the power was still on...... there was no real power surge either, because the digital clocks in the house were not flashing.....

dad went into the bedroom where our old dog sleeps.. he was in there earlier sleeping, but when dad went to check on him, he was standing straight up...... he was probably startled..... he has trouble hearing, but I dont think he had trouble hearing that.

dad went over to the neighbours house to see if their phones were out, but theirs werent, so he called to see what was up with his phone, as he was outside looking around the house, he noticed that the house was struck....... he told me when he came back in...... I went out the back door to the porch there, and could smell something burning..... I guess our old elm tree was struck by lightning, there was bark and pieces of tree everywhere on the porch...... and along the side of the house, which is closest to the tree, the board was splintered and the boards surrounding nails along that side were blackened..... damn, I knew that was a close strike, but I didnt think it was that close.... I was glad I wasnt out on that porch or at the picnic table which I was sitting on a few moments earlier....... my dad was also finishing up the lawn right next to that elm tree just seconds earlier as well...... I guess someone was lookin out for us today. and we were lucky thats all that happened to the house..... no fire, no power outage...... just a bit strange, though...... the phone line is still out though....

 

when CRT screens come in contact with a magnetic field, it causes the phosphorus in the sreen to change fucked up colors. it is permanent as far as i know but i could be wrong. try hitting the degauss button on the pc monitor if you have one.

 

we unplugged everything.......... all the tvs and the computer, and waited for a few minutes to plug them back in...... the colours went back to normal


when I tried to plug them back in though, there was a huge spark that came from the outlets

 

Wow... God.. you almost died! Your dad almost died.. I think someone was indeed looking out for both of you. I would have had a heart attack after hearing that noise!! I'm so scared of storms...

 

Glad to see you and your dad are safe and sound Mr. Crappie.

one question though........why werent you out helping your dad mow the lawn?? I know that there was only one lawn mower and all but really the humidity was getting to him and all. Its just a question not being shitty by any means.

 

hmm good question. I was just visiting....... plus he has no job, he has to do things around the house to keep him occupied.

 

I got ya, i was just thinking that if that were my dad, i would have offered to help is all. wasnt being a bitch.

and if he doesnt work then he probably does need to keep himself busy.. thankfully niether one of you got hurt.

 

Welcome to my club as i lost quite a few ham radio equipment to lightning . number 2 your dad is lucky he could been struck down. and 3 i live in the world capital of lightning and every year quite a few bite the dust by them. i still love lightning storms .

 

pffft something was looking out for the elm tree. i assume it died right?

 

Wow, I've never been that close to lightening and I never want to be.

 

I have many times . and it does get in your nerves when a real close hits.

 

Well to be extra safe. Next time there's lightening stand next to the elm. I'm sure lightening wouldn't strike it TWICE.

 

if something was looking out for you, why did it hurl a bolt of lightning at your tree?

 

That is some scary shit. I came really close once when i was about 7.

 

It's true when you think about it... poor tree! lol but better the tree than you or your dad, or both.

 

Wow,

That must have been an experience! Lightning is a strange phenomena. It actually starts from the ground and travels up to the sky. The bolt actually started from the tree... A pointless comment but anyz