Flash, Kaboom, Sizzle

Last Saturday night we had an incredible thunder and lightning storm. It was very intense and the lightning was so frequent it felt like a nonstop strobe light was in the house.  At one point, just before midnight, there was a brilliant flash followed simultaneously by a deafening clap of thunder. Craig was asleep and immediately leapt out of his chair. I nearly over-turned the computer table, it scared me so badly. We ran upstairs to check on the girls, Lauren was hysterical, sitting in bed with her pillow wrapped around her ears. Livie was still sound asleep.

Not long after, I opened our garage door a crack so the cat could have some shelter during the night and I smelled smoke. Thick in the air, but no idea where it was coming from. I ran upstairs to tell Craig, who, at this point was snuggled cozily into bed and didn’t want to get back out. After a thorough check of our house, including the attic, Craig ventured outside in the pouring rain to find smoke billowing out of our darling neighbor’s A/C units.

I called her and asked her if everything was okay over there while Craig was calling 911. They must have had several calls because it took a while for them to arrive. Craig put the fire out with the hose. I honestly think if he hadn’t, it would have spread to the wiring throughout her house. The fire department arrived, three trucks and two squad cars. They checked everything and gave our neighbor the all clear. She spent the night at our house just to be on the safe side.

The next morning, after I walked back next door with her, we were standing in her kitchen and I noticed a giant strip of exposed wood traveling the full length of one of the trees in her backyard. We had originally thought that the lightning had struck the a/c units, but in fact, it struck the tree out back and traveled to her her house… and unfortunately, ours too. We discovered that morning, that our beloved flat screen hadn’t survived the storm. Things could have been WAY worse. Our neighbor is so lucky that the fire stopped at the outside wiring to the house and didn’t continue burning inside.

As you can see, the tree is right on the other side of our fence.

So long, sweet Sams*ng. You were awesome for the one short year we had you. (Craig replaced it with a new one that afternoon. We are hoping it can be serviced but I think she may be a goner.)