Lightning Strike!

Early Saturday morning, we were laying in bed, listening to a thunderstorm.  The kids were all still sleeping, until there was a flash of lightning...

CRACK!!!

It was the loudest crack of thunder I've ever heard.  The girls immediately came running from their bedroom and jumped into our bed.  The boys soon followed. 

After a bit, we all got up and we started looking outside to see what was hit.  Nothing seemed immediately apparent.  Eventually we discovered that our internet was not working.  Then I found that the phone was also out, even though the electricity was still on. 

After investigation, we found that our wireless router had gotten fried.  Luckily we did not have our laptop plugged in, so it was okay.  Looking at our surge protector under the kitchen desk, we saw that the top of the kitchen phone plug-in was popped off and the stuff inside had melted a bit.  However, the phones in our bedroom and basement both worked, so we at least still had phone service.

We got a new wireless router and it hooked up okay, but we still did not get any internet.  Living out here in the country, we get our internet through a radio antenna which is mounted on top of our house.  An internet tech support person finally came out here yesterday and checked everything.  The antenna was fine, but the surge protector mounted on the side of the house, through which the cable runs to get into the house, was fried.  He replaced that, and hooray, we have internet access again!  You don't realize how much you use it for all the little things, like checking the grocery ad and the library account and the bank account and so on, until you don't have it. 

But, if you call my home phone, you will not be able to leave a message right now, because our nice phone system with answering machine, and two additional cordless handsets, is out and we haven't replaced it yet. 

I am very thankful that no one got hurt, our house itself wasn't damaged, and nothing too expensive got fried.  And hey, on the bright side, I got a few extra things done without the internet around.  Like cleaning out a certain cabinet in our living room that contains some of the kids' toys and crafts, which was a total disaster.  I don't have all my energy back yet, so I couldn't take full advantage.  And wow, are there a lot of emails to catch up on!