The Apocalypse on My Street

So...last night we had a freak hail storm and lightning strike on my street, one house down.

My wife and I were putting our son to sleep, when lightning blasted a tree next door and shattered it into a million pieces. The sound of the explosion was deafening, and a series of blue sparks lit up the whole house before we were plunged into total darkness. I ran outside and saw that the downed tree also brought down electric lines all across the streets. One electric pole (pictured) was swaying in the breeze, sparking.

And wouldn't you know it, we didn't get power back till a few hours ago. And when we did, my desktop computer, three television sets, two DVD players, one laserdisc player, our microwave oven and Joel's air machine were all toast. Completely wasted. Dead in the water. Ergh!

I'll be back to blogging as soon as possible, but I think I'm going to be spending some one-on-one time with my homeowners' insurance company tomorrow morning!