Lightning

Here's one of the differences for me between an electrical storm with some lightning flying around and an actual lightning strike. When there's some lightning and thunder crackling nearby, I'll say, "Whoa, did you hear that?" When there's an actual strike, I'll yell, "HOLY #@&!"

It was the latter last night with our nightly rainstorm moving in. There was a lot of lightning with it anyway, and I woke up to some crackling thunder and could hear the rain. There was a lot of electricity in the air.

Then all of sudden, a flash of light and BOOM! It was 1:30 a.m., and the Beilue household in the Paramount neighborhood was wide awake. The poor dog still might need some counseling. That strike sounded like it hit right in the alley, maybe a transformer or a pole. I'm sure everyone within five blocks thought it hit right behind them.

I'm skittish about lightning for good reason. I've talked to too many people, read too many stories, and knew of too many who've encountered lightning. Scary stuff.

We immediately lost power. So did everyone else that we could see. We called Excel and got a recording that power should be restored in about an hour. I woke up a little after 5 a.m., and the wife was already fretting about how she was going to go to school without electricity. In other words, no hair dryer. I started thinking that I really didn't need power at all to get ready.

Nevertheless, by 5:30 a.m., just as she was getting up, lo and behold, there was light. And the dog had begun to breathe normally.

That's the second storm-related power outage in a week. Last Monday night, we were without power for three hours, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. As we all know, we don't really miss something until forced to do without. I need to send a thank you note to Thomas Edison.