Weekend
This weekend was great! Friday I just beat the rain home and sat on the porch and read a book ’till a friend came over to drop off some community information stuff, and dropped off some chocolate chip cookies his wife had made. Well, since it’s a mortal sin to consume this kind of cookie without milk (and I had none), I made a trip to the grocery and loaded up on stuff and picked up some milk. I then enjoyed the porch and milk & cookies and my Friday night radio show. It was a really nice evening. Saturday, I took the dogs to the vet, mowed the yard and cleaned up a lot of the yard stuff… all before noon! After that, I went to Cookeville and hung out with a bunch of cool folks at a wine tasting. The host, one Mr. Kevin O’Mara, did and excellent job of explaining the differences both blatant and subtle in the different wines. It was an extremely enjoyable educational experience! After that, there were bratwursts grilled and folks hanging out on the deck just chillin’. Sunday, I was able to meet some new folks that I’ve heard quite a bit about but never meet in person, which was pretty cool. I now have some faces, voices and personalities to go with the names. Sunday evening I was able to talk to Scott who I haven’t seen in a while, and they are all doing well. I also ordered a mesh motorcycle jacket and pants so I can ride without being quite so paranoid about not having the proper protection, and still not be soaking wet when I get to where I’m going. Hopefully that stuff will be in this week and I’ll post some pictures of it.
Lightning
Last night there was another storm at the house. Last weeks Friday night storm left me and most of the neighborhood without power for about 16 hours. I also worked a 16 hour shift Friday night, but last night the lights were only out for a couple of hours. When the power was restored, I realized that several breakers had tripped and when I turned the first one on, it spit fire and blew smoke all over. All told I had 5 GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) outlets get toasted. Those puppies are $13 each! I got all but one replaced last night and so far I don’t think any significant equipment is damaged. The only one left is in the basement, so the only piece of equipment left in question is the dehumidifier. I was on the porch when the big lightning strike hit somewhere near. I was leaning around the post filling the dog’s water bowl with gutter runoff when it struck and I ended up on my knees holding my head and my ears were ringing, so I’m guessing it was pretty close. I hope to look around today and see if I can see any tree that it struck. Overall, it was a pretty scary incident. I’m just really glad that it only burned outlets and not any of my stuff!