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May 22, 2005

Boom in the night

Around 2am Saturday morning, Deb and I were "treated" to quite a light show. In fact, it woke us up from a dead sleep.

One of the lightning arresters on the utility pole along our back fence decided to explode in a very impressive flash, followed by sparks falling to the ground.

You know it's impressive when you're sound asleep and see the flash through your eyelids, wake, and see a few sparks falling to ground, all when I can't see a thing because I didn't have my contacts in.

This was enough to get Deb out of bed. I on the other hand rolled over and went back to sleep. I thought it had all been a dream until I went out the next day and saw the aftermath.

Circled is the blown lightning arrester and the jumper wire hanging in the air.



Here's a closeup of one of the parts that landed in our yard.



If you need another reason not to be out during an electrical storm, this could be it!

Update: When I reported this to Austin Energy, they claimed they had already come out and fixed it. I invited them to view the family blog site to show the work had not been done. Now it has:

Lesson: Blogs can even motivate bureaucracies!

Posted by Jim at May 22, 2005 2:59 PM

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Around 2am Saturday morning, Deb and I were "treated" to quite a light show. In fact, it woke us up from a dead sleep. One of the lightning arresters on the utility pole along our back fence decided to explode in a very impressive flash, followed by sparks falling to the ground. You know it's impressive when you're sound asleep and see the flash through your eyelids, wake, and see a few sparks falling to ground, all when I can't see a thing because I didn't have my contacts in. This was enough to get Deb out of bed. I on the other hand rolled over and went back to sleep. I thought it had all been a dream until I went out the next day and saw the aftermath. Circled is the blown lightning arrester and the jumper wire hanging in the air.


Here's a closeup of one of the parts that landed in our yard.


If you need another reason not to be out during an electrical storm, this could be it! Update: When I reported this to Austin Energy, they claimed they had already come out and fixed it. I invited them to view the family blog site to show the work had not been done. Now it has: Lesson: Blogs can even motivate bureaucracies!