Monday, August 1, 2011

Is Your House on Fire?

Just to prove the point that you never really know what the f$ck is going to happen…

We had just finished dinner last night at my mom and dad’s house (brats, grilled corn, fresh watermelon, rolled sponge cake with whipped cream and almonds – my mama can COOK!). I was laying on my stomach on the floor under the ceiling fan trying to get Emma to rub my feet. Sam walked in the room to tell us about a text he had just gotten. He wanted to know if we should be concerned:

P1100619

Call me crazy, but why, yes, I did find this rather concerning.

A storm had just rolled through the area and we could tell there had likely been some local strikes. I am a freak about lightening, it unnerves me and freaks me out. So much so that everything thinks it’s really funny. In fact, during dinner, Sam stood behind me with his camera making the flash go off so I would thinking it was flashes of lightening. It worked because I said, “That’s it! I’m going inside. This is dangerous.”

Anyway, we only live about 3 miles from my parent’s house, so we hightailed it out of there, not knowing if our house or dog or guinea pig was fried to a crisp. It was a pretty long and silent five minute drive. Not knowing if your house is in flames kind of stinks.

We drove down the street to find this:

firetruck

This is our next door neighbor’s house. Lightening struck his tree and it went up in flames. Our house looked unscathed.

We got inside to find everything intact except….the power supply was smoking and a fried. Like an egg. It actually smelled burned. The cable modem too. Also the DVR and the home phone. I am praying that my hard drive has not been affected. We have a pretty good back up system (Ken is an IT pro), but we will not know the extent until our new power supply comes in. The thought of losing all of my pictures makes me sick and if they are still safe I will do something with them immediately. You cannot mess with memories.

computer

RIP computer

This week I will start a new obsessive habit because I have no internet and am in taper mode. Perhaps crocheting or croquet.

Anyway, all this to say I will be out of commission a bit. Try not to miss me too much. Right now I am at Starbucks swatting flies and listening to the barista yell out, “One venti triple shot piece of sugary expensive crap!” while I drink my tall coffee.

Happy Monday.

46 comments:

  1. Well, holy crap! Very glad it was no worse than that. Why just a new power supply? Take the old drive to a recovery place, and get a new computer. Who knows what else is wrong with the old one?

    And don't think this lets you off the hook for regular blog updates. You'll just have to suffer the Starbucks ordeal with their crappy coffee. Us bloggers make these sacrifices for our fans, and boy, do you ever have a lot of fans to keep happy.

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  2. oh my, thats not good! glad its nothing too too serious. Maybe nows the time to learn how to play suduko?? I never learned. haha.

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  3. "crocheting or croquet" - odd that you would choose a new obsessive habit where the very items required for said habit can also be used as weapons...

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  4. This just happened to us a month ago! The lightning strike took out our satellite dish, receiver box, washer, dryer, and dish washer! Somehow the computer survived!

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  5. Scary! So glad that your home remained safe!

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  6. Thank God no one was hurt! All that other stuff is just that-STUFF.
    Maybe you can take up owling or planking for the week?

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  7. Holy cow!! So glad you're all ok! Best of luck with all the restorations.

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  8. Wow!! Glad you guys and your house is safe!

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  9. Okay, I know this is not funny at all, but that text made me LOL. Hope your pictures are safe!

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  10. Oh geez!! Thank God it wasn't your house! Enjoy that Starbucks.. I could use one.

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  11. WOW that's a crazy story...glad you're OK. I almost lost all my pics a while back and was soooo worried. I keep a back up of everything uploaded on picasa now. Not the BEST solution, but at least something.

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  12. That's scary! You should take up Bad Mitten (is that how it's spelled?). It is a totally underrated and awesomely fun game.

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  13. Praise God you guys weren't home!! Hope you're up and going again in no time. Love them IT expert Hubbies, huh? Hang in and love you some taper week!

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  14. Holy moly! That is insane ans scary! Hopefully your hard drive is fine, I know that feeling of potentially losing everything on the computer and while in the big picture it isn't the end of the world, when you're going through it, it sure feels like it could be.
    I suggest crossword puzzles as your new hobby...they can be sort of addictive.

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  15. Well Beth you will read these words a 154 times today but I am glad your family and your home is OK. This is scary. Loosing pics.....that is also scary...I almost lost 4000 pics last year...I was bad at backup..was lucky enough to find a genius who recovered most but not all....and now I have an external hard drive...I hope you get yours back

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  16. I vote for Sudoko!!!! good for the brain muscles!!!!

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  17. Scary! Glad the house is still standing. Lighting struck our A/C a few years ago. Crazy how it does that.

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  18. So glad it was only the electronics that were affected - they can be replaced.

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  19. That is scary as hell! I am glad it wasn't a worse situation! I sure hope your hard drive survives!

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  20. A house fire is my biggest fear! Glad to know that your home is ok, minus a few things that can be replaced.

    I agree with a previous poster to take up planking. :-)

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  21. Do you have a smartphone? You can enjoy obsessive habits on a smartphone :)

    I am so glad nothing worse happened. I have friends and family who have lost everything in housefires. Truly tragic.

    If you get bored, call me ;-)

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  22. Holy cow that's scary! So glad all is mostly well. Keeping my fingers crossed on those pictures. Weren't we just talking about pictures and how they pile up on our computer?

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  23. Oh, and croquet burns more calories.

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  24. You know you've been a vegetarian for too long when you read the word "brats" and think someone is talking about their children in an uncharacteristic manner. Oops.

    Glad everything is ok, and I hope the pictures are too!

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  25. Glad it was only a tree and not the house - yours or your neighbors!

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  26. I'm always pretty bad at leaving things on like the stove. I pray I never have to experience a house fire and I am so glad you didn't either!

    brittany @ www.myabcsoup.blogspot.com

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  27. There must be some correlation between lightening striking and good luck!!

    Talk about taper fever!!! Glad your house is ok though and you all were safe!

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  28. Get. Freaking. Out.
    That's crazy crap.

    It was lightening like crazy here last night too!!
    I told peanut, "nothing can happen if we are in our house"

    I'm so not letting her read your blog today.

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  29. Yikes. Glad you and the family are OK.

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  30. Sorry to hear that. But please do not confuse photos with memories. Your memories are just fine! Sounds like a great day to come on down to Fla and lay around the pool :)

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  31. I know the feeling of "Your house is on fire, get home" and it sucks. The house we were attached to was gutted and we lost our attic bedroom, plus all the smoke damage throughout the house. I'm glad your house was OK! Sounds like you have a new hobby for this week: People Watching at Starbucks!

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  32. Yikes Beth! I heard some incredible clasps, guess one was your tree strike! So very glad that tree took the direct hit saving both you and your neighbor's houses. I love a good thunderstorm, but respect the heck out of lighting, watching from inside is close enough for me. And will insurance go for a whole new computer?? Can just a part be bad???

    And loved the text Sam got, hope the kid called the fire department FIRST, then the text.

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  33. I know it could have been worse - but losing all that stuff is tough. I hope you can recover your hard drive.

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  34. That's super scary! Thank goodness it wasn't your house! I'm am such a freak when it comes to saving my photos. I back up everything, it's a fantastic obsession to have. Just put them on dics when you get enough of them, and store them elsewhere. Hope your computer is alright!

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  35. I can only imagine how scary that 5min. drive was! I'm glad your house was alright!!!

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  36. Whoa, that would totally give me a heart attack! I am so glad you guys are ok, and I hope you have not lost your pics. We lost ours a while back and it was horrible.

    Having my house catch on fire is probably my biggest fear. Reminds me now that we are in a new house, I need to come up with new evacutation routes to ensure I can get both kiddos out. When my son was born, I had many nights where I did not sleep at all b/c I was trying to figure out how to get a newborn and 2 year old out of a 2 story window safely and faster than using sheets to lower them.

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  37. Oh Beth that is POOP!! So thankful you and your family is okay. This has to be a sign that you will be lightening (cough, cough) fast for 70.3.

    Memories cannot be messed with. Come on hard drive. TWSS.

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  38. oh no! glad everything is mostly okay...and that your hard drive is okay. i highly recommend carbonite as an online backup system...so much easier than an external hard drive.

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  39. Scary! I'm glad the damage is minimal and that no one was hurt!

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  40. I am so sorry! I totally understand. My next-door neighbor's house burned to the ground when I was in 2nd grade. I still remember watching Saturday morning cartoons when my friends'/neighbors' dad showed up at the door in his pajamas, which I thought was so crazy. He'd climbed out a window. The rest of the family was Christmas shopping.

    I know how freaky it is. My sister showed up bawling because she'd seen all the fire engines and feared it was our house.

    Take care girl!

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  41. Do I have to tell you that wouldn't have happened if you had a Mac? Those bloody PCs cause so much trouble ;)

    Wishing you the best in recovering your files and pics...go Ken, go Ken!!!

    And thank the Universe for sparing your house and family!!

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  42. HOLY CRAP Marie!!! Glad that the house was safe.

    No updates until new computer? WTH am I to do with my down time now??????

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  43. Along with all the other posters, so glad the damage was minimal and no one was injured. Enjoy that Starbucks coffee.

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  44. Phew! So glad your house wasn't burned to a crisp! My friend Megan's apartment building just burned down about 3 weeks ago. First question everyone asks, "Did you have renter's insurance?" The answer is no. She is living with friends for the next 3 months until they gut it and re-do the place and she can move back in.

    These things can happen to any of us. It's scary.

    I am a starbucks addict, but I also drink a simple grande with an inch of steamed soy milk. Nothin' too fancy! ;-)

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  45. Glad you are all ok. Our house burnt up in June. All the people and dogs made it out ok but I can say this has been the hardest thing to have to deal with.

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