Thunderstruck

When I was a kid we watched a movie called Brewster's Millions. In it Richard Pryor's character has to spend 30 million dollars in 30 days with nothing to show for it. It occurred to me yesterday that we are living that movie this week.

 

Last Friday at about 5:30 after I got home from work there was a huge thunderstorm. Lightning hit our big pine tree out front.

 

I was relieved that no limbs hit my Jeep. I would find out the next day that my Jeep got zapped - it wouldn't start. Had it towed in, 4 modules (computer systems) got blown out. It's still in the shop, maybe ready to pick up on Friday. $500 out the window (deductible for a claim under our comprehensive coverage.) We also got to replace our security system, sprinkler system controls, modem, router, and ooma. Jake is installing a new garage door opener right now. A stereo in his room also got zapped.

 debris was scattered everywhere:

A couple people have commented that it doesn't look like lightning because there is no charring on the tree, that it looks like wind damage. We saw the lightning. If it didn't hit the tree it was mighty close.

I convinced Jake to call some friends from church to help clean the limbs off our driveway. They came over Saturday morning and had it all cleaned up in under an hour. Awesome guys. They even raked the yard.

 Yesterday the tree guy came to remove both our pine trees (one was in the back yard.) It was pretty cool to watch them work. This shook the house when it fell:

The tree in the backyard:

A guy had to climb it, cut off the limbs, and lower them to the ground. It was scary to watch. It was at this point I understood why it costs so much to have trees removed (although we got an awesome deal - $680 for both trees and to grind the stumps):

Then he cut off the top in one big chunk:

And used this thing to pick up the fallen limbs:

no tree!

 front yard:

 a guy came out this morning to grind the stumps. It's like it was never there:

Jake just finished with the garage door opener. Once I get my Jeep back it will be like it all never happened. Minus about $2000. Brewster's Millions. 

* I should note that we are very fortunate that no one was hurt and our house didn't burn down. When we walked out front and saw the tree for the first time after the lightning Jake and I laughed. Gavin was a little freaked out. He said we should say a prayer for the tree to be fixed. It was a good reminder, we did stop and say a prayer of thanks for our safety.

* When we told Gavin the trees were going to be removed he sobbed inconsolably. He exclaimed sadly "Now Brayden can't knock down that tree!" When Brayden plays in our back yard he likes to bang on the pine tree with a toy hammer. Gavin was upset because Brayden won't have a tree to play with anymore.