20170721_002406 by Pigg Penn, on Flickr
20170721_002540 by Pigg Penn, on Flickr
20170721_002831 by Pigg Penn, on Flickr
So this happened Thursday night about midnight.
We had (IMHO) one of the most intense lightning storms I've ever experienced in 60 years or weather tracking. Power was off for 2 hours, just enough for the sump pump batteries to die and start flooding my basement again for the 15th time or so. I've lost count.
The lightning was so intense the inside of the house looked brighter than when it's daylight out. And it just kept on over and over for nearly 3 hours.
I cradled my pup on my lap in the middle of the house sitting on the stairs leading to the second story. My dog was panicked worst than during the 4th of July fireworks week. I was a bit on edge, too.
After the violence let up, I let the dog out to do her business before we both headed off to bed. I took her out through the garage and being as all the lights were still off we just meandered outside without thinking anything...Then we saw it.
It doesn't look like much but with my camera and flash this is what I saw at first.
20170720_231155 by Pigg Penn, on Flickr
I didn't understand it right away and then it all became clear.
20170721_002323 by Pigg Penn, on Flickr
I tried to get better pictures but the flash doesn't have a lot of distance. But by now I understand what happened.
20170721_002336 by Pigg Penn, on Flickr
The neighbors tree was hit by lightning and landed in my yard 5 feet from my house.
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20170721_002406 by Pigg Penn, on Flickr
20170721_002540 by Pigg Penn, on Flickr
20170721_002831 by Pigg Penn, on Flickr
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20170721_002852 by Pigg Penn, on Flickr
20170721_002914 by Pigg Penn, on Flickr
20170721_002937 by Pigg Penn, on Flickr
20170721_003003 by Pigg Penn, on Flickr
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20170721_003039 by Pigg Penn, on Flickr
20170721_074010 by Pigg Penn, on Flickr
After 3 hours with the chain saw....
20170721_114104 by Pigg Penn, on Flickr
Spot where the lightning strike hit.
20170721_114130 by Pigg Penn, on Flickr
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Are you going to hand carve them one by one?
Wow, that's a big chunk of tree! Sorry man!
20170721_114158 by Pigg Penn, on Flickr
20170721_114212 by Pigg Penn, on Flickr
20170721_114225 by Pigg Penn, on Flickr
20170721_114307 by Pigg Penn, on Flickr
Saturday, the neighbor, his wife and two teenage kids (this is the family that bought my TAMA 3pc Starclassics I had for sale last week, lol) along with a neighbor from across the street came over and we spent most of Saturday morning cutting up the brush into bundles small enough for waste management to come pick it all up tomorrow.
I'll get some more pictures of how it looks today. Other than the damaged fence and missing section of tree, you'd never know it landed.
Of course I didn't get any drum sticks out of the deal either.
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We had a lightning storm here one evening about a month ago that was so violent and spectacular it took me a while to figure out what was happening. I stood in my doorway to watch the lightshow which was spectacular - but after one SEEMED rather close I scurried back inside and watched from my window - I don't know about a lifetime supply of drumsticks, if lightning storms like that become more common I'll probably invest in a lifetimes supply of brown trousers.
Although it seemed close - and there was lightning clearly visible on both sides of my home there were no reports of actual damage in my local area. I can't imagine what it would be like to have lightning strike just outside my home like you experienced, Bish.
I think ultra-brown trousers may be worth serious consideration. Nature is scary...
Wow. Glad there was minimal damage. I'm impressed at how green your lawn is. Mine was that green until late June. Then it quit raining and now it's mostly light green/gold and dormant. I refuse to water my lawn, which doesn't help either. I just let it go dormant...never have to mow it past July. My neighbors run their underground sprinklers all summer, rack up a huge water bill and mow it every weekend. By early October it starts raining again and by November my lawn looks as good as theirs.
-Brian
"Too many crappy used drum stuff to list"
Play the SONG......not the DRUMS!!!
"I think that feeling is a lot more important than technique. It's all very well doing a triple paradiddle - but who's going to know you've done it? If you play technically you sound like everybody else. It's being original that counts." ~ John Bonham
By the time I was done cleaning it up, I was sick of looking at it and touching it. I aborted any possibility of whittling away.
Mine was very similar. Bolts all around the house and the thunder was immediate. Even when ready it still made me jump a little. Hahahaha, I see what you did with the reference to brown pants. I know, right?
I don't water, either. We've had a lot a rain in the last few weeks and it's kept the grass alive. In that area my sump pumps were draining too which is just bringing the ground water to the surface. Unfortunately it doesn't get the entire yard. So that area gets all the sump water and the downpours that come from the yard above.
So here's how it looks as of tonight.
20170725_195057 by Pigg Penn, on Flickr
20170725_195117 by Pigg Penn, on Flickr
20170725_195139 by Pigg Penn, on Flickr
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20170725_195152 by Pigg Penn, on Flickr
Here's the only two spots of evidence.
20170725_195219 by Pigg Penn, on Flickr
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Here's the tree or what's left of it.
20170725_195103 by Pigg Penn, on Flickr
And here is where everything got placed. It's in front of the neighbors house. The bags hold the real small stuff acquired from all the raking.
20170725_195516 by Pigg Penn, on Flickr
So there you have it. You'd hardly know it ever happened. As soon as the tree gets removed, I'll get some pics of that. It may be a few weeks.
Last edited by Bish; 07-26-2017 at 07:59 AM.
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Glad the damage was minimal Bish! That looked like it could have been a lot worse than it ended up being.
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Last year a tree on my neighbor's yard fell onto my fence. Shattered a section. Guess who's responsibility it is to fix the fence? Yep, not his.
Wow Bish it could of been worse that fence just bounced back. Now if that would of been a wooden fence it would had a lot more damage. This is one of the reasons why I have taken down all the trees within 200 feet from my house. Was getting sick of cleaning up after every little storm that hit the area. Mind you I live in the bush and have no neighbours close by.
WOW that was intense! Awesome to see the lightning strike the tree but scary how close it was to you
A few years back, lightning struck a tree in my mom's front yard. Big elm tree.....probably 3'-4' trunk diameter. It must have been hollow inside or something. It literally exploded. Blew pieces of wood a half block away. Killed the grass in half her front lawn, LOL.
I may still have some pictures on my photobucket account....
-Brian
"Too many crappy used drum stuff to list"
Play the SONG......not the DRUMS!!!
"I think that feeling is a lot more important than technique. It's all very well doing a triple paradiddle - but who's going to know you've done it? If you play technically you sound like everybody else. It's being original that counts." ~ John Bonham
IIRC, did you post about that? I remember seeing some pictures of a tree hitting a fence.
It was his brand new fence that got it. Mine was the old wooden one that used to match theirs but they just got it replaced a couple months ago. Their old wooden fence would have caved and most the entire length would have come down.
We took all of ours down or didn't plant any "permanent" ones. I wish I could get the neighbors to get rid of or at least trim back all their overgrown trees. They are all over my property on all sides and I get the great chore of cleaning up their leaves each fall. One main reason we didn't plant any trees that shed. Der!
Agreed. The after effects once everyone was safely accounted for was pretty awesome.
Man, those would be spectacular to see. Glad no one was hurt.
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I think yours was way worse than mine. I could still see the fence through the tree before cutting down. I believe this fence held up better, too.
I hope yours has been fixed and is back to normal, now.
Thanks for reposting.
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