A series of unfortunate events

Last Sunday, we had a pretty powerful electrical storm in our neck of the woods. The rain was really coming down and there were lots of very close lightning strikes.

Too close.

One powerful bolt of lightning - the kind where it's so close the thunder is simultaneous - actually did some damage. Although all our major electrical equipment is surge protected, somehow the lightning managed to fry our router, plus the network cards in our computers. Electrical equipment throughout our house either sprang to life, or else shut down! My elliptical came on, my computer shut off, it was bizarre.

In hindsight, I'm so grateful the damage was limited to the network cards. It could have been so much worse! Brandon replaced it this week, and I'm back in action.

I love living with my own personal IT support.

Unfortunately, our booming tomato crop did not fare as well. I don't know if it was the wind or the heavy rain, but two of our 4 plants were knocked over, compromising the stems. Brandon was so discouraged. I suppose we should have staked them sooner, we just hadn't gotten to it yet.

Here he is, posing with one of the broken branches. We counted about 25 tomatoes on this branch alone, counting green ones and blossoms.


It looks like two of our plants will be fine. We've staked them now, and tried to "splint" the broken branches a bit. We'll see if we can salvage them - you never know.

Here's the kicker - while Brandon was trying to diagnose the problem with our computers, I headed outside to survey the damage to the tomatoes and try and salvage what I could. I was trying to splint the branches when I felt this sharp pain in my foot. Yep, a yellow jacket had somehow gotten in my sandal and stung me - twice - in the foot. As if the computer/crop damage weren't enough!

Hello, Injury. This is Insult. Have you met?

Again, I know it could have been worse. The lightning could have set our house on fire. We could have lost all the tomatoes. I could have been attacked by a swarm of Africanized honey bees. So really, I'm quite grateful.

Really, I am.