. . . and the Nut House becomes Nuttier

Last night, while cooking dinner, I heard electric crackling in the living room and then saw sparks. My computer began to emit smoke and I was yelling at the kids to get back from it. Thus began an odd and not terribly enjoyable evening. Two utility type trucks were outside. We went running out to talk to them and they told us they were tracking down a household that was sending powerful currents out of the lines and that house was us. All of the lights in the house began to pulsate, going dim and then burning so bright they hurt our eyes and began to pop and go out. It was scary. The guy up on the power pole had gotten mighty zapped when my computer went out and the other guy got zapped when he checked the box out on the deck with all of the electrical lines. He said, you have a serious problem here and it is a dangerous one. Shut down everything except your fridge and don't turn it back on until you get an electrician out here. G'nite.

ACK. It was only 8 pm and already dark and we had flashlights and camp lanterns but that was it. J. suggested we leave the house and go somewhere lighted and comfortable until it got later, so we went to Shari's and hung out for a couple of hours, eating pie to make ourselves feel better. J. was worried because our electronic garage door was open, which meant anyone walking by could help themselves to his tools, etc. So he and the boys went back home and figured out how to manually get it back down.

When we got to Shari's. I encouraged him to call the electric company (the utility trucks from before were from the cable company). He did and they sent someone out to investigate. Another truck came back at midnight and three guys worked until 3 am to trim some branches and cut some wires and do other stuff I can't begin to understand. This morning, everything was working again except my downstairs computer. We haven't even been able to turn it on. The electric guy told us to call and talk to their tech people about it and we will.

In the meantime, I am grayer and worried and tired and it really wasn't much fun. I searched, however, and I found those damn silver linings. . .

1. No one was using the computer when it sparked.
2. I don't currently have a looming deadline that this will interfere with.
3. I didn't have anything on that computer that I can't reconstruct.
4. Maybe, now that the electric company came out and made changes, our bills will go down and the house will be safer.
5. We were supposed to be gone all evening and chose to stay home. If we had left, the boys would have been home alone when this happened and that would have been frightening for all.
6. The whole incident did NOT start a fire.
7. This did not happen while we were on vacation.
8. I got a piece of pie for dinner. :)

Stay tuned and if you don't hear anything for a bit, it is because we are trying to reconnect the internet and resurrect my computer. Send good thoughts people.