Good morning UPDATE:
Found a longer cable in my drawer, so I don't have to type blind now.
..things are getting back to normal. Took a while for the enormity of it all to sink in. My wife had also turned off all her equipment just moments before the strike. Like she said this morning, "Our angels were looking out for us".
In spite of the fact that man has reduced electricity to a subset of precise mathematical formulae, there are some very peculiar things about the behavior of electricity that still defy logic..let me expain:
When I was designing a 100% solar, primary electrical system for the catamaran I was building a few years ago, I ran across several peculiar problems. One of those problems was dealing with lightning strikes on the water.
Yes there were 'bonding systems' that were recommended, (sea water plates as the ultimate grounding of all the negative wires)..these systems were recommended most strenuously by the folks that were selling them. I told Louise at the time, that it didn't feel right to me..that I thought it would call the lightning.
Well, after studying hundreds of Coast Guard reports about boats that were struck by lightning, I started to see a pattern emerge. The 'bonded' boats had less damage when struck. But more bonded boats got struck in the first place. ..not too cool..plus it didn't matter whether your boat was bonded or not, it you had your hands on the steering wheel when lightning struck, you were going to be toast.
So I used an entirely different approach to avoiding the lightning strikes in the first place..but that is another story.
This is a huge subject..filled with many smaller peripheral issues, but there is another phenomenon I wanted to share with you this morning. When a boat got struck by lightning, you could see the destructive path it took through the boat to get to the water. That makes perfect sense.
What didn't exactly make sense, was that often, in addition to the main strike, little blobs of electricity went running around the pilothouse and melted all the electronics..especially when they were on, but even sometimes when they were off! That is very hard to get your head around, but I think that is what happened to me yesterday.
Most of the physical evidence of the strike was at the complete opposite end of the house from me, so I am thinking that was where it struck, and yet I had electronic gear blown, that was plugged into a surge protector..and that surge protector was plugged into a surge protector. The clue here is that the ethernet switch was the only piece of gear in my studio that was powered up. Right now it is sitting here on my desk, dead as a doornail..weird.
I am convinced by this morning that having other equipment on would have been disastrous. The electricity was somehow in the air. When the power went off the first time, the experience was startling..and instant deprivation of sensory input..no sight..no sound. Void.
Then a half minute or so later, when the lightning struck, it was not void at all..the air was charged..filled with power..almost like wind without the wind..like a flash so quick that the eyes scarcely have a thousandth of a second to register it.
Every day of my life is filled with things to be grateful to God for..and today especially!
Wyatt
