We survived, the neighbors’ house survived, and one of the trees will probably make it, but the other looks deeply charred. I’ve been trying to get a good picture of the damage to the palm trees, but I don’t think I get up early enough in the morning for the sun to be at the right angle.

Right after the lightning hit, all the car alarms in the neighborhood had gone off. The people across the street (whose trees were on fire) have an alarm on their truck, and went out to switch it off. That’s when they noticed the fire.

We later learned that the people who lived there also had family members out with hoses, on the other side of their wall, wetting down the sides and roof of the house. It was so noisy (the thunder was incredibly frequent), and we were each so focused on our little portion of the event, we didn’t even know what other people just a few feet away were doing. They were very grateful for the assistance.

Another neighbor later told us there were some 5,000 lightning strikes in the county that night, so the emergency lines (911) were just overloaded.

It was, all in all, a strange experience and made me realize there are people much better suited than I am for things like fire fighting, rescuing and police work. I’ll stick to writing. But the occasional excitement hopefully makes me a better writer, because all the book and online research I can possibly do doesn’t replace life experience.

Thank you all for sharing our wild adventure.

My cowardly Schnauzer cowered and shook under the bed for five hours,
unconsolable. She did the same thing on 4th of July with the firecrackers.

Yeah, hope we don’t get many more of those…

Ma Nature is very unhappy with all of us, apparently.

For you bloggers, let it be known that thunder storms are very, very rare here. This was a biggy, maybe to make up for the years.

Have any of you seen the remake of the movie ‘War of the Worlds’ a la Tom Cruise? It was a so-so movie, but the opening 30 minutes are unforgettable, much like last night.

My husband, my prince, was watering the vegetation in our backyard. The irony did not escape him that he was watering when it started to sprinkle. Water is very expensive here. I was in the kitchen puttering around with dinner preparations. I was standing at the sink, looking out the window, looking at my husband and reaffirming my good fortune. Jessie-Dog was happily trotting beside Brian. It was so perfect. Suddenly, Bri Baby (as I affectionately call him) started to dash for the house, the garage. As he leapt up the steps from the yard, I heard an explosion, which made me certain that terrorists had attacked Camp Pendleton (forgive my predisposed concepts). It was a booming bolt like I had never heard before. Brian’s face was contorted with fear. The dog ran to her bed under Brian’s desk in the garage (I know that sounds odd, but that’s where she’s happiest and feels safe. When she comes indoors, she becomes impatient to be outdoors again).

Within 30 seconds a friend called to ask if our house had been struck – from a distance he had witnessed the flash of lightning, and assessed that we were in peril. We were not struck, but Brian related to us the sensation – of feeling and hearing the sizzling power of electricity enveloping him. He intuitively knew to run as fast as he could. Shorty thereafter, we heard fire trucks zooming to a place about a block from our home.

Unlike Barbara and Ken, we hardly slept a wink. We tossed and turned all night. Dang!

If you haven’t seen the remake of ‘War of the Worlds’, rent it. That’s what we folk experienced in Fallbrook last night, sans the gruesome pillage.