Why don't they listen??

[sundial]

But this is lightning we're talking about, right?

Yes, it was a similar storm that hit us the night before--with lots of lightning. If it was just rain, I would have left them alone. But lightning out in the open farmlands--yikes!

Lightning does seem to follow me. It hit our house 2 years ago. It blew out the light fixture above my head as well as the coffee maker next to where I was standing. The gas logs started smelling funny (according to my gsd) and I called the fire department to come out and check things over.

[OakLeaf]

The gas logs started smelling funny (according to my gsd)

Good dog!

[OakLeaf]

I remembered this thread two nights ago when lightning struck VERY close while we were eating dinner. So close that we could smell the electrical burning smell, very strongly. Amazingly, it didn't hit our antenna tower and fry the brand new TV or the satellite receiver, but whatever it did hit was too close for comfort! Yes I WILL be more careful about going outside where there's lightning!

[littlegrasshopp]

when I was a child, my little brother and I were watching a storm from the front screen door. Lightning bounced off our cement steps and hit a tree across the street from us. The branches of the tree were on the roof of the house it stood by. I remember the loud noise it made and seeing all the shingles on my neighbor's house curled and My neighbor's dad running in circles with an apron. Mom told us that the house got a perm. It took her years to convince me and my brother that lightning is NOT funny.

[sundial]

Mom told us that the house got a perm.

LOL! That is so funny!

When I was a child, lightning hit an old oak tree just outside my bedroom window, blew a 4 ft x 4 ft hole in the bedroom, traveled through the wall, knocked sheetrock across the room over our heads and smashed it into the closet doors, bashing it to smithereens. The lightning traveled around my bedframe and zapped me. My mother walked into our bedroom with a flashlight and I could barely see the beam because of the dust. That was my first encounter with lightning. I thought it was pretty cool! My brother, on the other hand, was terrified of that room for months because it smelled like dynamite. We had to vacate the home for 3 months while repairs were being made. Needless to say we made the news.

[Tuckervill]

When my youngest was about 10 months old, lightning hit the roof above his head while he was sleeping in his crib at 5 a.m. We heard it and I ran upstairs, and he was still asleep. The older boys woke up and I grabbed the baby and put him in bed with the eldest while hubby ran outside to check. He came back in all panicked thinking the baby must have been hurt.

It blew a hole in the roof about the size of a basketball, scorched the wiring, blew most of the siding off the side of the house, and burnt up every piece of electronics that was hooked up anywhere. (Our computers, the dictation equipment owned by the podiatrist I worked for, the TVs--everything.)

The sound was so loud that three of the neighbor's burglar alarms went off, and we could hear them all wailing away. It's a sound I will never forget, I'll tell you that. Strangely, we never lost power.

We called 911 because of the burning smell--luckily we lived not 2 blocks away from the fire station. There was no fire. Every fireman that came through said it was a good thing we called because there was a well-publisized fire the week before where people died, and it was because they didn't call 911 as soon as the lightning struck.

Baby Will slept through it ALL. Just like his mother slept through a tornado when she was 4.

Karen

[Deborajen]

A few weeks ago I saw an article online, on MSN I think, that discussed how when a woman is speaking to a man the man usually only hears about 1/4 of what she's saying. It referred to lots of different situations - long story, but interesting. I brought it up with DH once: DH: "What? What did you say? I know you were saying something negative about men -- " No, he really didn't hear what I said. He insists he listens better than that, but he couldn't begin to prove it with specific discussions we've had.

Anyway, I saw this thread and it reminded me of the article. Guess I can kind of picture:

What's said:

"Are you sure you want to don't want a ride back? There's a big storm on the way. Looks bad on radar, and you'll be out in the open with lightning all around.--"

What's heard:

"Are you sure you don't want a ride?" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

That's about 1/4, isn't it?

I know there are exceptions, but I don't totally disagree with the article.

Deb