So you know how surge protectors, some of them anyway, have input/output jacks for telephone lines? I’ve never had a phone issue in my life and I’ve always ignored these inputs. No longer. Last night we had thunderstorms. Soolin and I were sitting in the doorway watching it all come down when a bolt struck very close to us. I didn’t lose power but there was a surge, I heard a sizzle over my shoulder, turned around and saw a flash then a wisp of smoke come out of my answering machine. It was dead as a doornail, with all the messages on it from when I was away at my sister’s wedding gone. If you called me since Friday last week, I didn’t get your message. Tonight I’m off to get a new machine so don’t bother calling till late.

As an aside – it’s pretty cool how common thunderstorms are here in the summer. I grew up on Long Island where summer thunderstorms were common and it was something I missed when I was in Maine – they were pretty rare there. If anything they’re more common here in Saratoga Springs then they are on Long Island. Of course frequent loss of power is the downside but I’ve got a plan to deal with this.