May the Force Be With You

Can it really be that I have not written in over two weeks? There must be some good reason for this...uh...yup...there definitely is. On Memorial Day my family and I came home from an overnight stay at the lake. We were all worn out and ready for a good night's sleep before having to report to school/work in the morning. At approximately 12:20 a.m. a loud crash of thunder/lightning jolted me awake. My husband sat up and declared that our house had been struck by lightning. You know, sometimes it really does feel like that when lightning strikes so close the windows of your house actually rattle; except that this time it was actually true. Our chimney was struck near its top on its south side. Thick and heavy blocks of limestone were strewn out and across our backyard. While we were fortunate that a hole was not created in our roof and extra blessed that a fire had not started, there was still the not so small aftermath of fried electronics to be dealt with. Case in point: my computer was most definitely affected and as a result I have been unable to write or download any of my pictures. I am praying that everything is able to be recovered. Since this happend the last week of school I have been extra busy and distracted. I hate to post without a picture, but I have decided that something is better than nothing at all. Thus I am sitting in a public library frantically typing away whilst the "Time Remaining" clock at the top of my screen counts down--rapidly!) We went without a television for a little over a week. Our satelite source was lost so we could only watch dvds. I suppose that is fine if you actually have a collection of them...as for us...we had to go to a galaxy far far away...again, and again, and again. While our chimney was definitely struck by "The Force"- "The Force" was definitely not with us. Our clothes dryer no longer shuts off...this means that the first night since the strike that I decided to wash a load of clothes I did so at my normal washing time...bedtime. I transferred the clothes to the dryer a little after 9:30 at night and went on to bed. The next morning the clothes were still tumbling around. Now I have to set the kitchen timer every time I dry clothes. I know...I know...things could be worse. Nevertheless it's the being out of touch with my computer that has me feeling the most upset.
The TV repair man was suppose to call me between 8:00 and 10:00 to let me know when he was going to come out to my house...it is 12:32 and I have not heard from the guy...you don't think there is a magnetic forcefield hovering near my front gate that is keeping him from entering do you? And so begins my summer "vacation."