Re-fried

You know it's spring when the lightning, thunderstorm warnings and tornado watches arrive. Last night, we had our first official spring thunderstorm. Watching a red blob move into my area, I was just thinking about getting up and unplugging the phone line that juices up my cable and internet.

Unfortunately, I was too late. Just like I wrote in Fried nearly two years ago, I took what felt like a direct hit. The lightning hit so close to the house that somehow it turned on my elliptical machine -- which runs off a battery. Baxter was not a happy camper. Neither was I, as the strike fried my cable and internet receivers. Oh, and my wireless modem. My old-school circa-1990s television, amazingly, lives on!

On the bright side, my phone company service guy came out within a couple hours of my "secretary's" call and fixed everything! Well, except the wireless modem. I'm on the internet via the broadband cable. And I'm calling the electric company first thing Monday to see about getting some sort of surge protector for the signal lines. I did have a $50 surge protector from hellmart, but it fried almost immediately. There has to be a better solution than shelling out money every time we have a lightning storm!