So, to prove me wrong about global cooling, we have had a late 2-day heat wave (wavelet?). I stayed up at the cottage and it was wonderful! I had to jump into the ice water every 30 minutes just to survive, and the nights were cool. No fish.
Lightning at the Cottage
Back in the ice-age 70's we always had the most horrendous lightning storms. The whole area is on non-conductive Precambrian gneiss (where all the earthquakes are), so the only conductive zones are the lakes. Our electrical box would regularly sizzle, and light bulbs would blow even if they were turned off. Since the warming cycle, we have never had such storms, we get tornadoes and micro-bursts instead. :(
I was once stuck at the marina during one of these storms. The trees and metal boat sheds were getting constantly hit. There is no thunder if you are right beside a strike, perhaps because your brain doesn't register it.
I saying all this because you know I bought a cell-phone amplifier from Costco. It was a Wilson desk-top, and when I got it unpacked I found it was all plastic, with no main grounding. It involves putting an antenna 50 feet up a tree. I was glad I got it at Costco, since I didn't think it would last a month. As it was, it did admirable service for most of the summer, but we got hit by a freak storm the other day. Normally I've been paranoid, and disconnected everything when we went home, but this storm wasn't even predicted. We got 4 inches of rain, and one really loud crack, which woke me up, and sent the dog under the bed (it was difficult to get her out again). The amplifier didn't survive, although nothing else was affected.
So, next year, when I get a newer model, I will use one of those huge Costco power protectors with co-axial protection. Maybe it will last all summer.
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