| Inzane got it right, prelewd came close, and the rest totally missed, though some get points for entertaining answers. ;-) Here's a breakdown of the details: 
It happened before the Z went in the garage, and while the cover was still on it. In fact, it was while I was removing the cover last weekend that I noticed it: 
Notice it has the same concentric structure as the mark on the car. I knew what it was when I saw it - in fact, I'd looked for it previously but thought the Z had miraculously escaped harm. Scene of the "crime": 
Note the mark on the tree trunk: 
Checking for damage - I didn't see any at this time: 
Pulling back the car cover last weekend, I noticed the "bullet hole" in the cover, and that got me looking at the car, where I found that round mark. It was forward of the chunked-out concrete, which was why I missed it previously. Looking again last weekend, I also noticed the flying concrete did damage the car, but only a little: 
(Yeah, it's sad when spiders have had time to build webs in the wheel wells ;-) The story:
The 29th of July brought a brief break in our drought with a tremendous thunderstorm. I've never heard thunder so loud before in my life! It was DIRECTLY overhead and brought tiny hail with it, too. Halo Z was in town that weekend, taking in the sites of the deluge and the lightning from the safety of the back porch with me. I got up for one instant, turned my back, and that's when it came down with a concussion that literally made me drop to the ground. Ric saw it strike in the general area of the garage, but we weren't sure exactly where. Nothing was on fire and no trees fell, so we figured all was well. The next day, Bernie informed me that he had found where the lightning hit. He was out in the driveway talking to a fellow Z-er and wondering why there were chunks of concrete lying about, which led him to discover the injured wall. Apparently the chunks you see piled in those pictures either flew over or under my car - over would have been easiest since the car was so close to the wall and had the cover edges for concrete to get caught up in had it gone under. He also noticed the rebound mark on the tree. I lifted the cover near the concrete damage and was quite surprised to not see a mess under there other than the dirt and pollen. The rest didn't get discovered till this past weekend. Though I was certainly irked that my Z had been damaged, I was more fascinated to see the damage caused by lightning. I was also curious as to whether it had messed up any systems, and Ric had heard somewhere that a lightning strike can evaporate gasoline. I got in, turned the key, and much to my surprise, it fired right up without a problem. Gas still there, electrical all seemingly working. The battery was disconnected at the time, and I wonder if that affected the outcome. I don't know a lot about electricity... Happily I already have someone lined up to take care of the damage, though I have to admit I'm going to miss that little showcase item. ;-) Now - Contest Part II, and I don't know the answer to this, though I have my guess: What was the order of the lightning ricochet?
a) Tree -> concrete -> car?
2) Tree -> car -> concrete? My guess is #2, since the car is on rubber (tires) while the concrete was soaking wet and has rebar in it. But then I would expect a more oblong shape to the mark rather than the circle it appears to be, from the entry direction to the exit direction. Who knows about this sort of thing and can explain it? And Jason, how the heck did you know the answer??? Has it happened to you? Anyway, thanks for playing, and I hope I brought a little entertainment into your Friday! ;-)
You don't have to live in a bubble just because someone else caught the flu. Make your decision on your ability to trust yourself. - NytWolf 15:49:05 12/17/06
I was previously a aviation mechanic and avionic technician and this car is harder to work on than Aircraft. - Hocuz77 03:04:56 02/28/06 |
20:34:14 08/24/07
