Lightening Strikes - July 9, 2007

Don and I are spending a week at Maumelle Park in Little Rock, AR; a beautiful Corp. of Engineers park not too far off the 430 highway. About the only "bad" thing about the park is the many, many trees that are everywhere. We moved from our original spot because we couldn't get the satellite up...our site was covered by this huge, beautiful tree! One large branch covered the roof right where the satellite is! We looked around and finally found a few sites that we thought might work. (We are here with friends, Bill & Kathy Corroum, and two more motorhomes that belong to friends of theirs).

Yesterday we woke up to the sound of raindrops on the roof. It didn't let up for HOURS! Early in the afternoon the lightening and thunder moved in. A couple of times we had some pretty good (and loud) thunder. It wasn't too long after that when we heard the loudest clap of thunder and felt the bolt of lightening. It made the entire motorhome shake! I had unplugged our computers shortly before that...and decided that it had been an excellent move!


Not long after that I decided that it was entirely too quiet in the motorhome and turned on the Bose system. Guess what...no sound! The Bose system "stores" your CD's so even if you can't get radio reception there is music in the system. Tried FM, AM, stored music, t.v. - nothing! Looked up troubleshooting in the manuals and finally resorted to calling Customer Service. After going through all their checks, etc. it was discovered that the sub-woofer wasn't working. Unplugged it, reset it...nothing. Not even the light was on. Since I was laying on the floor with a flashlight (it's in a cabinet under the table) I had Don check the fuses! Guess as a safety precaution...when the lightening struck and traveled through to the motorhome, that a breaker had popped! Thank goodness...a fuse was easier to reset than having to buy new electronic equipment!


About the same time I was investigating the Bose...Bill came to the door with a tree limb and pieces of bark! Seems that the bolt of lightening struck a tree between our motorhomes. The bark was missing along the entire length of the tree! It was amazing to see! Luckily the strike only hit the tree and not any of our motorhomes! Same thing goes for the tree itself! Luckily it was a small branch that didn't hit any of the motorhomes!


I almost forgot to mention that we are parked right alongside the Arkansas River. It has been above flood stage for many days! I heard that parts of North Little Rock had over 3" of rain yesterday...and I believe it! The river is a murky mess and no small craft are allowed on it at the moment! There are lots of trees in the water and I wouldn't want to go swimming in it...that's for sure! This has been one of the wettest summers around here in many years! Figures! :-)

Proud to announce...

Mr. & Mrs. Donald Leith

and Mr. Timothy Corbett
are very proud to

announce the graduation
of thier daughter and wife,
Kimberleigh Ann
from

The University of Phoenix
with a Bachelor of Science

in Business Accounting
on May 31, 2007!

Happy 4th of July!

A friend of mine shared this and I wanted to share it with you! Hope you all have a safe, fun 4th of July!

"Fourth of July - I can't believe it's already Independence Day! Boy, the time sure has flown by this summer. Well, I hope you're ready to celebrate with me as I celebrate the Fourth of July! http://www.history.com/minisites/fourthofjuly I love the introduction paragraph to this Web site! With its links going directly to the Declaration of Independence, then on to the history of the holiday, it's a real gem. You'll find navigation on the right hand side of the page. The sections are: History of the Fourth of July - Here you can learn about the history of this holiday that started its life as an official holiday in 1941, but got its beginning in 1776. Notice that the menu on the right hand side is a tree menu with even more categories! Did You Know? - In this section, you will learn all sorts of interesting tidbits about America and the Fourth of July. From the cost of fireworks to the number of residents in America at the time of the Declaration of Independence to the number of hotdogs consumed on the Fourth of July, it's all here. Fourth of July Video Gallery - Here you will find 10 videos, all about different aspects of the Fourth of July. From the Declaration of Independence to the Revolutionary War to the Great American Independence Day Quiz, you can find some pretty interesting things in this section. Maps of Early America - Here you can see maps of early America dating as far back as 1776 and as far into 1808. I love the way the maps are set up on these history sites. They are just so amazing and interactive! Discuss the Revolutionary War - This section is a forum where you can discuss the Revolutionary War with other people. You can ask questions or even answer questions that other people have asked. It's a pretty neat forum to be part of. Well, I hope you're ready to head out and see the fireworks tonight or maybe see a parade during the day. I know I can't wait!" (Thanks to Sherry H.)

Don and I hope your day is full of fantastic food, family, friends and fireworks! (Thanks to Von for the great sentiment)!

(pictures are from our 4th of July celebration LAST year in Gillette, WY! We had an awesome rign side seat! I took the pictures with my digital camera! I thought they turned out pretty good! Forgot to bring the camera this year!)