OK, so I just got bit in the *** again.
Long story short, I'm a renter who has never ever had renter's insurance. My possessions, while meeting my creature comforts, have never really been THAT valuable. When you don't have shi[/i]t, it's hard to worry about losing it. Back in December, my boss's home, less than a year old, burned to the ground; on the night of our company party, no less. At that time, I made a mental evaluation of my property and realized that I have somehow managed to accumulate enough property of value to need insurance. I've always got along without it, but the idea of falling back on family and friends for monetary support if my home were to burn down is about as appealling as ***** cancer. Besides, I had a feeling that I should just DO IT. It was one of those feelings, inexplicable.
I don't like to consider myself superstitious, but still I put it on my to-do list, somewhere between plucking the hair off my shoulders before it gets long enough to braid and fertilizing my house plants. A month ago, I went to see my insurance agent and got the process started, but not completed. There were a couple of history details about this house I was unable to answer sufficiently. I was going to return the paperwork on Monday; only I got sick as a dog and stayed that way for a week. I called and postponed my appt. The day of postponement arrived; my agent was just as sick as I had been. While I was considerate enough not to spread my illness, somebody had shared the bug with her. So I postponed again; after all, I haven't ever NEEDED this junk. I said I'd call back in a week or two to see if she was caught up. As of yet, I've failed to make that call. I'm a procrastinator.
Yesterday afternoon, I sat here at this very PC, high and dry, with a downpour of rain going on outside. Thunder rumbled once or twice in the distance. All was well. Then lightning struck in my yard. I've been close to a couple of big bolts before; the kind that leave you blinded, deaf, and awed for a few minutes. It's not nice. Well, this was no big bolt; it was kinda small as far as lightning goes. I heard the loud static discharge as it leapt from the oak, followed by the sonic boom. The power didn't even flicker, woot. I looked hard at my PCs and decided to not shut them down since the power hadn't even flickered nd my road runner conenction was still stable. It was only one strike, after all.
After another thirty miutes or so, the rain slacked off and things got quiet. After a good rain, it's always nice weather out, if ya ask me. I went out and checked the tree, it lost some bark, which indicates enough electricity went through it to harm it. The bark loss is due to super-fast heating of water into steam and it literally explodes off the tree. Poor thing will probably suffer for years if he lives. I hope I don't have to put him down, but we'll see. Time will tell.
So where's the kick in the teeth over the insurance? This morning, I got up, walked into the living room doing my normal morning scratches and yawns and turned on the TV. Or tried to, rather. It's fried. I spent a couple of minutes checking it out and yes, I'm sure. The appliance that was turned off when the power didn't even flicker is fried. Serves me right for not listening. Grr.
