Geez!  I'm glad you're okay.  Talk about freak accidents.

Joy

****************************************************************
Joy Hecht
and Matilda, 1989 Burgundy Vanagon

For musings about life and the vanadventures:
http://www.joyhecht.net

****************************************************************

:::-----Original Message-----
:::From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf
:::Of John Rodgers
:::Sent: Friday, June 16, 2006 1:01 PM
:::To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
:::Subject: [NVC] The Electric Potter
:::
:::Monday, June 12, 2006; 2:30 pm, Chelsea, AL
:::
:::*The Main Event:*
:::
:::I worked in my pottery studio today, fulfilling an order of communion
:::ware for the national Presbytery Conference happening here. Usual story,
:::seated on my throwing stool, potters wheel was wet, hands were wet and
:::on the wheel, some water on the floor, left foot on the wet spot. Being
:::engrossed in my work, I did not really notice nor pay attention to the
:::thunderstorm that had brewed up. Seated well back from the open barn
:::door - probably 15 feet or so - I just kept on working.
:::
:::Suddenly there was a tremendous thunderclap, and a large blue streak of
:::electricity zig-zagged across the floor from the door to where my foot
:::was in the puddle. There was a burst of blinding blue-white light as the
:::electrical energy of the lightening entered my foot and traveled up my
:::body through my left leg and trunk, out my arms and to the wheel and to
:::a ground. In a split second I was slammed against the wall four feet
:::behind the potter's wheel. I slid to the floor, stunned, unable to move,
:::talk, or open my eyes.
:::
:::Others in the shop with me called 911 and the Chelsea Fire Department
:::Paramedics came to the rescue. They checked me out on the spot. I slowly
:::came around, but as a precaution an ambulance arrived which transported
:::me to the Birmingham VA Hospital Emergency Room for a more thorough
:::checkup. After several hours I was released and seem to have had no ill
:::effects but I go for a follow up checkup in a week.
:::
:::*The rest of the story:*
:::
:::When I returned home, I found in ruins beside my shop my favorite tree
:::in the yard..a big towering red oak tree that had stood for many years
:::and is a main food tree for the squirrels in the area. Lightening had
:::struck the tree and it had exploded ... splitting major limbs, and
:::blasting chunks of bark, wood, leaves, and twigs out in a forty foot
:::radius from the tree. Long 4 inch wide strips of bark were peeled
:::vertically from the limbs and trunk as the electrical energy traveled
:::the tree trunk.
:::
:::Unknown to me at the time, three others in my studio had also received a
:::jolt, but not nearly so bad, since they were standing on dry concrete
:::and had on rubber bottom tennis shoes. But it was enough of a jolt to
:::make them quite animated for a few moments.
:::
:::We were all very lucky, especially me.
:::
:::In the future, during a lightening storm, I will work on no machines and
:::have no damp feet. I am going to retire to a quiet place in the middle
:::of the house, sit on a wood chair on a wooden floor, wear my tennis
:::shoes and read a book!!!!
:::
:::Regards,
:::
:::John Rodgers
:::Chelsea, AL