Fried Modems

When I finally got word he'd taken off .... I was relieved.  And opted for some more photography work.  I was outdoors playing with settings and focus issues -- and cooling off in the hose as well! -- when I noticed some dark stuff in the sky, and assumed it was black smoke from a fire.  When I looked harder at it, and moved away from the house, I could see it was a very large dust storm.   When they roll into the valley, its literally a wall of dust that rolls in.  Very hard to believe or understand if you've never been in one.  Visibility becomes very bad, most people in cars find a place to pull over and wait it out.  About 20 minutes is all it usually takes.

This one was the worst I've been in, however.  When I noticed the wall heading my way, I snapped off a few pictures.  I still couldn't even feel a breeze; the air was so still that I knew it was the calm before the storm.  As soon as I felt the first gust, grit and dust flew at me, into my eyes, and I ducked into the house.  Fast.  As I looked out the window, I watched as it literally turned black outside, then red.  (I'm assuming it was the red dust from the mountains that caused a lot of that.)   And me, I love a good storm, so I'm not usually freaked out by storms, but this one was a doozy.  I peeked open my front door when I noticed that everything looked red out side, and stuck my hand with camera in it out the door and snapped another picture.  In true camera fashion, it tried to color correct, but you can still see the air is quite foggy with dust looking at the houses across the street.  What an amazing, powerful storm.

After the dust come the thunderstorms.  Huge black clouds, cloud to cloud lightning, then it begins to rain.  At first it feels like its raining a kind of mud as the drops mix with the dirty dust laden air.  But after the first burst of rain, the next wave is clean and cool.  And yes, I danced in the rain :)  It felt wonderful!!

After watching the rain for a half hour, I came in to check the pictures I got - sat down at my computer and then WHAM!  A lightning streak so close to the house, things were shaking, my smoke detectors sent out a short shrill cry and I was like WHOA, WTF??  First thing I did was walk the house, making sure it didn't actually hit the house, several house fires start that way around here.  Everything looked in order, the TV, computer and netbook all were working, along with the fridge, microwave and lights.  Only thing that got knocked out was the internet.  Talk about being forced to be "screen free" for a while!!

at 10pm, the internet still isn't back.  I plugged in a phone, and have a dial tone, so it's not that part.  Nothing registers on my router, so I'm guessing that might have took a dive?  Power light comes on, however.   I was tempted to hop in the car and take a drive around, to see any damage that might have been done.  But it's not a wise idea to go out and get caught up in the storms, or be caught on the wrong side of a flash flood. 

This has been one helluva weekend for me.  I spent the rest of the evening quietly reading a book, relaxing in my chair .... basically doing what I would be doing if my son were home with me. ......  so much for some alone time :)


Addedum:  It is noon, Sunday, and I am sitting at a Starbuck's to update this for the time being.  After calling CenturyLink to see about my modem, the tech tells me my modem is fried, and I need another.  He suggests going to Best Buy and getting an ActionTec brand.  Which I did as soon as they opened.  I brought it home, plugged it all in, and nope, no internet.  Called CenturyLink back, and they tell me with my technology the ONLY modem I can use is their Q1000.  Of course, there are no stores available, I have to purchase one from the business office M-F, 8-5.   UGH.   If I can sneak off to find free wireless, I'll give you updates.  Until then, I am Screen Free!