June 6th, 2010
The Surf Count of Waist High Or Better is 14 out of 16 weeks...

So Thursday afternoon, I'm sitting in my studio office plugging away at life on my computers, when I hear a slight rumble out my window. Thunder. The skies were darkening, and I saw the occasional flash of lightening. Something about the distant rumble of thunder and lightening that always gets my attention. I guess it's because
of what happened to me back in the summer of 2003.

On June 27, 2003...I was struck by lightening. It's true.

Well, it's partially true. I wasn't hit directly by Lightening. More indirectly. Here let me explain. It was a typical hot and humid Summer afternoon here on the seacoast, when the threat of thunder clouds came up on us all while we were at the beach. There were some fun summer waves, and all the kids were out surfing. My kids and the Gould kids. When we saw the dark clouds overcome the beach, we loaded up the van with the kids, wetsuits, and boards, and headed back up the street to my home.

When my wife pulled in with the van, we got the kids out and rushed them into the house. My wife was trying to get the boards off the roof when I saw the black clouds approaching and yelled to her to "leave them there and get inside!" Once inside we started to shut off all the electrical toys. TVs, radios, and computers. I was down in this same office, systematically shutting down all the computers, when I got to my main machine. I had been working on a project earlier, and needed to "save it" before I shut it down.

That's when it hit.

A loud thunderous (pun intended) explosion, followed by a bright white flash of light that filled the entire area. Instantly, I felt a surge go through my right arm, and into my chest. It felt like Mike Tyson had punched me. My chair has rollers on it, and I was actually pushed back several feet. I heard screaming upstairs, so I jumped out of my chair and rushed up the stairs.

The kids and my wife were all freaking out.

I ran from room to room, making sure everyone was OK. They were. Except my wife and my daughter Gabby. They were really upset. They had been standing in the kitchen when the lightening struck. The explosion had knocked them to the ground. Turns out, the lightening hit the tree in my front yard. This sturdy Red Maple is a mere 10 yards from the kitchen window. The Lightening bolt hit the tree, and wrapped around the trunk, heading straight down into the ground, hitting the water pipe, and traveling directly into the house. Where it killed all of our TVs, phones, microwaves, and computers. And I do mean, killed them. One TV had a 3D looking purple blob where the tube melted. It was really cool looking. Dead, but cool.

I was still in some minor discomfort in my chest, when I looked outside.

The tree that was hit, had spawned what seemed to be, hundreds of curly slices of tree bark that looked like they popped popcorn. It was the strangest thing to see. Dozens of these 10 to 12" thin curled pieces of bark had blown out of the tree, and landed all over the driveway and on the roof. I still have a dozen of so. They were all over the front yard. The tree itself was smoldering. That's when the fire department showed up. Apparently they thought the church across the street from my home was hit. I waved them over to my house and pointed out where the lightening had hit. One of the firefighters was a good friend . Dave. We had both served on the Hampton Conservation Commision for 5 years.

He saw me rubbing my chest and asked me what was wrong.

I made off like it was no big deal. "Oh I'm fine, I was on the computer with my fingers on the mouse, when the lightening hit and it went through my fingers and up through my arm, and into my chest. But I'm fine." Dave looked at me and said "You need to go the hospital." I laughed and said I was fine. But Dave was not going to take no for an answer. "Ralph you need to go and checked out. Now. Right now."

The next thing you know, I'm in an ambulance speeding to the Exeter Hospital.

Along the way, I asked my buddy Dave "Now wait, can I tell my friends and family that I actually got struck by lightening?" Dave looked at me and shook his head and said "Yep."And I was like "damn... Lightening? whoa. That's pretty heavy."

Long story short, when I got to the hospital, they hooked me up with all sorts of funky sticky things that monitored all my vitals and body functions. I was making fun of the whole situation. When the doctor came over and asked me how I felt, I told him this. "Look Doc, this morning I had a full head of brown hair. Now look at me!" I said pointing to my gray hairs. I thought I was being funny and clever.

The doc looked at me and said. "Mr Fatello, I know you think this is funny, but you need to know the truth." I looked at him and said "What truth?" He showed me some test results and then said this..."If that Lightening bolt had hit you in between heartbeats, it would of killed you." I looked at him to see if he was smiling or laughing, but he was not. "Killed me? As in Dead?

The Doctor looked at me and said..."Dead as a doornail. "

I thought about that the whole night, and the next day when I saw my family again, I had a slightly different attitude about Life. Not that I really needed one. Lord knows I've had my share of close calls, and near misses, and zigging when I should of zigged and zagging when I needed to zag. I always thought that I had Angels watching over me. Or some kind of lucky shield. It's hard to explain.

But let's come back to the present. Thursday afternoon. In my office.

I hear the thunder and see the lightening. Only now, I see what I think to be a large dark cloud, starting to rotate. So I did what any other photographer would do...I instinctively got up and grabbed my camera and ran outside. I was standing in my office driveway when I see the clouds. And they looked wild. (*see photos). I start snapping away. I feel strangely calm. The winds start to blow, and then I hear what sounds like a large electrical snap. Then the thunder hit, and it was so loud it kind of freaked me out. But I held my ground shooting the cloud. I honestly thought I was shooting the beginning of a Tornado. Or the end of my life.

I stood there following the cloud formation over the school, and then headed back inside. That's when I noticed we had no power. Turns out a lightening strike had happened about 100 yards to my left. It hit a telephone pole, and killed all electricity in the neighborhood. I thought about how close that 100 yards was, and it really brought it all home again. I don't want to say that I'm not being cautious enough during obvious situations like, electrical storms. But it is worth mentioning here.

Look, if there are dark skies approaching ,and there's obvious thunder and lightening present, you need to seek shelter, and turn off all power. Don't take any chances. Trust me. That stuff is dangerous and it can really mess you up. Or at the very least, it can mess up your day. People die each year from Lightening strikes. We've had local surfers and lifeguards die from them. It's no joke. Get off the beach. Seek shelter.

"Oh you struck my heart like lightening. " Doug Pinnick, KingsX

*Footnote. That tree in my yard is still with us. Albeit, a bit scarred up, but still living and breathing. All the Tree experts claimed that tree would die. I said it would not. It's still here. And that deep scar is a constant reminder each Spring/Summer of what Mother Nature can bring.


Now for some of my weekly Global observances:
I just saw that the BP oil spill (Obama's Katrina?) might be headed this way. It's true. The Jet Steam has that sucker oil field slurping itself this way. New England. Oh that's just great. Perfect. Can you imagine that? I'm like a lot of you. I'm only half paying attention to what's happening down there. But that would all change if it reached our shores. That could happen. Come on BP stop the flow.

Speaking of natural disasters headed this way. How about the smoke from the huge grass fires in Canada last week? Are you kidding me? That was nuts. That smoke was everywhere. This will be one summer to remember. Smoke and oil.

How about the Detroit Tiger's pitcher getting robbed of a NO Hitter?

Ouch. Armando Galarraga was the victim of a blown call from the First base Ump. The ump later apologized. As bad as I feel for Armando, you have to think, that he's gotten more mileage out of this No Hitter, than he would have, if he'd earned it in the first place. I mean everyone is talking about. Everyone knows he pitched a no hitter. But now, he's the center of News topics by millions who feel bad for him. Stop feeling bad. He'll get more from this blunder call, than he would of if he actually pitched the perfect game( *which he most definitely did do).

The Celtics got their asses beat by the Lakers in Game 1. They need to step it up today. Otherwise this series will be over before you know it. Go C's!

So Al Gore and his wife Tipper are splitting up after 40 years? Say what? WTF? That's crazy. Who could forget "the Kiss" the night of the Democratic convention back in the day? I mean Al come on. You invent the Internet and now you are googling your ass with the younger ladies? Al...?

Speaking of crazy I saw Jesse Ventura on late night TV last night and I have to say...that boy is not playing with a full deck. His new look and new book are both crazy. This whole conspiracy theory book is full of BS. Not sure what the hell happened to him, but I will say this...Jesse you are one big assed cuckoo bird.

And finally, to continue Speaking of nutty celebrities...it's no secret that I am a Beatles Fan. I love the Beatles. Always have and always will. So it was disturbing to see and hear what Sir Paul McCartney said the other day about our past President. It was embarrassing to say the least. And when he ever sang "Michelle" to Michelle Obama,
I thought I'd seen it all. I mean shouldn't he have at least sung "Taxman" to Barack?

It seems only fitting. Come on Paul, just smoke your weed, and play your music.

CHECK OUT THE NEW/Old YESTERDAY PAGE! ALL OLD New England and beyond Surf Pics!*NEW PICS added each week!

Here's JAMIE WADE's pics of the MOLLY Hockey Game for you to check out: http://jamiewade.zenfolio.com/

THE NEW ENGLAND LONGBOARD Classic is June 13th, 2010 at at 10AM Nantasket Beach -Hull, MA. This looks like fun.

Rest in peace Shirley Hamsley, mother of local surfers Doug and Dwight Hamsley. There's a Memorial Service for Mrs Hamsley at 4:00PM on June 12th, 2010 at Jenness Beach in Rye. Friends and family of the Hamsley family are invited.

Please give to the RED CROSS or some other trusted organization to help the people in Haiti and Chile. Like the RED CROSS. www.redcross.org Help these people. Please.

The Children of Nicaragua via Brian Nevin's recent work. lovelightandmelody.org This organization deals directly with the plight of the children of La Chureca.
Please help.

*Check out the NEW updated DROPPING IN ON RALPH blog Section.
ALL Of May is up. *This is the blog section of this website where you can write in and comment. The only downside of this blog is, you actually have to use your REAL Name. No hiding behind some fake handle and name. If you want to comment, you have to man up, and be yourself. I will post all comments, both good and bad.
You just have to be yourself.

*Molly Paddle Video by Joe Carter has been moved to the Community Page.

Please Support ALL The photographers who contribute to Ralph's Pic Of The Week
every week for the last 7 years. **Think about BUYING a Photo from any of the weeks on RPOTW as a GREAT Gift Idea. A nice framed photo of your favorite Surfer!

Remember my friends...Surfing Heals All Wounds....
Pray for Surf. Pray for Peace. Surf For Fun.

Ralph